Thriving in the LA Fashion District

Originally from Long Beach, California, Grace Skukan earned an associate degree in fashion merchandising from Long Beach City College before transferring to ASU FIDM to complete her bachelor’s degree in fashion with a focus on business management. 
She chose ASU FIDM, which operates in both downtown Phoenix and Los Angeles, in part because it allowed her to stay rooted in Los Angeles and fully immerse herself in the fashion industry, including an internship with Kalimo, a global textile company with offices in Brazil, Europe and Los Angeles.

“I live, work and go to school here. It’s a huge hub, and I love being right in the middle of it,” she said.

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Changing the landscape of ASU ceramics

“When I first arrived in Arizona and got started in the program, I quickly realized that access to affordable ceramic materials and supplies was severely limited, far more limited than it was for me in Canada,” she said.

Ponsart said through her relationship with Phoenix College, she was able to create all of her work from 100% discarded, recycled clay.

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Using design to care for others

After several years working in speech therapy, Marisa Costagliola realized she wanted to make a broader impact — but she wasn’t quite sure how. 

It wasn’t until she learned about The Design School’s Experience Design graduate program based at the ASU MIX Center that everything began to fall into place. 

“I’m not an artist in the traditional sense,” Costagliola says. “I’m a creative problem-solver. I love hearing about people’s challenges and figuring out how to make things better.”

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Feeling the spark

“Being in that fast-paced, high-energy environment sparked something in me,” said Haneen Mutaz Mousa Saqer, who graduated from The Sidney Poitier New American Film School in May. “I realized how much I loved being on set and how alive it made me feel.”

Born in Amman, Jordan, and growing up in Doha, Qatar, Saqer had always felt a deep connection to the arts. She began painting and drawing at a young age, and developed a love for photography as she grew. When a photography mentor encouraged her to explore filmmaking, “that advice ended up changing everything,” Saqer said.

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Merging passions

When it came to choosing a major, Leah Donnelly explored various creative paths — advertising, fine art and design — but nothing quite captured the full scope of her interests until she discovered the School of Arts, Media and Engineering, now The GAME School. 

The Herberger Institute Outstanding Undergraduate student for spring 2025 said the program’s unique interdisciplinary approach offered the perfect space to merge her passions for art, technology and critical thinking, setting the stage for an academic experience that would challenge and inspire her in ways she never expected.

“What really caught my attention was how this program wasn’t just about creating technology — it was about understanding why we create it,” Donnelly said. “It’s not just messing around with new tools; it’s thinking critically about how we can build better futures.”

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Finding new ways of thinking

During her time at ASU pursuing an MFA in dance with a concentration in interdisciplinary digital media and performance from the School of Music, Dance and Theatre, Valkyrie Yao was broadly recognized for her unique artistic vision, receiving the Outstanding Research Award by ASU Graduate Student Government, a Creative Constellation and Design and Arts Corps Grant from the Herberger Institute, an Interdisciplinary Arts Fellowship with Ballet Arizona, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Scholarship, and the Teaching Excellence Award. 

But she said one of her greatest accomplishments was building a community of support within the arts and expanding her creative vision.

“Working with professors and peers from diverse disciplines opened up new ways of thinking and expanded my understanding of how art can live both inside and outside traditional performance spaces,” she said.

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