Author: Kevin

Scott Beardsworth

 

Listen to the interview (approx 1 hr, 32 min.) or download it.

 

Graduated in 2012 with a major in Music Business.  Principal instrument:  bass guitar.

 

Position:  Project Manager at Keller Williams Realty‘s Corporate HQ, where under 300 people support over 170,000 agents worldwide.  Scott is on the 25-person (Business) Operations Team, which administers software, helps with e-payments, and process implementation.  Scott wears many different hats, from supervising renovations of office space to being the liaison between different business teams when a new software or process is being rolled out to whatever is needed next.  Most of his time is spent in meetings or emailing.

 

Overview:  Scott’s Music Business internship led to a job on the road with Aerosmith, doing VIP tours and meet-and-greets.  However, after 6 months he sensed that he didn’t want the roadie life long-term, and shortly after that the company he worked for folded.  Scott moved back to Boston and, unable to find a good opportunity (“With only a roadie job on my resume, people probably assumed I was a party animal.”), spent most of the year driving a delivery truck and doing a bit of small website jobs to make rent.  Feeling ready to leave Boston, Scott was able to live cheaply, but temporarily, in the home that had belonged to a deceased relative.  Using a Berklee job board, he found a job as a music administrator, helping the guy (also a Berklee alum) who composed music for the NFL.  It was a good job, but Scott was hired as a contractor and after 10 months the contract ended, and the house he was in was put on the market.  Scott was ready for another change.  He recalled seeing and loving the scene in Austin, Texas while touring, and decided to move down there.

Arriving in Austin, Scott applied widely to jobs, which meant non-music business jobs given the lack of that industry in that city.  His then-girlfriend’s friend helped him get a job at a quickly-growing tech startup selling software.  Scott worked really hard, but wasn’t giving any coaching or training.  6 months later, he hadn’t made any sales and was let go.  Scott realized that all these short-term jobs might become a liability and he search for his next job more thoughtfully, wanting someplace he could work long term and grow with.  He applied online for to Keller Williams and was hired as an Operations Manager (a half-step below Project Manager) in May 2015.  Scott found himself with not enough work to fill his day, so he regularly asked for more work.  He was given projects to do and did them well, so his job gradually evolved into his current one.

 

You can see Scott’s LinkedIn profile here.

 

Choice Quotes:  “I hadn’t really been into Real Estate, but Keller Williams seemed like a great opportunity. They seemed authentic in how they pitched themselves to potential employees, and you see them everywhere. I figure they’re doing well and I was looking for a company I could see my career grow within.

“When my manager throws a project at me with no details and tells me to figure out how tio get it done, I see that as a challenge and enjoy that a lot. I like to be challenged, pushed, and out of my comfort zone. ”

“Yesterday I was in meetings straight from 9- 4:30! Some meetings I run, others I’m there. Some I’m just a fly on the wall.”

“The thing Berklee armed me with the most for any job is emotional intelligence and social awareness. Innate communication via music gives us a method that non-musicians have a really hard time emulating. Our communication skills–there are so many ways to communicate while playing music. Picking up on social cues is hugely important–we know how to listen for things and be analytical about listening.

 

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Darsell Obregon

 

Listen to the interview (approx. 50 min.) or download it.

 

Graduated in 2010 with majors in Performance and Songwriting.  Principal instrument:  voice.

 

Position:  Personal assistant to a celebrity model.  Working directly for this woman, Darsell’s time is split roughly evenly between helping with business things and with personal things.  She does a wide variety of tasks including emails, shopping, organization, being the liaison between anyone and her employer, and accompanying her employer on photo shoots and traveling (domestic and int’l).

