Author: Kevin

Graduated in 2015 with a major in Songwriting. Principal instrument: bass.

Position: Digital Lockup Manager and Media Support Specialist at Lesley University’s College of Art & Design. Lesley University a commuter school based in Cambridge, Massachusetts with over 6,000 students, the majority graduate students and including many artists. Theo works at a center at the Art and Design School where audio/visual equipment is loaned out to students. He also supervises student employees and manages several computer labs, updating equipment and troubleshooting when things go wrong.

Overview: After graduating from Berklee Theo get an internship at a local music label, hoping it would turn into a full-time job, but that didn’t happen and he lacked the connections to get another job right away in the music industry. He moved home to Connecticut and worked with his father’s video production company for the better part of a year before returning to Boston. Theo got two part-time jobs: Music Assistant at a boys & girls club in South Boston, and media assistant at Harvard. Then a few months later he got a better media support job at Mount Ida College, which lasted until the college shut down a year later.

After being unemployed for a bit, Theo went back to that boys & girls club, but the pay was low and he was looking for other jobs, particularly a/v jobs in academia. After about a year, in late 2019 he spotted the position and Lesley University and was hired. The job has evolved into his current position. Theo continues to volunteer at the boys & girls club.

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You can see Theo’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: It’s really awesome to be surrounded by artists. Many faculty/staff are artists in the community. It’s great being around crfeative people. I’ve also had a knack for tech jobs, assisting people. I’d worked for my dad’s video production company and picked it up well. It was easy to learn, and fun to assist others.”

“Have an open mind and don’t think you must work in music just because you have a music degree. Would working 40 hours/week in music take away some of your passion? Think about other skills you have that you might use for work. Find a way to make your full time job outside of music enjoyable and then you can do that and do the music you want to do. “

“if you’re interviewing for an A/V support position, be honest about your experience, but be 100% open to learning about new equipment and learn all new stuff. I test a/v equipment at home, filming myself drumming.”

“I will continue to try to find a music career, but by no means am I unhappy in my position. I’m grateful for where I’m at, the strong community, the benefits. It keeps me in the Boston area and give me the opportunity to network with creative people. I’m grateful for where I am.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2014 from Boston Conservatory with a degree in Vocal Performance. Tyler went straight from there to earn a Masters in Opera Singing, also from BoCo, which he received in 2016.

Position: Manager of Planning and Partnerships a William H. Kopke Jr. Inc., a.k.a. Kopke, a major importer of fresh fruit and 4th generation family business. Tyler wears many hats in this administrative/managerial position. He writes and helps negotiate contracts with retailers and then makes sure that those contracts can be fulfilled. Tyler also works on branding initiatives and making sure the company’s workflow is going smoothly.

Overview: Tyler grew up a navy brat, constantly moving. As he was finishing his education he realized that he didn’t want a touring lifestyle and wasn’t certain what he wanted to do, so he took a break and moved home to Minnesota. Tyler spoke with financially successful people about what how they got there, and they suggested he learn sales-related skills. He got a job selling door-to-door in the winter. But his fiancee was soon moving to New York for graduate school; her father worked in the fruit industry and suggested Tyler speak with Kopke, which is based in New York. Although her father put in the word, Tyler didn’t get an interview. However, after reaching out several times and finding his now-boss’s phone number, Tyler was given an interview.

In a bit of luck, the president of Kopke was a major supporter of the Metropolitan Opera, and the first half hour of the interview was them chatting about opera! Tyler was hired as an executive assistant, but worked extremely hard to prove himself and take on more responsibility, and over the years his position and areas of responsibility have grown substantially.

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You can see Tyler’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I love the relationships we get to build. We’ve worked with some growers for generations! Some buyers will send me photos of kids, or we’ll grab drinks after a day at a convention. The produce industry is very personally driven. We’re making a lot of logistical investments and are expanding and it’s exciting to be part of that. It’s also fun to go a grocery story and see a label on a shelf that I helped make.”

“The produce industry is a heavy workload–we work with perishable product. For example, Walmart is closed one day per year. If a truck with grapes can’t deliver on a Friday, I can’t wait until Monday.”

“The ability to creatively problem-solve, think outside the box, good communication skills. It’s all played into my role here and I learned it all in my performing career. A lot of those intangible skills are something people can really lean into, and are very valued by companies.”

