RMCAD Faculty

Nicole is a designer, artist, business owner and teacher.  She has a BFA in Illustration from Ringling College of Art & Design and an MFA in Costume Design from the University of South Carolina.  Nicole has over 20 years of experience in the costume and fashion industry.  She’s been fortunate to work for many venues including the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, Mad Cow Theatre, The Asolo Repertory Theatre, The American University in Cairo, Egypt, and the Orlando Repertory Theatre.  In 2001 she was honored with USITT’s national award for young costume designers.  As a Sketch Artist with Disney’s Costume Design Team, she not only designed costumes in the park, sketched for head designers, but also established Disney’s Gerber WebPDM program for which she was honored as a Partners in Excellence Nominee.
Nicole currently owns Loopy Gear, a handmade baby products company and is registered as a Small Batch Manufacturer.  Loopy Gear is sold all over the US and has distribution in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the GCC.  Her product design has won the PTPA Award, Family Choice Award, Family Review Center Award, Mom’s Choice Award, Green Scene Award, Top Choice Award, and has been featured in Baby Couture Magazine and Baby and Kids Magazine.  Loopy Gear can be seen annually in Denver at the Jackalope Indie Artisan Fair.
Recently, Nicole has designed for Cabaret Couture, Condom Couture Fashion Show and Whxyte Wedding Fashion Show supporting the transgender/gender non-conforming community.  She has worked on production crews for both London Fashion Week and PrideFest Denver, where she also curated an exhibit honoring the event and designer. Nicole has taught at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design since 2014 and now serves as Chair of Fashion Design.
Nicole’s enthusiasm, passion and pride for her students, faculty, department and school comes in spades.  She’s an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and will continue to serve and help as many people as she can reach.  Her drive for kindness, mindfulness, awareness and compassion led her to pursue her 200hr yoga teacher certification and 95 hr kids yoga certification.  Nicole can also be seen on several occasions teaching kids yoga in the Denver Metro area.
Course Credentialing
Accessories, Apparel, CAD Production Patternmaking, Construction I, Construction II, Construction III, Construction IV: Production Construction, Design Technologies, Draping + Drafting, Fashion Design I, Fashion Design II, Fashion Industry Survey, Internship, Product Development + Management, Senior Portfolio + Fashion Show, Sustainable Fashion, Textile Science