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Miami International University of Art & Design student returns to school to pursue Fashion Design degree

Betina Bak


Student: Fashion Design Program, Associate of Arts

Born and raised north of Copenhagen, Denmark, Betina Bak decided to pursue her Associate in Arts degree in Fashion Design and fulfill her passion of creating garments after years of pursuing other career and familial opportunities. Having earned a bachelor’s degree in business English and Spanish from Copenhagen Business College in Denmark, Betina worked as an administrator and health insurance underwriter for International Health Insurance (now Bupa), including opening their London branch office. But, her dream was always to follow in her mother’s footsteps by working in the fashion world.

After years of traveling and moving around for business reasons with her husband and children, she took a leap of faith and decided to return to school and enrolled at Miami International University of Art & Design to pursue her dream. “I was a little apprehensive going back to school at my age, being a lot older than my peers, and especially managing school, children and my husband’s travel schedule, but we’ve made it work; I absolutely love being back in school, ” says Betina. Betina has had the opportunity to work behind the scenes in various fashion shows as a dresser and stylist and has also participated in photo shoots which have helped her fully understand the various aspects of design. She explains that one of the highlights since she decided to pursue fashion was meeting Carolina Herrera at one of her shows.

Betina’s fashion dream is coming to fruition as she is expected to graduate in June and already has a few niche ideas in mind to pursue. Several of her garments will be showcased on the runway for Style 2017, the university’s annual fashion show on March 31st at 7pm. In addition, she’s working on the Century 21 challenge as part of the Locales Festival on April 2, 2017 taking place at Bayfront Park where students are tasked with re-creating garments donated by Century 21 and giving it new life that will be displayed in the runway show as part of the festival. “To be backstage and styling the models wearing my designs – I love the adrenaline rush you get a few minutes right before the show,” says Betina.

#Style 2017