‘The best advice I got was the year after I graduated. “Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or have to do. What is it you want to do that’ll let you sleep soundly at night.’ I really wanted/needed stability and community. If you don’t know what you want, take some time and do some genuine self-reflecting. It takes a certain type to be happy on the road; if that’s not making you happy, don’t waste your time. Life is too short.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee/BoCo alumni.

Graduated in 2020 with a major in Music Business. Principal instrument: voice.

Positions: 1) Tiktok “influencer”, with over a million followers on her TikTok page. Mina creates videos featuring herself and her trained animals, particularly a pot-bellied pig named Merlin and a bearded dragon named Mochi. 2) Tiktok influencer manager at Parrotok Media, where she acts as an agent/manager for other Tiktok influencers, getting them promotion deals and other revenue. Mina is half-time in each of these two roles.

Overview: While a Berklee student, Mina was a signed artist working with a small label, but at some point she realized that she didn’t want to be a performing musician, and would rather focus on the business end. In 2019 Mina received a bearded dragon, Mochi, from neighbors who felt he wasn’t getting enough attention. When the pandemic hit, Mina spent some of her time along at home training Mochi to do some simple tricks, such as coming when called. (Later, Mina learned that she had done the impossible: bearded dragons were supposed to be untrainable!). Mina posted some videos of Mochi on TikTok and in early 2021 one got over a million views! She set her planned music business app aside to see about building a career on TikTok.

At 10,000 followers she started to receive (small) royalties. At 100,000 followers she was invited to join the “Tiktok Creator Marketplace”, where she was approached by many companies and paid video sponsorships. (This is her primary source of income. Most products relate to fashion, as her followers are disproportionately young women.)

Soon after hitting 100,000 followers, in January 2022 Mina was approached by Parrotok Media, a subsidiary of TikTok, which had opened an office near where she lives in California. The combination of Mina’s educational background, experience, and being an influencer herself made her an ideal candidate for the influencer manager position. She worked full-time at Parrotok Media for several months, before opting to go to half-time in order to put more time end energy into her increasingly-lucrative influencer career.

You can see Mina’s LinkedIn profile here.

Choice Quotes: “It’s exciting to have a viral video, but you’re not going to turn or even 5 into a career. That first year I was on TikTok was a lot of trial and error–figuring out what people want to see, which videos will do well.”

“My niche is mostly animals / animal training and my life & bond with my pets. That’s what got me the big followin gin the beginning. A lot of people had never seen a trained lizard before. Part of that was Covid–I was at home a lot and had a lot of time, but I sensed that Mochi was exceptional.”

“I’d say it’s a pretty similar industry–TikTok, music, entertainment. It’s all social media. The potential of virality, boosting your account. Artists are often their own managers–music and here. The Music Business major helped a lot; I got a lot of knowledge that helped me do my job now: dealing with contracts etc. it all ties together really well!”

“Most of us enter Berklee at 18,19. What you wanted in high school may not be what you want to do with your life and that’s OK. Be open to changes and opportunities. I remember how disorienting it was that I didn’t want to be a full-tim artist anymore. I think as long as you have a good work ethic and keep your eyes open it’s all going to work out. IT’s OK not to know what you’ll be doing in 12 or even 6 months. I feel so much more satisfied now than before and I’m OK with that.

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2015 with a major in Professional Music. Principal instrument: guitar.

Position: Site Reliability Analyst at Priceline.com, a large, multinational corporation focused on getting people deals on hotel rooms and other travel expenses. Sky works 12-hour nights shifts, and his job involves a lot of “break management” — what to do when the tech starts not working as designed. “When that happens I’m the person who leads the resolution and calculates the dollar loss to the company. There’s a whole hierarchy of thresholds we get involved based on how severe the break–who gets involved, how fast it needs to get resolved, etc.”

Overview: After graduating, Sky moved home to the wealthy community of Stamford, Connecticut and made good money giving private music lessons. In 2018 he had the opportunity to do a multi-month tour, but realized that would mean losing all of his students and he wasn’t ready to make that leap. The finance company, Bridgewater, where his mother worked was hiring, and–tired of hustling and feeling poor–he applied. He worked very long hours as a trade operations analyst in finance for 1.5 years, but didn’t like the corporate culture (though he did enjoy the technology) and thought hard about what he wanted to do in his life. He left the job just before the pandemic, sat out the draconian no-complete agreement, then applied to both finance and tech jobs, while extensively learning various software tools.

