(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Jackson Hewitt Supervisor Nichole Guy.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born at Forrest General Hospital May 10, 1980.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I went to Natchez Middle School until the eighth grade, then I went to Bassfield High School before it became JDC. I also went to Jones County Junior College.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I’m the supervisor at the Jackson Hewitt Columbia office. I help other offices out when they need. I’ve trained, done tax school, taught a couple of foreign income classes and things like that. During the tax season, I mainly do taxes and supervise, and during the offseason I do corporate tax, business tax, sales tax and help farmers get grants. I used to only do taxes, but then a couple customers of mine started getting into farming. My brother works overseas, so I needed to know what was going on with every different thing like that and decided to check it all out.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: I just wanted a part-time job because I was going to be a stay-at-home mom and raise my kids, but when I got over here I fell in love with the numbers, the people and the filing. I’m a small-town girl, so I like small-town life. It worked out well for me.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: I like when people walk through the door and know who I am. I’ve been here forever, and when they walk through the door it’s always the “blue-haired lady” or they know my actual name. They know my husband, and I know their kids. I like being able to look in the paper and know that their kid had a kid or got married.
Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
A: It’s absolutely the numbers. I have dyslexia so I have to really pay attention to what I’m doing. The numbers part of it is the worst part.
Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?
A: That everybody has a story to tell. Over the years I’ve become involved in so many different things that it’s allowed me to understand that the person sitting across from me isn’t just a tax return. I’ve become active in victims against domestic violence and things like that, and everybody has a story to tell even if they don’t want to tell it. I’ve learned to listen.
Q: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I wanted to be a fireman when I grew up, so I married one. As I got older, it turned from fireman to ballerina, but I can’t dance.
Q: What was your first job?
A: My mom worked at Sears in Natchez, and they needed somebody to wear the Winnie the Pooh suit. That was my very first job. I thought I was all that and a bag of Skittles. I made $60 for the whole month, and it was great. Fast forward like 20 years later, and my daughter was wearing the Marshall the Fire Dog costume for Christmas on Main Street and that was her first job.
Q: Who are the people who have been most influential in your life?
A: There’s a couple. My grandmother, Marie McCraney, always opened the door for everybody. They were all welcome at her house. My mom, Pat Sanford, because she taught me to cook for an army of people, so that when I open my door for anyone that comes in they can eat. Then my two kids, Richard McLeod Guy, 23, and Morgan Guy, 16.
Q: What is your spouse’s name?
A: Nathan Guy. He’s a captain at the Columbia Fire Department and a reserve at the police department. On his off days, he drives an 18-wheeler that hauls mobile homes.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: Strawberry shortcake no questions asked. It has to be angel food cake with strawberries, a little bit of sugar and whipping cream, not Cool Whip.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I don’t fly, so if I could just pop myself from here to there then the Bahamas. It’s gorgeous there. If I can’t do that, then it would be the Florida Keys.
Q: What hobbies do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I take pictures for baseball, football and softball for school, and I love that. Right now my hobbies are my kids. Maybe when they get older, I’ll find a new hobby besides taking pictures.
Q: What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?
A: Both of my parents’ family is from here, and I have a lot of family that’s here. Family is the most important thing in my whole world. Then I love that small-town feel. I like knowing everybody.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: Ruth in the Bible because my favorite verse is in the book of Ruth, and she tells Naomi not to leave her and goes through a rough patch in her life. She thinks she’s going to be alone for the rest of her life and is in that “nobody likes me; everybody hates me” phase that everybody goes through. Then all of a sudden she turns it around. In the Bible it talks about what it was, but I want to know what was going through her mind in that pivotal moment where she knew she was going to be OK.
Q: If you didn’t have to worry about money, what would you do all day?
A: If I didn’t have to worry about money and didn’t have to worry about getting fat, I would eat all the time. But that’s not the case, so I would sit on the beach all day long. I love the beach.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on who you are today?
A: The minute my husband asked me to marry him. We were 18-19 years old, and he came to where I was working at a gas station. He got down on one knee, and it wasn’t like birds flew over or anything. It was the sappy “Will you marry me?” thing. Everybody in my family has been divorced at least once, and I thought, “I get to marry somebody that really wants to marry me.” After 20 years I can still say, “He wanted to marry me and still wants to be married to me.” That led us to our kids and the life that we have.
Q: Using one word for each, what are your top three morals?
A: Loyalty, honesty and integrity.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: As somebody that was helpful, would give somebody the shirt off their back and when it got really rough they could call me. Our family’s motto is “Call me if you need me.” I want people to say I called her and she answered.
— Joshua Campbell
Pictured Above: Jackson Hewitt Supervisor Nichole Guy started with the Columbia branch as a part-time employee because she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. However, she fell in love with it and made a career out of it. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
