About Us | aZul - Fashion, Art & Design

about aZul - Fashion, Art & Design

aZul - Fashion, Art & Design, Inc. (formerly aZul For Better Living, Inc.) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides post secondary, alternative creative programs in design for adults with disabilities and their families.

Founder and CEO, Sandra Raffaelli, after working for years in special ed classrooms in the Chicago Public School District, started her passion to create opportunities to support individuals with disabilities for independence, dignity and self-made success. She started aZul in Bogota, Colombia in 2013. After making a great positive impact, she then was encouraged to establish the organization in the United States in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2015.

Our team consists of caring professionals and volunteers who merge their experience, design, art, social work, psychology and human rights, to create design programs for people with developmental disabilities. We are proud and committed to what aZul stands for and strive to support our Creatives and Collaborators to develop artistic strengths and self-expression, while inspiring them to create their own micro-enterprises. We continue every day to learn and make new connections, and hope to bring joy to the West Palm Beach Community.

our vision

Our vision is to create an arts community where we don’t have to talk about inclusion

because it will be natural for people to interact with adults with disabilities at a dignified level.

THE STORY OF AZUL

2013

aZul Por Un Mejor Vivir is founded in Colombia.
After working for many years with Chicago Public Schools in special education, our President and Founder Sandra Raffaelli moved to Bogota, Colombia to start aZul. Combining her passion for art and commitment to individuals with disabilities.

“I always knew that aZul was going to be the name. I loved the sonority of the word and it being the color for autism. It represents the sky and the ocean and fluctuates from a calm mood to very strong actions.”

aZul's vision.

She realized from her experience that parents did not have the tools to continue supporting the educational process at home. And that tons of resources were available children and teens, but once aged out of high school they did not have many opportunities.

From this Sandra decided that aZul’s programs were going to be oriented to adults with developmental disabilities, and developed lesson plans for families so they could continue learning at home.

2014

aZul's first team.

aZul welcomed its first team with Oriana Velasco Ramirez and Claudia Cecilia Ramirez Cardona. Today, Orianna is greatly empowered as a woman who has reached a lot of independence. She has traveled with her dance group to Brazil, and is still successful.

Shortly after, Sandra was serving more families, offering services in public spaces as well as their homes. All she had was a bike given to her by Northside Learning Center students in Chicago in 2012. She would commute all around Bogota
for about 36 km to support different families in a single day.