A former manager at Bridgewater was working at Priceline and put in the word for Sky. They were initially skeptical about hiring him given his background, and he was similarly skeptical about working for a large corporation but in the spring of 2021 they decided to give him a chance while Sky felt good about the people he met. The first few months at work were exhausting, as much of his off-hours were spent upgrading his skills, but he has made it to a good place in his job.
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You can see Sky’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I enjoy the tech because it comes naturally and easily to me. From building my own computers to understanding the software. I enjoy it in large part because I’m good at it.”

“Music has made me really good at learning new things, and computer languages are easier than you’d think.”

“If there’s a way where you can improve your financial freedom and you can still do the music that you want to do, make that money! You’ll shred just as hard next season. Take the leap. Now that I am financially good, it’s way easier for me to do an album and pay what I need to to make the music as good as it can sound. Being able to self-fund may allow you to do more original music than if you’re in music full time.”

“If you’re thinking of working as a reliability engineer, know that most companies care way more about your current skill sets than your formal education. You’ll have to prove your skills. You have to have the patience to take online classes until you’re at the level of people with computer science degrees. You WILL be tested and it will be hard! It’s like having to be good enough to pass auditions for a band.”
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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2014 with a major in Electronic Production & Design. Principal instrument: guitar.

Position: Software Quality Assurance (“QA”) Engineer at Runway, a start-up software firm that makes video editing software that uses AI to so edits such as easily deleting something from every frame or inserting a green screen behind a character. Roughly twenty employees spread over different countries; Mike is their first QA engineer. He has been creating and implementing new processes in their software development to ensure ensure high quality the whole way through.

Overview: Mike got his first computer at age 7 and always liked tech. He majored in EPD as it combined his loves for music and technology. After graduation, he moved back home to PA and looked for a job in music or audio, having several near-misses but no success. After about six frustrating months he got an internship at Electric Lady music studio in NYC, and his hustle helped that turn into a full-time job as an assistant engineer a few months later. But after two and a half years there Mike was feeling burned out by the long hours and low pay. He looked for other opportunities and soon an old Berklee friend who was working there got him a job at Squarespace, doing tech support.

After a year and a half at Squarespace, Mike found a better opportunity: working as a tech support manager at Vimeo. 1.5 years later he applied internally for a QA position and got it. Mike worked in that role for roughly a year and very much enjoyed it, then took his current job in early 2022, as it was an exciting opportunity to build Quality Engineering from the ground up.
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You can see Mike’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I enjoy collaborating with the different stakeholders, to ensure we have a good product from beginning to end. There are all these different people and perspectives. I learn a lot about psychology and how to work with different types of people.”

“QA is a job that’s based on a lot of organization and thinking ahead.”

“I was more of a singular-focused person at Berklee–all into technology. I was reluctant to go to ensembles, but I learned great people skills there, communicating with people form all around the world. We’d have to find ways to make things make sense together in a high-pressure environment. I apply all those people skills today, working with peole in India, Israel, Australia, etc. Also, those composition/counterpoint classes, where you have to think about how you’re structuring something before you start to write–I do that constantly in my job!”

“Find what your passions are and think outside the box about how you can form a career about them–possibly creating a brand new role for yourself.”

“Don’t become a QA engineer for any company where you wouldn’t want to deal the product every day. All my tech roles have been toward the creator focus. It makes doing the job a lot easier and you’ll be excited about it. Reach out to a QA you know or someone who works with them; feel free to reach out to me. Ask questions about the role. Try to learn as much as you can before going in. There are definitely entry-level tech positions that pay a very livable wage, and then many career directions you can go. Getting your foot in the door is a big step.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2019 with a major in Music Business. Principal instrument: voice.

Position: Executive Assistant to the CEO at 300 Bees, a boutique, digital marketing firm based in Miami. Kristen helps with scheduling, meetings, events, making sure the office space is taken care of, and being the point of contact between clients & CEO, plus other marketing and operational procedures.

