Nicole Velik

Founder and Director, The Ideas Bodega

Nicole Velik is a leading Creativity and Innovation speaker, facilitator and trainer. She is the founder of creativity company, The Ideas Bodega. She is also host of Creativity Unpacked The Podcast and the event series, CreativeMornings Sydney.

For 15 years Nicole has facilitated and trained organisations across The United States, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, Africa and Asia. Her clients include The United Nations, Nike, Apple, LEGO, Spotify, Coca-Cola, TikTok and Google.

Nicole’s mission is to make creativity exciting, accessible and practical for her audiences. She believes we are all born creative and creativity is everyone’s business. Audiences leave her sessions with a new-found confidence in their own creativity.

In 2021, Nicole launched a podcast ‘Creativity Unpacked’. It debuted at number one for six weeks in the Apple Marketing charts. Nicole interviews brilliant creatives and together they unpack some big ideas. The overarching premise is that creativity is not elusive and it’s a skill we all possess. 

Nicole’s background is in advertising as a brand strategist. She spent most of her time in advertising working at Saatchi & Saatchi in Sydney and KBP in New York City. When Nicole returned to Australia in 2008 she pursued her passion for innovation and developing creative workplace cultures. She founded The Ideas Bodega in 2009 as a way to combine her passions and skill of empowering people, brands and creativity. 

Nicole is a regular speaker on creativity and innovation and has educated, entertained and inspired audiences at global conferences such as SXSW Sydney, Vivid Ideas, Ad:Tech, Promax BDA, CreativeMornings, Creative Innovation, CREA and Emergence Creative.

A recognised thought leader on creativity and innovation, Nicole has been interviewed and published in the Australian Financial Review, The ABC, CMO Magazine, Media Week and the Collective Magazine.

For 7 years Nicole has hosted CreativeMornings Sydney - A monthly, global lecture series for the creative industry. Sydney is one of 240 cities around the world to take part. 
  
When she steps out of the Bodega, Nicole fuels her own creativity by playing percussion in a 50 person samba band, playing guitar, writing songs and learning Portuguese.