Real Housewives' Nicole Martin Gets Real About Balancing Her Busy Schedule - Exclusive

When we think about our daily schedules and goals, how many of us actually get everything done that we need to? From balancing a 9-5 to managing our family's schedules to cleaning the house to feeding ourselves (not to mention dealing with a global pandemic that's just about impacting everything), accomplishing the very basics of the day seems exhausting. What if we told you that a camera crew would be following you around, too? Not just while you're out and about, but while you're home. The very thought seems completely life-altering, but that was the reality that Nicole Martin signed up for when she joined the cast of "The Real Housewives of Miami." Off the air for eight years, "The Real Housewives of Miami" is making a comeback thanks to the NBC streaming service, Peacock, and is cooking up drama already. While bringing back some familiar figures, the revived show is also welcoming some newcomers -– Martin being one of them. How will she shake things up? Will the established cast members welcome her with open arms? These were all the questions that we needed answers to, and luckily for us, we got to sit down with Martin for an exclusive interview.

Martin is not at all what you'd think of when you think of a "real housewife." She's an accomplished anesthesiologist, a doting mom, and a dedicated partner. She's the definition of "that woman has it together," and we couldn't help but ask her how she gets it all done. From being a medical professional to being a hands-on mom to starring on a reality television series, there really doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day for Martin to accomplish everything -– but she does, and she looks fabulous while doing so. In our interview, Martin got real about how she balances her busy schedule.

It was on our minds the minute we found out that Nicole Martin would be chatting with us -– how on earth does she balance everything? From working in the medical field during a global pandemic to being a mom to starring on "The Real Housewives of Miami," there truly doesn't seem like there's enough time for Martin to check off everything on her to-do list. How does she do it? She told us that being in medical school taught her everything she needed to know. "The good thing about being a doctor and being on call is that you learn to survive on very little sleep," she told us. "Being on call, your beeper goes off and then you fall back asleep maybe for an hour. So I function on minimal sleep. If I get four hours, I'm good to go." We really wish we could be like her, but alas, anything less than eight hours results in very angry writers over here at The List.

Ready for more of Martin's routine? She told us that she wakes up very early, gets her workout in "so that it doesn't impact [her] day," and then she heads to work. By the time she'd wrap up her work hours, she'd film "The Real Housewives of Miami" in the later afternoon hours, before going home to put her son to bed. "It was tight and it was exhausting," she said, "but we made it work." How does she balance it all, you might be wondering? Martin is old school, and she told us that she relies on a paper agenda, color coordination, and tabs to keep track of all of her obligations. "There's a whole system to my madness," she said, "but it works." And to top it all off, she makes room for "mommy and baby time" in her schedule while her good friend of hers is doing her glam.

We can't imagine that transitioning into a life in front of the camera is hassle free, and when we sat down with Nicole Martin to chat about her time filming "The Real Housewives of Miami" and how she balances her busy schedule, she told us about a behind-the-scenes moment that definitely caught her and her partner, Anthony, off guard. What happened? We'll let her tell you.

"My partner, Anthony, I remember his first day filming. He was at work and he was coming in after work and he knew they were filming for the first day, but he also didn't realize how big of a production this was," Martin told us. "So he [tells] a story about how he pulls into the driveway and some man is like, 'Stop,' and he's like, 'This is my house. Why are you telling me to stop?' They're like, 'Get out the car, we need to mic you,' and so he gets mic'd and then they're calling on the walkie talkie, 'Mr. Lopez is outside, he's about to enter,' so that they can be ready for him. And he was like, 'Whoa, what is happening? I just thought someone was going to be with a camcorder in the house.'" We can safely say that "The Real Housewives of Miami" is certainly not just a guy with an old-school early 2000s camcorder following the stars around, but we really can't imagine what it'd be like to transition to that kind of life in front of the lens.

Nevertheless, Martin told us that they "got used to it" and by the end of filming, they'd bonded with the crew so much that they'd hang out with each other over coffee. Even Martin's son got a kick out of filming. At almost 3 years old, he was "the star of the show" according to Martin, and he soaked up every little bit he could of the experience. "He's like three going on 20," Martin told us. "He's really talkative and really social, so he enjoyed it. And the camera crew, everybody was really nice. They would show him the lights and the microphones and he had a great time."

New episodes of "The Real Housewives of Miami" are available Thursdays on Peacock.