Category: Other Successful Berklee Alumni

Graduated in 2023, with a major in Music Business. Principal instrument: voice.

Position: Digital Communications Specialist at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a foundation started in the 1940s with a mission to “Advance social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.” Kerem handles much of the day-to-day execution of communications work: making images, posting on social media, sending emails. Much of the focus is on the work being done by organizations they fund. Kerem also promotes arts-related events at a seasonal arts festival which the foundation sponsors.

Overview: Kerem went to an arts high school and Berklee was the obvious choice for college, though he cared a lot about politics and social justice. As his time at Berklee was wrapping up, Kerem figured he wanted his career to go in a social justice direction. A friend suggested he apply for an internship at Telos, a group in Washington DC working on peace and mutual understanding in Israel/Palestine. Kerem applied and got the jobin September 2023, then weeks later the massive Hamas attack happend and the war started. “I felt the entire organization change overnight. It was chaotic. But it cranked us up and brought us closer, really gave us newfound hope.”

Kerem worked there as an intern for most of a year. Eventually, they offered him a full-time job, but they had waited to long–Kerem was already applying for other jobs so that he’d land on his feet when the internship ended. One of those resumes had gone to the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, whose work really excited Kerem, plus it was based in New York City, where he is from, so he took that position.
.
You can see Kerem’s LinkedIn profile here.
.
Choice Quotes: “There are a lot of similarities with the arts. You cultivate community. You have ideas and want to cultivate an audience around it. The core identity of my work never changed, even though this is different. The simple thing you’re trying to do is connecting with people. I’m in my element and what makes me happy is the same as what did when I was in music.”

“I did well because I was doing work I was passionate about. If you want to consider something outside of music, making sure it’s something you’re passionate about where you’re not going to have to try to work hard is the most important thing.”

“At Berklee, we have faculty and classmates from all walks of life I got good at talking to folks and connecting /finding common ground with people from anywhere.”

“Communications is very similar to audience building in the arts. You have a lot of skills already at your disposal. When I applied to Telos I wrote down a bunch of stuff I’d done that even somehow related. Booking shows, things like that. There are a lot of creative elements in communications as well. Video, photography, speaking.”
.
.
.
.
.
See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2023 with majors in Performance and Contemporary Writing & Production. Principal instrument: piano

Position: Faculty Support Specialist at Harvard Business School. An administrative job involving both working directly with faculty to support them and assist them with preparation of materials. Chris also manages other projects and is coordinating the rollout of a new, ten-section course.

Overview: While at Berklee Chris worked for a music education technology start up, which involved teaching, materials development, and administrative work. Chris graduated with a plan to get an MFA in Creative Writing, but needed a day job. He liked working with students and wanted to stay in academia, so he applied to various college administative jobs in the Boston area and his experience made him a good fit for this position. Chris started working at Harvard two months after graduation.
.

You can see Chris’s LinkedIn profile here.
.
Choice Quotes: “I enjoy engaging and learning about the scholarship of the faculty I’m working with. One focuses on studies of CEO leadership, for example. I enjoy supporting their work on this research and be able to learn from what they study.” “One wonderful thing about being at Harvard is all the benefits. I’m doing a MFA in Creative Writing at Emerson–Harvard helps pay for that. I’m also taking classes at Harvard Extension School, which is normally very expensive, but it only costs us $40. I’m taking a course in statistics this semester, as I’m interested in data analytics.”

“At Berklee, You know that when the show starts it starts. On the tech side, you make sure everything works.” I also understand which things are flexible and which are not–that helps with my admin job and setting up faculty to teach. Similar to my performance. It’s like all the stuff you have to do. Also, attention to detail.

Find the things you’re good at and work the hardest at those things. Even of those things aren’t n music. Don’t be afraid to follow them. I got into Berklee, did two majors and graduated. Even though I’m not working in the industry, I still feel very fulfilled and happy with the direction of life I’ve taken, and that’s becuase I followed threads and embraced my strengths and inclinations and really saw how I can best fit in and provide value.

‘It’s easy to zoom out and say in the big picture things all work out and make sense. The reality is there’s be a lot of questioning and days of boredom and repetition. A professor once told me “Doing the work is unglorious” but it’s sticking with it and shifting when you need, while in the rearview mirror it makes sense, it doens’t at the time and I’m still figuring things out.”

