Nicky Belletier grew up in the bucolic surroundings of Syracuse, New York. She was drawn to the arts at a young age and envisioned a life as an artist. Despite her love of drawing and painting, she also developed a deep interest in science, which led her to complete a bachelors degree in Biology at Bryn Mawr College and a PhD in Molecular Biology at Princeton University.

In the midst of her scientific training, she continued to engage with her artistic side whenever possible. With her newfound time and resources no longer devoted to long hours in the lab, she rededicated herself to her childhood vision of becoming an artist in its most basic sense. That is, to becoming someone who makes art. In pursuit of this goal, she experiments widely with new materials as she fills the storage space in her home studio in Hopewell, New Jersey.