When Nikki Neuburger first met David Schriber, romance was far from her mind. It was 2004, and she was interviewing for a job at Nike after graduating from Oregon State University, where she had been a Division 1 athlete. Her eye was on the job (which—spoiler!—she got), but her interviewer made an impression, too.
“I just remember David being really different than anyone else,” Nikki says. “He was referred to as kinda the mad scientist at Nike for a long time. He had crazy hair that spiked up everywhere and his wireframe glasses, and is just creative and thinks super differently,” she adds. “So he was always really interesting, but absolutely nothing like anyone I had ever dated.”
Photo: Jes Workman
She and her coworker Ricky sat in cubicles outside of David’s office, and the three became good friends. Nikki’s younger half-sister was about the same age as David’s two children from a previous relationship, so they started spending time with the kids together, taking them on outings to Chuck E. Cheese. Inspired by the culture at Nike, they started running together, even training for the 2006 Boston Marathon. When they ran the marathon, David’s kids cheered them on with a sign that said, “Go dad and Nikki!”
After the marathon, things slowly turned romantic. One night, Nikki dropped David off at home in her stick shift car, and he put his hand on hers. “That was kind of the moment that was like, ‘Oh God, what is this?’” Nikki shares. “And I was really unsure about it.” Even so, they kept spending time together, even outside of their runs.
Another time around then, Nikki’s mother secretly talked to David and encouraged him to just “go for it.” Soon, Nikki and David started seeing each other. “We were a secret for a year, because while he wasn’t my boss, we worked really closely together,” Nikki says.
Over the next two decades, as they progressed in their lives and careers—Nikki is now the chief brand and product activation officer at Lululemon; David is a marketing consultant after years of working as senior vice president of global marketing at Nike and chief marketing and revenue officer at Masterclass—they proposed to each other multiple times. Valuing their independence (legal, financial, and otherwise), they held off on getting legally married. But things changed in February 2023, after they cared for Nikki’s father while he was ill, and went to a wedding in Bolinas that inspired them. They decided to get married in a way that felt right for them.
