Nicole “Coco” Morales is an artist, maker, and baker born and raised in San Jose, California. Her education is in design and visualization, and her background is in full-stack marketing, communications, and event management. Coco recently left her job as Director of Marketing and Communications at SCU’s School of Engineering, where she had been an employee for the past 14 years. She has since turned her focus back to her first love of art and design, motivated by the challenge of finding unique ways to leverage emerging technology for her artistic creations.

It all started when...

As a child, I was always around creativity, having many artistic family members. I was always impressed with my mom's drawings and her ability to draw miniature designs to fit on women's nails. My grandma painted amazing pictures and replicas of Thomas Kinkade. My cousin would draw cartoon characters that looked just like the originals, and my uncle could draw any character, pin-striped, airbrushed, and is well-known for his lowbrow and tiki artwork. 

One of my earliest memories of wanting to "be an artist" was sitting around the table at Christmas as my uncle would draw us pictures. I was around 6 years old and remember being enthralled by his skills and wanting to be just like him, "when I grew up."

Though my designs are much different than any of my family members', it's because of them that I am inspired to keep drawing, keep painting, and to create something beautiful each day.

~ Coco