Julia Morales

Julia Morales ’17 has been fascinated with the arts since she can remember. While she didn’t get accepted into the film program, she attended Purchase anyway, drawn by the prevalence of the arts.

Finding a Major

The Monroe, NY native declared arts management as her major at the end of her first year here and hasn’t looked back. “I’m so glad I did! I got to stay in the artsy environment I belong in, while studying a form of business,” she explains. 

Always infatuated with fashion, style, and lifestyle magazines, she started her own blog. “Don’t Change the CHANEL was inspired by my love for fashion, and my interest in film and television production, which is where the clever pun comes in.”

Interests Converge

As a member of Choral Pleasure, the student-run a cappella singing group, she’s found an outlet for her love of singing. And, in her role as a Resident Assistant (RA), which she calls transformative, she’s honed many skills. “My management, social, and problem-solving skills have grown exponentially because of this job, and all my friends are right there with me!” she says.

For her senior project, she hoped to create something new that would synthesize her passions and the skills she’s acquired here. The current political climate, coupled with the Black Lives Matter movement, inspired Morales to create a new publication, an online magazine devoted to diversity through topics like health, fashion, art, beauty, and life.

Daily Moda

She enlisted the help of fellow arts management major Manfred Joa ’17, and together they launched Daily Moda. They tapped into their arts management toolbox, especially Social Media Marketing. “It gave us all the resources to be able to grow an audience even before the magazine was launched,” she says. 

Their November 2016 launch party was both a talent show and fundraiser held, fittingly, in the Multicultural Center.

Morales and Joa would love to bring more people onto the Daily Moda team. It’s been an ongoing challenge to raise funds and find content contributors, but happy with the results so far, they hope to expand the magazine next semester and beyond. 

They even hope to raise enough funding to create a print version, but graduation is on the horizon. Morales hopes to enter the fashion industry as a stylist or creative director.

She seems to have a great head start.