Overview:  Darsell came to Berklee a year and a half after getting her associates degree, and has been working front desk at a hotel in Miami, where she’s from.  After graduation, she stayed in the Boston area for a year, working at a cell phone store, but tired of the weather and moved to L.A.  she got some gigs, but needed more money so got another front desk job at the same hotel chain.  But she didn’t like the culture in L.A., nor was she prospering financially.  A friend helped her get a job at an online ticketing start-up, but after her training in New York Darsell decided she wanted to be there instead of L.A.  The company wouldn’t transfer her, so she left that job, moved to NYC, and reached out to a former hotel client who had a staffing agency and needed an office manager.

That position lasted about six months, then Darsell got laid off.  She applied widely for jobs; at one point a friend from her now-former staffing agency suggested she apply to another staffing agency, Quintessentially People, which placed her with her current employer.  It started off part-time, but evolved into a full-time salaried position, and within 6 months Darsell was hired “permanently.”

 

Choice Quotes:  “It’s hard work!  I say I’m a celebrity assistant and people are like ‘OMG it’s SO cool!’  Yeah it’s cool, but it’s no freaking joke. It’s 24/7, and you have to be on top of everything. Your job is to resolve issues BEFORE they get to whoever you’re assisting. while they focus on what they’re trying to do (building an empire most times).”

“I enjoy working with my employer. We’re a good match personality-wise. I respect what she does and what she stands for. It’s also still in the entertainment world, which I love. She’s in that world and I love being with her from when she had a small following to now when she’s grown into a superstar.”

“A lot of the time I create my own schedule. She’ll give me things to do and I’ll get them done at my pace. But my hours vary enormously. There are 80-hour workweeks, and there are 30-hour workweeks.”

“Don’t be closed off to other opportunities in the same world.  I was so obsessed with being the next Mariah Carey. That’s not realistic for me now.  Priorities change–I’m older and want a family.”

“If you want to be a personal assistant, do it for someone you like, in an industry you’re interested in.”

“I’m grateful to Berklee for changing my life. Even though I’m not a full time musician I hold Berklee near and dear to my heart.”

 

 

See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Alexander Gavurin

Listen to the interview (approx. 1 hr, 9 min.) or download it.

Graduated in 2008 with a major in Music Business.  Principal instrument:  guitar.

Position:  Manager of Strategic Planning / FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis) at WATSCO, a large holding company that own many distributors of HVAC equipment.  “We’re a giant middleman.”  They buy existing HVAC distribution companies and support them with better IT and business information infrastructure as well as being able to negotiate better prices due to their size.   Alexander uses financial analysis on how their subsidiary companies can be more profitable over the next few years, and also which companies and exclusive deals should be acquired..  Strategic planning may be about customer segmentation, evaluation of potential and ongoing projects for ROI (Return On Investment)  95% input (info gathering, data validation, synthesis, etc.) and 5% output (presentations, reports).

Overview:  While at Berklee, Alexander waited tables at the restaurant Sonsie in the Back Bay, but he was really interested in the management aspect, and got to know the manager, so by the time he graduated he was helping manage the place.  However, with his now-wife (then girlfriend) being a teacher with early morning hours, he disliked restaurant hours, so they moved home to New York, and a connnection hooked him up with a job at a restaurant equipment company managing the smallwares department (pots, tables, knives, etc.)  The money was OK, but the job felt dead-end and not what he wanted, so by 2010 Alexander was doing a lot of soul-searching on what he wanted to do.  He started applying to many jobs, but between the bad economy and his unusual background he was having no luck.  By 2012, Alexander realized he needed to “re-brand” himself, and that meant going to business school.  He left his job in September, 2012 and studied for the GMAT and researched business schools, making a bit of money as an independent restaurant operations consultant during this time.

Doing well on the GMAT, Alexander was offered a very generous scholarship by the University of Miami’s MBA program, graduating in the spring of 2015.  He learned fluent Portuguese His second year there he had a full-time paid internship at Novartis, where he hoped to stay after graduation, but they wanted him to work in Brazil, which didn’t interest him, so he applied to local companies and got a job as a financial analyst (FP&A) at Spirit Airlines.  After about a year and a half a recruiter reached out to him about his current job, which was a step up so he applied and took it.

