Nicolette “Niko” Gomez never expected to be an inspiration.
“I’m definitely grateful that my community sees me as someone that they’re able to come to with questions,” she said.
An entrepreneur and member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Gomez spent 10 years working at Casino Del Sol before realizing that there are more opportunities for growth for a Native.
“You don’t have to work for the government, and you don’t have to work for the casino. You can work for something,” she said. She set out to create her own opportunities.
Determined to carve her own path, she founded the Nopalito Network, a business that teaches web design, app design and digital marketing to aspiring entrepreneurs on Tribal reservations.
“People can use technology to advance themselves; it just doesn’t have to be mindless scrolling,” she said.
The network launched two years ago bringing resources and tools to reservations.
“You don’t just have to consume technology, you can build in it and create with it,” she said.
Creativity Through Technology
Gomez earned her associate’s degree in web design at Pima Community College, saying her interest in the field comes from wanting to be creative and her interest in technology.
“You don’t have to study computer science,” said Gomez. “It’s a lot deeper than just throwing some cute stuff on the page.”
Now, she is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design Arts and Practice at the College of Fine Arts with a minor in Entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona.
“I’ve found a community inside the School of Art that I just never really expected,” she said. “It has really opened a lot of doors and made me feel really like I belong at the university.”
Along with her coursework, Gomez also led the Yaqui-Tech Innovation Lab, a four-week program funded by the University of Arizona Provost Investment Fund. The lab taught Indigenous entrepreneurs on the reservation how to develop and design their own websites using no code, web development in WordPress.
JustArts Fellow
As the program gained traction, Gomez began to transition the program into a nonprofit.
“Through that, we will be able to continue the programming, and then hopefully expand to other reservations,” she said.
As a 2024-2025 JustArts Fellow, Gomez is taking her mission a step further with her project, “Digital Art Inspired by Indigenous Tradition.” The initiative introduces Indigenous students to U of A technology (ArcGIS) and cultural expression through AI-powered image generation with DALL-E.
“Finding a way to help students feel like they actually belong … I thought that was really important,” Gomez said. “They’re not really used to this big school, this big institution,” she said.
Her project gathers data based on where and what kind of art Indigenous students want to see on campus. From there, she’ll build a virtual map showing what the campus could look like with their art.
“We’re using AI platforms as tools to guide the creative process. Not everyone is creative so being able to move past those hurdles and still contribute to the creative process is what makes this a community-driven project.”
Gomez envisions this as a long-term project, even after her fellowship ends.
A Legacy Project
“This is something that could be handed off to another organization or another department at the university,” she said. “They can use this information to figure out what funds can be used,” she said.
A challenge she’s faced with this project is putting herself out there.
“Getting in front of people and being like, ‘I am this person, and I am doing this’ … putting yourself in places that make you feel a bit vulnerable,” she said.
While getting out of her comfort zone was daunting, Gomez admits that it’s a part of the university experience.
“If I didn’t put myself out there, I would have never gotten the funding for my program,” she said.
Gomez is a clear example ‘you can achieve anything you set your mind to.’ Gomez says the best thing anyone can do in school is to be curious.
“Don’t be shy, explore,” she said. “You can do whatever you want. There are no rules.”