Tell us about yourself:
I'm Audrey Malek, I'm 23 years old, and I’m from Washington State and New Hampshire, but I've been living in DC for almost six years. I'm also a professional ballet dancer.
What is your ethnicity/background?
I'm mixed race. My mom is mostly African American and a little bit of Native American and my father is white, and his ethnicity is mostly Czechoslovakian and Greek.
How do you define beauty?
I think beauty it can be quite indescribable. It's definitely from within. Even people that can make themselves up pretty, are sometimes really ugly. I think, to me, it's looking into someone's eyes, and seeing their kindness and their love. That's beauty.
How does the fashion industry make you feel about your own beauty?
I think the fashion industry can make people feel quite insecure. Me personally, I don't know if insecurity is one of those things I’ve dealt with from the industry. I've always drew drawn inspiration from looking at magazines, poses, colors, fashion, and makeup. Thus, it hasn't had such a negative impact on me. But also, as a dancer, we are quite hyper critical. So either way, I'm always critical of myself, so it doesn't really matter whether or not it’s from something shown in front of me, like fashion. I'm always want to be better and change something.
How would you like the fashion industry to change?
I would really like the fashion industry to actually be inclusive and not just inclusive when it's trendy.
What are your favorite activities/hobbies?
I’ve always loved dancing, I'll dance forever. On the side, I like to do my makeup a lot. I like to experiment with different looks and colors. I like doing a lot of drag makeup as well.
So the reason we're all here today is because of pax. pax is the first luxury fashion brand that exclusively caters to people of color. That means we work exclusively with people of color, we buy from brown and black businesses, everyone on our team is a person of color. How does it feel to be collaborating with us today?
It feels amazing. Like finally, I’ve been waiting for something like this for years.