You can see Alexander’s LinkedIn profile here.  Alexander encourages folks interested in financial analysis to reach out to him.

Choice Quotes:  “Analyzing financial data is like mining for gold. You spend all this time sifting through dirt, moving it around, processing it, shaping it, working on it. And at the end it’s this beautiful, polished piece of jewelry.”

“There’s something about massaging secrets out of the numbers that is very satisfying. It’s very creative. Sort of like when yhou’re writing a song and varying the melody and it starts to make sense and you add stuff and soon you have a finished project where you really have something–it feels like that. And better yet here you have a very finished, accomplished feelling at the end while with music one often feels it’s not quite there.”

“The main reason I wanted to make money is that my wife is the center of my life for ever on and I wanted to provide for her and give her a good life That’s the love story behind it all.”

See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Toby Cattolico

Listen to the interview (approx. 58 min.) or download it.

 

Graduated in 2009 from the Boston Conservatory with a major in Percussion Performance.

 

Position:  Stewardship  and Engagement Officer (a.k.a. Alumni Relations & Fundraising) at University Prep Academy, an independent private school (grades 6-12) in Seattle–where Toby himself went before attending BoCo.  One of two people who works in fundraising, Toby manages everything alumni-related–the alumni association, the alumni board, building relationships with alumni donors, follows-up with events and gifts.  He also does a lot with their internal donor database to track contacts and keep everything clean and orderly.

 

Overview:  After graduation, Toby wanted to move back to Seattle.  He did some gigs, and as a way to make more money started ushering at Benaroya Hall, the home of the Seattle Symphony which also hosts other events.  By 2011 he had worked his way up to head usher, then floor manager.   He got to know people working upstairs for the symphony, and was encouraged to interview for the position of Group Sales Manager for the Seattle Symphony.   Toby was “hungry to do more,” so he applied. While he didn’t get the job, 9 months later the person who did left and he got it in late 2011.  He was given a portfolio of people under-40 to work with, and in 2 years doubled the size of the young patron program.  “Being able to speak music was an ENORMOUS advantage in my job . I was the only one of the fundraisers with previous music experience–others would mispronounce composer names, while I could share my own experiences and knowledge.”

By mid-2013, Toby took the position of Gift Officer at the symphony, where he again was very successful.  However, by 2015 it was clear that there was no room to move up .  An acquaintance mentioned a small NGO that focused on sustainable development in Latin America was looking for a gift officer.  Eager for a new challenge, Toby applied and, 4 interviews later, started work in mid-2015.  However, over that next year the organization got to be more faith-based than Toby had counted on, and he felt it wasn’t a good fit.  Mid-2016 n old high school friend who reached at U-Prep reached out to him about the newly-created position and, after some soul-searching, Toby applied to his current position and got the job.

 

You can see Toby’s LinkedIn profile here.

 

Choice Quotes:   “I enjoy the one-on-one aspect of fundraising. The relationships that are created that you can develop for the organization. Same deal at the Seattle Symphony or at a NGO I was with. You get to meet a lot of people from all walks of life.  In fundraising, your goal is to cultivate that relationship for a lifetime.””

“I create pipelines for the alumni board–people aren’t there forever, so I have to build relationships. I create metrics, who has been asked, etc. It’s kind of eclectic, but definitely project-oriented and relates to the academic calendar.”

“I’m proud to be a BoCo graduate. Getting an arts degree is a lot harder than many people might think–don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. We have close relationships with mentors, like people in a Ph.D. program. Enjoy it.  You’ll get a lot of skills and those skills you get from your education can be transferred.”

“Don’t be afraid to try something new and step out of your comfort zone.  You have no idea what’s out there.You may end up liking something you didn’t even know existed!”

“If you want to get into non-profit fundraising, be willing to volunteer your time–whatever you’re looking to get into. It shows them that you’re passionate about whatever the organization may be about. It’s a great way to get your foot in the door, plus you get to know the employees.”

 

See the full index of successful Berklee/BoCo alumni.