.
.
.
.
.
See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2016 with a major in Professional Music. Principal instrument: voice.

Position: Sales Development Representative (similar to a Business Development Rep.) at Rally UXR, a tech start-up whose software product supports research, making it easier to find users, generate reports, etc. Jonathan’s job involves reaching out to potential customers and setting up meetings with his higher-ups when they’re interested. Unlike many similar positions which involve being on the phone most of the day, that’s at most 20% of Jonathan’s day, as he spends a lot of time researching potential clients and rehearsing his pitch. “My company believes in intentionality rather than spray-and-pray.”

Overview: Jonathan had a long, winding path into his career. A year working at the family fish business in New Jersey to save money. Several years in Korea, first pursuing a music career and then teaching English and math at an international school in Korea. Eventually Jonathan returned to the United States to pursue a career in dentistry, working as a dental assistant while taking the science-based prerequiste courses for dental school, but decided this career was not for him. He next went to the Fire Academy in New Jersey and currently serves his community part-time as a volunteer firefighter.

In 2023 a friend who worked as a Business Development Representative told Jonathan that he would do very well in this field. Jonathan went to a boot camp to learn sales, Aspireship, then applied to many sales jobs and went to networking events. Someone he met networking offered Jonathan his first job, and it went well. As is very common in sales, after some times there Jonathan applied to work at other places with greater earnings potential and he was hired into his current job.
.
You can see Jonathan’s LinkedIn profile here.
.

Choice Quotes: “So far as career changes go, a great thing about sales is there’s a low barrier to entry. Also, in sales you get what you give. Some other professions you deal with people relations and you’re dependent on other folks. In sales, you control what you earn.

“At Berklee you’re interacting with a lot of different people from a lot of different places. Music is collaborative and that’s a relevant parallel. I’m good at speaking with people and enjoy it and believe what I’m talking about. I’m good at being a people person and that transfered directly from my time at Berklee.”

“In sales you have to be a people person. A lot of sales gets a bad rap, but SAS (Software As a Service) sales is really about delivering solutions. I look at what I do through a lens of service.”

“Continue to ask yourself what it is you want in a career as well as what you enjoy. Always have a mindset of learning, and never quit. But it’s important to have goals as to what you’re going for. I did a lot of running, but I ran in place. Have a goal of what you want to do, then go for it.”

“If you want to work in sales, LinkedIn is a great resource. When you’re first starting out, look for valuable experience, not the money. Teams that you want to be part of are looking for a proven track record of success. Think about the experience you’ll be getting and keep the big picture in mind.”

.
.
.
.
.
See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

“What surprises me every day is how many jobs there are that you don’t know about until you meet someone doing it. We tend to focus of well-knows jobs while in school. There are a lot places you can get your foot in the door, then once your’e there look at what everyone is doing and figure out what would be a good fit. Expecially in tech companies where people are doing such different things. Find some previously-unknown niche that’ll make it easier to develop your career. I’m doing something I didnt’ know existed until 3 years ago! (Obviously I knew marketing existed, but there are so many sub-sections of it.) Be flexible. Learn overall abilities and apply them to many different things. It helps to have a wide variety of skills. You can even go to the jobs page of a company you like, scroll through 100 job descriptions, then learn some of the skills that are called for.”
.
.

.
.
.
See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2021 with a major in Music Therapy. Principal instrument: voice.

Position: ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in the Framingham MA Public Schools. Valeria works with four different kindergarten classrooms, helping their regular teacher, then in the afternoon she works with small groups of children for whom English is particularly new. This is a standard, unionized teaching position.

Overview: With the pandemic ongoing, Valeria did a remote practicum. She found it hard to monestize her music and was losing the love. Valeria moved back to Greece, but found that music therapy is pretty nonexistent in Greece. So she applied to teachers aide jobs and got one teaching English to small children. She really enjoyed that work, but wanted to return to the United States, so she applied to get her Masters in Education, specializing in ESL instruction, from Boston University. Valeria started that very intense program June 2022 and finished a year later, doing student teaching at the same time as she took classes.

Valeria was hired in Somerville, MA to teach ESL to learning-disabled students. She loved the job, but her visa would only let her work in the United States for a year unless her employer sponsored her, and Somerville didn’t sponsor people. Some colleagues mentioned that Framingham will sponsors teachers, so after an academic year in Somerville one of them introduced Valeria to a department chair in Framingham and Valeria was hired into her current job.
.
You can see Valeria’s LinkedIn profile here.

