Community Highlights: Meet Katrina, Courtnay and Adam Team Azulita

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katrina, Courtnay, and Adam Team Azulita.

Hi Katrina, Courtnay, and Adam, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
The idea that has now become Azulita was planted while Courtnay and Katrina were Special Education teachers at the same high school. We absolutely loved our students, but were craving more. More opportunities, growth, and time for creativity to flow. After we both left the classroom, we were discussing our passions for curriculum design and how we wished we could share with educators all over the world making a difference in their unique learning spaces. The excitement was palpable and contagious! As soon as Adam, our web magician and design imagineer, heard about this idea, they were all in. During a “hot educator summer”, we designed over 80 classroom materials, sprouted a gorgeous website, recorded a variety of videos, authored blog content to support educators and encourage self-care, as well as connected with our community. With the increasing demands on educators, we maintain our commitment to supporting them. As a result, over 90% of our materials and content is free. After our launch in July 2019, we saw steady growth.

We were leaning into educator needs, which brought us to create some much-needed Social-Emotional curriculum. These month-long bundles (for just $8 a piece), garnered us kind praise and more recognition. As we were growing and continuing to produce beautifully-designed curriculum to support student focus and enjoyment, COVID-19 entered the picture. We promptly shifted our focus to provide essential digital learning materials and double-down on our emphasis on educator self-care. Lately, we’ve been working diligently on a year’s Social-Emotional curriculum, complete with digital learning materials and resources. We can’t wait to reveal this huge project very soon! In the meantime, we will continue our commitment to design inspiring materials for the learners in all our lives, as well as help educators cultivate calm in their lives and prioritize themselves.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
With the pandemic, we’ve struggled to connect with educators, learners, and families. Usually, we could attend workshops, conventions and work in schools to share our expertise, designed materials, and self-care resources. We would love it you could share our story with any educators and learners you know! We’d love to be able to inspire, support, and grow with you!

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a team of three, fueled by passion and a love of learning. Azulitas are beautiful, strong succulents that thrive in even the harshest environments. Just like educators. Despite their resilience, the stakes keep getting higher. They’re burdened with more work and required to pay for more out of their own pocket each year. We started Azulita to lighten the load and support the incredible work educators, learners, and families do. We offer engaging materials, self-care resources, and a safe place for you to thrive. Courtnay: The thing I’m most proud of is how much we have been able to offer that I never had when I was a teacher. I was always thinking “why hasn’t anyone made that?” At the time I never had the time to really make things the way I wanted them to be. I also didn’t have the tools or the knowledge. With this team I’ve been so astonished by the things we’ve been able to create. Kids deserve beautiful, intentional pieces that help them come to their own understanding. Educators deserve to have the resources they need in order to spend their time where it matters most, one on one with their kids. With Azulita, I feel that as a team we’ve been able to make a dent in that resource deficit. I’m super proud of that. Adam: I am proud of us all for learning to take better care of ourselves, and for believing that everyone deserves to be treated humanely at their workplace. There are countless unjust workplace hierarchies, with those in power at the top stomping on everyone below them. We’ve all had jobs like this, where we have no next to no autonomy. We have no choice but to do someone’s bidding while they reap the lion’s share of the profits as our mental and physical health suffer. Sure, starting your own business can be stressful as hell – but it also gives you the power to decide as a group, like we have – that we’ll never treat anyone, including ourselves like that. I want to do everything in my power to topple that structure, change that dynamic and bring power back to the people. Katrina: I am most proud that through working with this phenomenal team I have found my authentic voice. I feel confident in who I am and what I have to offer as a curriculum writer, yoga instructor, and genuine person. I feel that this voice is best represented through our social-emotional curriculum bundles. I absolutely love them! Every activity included is one that would be enjoyable and powerful for me to complete. We believe that all items we create should be engaging, enjoyable, and meaningful for learners and educators alike.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Katrina: When I was little, my grandparents lived in Taiwan. My family went to visit them there. It was such a powerful experience, especially for a six to seven year old girl. I remember so vividly hearing a bell ring and seeing students come outside to clean the school. I was struck by how cool that was and how different cultures can have diverse values and lessons for us all. It is vital for us to step outside our comfort zones, experience new things, and listen to and learn from people who are different from us. Courtnay: I always loved animals. We had tons of pets when I was growing up. In middle school I was encouraged to volunteer with a local animal welfare organization, Animal Aid, where I grew up in Michigan. Every Saturday, me and a friend would help people connect with their perfect pet. I loved the look on people’s faces when they saw their new pet for the first time. They would light up! It was always the best way to spend a Saturday. It taught me how important community is. The volunteers who fostered pets or, like us who helped people find and bond with their new pets, were doing it so we could all be better and more whole. We all need each other and I learned through that experience that showing up for each other is the greatest gift in the world… also not to mess with six toed cats who seem very unconvinced that they should leave their cage. Adam: I was privileged to go to computer camp at the University of Michigan when I was in my mid-teens. I had been interested in art and design from a young age. I vividly remember dorking out over early websites, magazine layouts, and movie posters for hours. And now I was getting an opportunity to make this stuff? It seemed too good to be true. It was there I first learned graphic and web design tools and techniques, many of which I still use today – nearly 25 years later. When I reflect back on this memory, I remember how privileged I was and continue to be as a white cis male, whose family could afford to send them to computer camp. Without opportunities like this, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now, to help create and run Azulita. It is my hope that I can in some small way help inspire others through our materials, resources and collaborations.

Pricing:

• Year of Social-Emotional curriculum bundle $50
• Semester of Social-Emotional curriculum bundle $30
• Month of Social-Emotional curriculum bundle $8
• Transition assessment and planning bundle $5
• Back to school teacher essentials bundle $1.00

Contact Info:

• Email: yourfriends@azulita.org
• Website: https://azulita.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growazulita/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growazulita
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTTpYISLaWXpftKE13fyE_w

Image Credits
Azulita