Category: Other 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.
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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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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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Graduated in 2015 with a major in Professional Music. Principal Instrument: guitar.

Position: Marketing Manager at Plastic Assembly Systems, a small industrial company that builds equipment which molds together large pieces of plastic. As the only marketing person at the company, Brendan is responsible for updating the website with photos and videos of thier equipment, the social media marketing, using google analytics, emailing customers, and handling incoming calls.

Overview: Brendan’s father has worked at Plastic Assembly systems for a long time, which led to Brendan working in their machine shop as a teenager. After graduation, Brendan wanted to work in music, but wasn’t sure what he wanted his exact career to look like, as the standard ones didn’t really appeal to him. He moved home and worked again at Plastic Assembly Systems, doing shipping and a bit of video. But Brandon was looking for other opportunties and via a job board he found employment at a local branch of a music school, Bach to Rock. He started as a part-time instructor, but after a bit this job became a full-time combination of teaching, marketing, and management. At this point he resigned from Plastic Assembly Systems.

Unfortunately, by 2020 Brendan was feeling burned out on this job. The hours and commute were long, the job was stressful, and the pay didn’t justify it. He looked for other positons but wasn’t having any luck. Then his old boss at Plastic Assembly Systems reached out: their marketing person had left and they were changing the position and thought he’d be a great fit. Brendan returned there and took on his current role, combining what he’d learned at Back to Rock with what he needed to figure out on the job.
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You can see Brendan’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: “My boss says, ‘Do you know why I don’t bother you a lot? Becuase I know you’re doing your job and yo’ure good at what you do and I see the results.’ So–they’re very flexible and have been accommodating for when I want to go on tour. I’m very lucky!”

“It’s still a creative job. From the photoshop stuff and making videos. I can figure out what to do between projects–I can attack what inspires me and seems exciting (and what needs to be done). I also really like giving identity to something that’s not mine. Me growing up, not having much money, all the technical skills I got has a kid needing to do all the pubicity myself has been valuable for my career. This at least checks off the boxes for me to be happy about a job: freedom, creativity, and putting my stamp on something.”

“The quantity and quality of the work I had to do at Berklee made me almost overestimate what would be asked of me as a working adult. I look back on how much work I had to do at Berklee and how I always had to figure out how to get it all done–and how I always got through it. Berklee forced me to take things seriously and showed me what I was capable of.”

“Music is in my DNA, then it became a job. It’s easy to become jaded, but remember why you applied to Berklee–you have to reverse-engineer that. Why did you do that? Today I’m loving music more than ever and feel very true to myself. Music still your voice and nobody can take it from you. Stay in touch, even if it’s not your main job. You’re special, and don’t need to live up to someone else’s expectation.

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Graduated in 2018 with a major in Film Scoring. Principal instrument: guitar.

Position: Mobile Software Developer with DEPT, a Dutch tech consulting company with thousands of employees worldwide. Phil develops software for Android phones on behalf of clinents, sometimes he’s sent to work temporarily for another company, and even in the office he can bounce among different teams in his remote position.

Overview: Shortly before graduating, Phil met his now-wife, who was in her third year at Berklee, so he wanted to stay in Boston and also felt like a career in composing for orchestras wasn’t a realistic possibility. He brainstormed music ideas while working in restaurants. Thought about a career in software briefly but didn’t have the chops. When the pandemic hit, Phil decided to really attempt a career in coding. He paid $30/month for LinkedIn Learning, which has fantastic resources, and he chose to focus on developing phone apps as that felt like a field with a larger demand for more workers. He also took advantage of Coursera and YouTube and downloaded code repositories from GitHub. After close to a year, Phil applied to various jobs but nothing hit, so he went back to studying.

A few months of self-study later, Phil decided that rather than anonymous applications, he instead tried contacting managers directly on LinkedIn. Three of the five people he wrote to offered him an interview. He was hoping for an internship but was instead offered his current position!
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You can see Phil’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “At Berklee I was really passionate about using sample libraries to make big sequences. I get that same buzz at work — when working, we work on a ‘Q-Base for Code’ . There’s where you’re working and working, then you press “play” to see what it does. I like the schedule, the benefits, the lifestyle I can have–my job isn’t a bottomless pit, and it gives clear returns from the effort put into it.”

“There’s lots of time management, troubleshooting, and hard work is in both music and software. Also, being a Berklee grad makes a difference with coworkers and bosses–it’s cool!”

“People in your life want to support you, but aren’t sure whether to encourage you to stick with your musical dream. Step back, list concrete thigns you want to be true about your life without those external pressures. Once you have that list, a career path becomes more clear. For me, it was having time for people in my life and to be creative–I wanted to be constantly learning and growing. When I completed my list I was shocked to realize film scoring had almost none of the things on my list, for ten years at least (I might go my whole life grinding and not hit the jackpot.) Once that was clear, I knew there was a huge sunk cost, but I realized that I needed something that would fit with what I wanted in life.”

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“Before you fully dive in to social work, explore volunteering opportunities and human services jobs you can do without the degree to find out if it’s something you want to do. It’s not for everybody, but I’m really grateful to be where I’m at.” It helps to explore before you fully dive in. Find your niche.”

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Graduated from Berklee Online in 2020 with a major in Music Business.

Position: Resource Manager at Publicis Sapient, a digital marketing company with roughly 15,000 employees worldwide. Jesse’s job, part of the “Business Headquarters Team” involves putting current employees into teams, making sure the 400+ employees he watches over have sufficient work to do and opportunities for career growth.

Overview: Jesse was a working musician, in multiple bands, as he studied Music Business at Berklee Online. Right as he was finishing up schooling, the pandemic shut everything down. Jesse wanted to stay in Detroit, near family and loved ones, and wrestled with what to do. Though a connection he got a temporary job filing papers for a HR office. Then he got a real HR position and started to really consider HR as a career. For the next couple of years, Jesse did a variety of jobs involving HR or recruiting. He found his job on LinkedIn, not sure what it entailed, but both Jesse and his employer agreed it would be a good fit.
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You can see Jesse’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: “As a musician, I really enjoyed the social aspect of music, also teaching private lessons and finding student strengths. In a lot of ways, this job is a lot of that. I have one on one meetings. And a lot of my job is like teaching, finding people’s strengths.”

“Everyone chooses their own path. Many things about being a touring musician seem grueling to be now. You are made up of so many things–a musician is just one of them. Focus on being happy and doing something that you like even if it’s not music.”

“Part of the reason my job is so enjoyable is I work for an advertising agency. Advertising agencies contain a lot of creative-minded people.”

Through Berklee I learned about being a professional and being “the whole package”.
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