 

 

Jacob Cohen

Listen to the interview (approx. 1 hr, 27 min.) or download it.

 

Graduated in 2010 with a major in Performance.  Principal instrument:  drums.

 

Position:  Real Estate Agent.  In Philadelphia he and his father co-run a group through Keller Williams Realty, where he specializes in selling land to investors/developers.  In New York he works through The Corcoran Group doing residential sales and luxury rentals.  He also has a side business with property management, helping his investors find tenants and taking care of their properties.  “I do it all. As a drummer I never wanted to limit myself to one genre. Similarly I don’t want to limit myself to one type of opportunity.”

 

Overview:  After graduation, Jacob moved to NYC with had bandmates, hoping to make it in music, but in the short term he needed money.  “I didn’t want to be a waiter, a bartender or a music teacher.  My father was a realtor, and encouraged me to get my license.”  A family friend was an executive in the Corcoran Group and that got Jacob an interview.  Jacob would arrive at the office super-early to get first dibs on walk-in clients, and would host other agents’ open houses in order to meet more buyers.   He also would observe the best agents in action, and ask them for tips, in order to learn as much as he could.  After about a year, he was invited to join an elite group within Corcoran, where handled the lower-end items (mostly rentals).

At the same time, he was aggressively pursuing a music career, gigging and rehearsing.  In late 2011 Jacob was turning 24 and decided to pursue his dreams.  He quit real estate despite the high pay.  He soon got a six-month Broadway theater gig, but that wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do.  After that ended, Jacob  spent another 15 months in music making little money and not getting a break, until in early 2014 he asked his old real estate team if he could come back.  He did so, and has prospered in Real Estate since.  Starting in 2017 he started doing very well getting New York investors to purchase land in Philadelphia, so he moved to Philadelphia, got his license there, and works primarily there in a team he and his father co-founded, though he still does business in New York as well.

 

You can see Jacob’s LinkedIn profile here.

 

Choice Quotes:  “To be a successful agent, you really have to LISTEN to people.  I love the whole process of weeding through what they tell me to being able to say ‘I found that’ when I get them exactly what they want.”

“Having Corcoran behind me in NYC was huge! I’d be told by clients that they like me but also like that I’m with Corcoran. You also have be a good realtor of course, but going in with a strong hand is much more important then the commission split. ”

“Senior year at Berklee I gave a speech in the David Friend Recital hall to incoming freshmen called ‘It’s all about the hang.’ — about how important it it to meet and connect with a large number of people.  It’s the same deal in real estate. In fact, going out and connecting with people is the most fun part of my job!”

“At Berklee you know you’re among the best and that pushes you to make sure you’re the best or even better than the best. I was constantly trying to learn and get better. That’s carried into my job. I could’ve walked in at 22 thinking I knew everything, but I was constantly listening to the best realtors to learn from them and improve myself.”

“Real estate is all about money, but there are other parts of our brains that need to be flexed and we need to take care of that. Being a musician, or other creative type, gives you an awareness of the world–like being fully awake. Often that attention we pay to the world gives us artists the upper hand, whatever we’re doing.”

“I’m an avid listener, searching out new stuff.  I also write and play music nearly every day and plan to put out an album later this year.  Music motivates me on days when other parts of the day aren’t going great.  Nobody can take away that love for music, whatever you’re doing as  career.”

 

See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Jake Miller

Listen to the interview (approx. 1 hr, 18 min) or download it.

 

Graduated in 2009 with a major in Performance.  Principal instrument:  drums.

 

Position:  Product Marketing Manager at Allego, a fast-growing software firm in Needham, MA that acts as a training-platform (“an internal-use YouTube”) for companies.  Allego hosts corporate training videos and allows for coaching/discussion to be packaged with the video.   One of around ten people on the marketing team, Jake is in charge of messaging, positioning of new products/features in the market, and competitive differentiation.  He’s also Allego’s primary creator of content, writing blog posts, white papers, business briefs, and case studies.  About a third of his time is spent studying the market.