Update: shortly after this interview, Kristen switched to an Executive Assistant position at Entain x Unikrn, a company which operates a platform for online sports betting.

Overview: While at Berklee, Kristen wanted to work in artist management. She did the Internship in L.A. program and that internship led to a job in that field, though it didn’t pay much. A few months in, Kristen decided that she’s rather build her career back home in Miami than in L.A., so she started looking for jobs in the Miami area. A sibling knew someone at 300 Bees, and through that connection she was interviewed and hired into her current position in late 2019. The company’s rapid growth meant Kristen was able to collaborate and grow a lot during her time there, taking on more responsibilities and more of a leadership role.
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You can see Kristen’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I’ve worked in different industries as an EA. Each industry has its challenges, but also it’s exciting aspects. I like to show progress and grow, so each new opportunity I learn new things. It’s less specific to the industry and more about the EA role itself.”

“I have a great passion for business. As an EA, you get to be in all those conversations: business strategies, project management, goals, internal structuring of operations. That sort of thing is very exciting. It feels like an honor to be in the room when those discussions are happening — to be leaning and able to understand.”

“I use so much of what I learned at Berklee. In a Music Business class at Berklee I learned about sunset clauses. I was at this marketing company. The exec at my marketing firm was trying to structure this contract with an Instagram influencer while making sure her company would get their money’s worth if we parted ways. My knowledge of a sunset clause fit perfectly with the wording they wanted to have in their contract. Things like that are incredibly useful, and add to my value when I’m in those meetings and able to provide a solution to a problem.”

“Of you’re thinking about being an EA, make sure you would enjoy the role. It’s a lot of hard work. Many folks just fall into it because they don’t have another role, but if you don’t enjoy it it won’t be fun. There’s a lot of benefits and challenges in this role. Also, a good thing abut EA positions is there’s a lot of lateral movement, as your skills aren’t industry-specific–you can shift to a different industry and even mix your passion with your work experience.”
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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2018 with majors in Music Business and Music Production & Engineering. Principal instrument: violin.

Position: Renewal Sales Representative at Splunk, a very large tech firm which specializes on cloud data protection and data analysis. Customers are businesses who pay by the year for Splunk’s services. Jordan’s job is to remind customers when it’s time to renew and guide them through the renewal process, average one renewal deal every day or two.

Overview: After finishing Berklee in August 2018, Jordan moved back home to Dallas, Texas and spent a year living at home and doing music for fairly little money. By the fall of 2019 he was eager to make more money and got a retail sales job, but the work was tiring and didn’t pay well and he wanted a career that would allow for him to do music part-time. He was up for doing sales, and friends suggested that software sales is a way to make good money. Applying to many jobs via job search websites, Jordan connected with Splunk and was hired.

His first job at Splunk was in an entry-level sales position: sales development–cold-calling potential and any business that’s interested is immediately sent along to someone else. Yet Jordan did extremely well in this role, always beating his quota by at least 30%. In under a year, his extraordinary performances was noticed and Jordan was promoted three levels into his current position.
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You can see Jordan’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I enjoy speaking with people, figuring out how to problem solve through various tasks. The pay, benefits, and flexibility are all good. Also, this job role has opened me up to a whole new realm of opportunities. Our country and world are moving to a more data-centric directions. If you’re not involved in data, within a few years you’ll probably be swept away. AI, machine learning, etc. are going to be replacing a lot of jobs. Finding a role where you’re behind the intelligence and data, or in the tech space in general, is your best bet.”

“I like negotiating. I took a Contract Negotiations class at Berklee. This is definitely paying off for me even though it’s not licensing issues. Also, at Berklee I pushed myself to be in a helluva lot of extracurriculars. It taught me a stronger work ethic and to be accountable for a lot of tasks. It helped me get a good understanding of work-life balance and how to do a task effectively and efficiently with little margin for error.”

“I’m still producing, working with a lot of up and coming artists. That hasn’t stopped. Music remains my passion. This past Saturday I was in a session. I recently took a couple of months off, but other than the occasional break I’d be in the studio at least twice per week.”

