By Priyanshi Katare
Azmarie Liu doesn’t brand herself as an artistically creative professional — not in the traditional sense anyway. Her creativity stems from her ability to be able to connect with people and sell them ideas. She studied marketing at the undergraduate level during her time at Babson College. “ I love working with people. Unlike other people who can like doing data analysis and excel, I like being able to understand what people want and need and be able to provide that for them,” she elaborates. Her passion for customer insights and communication made her undergrad work in marketing a game changer. “ I think every industry needs marketing. Be it fashion, pharmaceuticals or any other product, you will always need to let people know what you’re selling,” she elaborates, “this is what drew me to MSLCE as well — that it is essentially partially using marketing and other businesses to tell us more about the creative arts.”
Azmarie knew even before she had joined Babson that she wanted to be in the entertainment industry. She was inspired by comedy talk shows such as Last Week Tonight and the ability of these shows to use humor as a platform to talk about serious political issues. Her time at Babson was pivotal in helping her understand where she saw herself professionally. During the summer of 2018, she took up a month-long internship at Fun Factory Media in Shanghai as an Artist Coordinator. Most of her job revolved around making the Chinese version of Comedy Roast Central. Azmarie was responsible for brainstorming ideas to bring in more sponsors and studying viewership while coordinating the logistical aspects of production. This was her first introduction to the work of a producer and she instantly knew it was a good fit. “My time as an undergrad really allowed me to discover new things about myself,” she states.
Her love for developing relationships brought her to her first job out of college as an account manager at TAB. The choice of not starting out in the creative industry was intentional; she understood that there were certain business-oriented skills she needed before she attempted her hand at entertainment production. During her time at TAB she quickly picked up the art of persuasion and pitching — skills that she believes are essential if you want to be effective in production of any format of media.
Azmarie believes that she is now ready to step back into the creative industry. She joined the MSLCE program because to her it opens doors through its immersion trips and alumni connections. The program’s latest endeavour, “Creative Connect,”, a weekly series that brings students together with professionals from across the creative industries, has already helped her immensely even though she has only been here a few short weeks.
She hopes that someday she can change the narrative around diversity in the creative industries. “ I don’t believe you need to be artistically creative to be a part of this industry, “ she explains “creativity exists in many forms.”
Check out Azmarie’s student profile page at https://creative.northwestern.edu/people/student-profiles/azmarie-liu/.
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