Azure Curtis, Digital Arts
Azure Curtis ‘22 has a passion for design and people, leading her to impact the campus community through her own business: Rae’s Kreative Studio (RKS). Curtis wants to support other artists through RKS by giving them a space to create whenever and however they want. Until she is able to open a physical studio, she will continue to make her own flower shadow boxes, sell her art prints, and create custom items for clients like logos, flyers, and stationery.
“I’ve always wanted to start my own business because who wouldn’t want to work for themselves?” she jokes. “But it's way more than that. I want to have the creative freedom to make what I want without restrictions. There is power in taking an idea from your mind and holding it in your hands. It's encouraging and gives me more drive, especially when your idea brings joy and excitement to someone else.
A Canton resident, Curtis initially chose Malone to compete in track and be close enough to regularly visit her family.
“At first, I didn't think about Malone as an option,” she said. “Even though I've been on this campus since I was nine years old, running for an AAU team, I didn't realize it was a university until my sophomore year of high school. Now I'm so glad I'm here; it's kind of funny how things turned out.”
Her path to the right program of study wasn't a linear one. She initially enrolled as a pre-physical therapy student because she wanted to help people recover from injuries but decided that wasn't the right career choice for her. She is now studying digital arts because of her love for graphic design.
“I'm so glad that our digital arts program prepares me with the knowledge and skills I'll need to do the graphic design work I enjoy,” she said. “I have always had a creative and problem-solving mind, and I hope this ability can solve others' design problems. Graphic design keeps me exploring and learning myself better, as well as learning how people express themselves. And my minor, marketing, teaches me how the world looks at the work of an artist. Viewing what I do as both a consumer and a creator makes me more aware as a person and as a professional.”
Active in a variety of ways as a student, Curtis has gained valuable skills through her hands-on experiences of being a student athlete, student senator, staff member of the Aviso (Malone's student paper), student leader for the Office of Multicultural Services, and intern for University Relations.
“Co-curricular involvement helped me to understand how to work with different kinds of people in different kinds of settings," she said. “Honest conversations show us what's beyond the surface and help us understand someone's experiences, as well as their personality, goals, and upbringing. Learning to be a leader is not an easy task, and my Malone experiences have helped me learn how to have open conversations, even about unpopular decisions.”
After graduation, Curtis wants to work locally to help her gain more industry experience. She is excited to travel and engage with large artist communities in different regions of the country.