“If you want to get into software sales, just type in ‘software sales courses’ and you’ll find a whole bunch of info. There are people at Splunk who didn’t even go to college and are now making 200K – 300K/year! It’s just about learning the software. Just learn stuff and being able to leverage what you learn. You’ll be surprised what doors you can open.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2018 with a major in Music Therapy. Principal instrument: cello.

Position: Clinical Research Coordinator of the Lifestyle Intervention in Preparation for Pregnancy study at Tufts Medical Center, a large hospital in Boston. Li Yin is in charge of candidate recruitment for the study–soon-to-be mothers who will receive guidance for healthy eating and lifestyle. She also coordinates with other study locations, helps present data, and makes sure other paperwork is in order.

Overview: Soon after finishing at Berklee Li Yin got a music therapy job with a chain for day care facilities, but after some months she was feeling burned out–there was lots of driving and the pay was low–so she decided to go to grad school. In August, 2019, Li Yin Enrolled in Tufts University’s Masters in Child Study and Human Development program, graduating in May, 2021. As her program was finishing up, a recent alumni who worked at Li Yin’s current position reached out to Tufts to let them know she was leaving to get her doctorate and see if anyone wanted the job. Li Yin had grown to enjoy research while in grad school, and took the position.

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You can see Li Yin’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “This job involves a lot of problem solving. With 3 sites a lot of problems can arise, and I’m usually the first to respond and help resolve things. I also enjoy the scheduling–it’s like the game Tetris. “

“Doing music helped me be more open-minded and it helps me see the more humanistic side of things; it helps me relate better to participants and other people.”

“Try not to get too hung up on what you’re going to do after college. One thing I’ve learned from mentors is that even if your first few jobs aren’t exactly what you want, consider them learning opportunities and stepping stones to where you ultimately want to go. And even if a job isn’t what you wanted you may find that you enjoy it.”

“If you want to work in research, find any opportunity to get some research experience. Volunteer at a research lab if need be. Even a few months of relevant experience can help.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2018 with a major in Performance. Principal instrument: voice.

Position: Talent Acquisition specialist (HR) at Wellpath, a nationwide staffing agency the provides medical personnel for institutions such as prisons and rehab centers. Krystina, a contract employee at the moment, handles the administrative end of onboarding newly hired people. She’ll verify background information, work them through the paperwork to ensure they get paid and taxes are collected, and gets them into the system so that they get their I.D. cards, connects them to the leadership of the site they’ll be working at, and answers any questions along the way.

Overview: By the time she was finishing up Berklee, Krystina knew she didn’t want to tour for a living but wanted a stable job. She went straight to law school in Boston after Berklee, hoping to go into entertainment law, but realized that a career in law wasn’t for her. That summer one year into law school Krystina had an unpaid internship at a music management firm in Nashville, where her boyfriend lived, and she decided to remain in that area. She also realized that she really enjoyed the human interaction. To support herself, she did odd jobs such as dog walking while she looked harder for a good position.

In early 2020 a recruiter reached out to Krystina to work for Amazon as a recruiting coordinator. She took that position and enjoyed it, but soon found her position changing into more of a marketing and web design role. Wanting to get back into recruiting/human resources, she applied for jobs, and was hired into her current position. She also plans to go to grad school in the near future for a Masters in Human Resource management.
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You can see Krystina’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I’m a big people person. I love learning about people, listening to them, hearing their stories. When the pandemic started and people’s morale was low I spearheaded a committee to see how we can fix that–make people feel heard and more comfortable coming to work. It helped me showcase leadership. I get to be a positive force in people’s lives. I get to help people and solve complex problems. I get to take the creative part of my brain and translate it into helping people in corporate America.”

“One of the best things I did was to say yes and try different things. I found more about myself through this zigzag journey I’ve been on. It’s made me better in my career field and confident that I can do whatever I set my mind to. If you’re ever wondering about a career, go learn about it. You owe it to yourself to try new things and see what happens.”

“The whole Berklee degree was so creative and made me use my brain in a new way–trying to see every possibility is a good mindset for HR. Berklee set me up for success as I knew I’d have to do new music, unlike my classical training as a kid, I had to learn to improvise. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, and that helped me in my career, to be comfortable in the uncomfortable unknown makes it easier to grow myself, so that through HR I can help others grow and learn.”

“Find something that piques your interest. Even within HR, there are so many entry-level positions and different specializations you can do.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.