Meet Azandria Freeman of Glamdotzan and Primo Mixes Bartending in Decatur

Today we’d like to introduce you to Azandria Freeman.

Azandria, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always wanted to model, but I’d always found every reason why I shouldn’t like my size, my skin tone, or my teeth. I was pretty shy and self-conscious growing up and kept to myself for the most part outside of school. During my time alone, I’d listen to music and stare at Essence, Allure, Seventeen, and Vogue magazines and studied the images hoping that one day I would get the chance to be on those pages. As I became older and became more confident, I had more freedom to experiment with my look more. While attending school at the University of Georgia, I was also a part-time student at YouTube University, where I gained a degree in making something out of nothing. I always had a knack for thrifting and loved playing with hair and makeup as a child but wasn’t allowed to wear the styles I wanted to wear until I was much older so when I decided to take a stab at cosmetology school, I went all out! I was able to experiment with color, length, and texture, and even got into doing my own makeup.

During this time, I also wanted to find a side hustle that would challenge me to get out of my shy shell while also being able to do something that I enjoyed and also give me a reason to dress up using my newly acquired makeup skills. I started researching bartending schools and decided to enroll in an accelerated program at the Professional Bartending School of Atlanta in 2017. After completing the course in one-week, it took me a while to find a job while having no experience, but I finally landed my first one a few months later and gained a ton of experience working in an arena. From there, I decided to take my talents to private events where I got experience with running bars independently and working with climates more intimately. After making the decision to leave my Clarke Kent job (support agent by day, bartender by night), and building clientele outside of the ones I’d met working for a staffing company, I decided to create my own bartending company, Primo Mixes Bartending so I could start booking clients directly.

The passion I developed while in that environment pushed me further into building a community online where I could share my journey with others. After a few years of trial and error, and with the help of my great friend, thesupremeluci, my brand, Glamdotzan, was born as a culmination of all my passions from modeling, to music, to mixing.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Then the pandemic hit… I had my first professional photoshoot with TNZ Agency in December and they really made me feel like I might know what I was doing. The encouragement I got from Nia and Los pushed me to continue working researching the industry and really trying to figure out where I could take my career, but at the time, I was still on the fence and pretty ignorant about what I could really do with a modeling career. When everything started to shut down in March, I was devastated, but it also ended up serving as a blessing in disguise since it allowed me to focus more on my modeling career and gaining more experience in that field.

Seeing all the fear and death around me really made me realize that if there was ever any time for me to pursue my dreams, it was now. I took my stimulus check, and I booked four shoots with some photographers that I had wanted to work with within Atlanta, including Tim McGuire Jr (@tmcguirejr), who I’ve worked with several times at this point. He was one of the first photographers that I really felt like I connected with while shooting, and I believe our images together are some of the strongest in my portfolio at this point. I’ve taken some posing classes like the Coco Rocha Modeling Bootcamp, and I’ve taken gems from every shoot that I’ve done in order to get better every time.

Please tell us about Glamdotzan and Primo Mixes Bartending.
Due to the uncertainty of the future of events because of the pandemic, bookings for Primo Mixes have been placed on hold, but I do have plans to sell pre-mixed drinks available for delivery for the holiday season so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I’m focused on my modeling currently, where I currently specialize in beauty, lifestyle, and fashion modeling, and I enjoy creating that type of content for my platforms and other brands. I also have a lot of product knowledge concerning hair and beauty products that I like to share on these platforms as well.

I’m building an engagement group with other creatives in my area in an effort to pass along every bit of information I come across. I believe that willingness to pay it forward and help others get in places of opportunity is what creates the most successful artists. I’ve also begun working with Bailey’s Entertainment Group, and I’ve been booked to work with a few local hair companies in Atlanta, like Wiggin It and 4C Only. I aspire to get more beautiful work with some of my favorite brands like NYX Cosmetics, Fenty Beauty, Outre or Sensationnel, but until then, I’m working on building my community of other models looking for support and building a better version of myself daily.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Of course, looking back, there were a ton of things I would have done differently. I probably would have gone to cosmetology school first had I known where the hair industry would be today. When it comes to modeling specifically, I would have directed some of my investments to other opportunities like more acting classes and just starting sooner in general. I’ve always been the biggest critic holding me back, and I believe I could have popped off a lot sooner had I not allowed my fear to paralyze me.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glamdotzan/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/azandria.freeman
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/glamdotzan

Image Credit:
Photographers: Anotoine Stephenson, Tim McGuire Jr, Jay Leak, Tyler Nelson, Devan Lowe, Tashiana Lexus, Hung Nguyen, Carlos Stephenson

Makeup: Devan Lowe, Da’marcus Jones, Tasia Kirby, Shanice Morgan

Hair: Ingird Young

Fashion: Être Vous, Fashionable Melanin, Acacia Creates

Model Features: Sefora Adjaho, Chinaza Ogbonna, Kateva Flint

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