Overview:  Jake was passionate about experimental jazz, but late in his Berklee career sensed that the market was minimal.  He moved to L.A. after graduation, hoping to get famous doing more popular music and acting, but his heart wasn’t really in it and after two years of bartending to make ends meet he moved back home (to Massachusetts).  He needed a job, and his mother sold furniture, so she knew someone at another store and he got a job selling mattresses.  Initially he didn’t make much money (low 30s), but then Jake saw selling as a skill he needed to develop.  He passionately studies the art of selling, reading books and asking questions, and within a year his income had almost doubled!  He also applied to the more-elite Jordan’s furniture, and by late 2012 got a job there and his income rose again by amost half.

However, Jake felt like ultimately he’d like to have his own company one day, and felt he’d benefit from business school.   He spent over a year studying for the GMAT, did well, and got a 3/4 scholarship to Babson’s MBA program, which he chose because of its focus on entrepreneurship, starting in the fall of 2015.  Almost as soon as school started he was looking for an summer internship; at some point the career center suggested he check out Allego.  He hit it off with the founders, who offered him a sales job.  Jake said he wanted to learn marketing, so started interning (unpaid) 30 hours/week in January 2016.  This became a paid position by the summer>  He stayed there after the summer, and the following January he was told that the Product Marketing Manager position was being created in March, so he started his current full-time job while finishing up his MBA.

 

You can see Jake’s LinkedIn profile here.

 

Choice Quotes:    “I went from avante-garde jazz drummer and trying to sell mattreses–a huge change! I’ll talk to old friends who are like ‘dude, how could you do it?’ The funny thing is it’s the SAME DAMN THING. When you put your passion into something you can do it in other things that seem different.”

“Don’t underestimate the power of minor adjustments. Often people get discouraged and want to totally redo everything and radically change their direction. But maybe it’s one small change that’s all that is needed. Maybe there’s an adjacent industry, or maybe a slightly different job or company. ”

“My experience as a musician gives me an edge that no one else ha.  Creativity is a skill, and I’m able to think creatively to a degree greater than most folks who just haven’t had the practice.”

“If you get an internship with a lot of boring tasks, definitely do those tasks, but keep your eyes peeled for something better. I showed the chief marketing officer that there was a .59 correlation between blog posts and website traffic, then offered to write most posts. As an intern I became the main writer at the company, and that led directly to my job.”

“If you want to work in marketing, Develop and appreciation for, and even a fascination with, markets. Too many folks think they’ll do it because they’re creative and can write. But at the core is economics and markets.   As a Berklee grad you’re good to go on the creativity. But dig deep into the economics and the concept of value that and you’ll be able to apply your creative fascination with music to this as well and you’ll have a lot of success.”

 

See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Jared Trace

Listen to the interview (approx. 1 hr, 24 min.) or download it.

 

Graduated in 2009 with a major in Jazz Composition.  Principal instrument:  voice.

 

Position:  Staff Accountant at Le Tote, a 400+ employee startup company that’s like “DVD Netflix for women’s fashion.”  Subscribers receive a package with 3 articles of clothing and accessories to wear, then send them back (unwashed) to receive the next package.  One of four on the finance team, and the one accountant who works at the company, Jared tallies transactions, reconciles money owed (“accounts payable”), analyzes revenue and what transactions can be recognized as such.  He also values inventory, processes payroll and deals with any accounting-related issues that come up.  Jared’s background is not in fashion, but he finds the rental model an interesting challenge.

 

Overview:  While at Berklee, Jared took a semester off to earn money, and a temp agency placed him at a real estate firm, which moved him from the file room to accounts payable due to his being fast and accurate with a 10-key numeric keypad.  Jared worked there part-time for two years and expected to continue there after finishing Berklee, but he got laid off during the severe economic downturn in the spring of 2009.  Jared worked for two years as a barista, doing some, but not too much music with the busy-and-early work schedule.  Wanting a better job, he applied for other accounting-type jobs, and got a similar job, again via a temp agency in accounts payable, where he worked for a year and a half, hired on permanently and gradually taking on more responsibility as he figure out things on his own.

