Month: January 2025

Graduated in 2022 with a major in Music Therapy. Principal Instrument: cello.

Position: Clinical Research Coordinator at the Neuroscience Institute Childrens Hospital Colorado, a large hospital that does research as well as treatment. Andrew supports the neurology research portfolio, coordinates project in devpeds (devleopmental pediatrics), rehab, and migraine research. He sees research participants who are also at the hospital and is their go-to person if something goes wrong or they have questions. Andrew supports telehealth studies as well, and he coordinates in partnership wtih other childrens hospitals.

Overview: While at Berklee Andrew did an internship at Boston Childrens Hospital and he studied with Neuroscience professor Dr. Erica Knowles and worked as a research coordinator for one of her projects. Covid hit right as he was looking for internships to complete his Music Therapy degree, and most places were too preoccupied to want interns. Andrew moved home to California and worked retail, saving up money to cover the expenses related to a long, unpaid internship. He finally found and did this internship in the first half of 2022. After that, he applied for music therapy jobs, landing one in Denver, Colorado.

However, both that job and the job afterward were stressful, with low pay, little support, and a high burnout rate. Andrew realized that if he stayed doing this he’d lose the love, so he applied for other positions. One application was to a different position at Childrens Hospital Colorado, but they though his experience made him an excellent fit for his current position, which he was hired into in mid-2023.
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You can see Andrew’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: “I love working with patients and families. When there’s a study that’s truly benefitting a family. When you can see it and get the feedback, even before the data analysis, we get to actually see the benefits of the research we’re doing. Also, those of us who are drawn to research ask a lot of questions. The more you know, the more questions you have. It’s exciting to never be at the end.”

“I took all of Dr. Erica Knowles’s classes. Biopsych propeled me into where I am. I had this fascination with the neuroscience of music. She helped me explore ways to answer those questions, meet people at other institutions to explore what is possible, in and out of music therapy.”

“It’s hard to break into reserach with no experience. Any way to get experience, even shadowing or data entry can ehlp. Figure out what area of research interests you. What are you curious about? What area will help you explore that? Most reserach is with cells rather than humans.”

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Graduated from BoCo in 2015 with a major in Dance.

Position: Mental Health Conselor at Northeast Psychological Wellness, an all-remote psycological counseling practice with roughly 20 therapists who serve clients in New York. Chistiana works clients ages 7 – 30 with a host of different issues/needs, and is meeting with clients twenty hours/week or slightly more. She currrently has a provisional permit, which will become a full license once she has completed 3,000 clinical hours.

Overview: Christiana always wanted to help people, but didn’t see that as a career. After finishing BoCo she moved to NYC and went all-in on dance. For five years she got a variety of performances. Some paid well, others less so. To make ends meet, Christiana worked some side jobs, including as the front-desk person at a small, exclusive gym, where people would talk to her a lot about their lives. In 2018 she worked for a wellness company that did workout, movement, and wellness brand stuff. That made her start thinking about what she really wanted to do. Stay with this wellness company and grow her career? Customers were using her like a therapist. She was starting to feel physically tired from dancing, and wasn’t enjoying the whole rehearsal process. Then in 2020 Covid shut everything down.

Christiana asked herself, “What do I want to do when the pandemic is over? What meaning should my life have.” She felt hre career had to evolve, started reseraching grad schools, and realized she could complete a degree done in 2 years. Christiana considered dance/moment therapy, but felt regular therapy has more career oportunities. She applied to grad school in early 2021 and started at Pace University’s Masters of Mental Health Counseling that fall. During her last year of grad school, she interned somewhere else, another private practice, during her last year of grad school. Northeast was on the list of places she could apply to, but once she got an offer she took it. A colleague spoke highly of Northeast. Christiana reached out to Northeast, and had an interview which went really well. She got the job May 2023, starting October 2023 after her degree was complete.
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You can see Christiana’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I never anticipated I’d work remotely. Yet nearly all my education was remote. “I love working remotely. I came to find during my internship that for time keeping sake it’s so efficient. It also delivers a very literal boundary, putting an end to a session–it allows you to wrap up the time with a bow. I have a nice work-life balance. I give my call my full time attention, then literally can step away from it.”

