Nicole started singing in the show at the age of 3. She sang, “I Wanna Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart”, while her Grandpa played the guitar. A few years later she began performing with her four sisters and one brother doing trick-roping, can-can, clogging, singing, and a dog act with poodles and dalmations.

Nicole and her siblings also appeared as extras in various television shows including Our House, Knott’s Landing, Highway to Heaven, and Troop Beverly Hills. In the fourth grade, Nicole was chosen out of school to sing a duet during a Christmas program at Universal Studios.

At the age of 15, Nicole took over the main horse act with her beautiful palomino stallion, Majestic. The ‘high school’ act showcased various stunts and tricks set to music. The act was originally performed by her Grandfather who passed away only four months after Nicole first started performing the act.

Nicole attended Van Nuys High Performing Arts Magnet. She performed all three years with the school’s elite dance company called Van E.D.G.E. Nicole continued performing in the Carson Family Western Show until she was eighteen and moved to Provo, Utah to attend Brigham Young University. She was nominated by her peers as ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ and was determined to make that happen.

With the initial intention of studying fashion design, Nicole changed her major to graphic design after discovering her love for advertising and creating designs that have a marketing objective. She was one of only a few design students that also studied marketing and copywriting. Her senior year, she was elected president of the BYU Advertising Federation—student chapter of the American Advertising Federation. She was awarded a Utah Advertising Federation Scholarship, a BYU Design Department Talent Award, a BYU Management Society Scholarship—Los Angeles Chapter, an Outstanding Service Award from the BYUAF, and a Special Recognition Creativity and Ad Design award from the Daily Universe. She completed an art direction internship with FJCandN, the second ranked advertising agency in Salt Lake City.

Nicole met Gabe Bonilla at church during her Junior year and couldn’t believe that she had found a Southern California boy who was also a designer. It was love at first site and they were married seven months later. Nicole and Gabe graduated from Brigham Young University in 1998. Nicole graduated with a bachelors degree in graphic design with an emphasis in advertising and Gabe graduated with a bachelors of fine art in illustration.

After graduation, Gabe and Nicole moved to Costa Mesa in Orange County, California. Nicole worked as an art director at an advertising agency and Gabe worked as a graphic designer at a design firm. They felt it was time to start a family and Nicole quit her job to start freelancing. Nine months later, their first daughter, Danielle, was born. After several years of working from home, the workload became so great that Gabe quit his design job to work from home too. Nicole and Gabe have been working from a home studio ever since and enjoy being able to raise their four children—Danielle, Tyler, Gavin, and Rebekah.

The Bonilla family moved to Chandler two years ago to enjoy a larger home, a great family-oriented community, and a western equine lifestyle. If Nicole isn’t on her computer she’s playing with the kids, interior decorating, scrapbooking, sewing, making fresh whole wheat bread, or learning how to rope steer. Nicole recently joined the Cowgirls Historical Foundation and enjoys the opportunity it gives her to honor her own western heritage and promote the equestrian way of life.