``Nikki Bonner is a unicorn.
She first came to my attention when she interviewed for a job right out of college. She impressed me. That impression expanded as Nikki firmly took hold of and then bent that first opportunity into a shape that truly fit her talents. She excelled with every turn and twist along the way. We both benefited from her growing confidence and skills.
As a producer, she’s fearless. As a storyteller, she’s gifted. As a friend, she’s priceless.
Unicorn.``
― Chip Culpepper, Chief Creative Officer at Mangan Holcomb Partners
Once Upon a Time...
My strong imagination developed during a childhood spent playing in the woods of central Arkansas, fishing on Lake Ouachita, snapping peas and shucking corn from my grandparents’ garden, and reading every book I could get my hands on. My independent spirit also presented itself at a young age. Whether it was my mom telling her girlfriends “You know, she’s 5 going on 35,” or my dad bragging to our relatives about how I bought my first bike, I valued self-sufficiency. That spirit drove me to achieve – graduating both high school and college Magna Cum Laude.
After graduation came my first real experience with collaboration at an advertising agency in Little Rock. I won’t say there weren’t any growing pains, but what I gained was the understanding of how important it is to rely on the skill set of your team to achieve the best concepts and to find solutions when problems arise. As my career has developed, I’ve learned how much joy that process of brainstorming, testing out ideas, and problem solving brings me. I continued to apply those lessons in my position producing three national lifestyle shows for P. Allen Smith. I pitched segment ideas to my EP or Allen himself, sat with my editors to learn what they needed to create the best-looking show, and worked with vendors to find ways to deliver our content more efficiently. Years later, a new challenge of managing a team presented itself in my role as Executive Producer of Studio 512. For the first time, my competitive drive had to take a backseat as I focused less on coming up with the best pitch ideas and more on providing direction so that my team could come up with them. Studio 512 also challenged me in a new format of live television. Instead of curating 46 episodes per year, we were producing 250 daily shows. I moved to Austin in 2014 to launch the 30-minute program with a host and a producer, and in 2018 we grew to a 2-hour show for which I managed a staff of nine.
In April 2019, I decided to pass the torch to a talented EP, and take some time to give my creative core a chance to breathe. I moved to Tulum, Mexico, for what the locals call “una pausa.” And while I’m currently trying to decide what direction I want to take my life, I still love to explore opportunities to collaborate on new projects and create entertaining content.