“At BoCo I learned how to sit in space and be comfortable in space. I loved improvization, being in the moment. It’s like ballet technique is theory. Tuere are theories. You have to know that to be able to dive in and let it flow. That comes from the improvization I was taught. Empowering us to have a creative voice–each dancer at BoCo was so unique! That individuality let me feel empowered to be in this space. I feel proud of my background.”

“Working from a place of self-compassion, being on your own side, will let you move in a direction that feels aligned with you. So many times you feel some pressure to work professionally doing what you studied, but it may come from a place of insecurity or obligation that’s not aligned. Rather than feelling shame, have some self-compassion. Take a moment to relaxe and breathe and think about how you want to be in the world. That’ll allow you to connect to your joy, which may be to perform for ever, and may not be. I didn’t think I’d stop, but it evolved that way. Welcome and embrace that change.”

“If you want to go into counseling, know that you have to look in the mirror a lot in this field. Your life, your thoughts about the future. That can be a big experience, and that continues into this job. You are the instrument, much like in music, dance, and theater. You use all of yourself. It’s the most beautiful craft, it’s wonderful to be a person helping another person. Ask what you hope to gain out of this. It can be a great career, but can be an incredible calling and vocation and way to be of service in life.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee/BoCo alumni

Graduated from BoCo in 2015 with a major in Musical Theater.

Position: Compensation Manager at WE Communications, a multinational Public Relations and Communciations Agency with around 1,500 employees globally. Daniel’s position is a combination of HR, finance, and data analysis. He helps set the person’s total compensation (salary, benefits, bonus structures, etc.) from the HR perspective. “I work with leaders to set the compensation philosophy of the company. I work with external data to set compensation structures. Then I work with talent teams and other business leaders to hire and bring on employees to bring on the structure I establish.”

Overview: David moved to NYC after graduation. For 5 years he did side jobs for money while going to many additions and doing some theater jobs though nothing huge. Then Covid hit and the theaters all closed down. Wanting a steady income and a clear career path, David took some finance courses. In late 2020 a friend and fellow BoCo graduate worked at a tech firm and that connection helped David get an entry level position doing accounts payable.

As the pandemci receded and theaters started opening up, Daniel wanted to resume performing, but also loved his job where he was working remotely and had a lot of flexibility “I saw no conflict pursuing both careers.” He worked at this tech firm for 2 years, got promoted a few times, and by the end was transitioning from finance to HR. He wanted to a more HR-focused job and applied for various positions, getting his current one.
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You can see David’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: “I went to school for performing, but I’ve always had a science/analytical brain that I want to stretch. Finance, money management, the idea of helping people understand how they get paid, ensuring companies give people a livable wage is really motivating and enjoyable and stretches that part of my brain that performing doesn’t.”

“My BoCo degree makes me overqualified for many positions! The theater world provides you with rejection, then you change and adapt yourself in order to better fit the position. The corporate world is no different. Also, at school we studied human behavior. That translates into the real world and taking on new challenges. It’s invaluable. I wish I’d figured that our sooner.”

“Always be open to the idea of change. Don’t hold yourself to a rigid standard. Life throws different challenges at you. My ability to embrace change has allowed and opened up another world for me.” I’d like to hold myself accountable to that for years to come. Who knows what I’ll be doing in a few years. I want to be the type of person who’s open to that shifting and knowing I’ll be OK.”

“I still have an agency in NYC, and I audition once or twice a month. I’m able to balance auditions for projects I’d genuinely love doing, but I’m no longer in the phase of my life where I wake up at 7 am for an open call. I love theater, it’s what I’m trained in, but I don’t fully align with the lifestyle of just being a performer. IThe performing opportunities I see, I view from the lens of ‘Do I want to do it?’ rather than ‘Is this going to enhance my career / will it give me the needed paycheck.'”


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See the full index of successful Berklee/BoCo alumni