Nicole Cotton is the program manager for the CITRIS Workforce Innovation program. In 2019–20, she worked with the EDGE in Tech Initiative at UC to create Inclusive Pathways Into Tech and Entrepreneurship, a course that brought students from social sciences, humanities and engineering to work on product ideas that addressed social justice issues. More recently, she worked at the UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies overseeing student interns and researchers in the newly established Diversity and Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program. She also served as an Americorps Vista worker, administering ARRA sub-grants and technical assistance to nonprofits that offered workforce development programs.
Cotton holds a certificate in diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace from the University of South Florida Muma College of Business and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. In her spare time, she enjoys spoiling and training her mini-Goldendoodle puppy.