Nekita emphasizes the importance of engaging with communities and promoting participation and dialogue through graphics, place, and radical imagining. She believes that by creating spaces for critical conversation, knowledge exchange, and collective experimentation, we can build new and robust design solutions that tell stories, illicit emotion, spark new ideas, and heal communities.

Nekita Thomas is an innovative designer, educator, and researcher, known for her commitment to harnessing design as a powerful tool for social impact, particularly in the realms of race, well-being, and the design of the built environment. She is an Assistant Professor of Design at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she focuses on developing and implementing frameworks and tools that provoke critical thinking, knowledge exchange, and radical imagining. Her approach is characterized by a persistent inquiry into the "what ifs" and "why nots" of design, especially as it intersects with graphic design, civic engagement, and tactical urbanism.

Nekita's work is a dynamic blend of placemaking solutions, public installations, and participatory design workshops, all aimed at steering communities toward healthier environments and futures. She developed "Supergraphic Landscapes," a framework and toolkit designed to help organizations, communities, and individuals identify racialized place-based designs and create anti-racist design solutions. This initiative has evolved through collaborations with the National Public Housing Museum, the Chicago Sukkah Festival featured in the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial, SkyART Chicago, and the University of Illinois.

Her research and projects have been presented at national and international venues, including the Krannert Art Museum, the American Institute of Graphic Arts Design Educators Conference (AIGA), the Feminist Decolonial Act of Care Conference (FEMDAC), and the International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference (IASDR).

Nekita holds an MFA in Visual Studies from the University at Buffalo New York and BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Nekita is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Design for Responsible Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.