Meet Nicole Harrison
PADI Instructor. Founder of Rise & Dive℠. Empowering women in and out of the water.
🌊 About Nicole Harrison | Rise & Dive℠
Calm. Courage. Confidence. Empowering women in and out of the water.
Hi, I’m Nicole Harrison.
I’m a PADI Instructor and the founder of Rise & Dive℠. The work I do with women is informed by somatic and trauma-informed training, and by years of watching what the ocean actually does to people. When I’m not in Minneapolis or leading trips internationally, I spend most of my time diving in Cozumel.
Rise & Dive℠ is a platform built around one thing: empowering women in and out of the water. That shows up in a lot of ways. Through the blog, where women find honest, specific content about diving, their bodies, their nervous systems, and what the water gives back. Through Dive Somatics℠, I developed a methodology at the intersection of somatic practice and the underwater environment. Through the community inside Women In Scuba Empowered (WISE). I lead women-centered dive trips around the world. Through free resources, digital programs, and tools designed for women at every stage of their dive life.
The entry point does not matter. What matters is what happens when a woman steps into this space and finds something built entirely for her.
What Rise & Dive℠ Is Built On
Rise & Dive℠ was built for the woman who is ready to show up for herself in a new way. She is capable and accomplished. She has spent decades showing up for everyone else. And now she is here, drawn to the water or already in it, ready for something that is entirely hers.
I built Rise & Dive℠ around a simple truth. Women are capable of extraordinary things, and the water has a real way of proving it. What she finds there carries into how she moves through fear, how she trusts herself, how she shows up in her own life.
Everything about Rise & Dive℠ is designed around her experience. Whether she finds it through a blog post at midnight, a free guide that finally explains what her body is doing before a dive, a trip that changes how she sees herself, or a community of women who dive the way she dives. This platform was built to meet her wherever she is and take her somewhere she has not been yet.
The water does not ask her to be smaller. It asks her to show up. And what she finds when she does does not stay at depth. It carries into everything.
The Credentials Behind the Work
These are the qualifications I bring to everything I publish, teach, and lead under this brand.
PADI Instructor Certification is the professional standard for dive leadership internationally. This credential governs safety, instruction, and in-water leadership on every Rise & Dive℠ trip and informs every piece of diving content I create.
Somatic Practitioner Certification Somatic practice is the study of the body as the site of experience, regulation, and change. My somatic practitioner certification informs the Dive Somatics℠ methodology and the way I approach working with women whose anxiety lives in the body, not just the mind.
Trauma Resiliency Coaching Certificate. Trauma-informed coaching means understanding how the nervous system responds to perceived threat, and how to work with that response rather than against it. This shapes how I design every experience under the Rise & Dive℠ platform, from the content to the community to the in-water environment.
PADI Mermaid Instructor Certification: A credential that deepened my understanding of breath, body awareness, and the relationship between human physiology and the underwater environment. It informs both my teaching and the Dive Somatics℠ framework.
℠ Dive Somatics℠ is the proprietary methodology I developed, service-marked, and in active development. It is the only named, documented methodology working at the intersection of somatic practice, nervous system regulation, and the underwater environment. It works in both directions: helping women find safety and presence in the water, and helping them carry what they find there forward into their daily lives.
What Rise & Dive℠ Offers
The Blog: Honest, specific, deeply researched content at the intersection of women’s health, the nervous system, diving, and empowered exploration. Written for the woman who wants real information, not generic advice. This is where most women find Rise & Dive℠ first.
Dive Somatics℠ Programming: Online sessions, workshops, and the Dive Somatics℠ Foundation Program, a six-session audio series built on the Dive Somatics℠ methodology. Designed for women who want to understand what their bodies are doing before, during, and after a dive, and how to work with that rather than against it.
Women-Centered Dive Trips Internationally: Small-group scuba diving trips designed around women’s experience. Intentional pacing, genuine support, and an environment where your questions are expected and your experience matters. All trips are operated by Rise & Dive℠ and led by me. Destinations include Cozumel, Roatan, Bonaire, the Philippines, Dominica, Fiji, and more. Partners and family members are welcome on select adventures. Designed for women, open to the people who matter to them.
The Rise & Dive℠ Signature Cozumel Dive Retreat: The flagship Rise & Dive℠ experience. Cozumel is where I spend most of my time when I’m not traveling. I know these reefs, the operators, the currents, and the conditions intimately. That depth of local knowledge is what no other destination can replicate. The Signature experience is built around that intimacy. It is the pinnacle of what Rise & Dive℠ offers in the water.
Women In Scuba Empowered (WISE): The Rise & Dive℠ community. A private group for women divers built around the women-centered mission of this platform. This is where the deeper conversation lives, where women support each other, and where Rise & Dive℠ content, trips, and programming land first.
Free Resources: Downloadable guides and tools for women at every stage of their dive life. Start with the Dive Somatics℠ Guide, a free introduction to the body-based approach to dive empowerment.
Who This Is For
Rise & Dive℠ was built for women who are drawn to the water, whatever that means for them right now.
You might be newly certified, wondering if this sport was really built for someone like you. You have questions, and now you have a place to bring them.
You might be an intermediate diver who found her footing and is ready for something that meets you where you actually are, not where a co-ed group trip assumes you should be.
You might be an experienced diver with years of dives under your belt who is looking for real community. Women who dive the way you dive. A place where your experience is the starting point, not the exception.
You might not be a diver yet. You might be curious, uncertain, or still deciding. Rise & Dive℠ has a place for you, too. Start with the blog. Download the free guide. Come find us in the WISE community. There is no wrong entry point.
Many of the women who find Rise & Dive℠ are in the middle of one of the most significant transitions of their adult lives. Children are launching. Marriages are ending or evolving. Careers that defined them for decades no longer fit. The identity built around caring for others is shifting, and what remains beneath is a question they have not had time to ask until now.
Diving does not resolve those questions. But it gives you something that is entirely yours. It cannot be done for anyone else. It demands your full presence and returns something real. For many women, that is the first environment in memory to have made that demand. And something releases in response.
Whatever brought you here, Rise & Dive℠ is built to meet you.
A Note From Me
I did not build this for the woman who has it all figured out. I built it for the woman who keeps showing up anyway.
I have watched women descend for the first time and surface as someone slightly different. Not because I did anything. Because the water did. My job is just to make sure they get there safely, and that what happens at depth does not stay at depth.
What happens at sixty feet does not stay at sixty feet. That is the whole point.
If you are curious about what Rise & Dive℠ can offer you, start with the free Dive Somatics℠ Guide below, come find us in Women In Scuba Empowered (WISE), or reach out directly. There is no wrong way to begin.
Ready to Start Your Journey?
Explore Upcoming Trips | Download the Dive Somatics℠ Guide | Join the WISE community