.
Choice Quotes: “I love working with this age group (kindergarteners). They’re little and already know so much but they get so excited to experience new things. It’s great to see them happy and really engage and make new connections themselves. I really enjoy working with them and find it really fun.”

“Berklee’s Music Therapy program did a great job exposing us to many populations and giving us a taste so we could figure out who we enjoy working with. I figured out that I love working with kids, knowing how to talk to kids, how to engage kids to create trust. My music therapy background also got me that job in Somerville, where it really helped as I worked with developmentally disabled children.”

“Even when I was studying at Berklee I had second thoughts about music and thought about going into education. I stuck it through at Berklee but ultimately ended up where I sensed I would. Trust what you like to do and go for it. That’s it.”

“If you want to teach ESL in the public schools, tt’s important to remember that it’s going to be lot of work and it will be hard. Many teachers work a lot outside of their contract hours. It’s important to set boundaries. We want the best for our students, but it’s a job and we need time for ourselves. Being with students is the easiest part of what your job will be.”


.
.

.
.
.
See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2017 with majors in Performance and Music Production & Engineering. Principal instrument: guitar.

Position: Software Developer at Falvi Insurance Group, a 200-person insurance company, close to 20% of whom work in I.T.. They’re based in Rhode Island, though Rodrigo lives in Miami and works remotely. He’s on a team that builds software tools used both internally and by their affiliates. For example, the software allows small insurance policies to be generated automatically. About 3/4 of his job involves writing code, the rest of the time spent in meetings, communication, testing, documentation, and so forth.

Overview: Shortly after graduation, Rodrigo got a postion as an assistant engineer at The Hit Factory, a famous studio in Miami. But the hours were long and the pay was extremely low. He got a substitute gig with a semi-famous musician, which opened the door to many other performance opportunities that paid far better than the engineering work (which mostly used him as a runner), so he left the studio after four months and signed on with multiple bands. Being from Venezuela, he mostly toured with bands from Mexico and toured Latin America professionally through early 2023, apart from 2020 where he mostly taught lessons. The money was decent, but he was traveling all the time and seldom saw his now-wife, who lived in Miami.

By early 2023, although he was offered the best paying tour of his career, Rodrigo wanted different lifestyle with less time away from home. He investigated other music careers he could do besides touring, but found them lacking. Then Rodrigo spoke with a cousin who worked at Google and advised he go to a coding boot camp, which he did in the spring of 2023. He worked for a friend’s startup first as an intern then as a contractor while looking for full-time positions, but it was very difficult in 2023 with layoffs happening at many of the largest tech firms. Over a thousand applications later, by November Rodrigo pivoted his job search strategy to connecting with professionals first. This quickly bore fruit and he got his current job.

.
You can see Rodrigo’s LinkedIn profile here.

.

Choice Quotes: “Believe it or not, I’ve met a lot of musicians who are software engineers. I’ve spoken with some. There are a lot of similarities in the mental space you have to be in to be good at it and write stuff that works. I’ve always been analytical about my process in music. That analytical/methodical mindset translated into my work. You have to think of what you’re goign to to do before you start doing it. Know what you’re doing and prepare first, then assemble it.”

“If you go through a basic tech course and you don’t enjoy it a lot, don’t do it. You have to become as obsessed with tech as with music to succeed.”

“When people go to Berklee they learn how difficult it is to become really really good at something. That’s something you don’t learn elsewhere. Berklee is a magnet for folks who are the best at their craft. That motivated me to try harder and think deeper about why I was doing things. In the corporate world it’s hard to find that beautiful spark that people at Berklee have.”

“Music is still a major part of my life. I’m still professional and get paid to do it. I just do it in a lesser capacity. I still play about 20 shows/year with a peson I used to play with. I’m able to take my work with me–code during the day then go to sound check at 5 and play a show.”

.
.

.
.
.
See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

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.
.
You can see Andrew’s LinkedIn profile here.
.
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.”

.
.

.
.
.
See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

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.
.
You can see Christiana’s LinkedIn profile here.

.

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.”

.

.

.

.

See the full index of successful Berklee/BoCo alumni