In early 2012, Jared had an existential crisis about not working in music, and he went, with a fellowship, to the Masters in Jazz Composition program at UMASS-Amherst.  However, he found he really did not like the program and left in the spring of 2013.  He got a bookkeeping job in Northampton, but the wages were low, and he and his fiancee elected to move to the San Francisco area where he’s from.  He did several accounting jobs while getting his Masters in Accounting from New England College, an 18-month online degree program for working accountants without an accounting background, in 2015.  In early 2016 a recruiter reached out to him about his current job–being Le Tote’s first staff accountant–which he ultimately got.

 

You can see Jared’s LinkedIn profile here.

 

Choice Quotes:  “At Berklee I took lots of arranging and theory classes. Accounting is like financial theory. You’re taking real money and putting it into ‘imaginary’ categories. A lot of it is making sure $ is in the right place in the way that a C-major 7 chord has to have notes in the right place. There’s a certain satisfaction from achieving ‘numerical harmony’ and being able to say I was able to make sense out of what my company did.”

“Everyone needs an accountant one way or another. Without financial data you can’t make good decisions whether you’re an individual, a small company, or a large company.  Because I understand accounting, I think about my own money in a different way now.”

“Though there are many possible career paths for an accountant. I like working directly for a company rather than being a public accountant because this way I’m not surrounded by accountants all the time. I appreciate the diversity. I also like getting to know a business intimately, and feel I can be more effective with that level of understanding.”

“The quickest way to up your title/salary is to go get a degree / certification. I spent around $24K on tuition to get that degree. 2 months after I finished the program I got a new job paying $20K/year more. I’m still making more money–the degree legitimized my knowledge.”

“Think what you’re good at in music–playing teaching, writing, making connections, singing, etc. Then apply that into the larger world–what jobs in the world interest you? Only liking music–that’s nuts–everyone has multiple interests, so don’t pigeonhole yourself.  At least think about what else would you be willing to do? Maybe you’ll fall in love with it after trying it–some things are more like bourbon–and acquired taste–than like vanilla ice cream.”

 

See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Betsy Simpson

Listen to the interview (approx. 52 min.) or download it.

 

Graduated in 2009 from the Boston Conservatory, with a major in Voice Opera.

 

Position:  “Human Resources Business Partner” at Gartner, a large research/consulting firm specializing in performing and aggregating technology and other research for their business clients.  Betsy works with their roughly 800 people on sales teams.  She deals with day to day issues including problems, but also plays a major role in determining people’s compensation and how teams are structured.  She also spends a lot of time coaching new managers on how to do their jobs most effectively.

 

Overview:  Betsy moved back to Connecticut after graduation, and spent the summer waiting tables and doing community theater.  A woman in the chorus of the community theater production mentioned that her employer, the large hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, had an open receptionist position that Betsy would be a good fit for.   Betsy aced the interview and was offered the position, which the took, as the money was good and she figured it would be temporary.

By the end of the year she was taken on permanently.  After another year she was asked to apply for an Administrative Assistant position on the technology team, which she got, and continued to work extremely hard.  Two more promotions and she had a HR-position on the same team.  Eventually, Betsy felt like her career had plateaued and she was looking for the next step up.  A friend who worked at Gartner suggested she look at the company and an informational interview and real interview later, she was hired into her current position in June of 2016.

 

You can see Betsy’s LinkedIn profile here.

 

Choice Quotes:  “Every day is different. I’m never sitting at my desk feeling bored with nothing to do. In HR, you get to partner with someone and if you do a good job they rely on you. I really get a lot out of that partnership, like when you have a great musical relationship and the music is all that much more beautiful.”

