ABOUT NICOLE
I’m interested in the part nobody can see yet.
Most of the work I’m brought into doesn’t begin with a neat brief.
It starts with a feeling that something isn’t quite right. A brand has outgrown what got it here. There’s an opportunity nobody knows how to approach. Too many ideas are competing for attention. Or everyone is simply too close to the problem to see it clearly anymore.
That’s usually where I’m most useful.
I work across strategy, creative direction and design to find the clearest idea inside the mess — and turn it into something people can understand, believe in and act on.
ABOUT CHARLIE
2X WORLD BARBEQUE CHAMPION
Growing up in Greenville, SC, Charlie McKenna learned very early on about the art of true Southern BBQ. Grandma Lillie made sure of it. After attending Florida State University, McKenna graduated from New York’s Culinary Institute of America in 2000. He then cooked under legendary chef Norman Van Aken in Florida, before becoming a sous chef at two of Chicago’s four-star fine-dining landmarks: Tru and Avenues in The Peninsula Hotel.
Chef Charlie McKenna opened the flagship Lillie’s Q restaurant in July 2010 in Chicago, named for his Grandmother Lillie, who taught him the art of southern cooking back home in Greenville, SC. The goal was simple: Create a Southern-inspired BBQ experience that’s true to regional traditions and reimagined into unique, authentic and delicious flavors.
And he hasn’t slowed down since.
Since opening, McKenna and Lillie’s Q have garnered critical praise and awards from both local Chicago and national media – including being named “Best New BBQ Restaurant in the Country” by Food & Wine magazine. McKenna later opened additional locations in Chicago, Florida, and California.
THE BIG PICTURE
What’s really going on.
THREAD
The idea that connects everything.
DETAILS
The decisions that make it hold together.
FORWARD
What matters now, and what comes next.
MEET NICOLE
Equal parts instinct + rigor.
I’m Nicole, a strategist, creative director and designer with a particular love for founder-led brands and CPG.
I’ve built my career moving between the big picture and the smallest detail — helping shape brands, launch products, solve packaging problems, find the right words, rethink the direction and make the thousand decisions between the idea and the finished thing.
I don’t separate strategy from creative execution very neatly because, in real life, neither do brands.
The better I understand the business, the better the creative gets.
And the closer I stay to the work, the easier it is to see when something isn’t adding up.
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WHAT SHAPES THE WORK
CURIOSITY
CLARITY + CONVICTION
STRATEGY
DISCERNMENT
BIG PICTURE THINKING
BEAUTY + FUNCTION
THE UNEXPECTED
PAST EVENTS + COLLABORATIONS
McKenna has traveled across the U.S. and Australia for food, wine, and entertainment events including SXSW in Austin, South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami, Meatstock in Melbourne, and cooking at the James Beard House in New York.
He has been a guest on countless national media outlets such as The Rachael Ray Show, Windy City Live, and Rick Bayless’ Feed Podcast. He has cooked for both large scale and intimate private events for numerous global brands, celebrities, and athletes.
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THE DESIGNER
I work somewhere between the big idea and the thousand decisions it takes to make it real.
I’m Nicole Banks, a strategist, creative director and designer who helps brands find the clearest way forward — and make it real. I’ve spent my career working between strategy and execution, helping brands make sense of what they have, see what they’re missing and turn good ideas into something stronger.
My work has taken me across brand strategy, innovation, identity, packaging, campaigns, voice and the countless decisions that happen in between. I’m especially drawn to founder-led brands and established CPG companies —places where the thinking and the making can’t really be separated.
I like being close to the work. Close enough to understand the business, ask better questions and notice when something isn’t adding up. I’m most useful when the answer isn’t obvious.
When there are too many ideas. When something feels off but nobody can quite name why. When the brand has outgrown what used to work. Or when there’s a good opportunity sitting there and no clear path to it yet.
I don’t bring a rigid process or a predetermined answer. I look at what’s actually in front of us, find the thread and help decide what matters.
Sometimes that leads to a completely new direction. Sometimes it’s one small change that makes everything click.
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FOUNDER / CREATOR
lillie's q sauces and rubs
As he continued to travel the BBQ competition circuit won numerous awards including two first place wins at Memphis In May in 2007 and 2016 – which is widely regarded as the world championship of BBQ. It was during these competitions frrom Memphis to Alabama and the Carolinas, he created a Lillie’s Q sauce unique to each region along the way.
He soon after started serving those same regional sauces in the restaurant along with bottling them to meet the demand of local retailers.
Lillie’s Q Sauces & Rubs is now a nationally and internationally recognized brand with distribution in over 15,000 stores across the country and in Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
