Brigitte Andrade, who lives in Miami Beach, is a public relations dynamo and digital artist. Her bright, lively art pieces have been exhibited in major cities around the world, including New York, Madrid, and Amsterdam. She is also the author/artist behind a series of comic books, including “The Legendary Soul Man Sam Moore.”
Originally from New Jersey, Andrade is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City (FIT). During her time at FIT, Andrade developed the marketing and business skills that helped her launch her career in New York City’s bustling “beauty business,” She was the managing director of Beauty Bookings where she created an international network for artists to showcase their talents with high-profile clients such as Vogue, Revlon, Harpers, and Clairol.
Following her time at Beauty Bookings, Andrade started her own agency, Brigitte Inc. There, she continued to represent domestic and international artists in the fashion and beauty industry, negotiating bookings for photo and film shoots. She also launched, Andrade International Productions Inc. where she began handling every aspect of the creative process from design layout to production.
In 1993, Andrade relocated her business to Miami Beach, and in 1999 she published the first issue of her comic book series, “The Adventures of Bibi and Friends.”
In her ArtSpeak video conversation, Andrade discusses how the evolution of her comic art began as another method of advertising.
“For me, it was just another clever, creative way really of advertising,” Andrade explains during the interview.
Yet as she continued to publish comic books, Andrade felt a calling to expand her work from solely a method of advertising to a platform for expressing her own artistic voice.
Today, she regularly publishes installments of “The Adventures of Bibi and Friends” series, which chronicles the travels and business dealings of a fictional public relations executive as she conducts her business throughout Miami Beach and surrounding areas.
Having called Miami Beach her home for the past two decades, Andrade has become an influential member of the local community and an advocate for preserving the rich culture of the area. One of her recent projects is a comic book documenting the life story of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Grammy award-winning artist, and Miami native, Sam Moore.
The comic book includes art pieces illustrating the close friendship between Moore and Muhamad Ali. The pieces featuring Moore and Ali were included as part of a South Beach exhibit commemorating the 60th anniversary of the historic Muhammad Ali–Sonny Liston heavyweight world championship boxing match.
To Andrade, comics serve as a way of uniting people regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, and other elements of diversity. She sees comics as an all-inclusive way to foster connection and above all, have fun.
“Everything I do must be F.U.N… Fun!” Andrade said emphatically. “As long as you open my book, you smile, something makes you laugh, you’re giggling, you’re having fun. That’s what counts. That’s the most important thing.”
Watch the entire video conversation with Bibi Andrade on the website of Caplin News’ sister publication, ArtSpeak: https://artspeak.fiu.edu/interviews/bibi-andrade/
Also watch video conversations between Maggie Salas and Raymond Elman about forthcoming ArtSpeak video interviews in the “WHAT’S NEW” section of the ArtSpeak website. Maggie Salas is the Tech Conversions Producer for the FIU Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator and Raymond Elman is the founding Editor-in-Chief of ArtSpeak.b