Too many people want to do HR because they ‘want to help people,’ but your’e on the wrong job if that’s your attitude–the first time you fire someone you’ll realize you’re not helping them. You’ll have a lot more of these difficult conversations than ones you feel you’re helping an individual.  HR is a tough job–you have to be emotionally stable. Like an ER room nurse, you can’t get too attached.

“As a musician we focus on building & breaking down of music–musical phrases, the meaning behind each passage, etc. We also try to get to know a character so we can better emote. In the business world I take the same tactic in my job. I try to figure out the person I’m working with–who are they, how do they thing, so I can learn what to expect and be ahead of the curve there. That level of empathy you have to learn and build and in HR that’s what we do.”

“We musicians see an obstacle and rather than avoid it we’re determined to decimate the obstacle and overcome it. You don’t just do the job, but everyone in the corporate environment notices and realizes that you’re the person who will do what it takes.  That attitude is more valuable than skills–skills can always be taught, but grit can’t be.”

“By working a day job and being active in community theater, I’ve played more dream roles in the musical theater canon than if I’d stayed in music theater profesionally. I’ve played Maria in the Sound of Music, Mary the Librarian in teh Music Man, and all these other incredible (unpaid) roles!  Sometimes we’re performing in a glorified back yard, but I’ve performed at some really great venues too.”

 

 

See the full index of successful Berklee/BoCo alumni.

Rose Seyfried

Listen to the interview (approx. 53 min.) or download it.

 

Graduated in 2010 with a major in Electronic Production & Design (EPD).  Principal instrument:  voice.

 

Position:  Senior Project Manager at Eko, an internet-based company specializing in interactive video stories.  (Think “Choose your own adventure.) “My job is to facilitate the production process for original content. I do a lot of talking to UI / UX designers, video editors, producers. I’m working with amazing creators and helping them achieve their vision.”

 

Overview:  Rose finished Berklee a semester early in late 2010, feeling a bit burned out and not sure she wanted a career in music.  She spent most of a year in seattle interning (unpaid) at a film post-production house while working an assortment of odd jobs for money before deciding to move to NYC.  In New York, she worked part-time doing sound engineering for audio books and some freelance sound design, but “None of that was making me happy enough being poor.” and in late 2012 she put the word out to friends that she was looking for something new.

A friend put her in tough with a small creative fashion agency looking for someone who handle all the administrative work.  After a very challenging year, Rose applied for and got a job with another fashion agency that put on shows.   Doing a variety of roles in that small office, Rose found she liked the project manager role best, so she applied to various project manager positions.  Spotting an opening for a project manager at Eko, Rose spent the weekend putting together an interactive video cover letter, and in November, 2015 she got the job!  She earned a promotion to Senior Project Manager after a bit under 2 years.

 

You can see Rose’s LinkedIn profile here.

 

Choice Quotes:  “Project management is a funny concept. It’s just being organized and professional for money. It’s not this one skill you have. It’s being open to being flexible and jumping from one thing to another. I like the challenge or turning on a dime and doing something new every day. Bonus that I’m doing it at a company that is doing something I’m interested in.”

“My job is production, but it’s also consultation. We’ll sit down together, go through the concepts, map out an outline. I’m managing the creative director schedule, helping with scoping of script, making sure this is going to be on-budget.”

“It’s cool that I’m doing something that is creative, though my primary job description isn’t creative. I really like that mix.  I love that we’re pushing the boundaries of technology. I have the best coworkers– straightforward and laid back but straightforward but also they work very hard–they’re my favorite part of the job.”

“Part of my job is dealing with creative people and trying to speak their language. Just being around creative people at Berklee and seeing what they do and don’t like makes me better at communicating in my current job. Plus a lot of my coworkers are former musicians!”

“Be kind to yourself. There’s this weird stigma about a Berklee grad who feels like this isn’t it for me. Don’t beat yourself up about that–the world is hard enough as is.   Just take experiences and there are so many different routes to where you want to go. Often you’ll take a rout and realize you want to go somewhere else.”

 

See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.