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Phillip Nicholas, whose parents migrated from Jamaica and the United Kingdom, began his journey into genealogical research by tracing his own family history. For 14 years, he has helped clients discover their Caribbean heritage. One woman was able to trace her roots from Panama to Colombia. Phillip shed light on another client's Haitian family's immigration to the United States. While another client uncovered information about his Sephardic Jewish and enslaved African ancestors in Jamaica.

As a professional genealogist, Phillip specializes in researching family histories in Jamaica, Barbados, Panama, and Costa Rica. He has conducted research at the Jamaican Archives, the Jamaican Registrar General's Department, the National Archives at Kew in London, the British Library, and the Library of Congress. In addition, he has instructed audiences how to conduct genealogical research of ancestors and families from Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region at venues throughout the United States, including the Frederick County Public Library, the Genealogy Center at Allen County Public Library, the Yonkers Public Library, Genealogy Garage at Los Angeles Public Library, and the Family History Research Center at the Clayton Library. 

Phillip is also a historian and a reference librarian at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He received his Master of Arts in Comparative & Transnational History from the College of William & Mary, where he studied the transatlantic slave trade and Caribbean history. His thesis, "Across the Atlantic to Jamaica: Enslavement and Cultural Transformations of the Gold Coast Diaspora During the 18th Century," traces the enslavement and movement of enslaved people in the Gold Coast - present-day Ghana and Ivory Coast - to Jamaica and their response to slavery on the island. Phillip later received his Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland, College Park where he focused on archives and digital curation. He has worked in various information institutions, where he has accessed, processed, retrieved, and preserved records and resources. His educational and professional background helps him contextualize his findings and trace the histories of people, places, and events.