Lindsey Nickel de la O

App developer

LINDSEY NICKEL DE LA O, the creative director and partner at Nickel Communications, a Sarasota advertising and public relations agency, has added mobile software development to her skill set and currently has three apps in development.

De la O’s interest in apps was sparked when she participated in a 2013 Tampa Bay StartupBus event, an annual global competition in which aspiring entrepreneurs are given 72 hours to create a product with strangers. She collaborated with Kevin Mircovich and Matt Foreman (director of Nickel’s Creative Cultivation Project, a program that helps students develop startups), to create Ticketslip. The app allows users to select an event they want to attend, withdraws the ticket cost before the release date, then purchases it the moment it goes on sale to ensure a good seat.

De la O and Foreman also developed Shoebox, an app geared toward millennials to help track their finances. Shoebox provides a visual breakdown of how money is spent based on the user’s priorities—rent, bills, groceries—so they know how much of their paycheck is left.

Her third app, StreetWize, is a crime watch app that notifies police or sends alerts to your smartphone during emergencies.

De la O is also working to create a Sarasota StartupBus. “It’s so gratifying when you have a creative idea and see it come to fruition every step of the way,” she says.  ■  By Chelsey Lucas