The Reverend Nora Smith was born in New York City , the daughter of Jean Kelly Smith, a registered nurse and Robert Smith, an author and sportswriter. She was raised in Irvington , New York and attended public school there; graduating from high school at the age of 16. At the same time she pursued musical training at the Juilliard School where she studied the violin. After graduation, Nora entered the work force for two years before heading to college, working in New York City for a photographic agency first as a receptionist and later as a photo editor. She graduated from Brandeis University in Waltham , Massachusetts in 1981 with a degree in Cultural Anthropology.

While awaiting admission to graduate programs, Nora worked as a salesperson in a Harvard Square shoe boutique. She soon fell in love with footwear and abandoned her academic ambitions for a career in the shoe business which lasted over twenty years.

Nora worked first as a manager and then as a buyer for many of America ’s major department stores- some now only a memory; Filene’s, Abraham and Straus, Belk, and Macy’s. In 1994 she went to work for the Nine West Group as Vice President of Sales for the Bandolino brand. In subsequent years she led the sales force for the Keds brand of the Stride Rite Corporation. Eventually Nora landed her dream job- running the Kate Spade Shoes license for Schwartz & Benjamin.

During much of this time, Nora was actively involved in her church in Briarcliff Manor , New York . She headed up a capital campaign and was director of the Altar Guild and chairperson of the Worship and Liturgy Committee. In 2000 Nora entered formal discernment with her parish to ask how God and the community might intend her to serve the church- not knowing that a call to the priesthood would be the outcome. Having been raised Roman Catholic; Nora intentionally became an Episcopalian as an adult and was confirmed at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in 2002.

In 2000 Nora married Peter Nyikos, and they both determined to respond to their life-long vocational dreams. Having worked for many years in the optical industry, Peter went back to graduate school at night and is now entering his third year teaching at the Bronx High School of Business where he has had the pleasure of instructing senior high school students in Reading , Business, and Health.

Nora resigned from Schwartz & Benjamin in 2004 and entered the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University. She was ordained a deacon in March of 2007, graduated with a Master of Divinity and a diploma in Anglican Studies in May, and was ordained priest in September 2007. During her studies and after, she worked and trained at St. Peter’s Church in Peekskill, New York, and served as deacon at Trinity Church in Southport, Connecticut. In the summer of 2007 she completed an internship at Trinity Church- St. Paul’s Parish in New York City. Nora and Peter still live in Irvington, New York. While they do not have any human children, they are devoted “parents” to their dog, Nellie and their cat, Sadie.