Nicole Motta

Nicole Motta (she/her/hers) is a Creative Director and Visual Strategist based in NYC with over a decade of experience in editorial, art direction, and creative production across photography, design, technology, and publishing. As a Peruvian-American visual storyteller, innovator, and practitioner, she explores the intersection of photography, design, AI, and visual culture, examining how human perspective remains essential in our rapidly evolving technological landscape.

As founder of Fresh Mercado, she develops platforms that bridge traditional visual practices with innovation, helping visual practitioners and innovators navigate our ever-evolving visual industry. Her initiative, Cafecito, has provided personalized consultations to over 150 image-makers, creating a vital feedback loop between individual development and collective industry advancement.

Nicole’s professional experience includes work in editorial, technology, and creative agencies such as Meta, Apple, and Selman. She holds a BFA in Photography & Imaging from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (where she previously served as an adjunct instructor) and a minor in Business from NYU Stern. She has certifications from Droga5’s D5in10 program and Yale’s Business School of Management and is a former board member for AIGANY.

Fresh Mercado

Fresh Mercado is a visual culture platform translating creative intelligence for the future of image-making and tastemaking. As photography, design, and image-based media intersect with AI, FM helps professionals, artists, and in-house creative teams understand cultural shifts through writing, forecasting, events, and consulting. It is the home of Cafecito, a free annual 1:1 consulting initiative for visual creatives.