Nicole Michele Phelps (née Johnson) (July 12, 1985) is an American model and beauty queen who was Miss California USA 2010 and competed in the Miss USA pageant.
Johnson, the daughter of teacher and a pharmaceutical sales manager, was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, grew up in Pennsylvania and then moved to Westlake Village, California, prior to starting middle school. She graduated from Westlake High School in 2003. When Johnson was 17, she read an advertisement in the Thousand Oaks Acorn for Miss California Teenager. Johnson, a Moorpark College student at the time, wanted to transfer to the University of Southern California and thought the scholarship would help pay her education. Out of 304 contestants Johnson took first runner-up.
In 2007, Johnson graduated with honors from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, concentrating in sports and entertainment.