Through a multidisciplinary creative practice, De Nichols mobilizes global change makers to design and activate ideas for social impact.
De Nichols is currently a Senior UX Researcher at YouTube and leads its product inclusion research organization, Culture Lab.
As an author and lecturer, De harnesses the creative powers of design and storytelling as she inspires global audiences to spark creative social change in the address of spatial injustices, racial division, and cultural inequities.
Through her design and arts leadership, De has been deemed a national Ideas that Matter recipient, a two-time Clinton Global Initiative innovator, and a St. Louis Visionary recipient for her community impact. She was named a 2017 Citizen Artist Fellow of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and 2018 Artist Fellow with the Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis, MO. She is both a 2020 Monument Lab Fellow and Loeb Fellow of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Nichols is an alum of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, where she specialized in communication design, social entrepreneurship, and socio-economic development. She is a John B. Ervin Scholar, Brown Scholar, and Enterprise-Rent-a-Car Scholar. Her efforts have been supported by the Clinton Global Initiative, Women’s Caucus for Art, Gephardt Institute for Public Service, Ideas that Matters, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, StartingBloc Fellowship for Social Innovation, Points of Light Civic Accelerator, Microsoft YouthSpark, Generation Progress, and AshokaU Changemakers.
When she is not driving creative change, De enjoys adventures and DIY projects with her fiancee, Mai, in Princeton, NJ.
Social Entrepreneurship
Upon earning her MSW with a specialization in social entrepreneurship, De co-founded Civic Creatives, a former agency based in St. Louis, MO. Civic Creatives equipped changemaking organizations with design tools, experiences, and strategy to creatively engage civic issues and address social topics that matter to their communities.
Board Service
De serves social enterprises and non-profits that center their mission around racial equity, design, and social justice.
The Griot Museum of Black History (Board Chair, 2019-Present)
Forward through Ferguson (Founding member, 2016-19)
Creative Reaction Lab (Founding Chair, 2015-17)
Books & Features
Achievements
Courses Taught
2020 Design with/for/by Joy, Stanford University d.school
2018 Social Impact Design, Washington University in St. Louis, Sam Fox School of Design
Fellowships
2020 Monument Lab Transnational Fellowship
2019 Loeb Fellow, Harvard University
2018 Regional Arts Commission Artist Fellow
2017 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow
2014 Points of Light Civic Accelerator (CIVICX)
2013 StartingBloc Fellow
2014 Finalist, Echoing Green
2011 Community Arts Training Institute (CAT)
Distinguished Roles
2017 Juror, National Ideas that Matter Awards
2017 Thought Leaders Roundtable, EVOKE Arts & Cultural Planning
2016 Board of Directors, Forward through Ferguson
2015 Chair, Board of Directors, Creative Reaction Lab
2014 Featured Innovator, Clinton Global Initiative University
2013 Featured Innovator, Clinton Global Initiative University
Awards
2017 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellowship Recognition
2016 St. Louis Visionary Awards Recipient
2013 Microsoft YouthSpark, Finalist (Design Serves)
2012 Cordes Innovation Award, Semi-finalist
2011 Sappi | Ideas that Matter, Recipient, COMMON Hoops
2010 Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award, St. Louis, MO
2010 Langston Hughes Award, St. Louis, MO
2008 Memphis Truth Award, Memphis, TN
Scholarships
2012 George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Brown Scholar
2006-2010 John B. Ervin Scholar, Full academic scholarship and stipend, Washington University in St. Louis
2006-2010 Enterprise Rent-a-Car Foundation Scholar
2004-2006 William H. Sweet Scholar
Exhibitions
In Collection
“Mirror Casket” (2014), National Museum for African American History and Culture, Smithsonian. Collected September 2015.
2023
Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures, National Museum of Black History and Culture, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
2021
March 2021 Curator, Memories of Black Presence, The Griot Museum of Black History, St. Louis, MO
2020
May 2020 Abstractions of Black Citizenship, Hedreen Gallery, Seattle, WA
2017
Apr 2017 “Denotations,” Taking It to the Streets: Arts Alive on the Streets, Kranzberg Art Gallery, St. Louis, MO
Mar 2017 “Sticky Note to… Love,” The Clothesline, St. Louis, MO
Jan 2017 “Black Notes,” Taking it to the Streets, Gallery 210, St. Louis, MO
2015
Oct 2015 Arts in Struggle, Satori Gallery,
St. Louis, MO
Sep 2015 IMPCTXDESIGN, 14.15, Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis, MO
July 2015 With, Not For, Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis, MO
Jan-Apr 2015 I Have a Right To…, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
2014-2015 Moments of Silence: Visual Responses to Ferguson, Various Galleries, St. Louis, MO
2010
2010 Profile Me: An Art Exhibition on Racial Profiling, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
2007
2007 Echoes of Truth, Memphis Coliseum, Memphis, TN