Category: Other Successful Berklee Alumni

Graduated from Berklee Online in 2020 with a major in Professional Studies. Principal instrument: Guitar.

Position: Quality Analyst: Trust & Safety at TikTok, the popular short-form video app. James has three responsibilities that each take up roughly equal time: looking the the work of content moderators to ensure they’re doing their jobs correctly, analyzing data, and reporting his findings.

Overview: James came to “brick-and-mortar” Berklee in 2009, but he left after two years, eager to get out and tour. He had some rough years, but by 2014 he has living in Nashville and playing base and touring with a guy who was doing extremely experimental music. By 2018 this was winding down. James had to take a job in a restaurant to make ends meet, meanwhile, that experience had made him lose interest in more conventional music gigs. James decided he needed a decent day job, and that meant completing his degree.

James was able to stay in Nashville and complete his degree on Berklee Online while he made money filing papers in a law office. He finished his Berklee Online degree just as the pandemic hit and started looking for jobs. Pretty quickly James was hired by Tiktok in a contract position as a content moderator, but his high quality work and diligence led to a conversion to salaried employee and a promotion into his current position within six months.
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You can see James’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: ” I really love Tiktok! I love the people I work with and what I do. As to the work itself, it’s never exactly the same thing twice. There’s room for play, thinking, and trying to figure out why things are happening the way they are. That makes my job a refreshing experience every day.”

“When I was first at Berklee, I avoided non-music classes. But you really want to be a full person–folks who go for more traditional degrees get to do that more. I couldn’t do my job today if it weren’t for the Berklee Online math class.”

“Seek outsized responsibilities for your role. What’s been exciting for me at Tiktok is the same as what excited me while touring. Back then I’d never toured before, played a somewhat unfamiliar instrument in a brand new genre. Responsibility is an opportunity to learn and grow. Don’t just frame yourself as able to do what you’re already doing. People or companies, if they buy in that you’re capable, will give you opportunities to do more. I’ve gotten the greatest return on my investment at those jobs where I had to stretch myself.”

“After I got the job at TikTok they required a photo of my diploma. I was like, ‘Wow, thanks to Berklee Online I finally have this’! In general, music is a language and in many ways your brain starts to work in terms of communicating with other people, what makes people tick/what are their internal systems/talents? In my wife’s school, computer programming is part of the language dept. Music should be too.”

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

Position: Digital Content Coordinator (since promoted to Digital Marketing Manager) at Golden Technologies., a large family business that makes powered wheelchairs and other items to assist mobility for the physically disabled and well as reclining furniture. Alyssa creates digital advertising content, works with the marketing team to develop strategies to build brand awareness, and meets with retailers to discuss ways to help them grow their business.

Overview: Alyssa grew up aware of the family business, but she wasn’t interested and her parents didn’t pressure her. While at Berklee she discovered the Music Business program and really enjoyed it. Alyssa decided to go straight to graduate school to study business; she applied in got into a Masters in Communications program at Drexler University. In her first year she worked at a paid internship at Universal and did classes at night, then the pandemic hit and the internship was indefinitely paused. She moved back home and started to work at the family business as a marketing assistant — the business was considered essential so remained open.

Initially Alyssa planed to return to Universal, but she found she really enjoyed the business, and with her growing responsibilities at this job an internship somewhere else felt like a step backward in her career. She opted to stay with Golden Technologies. At the end of 2020 she received her Masters Degree, and six months later she was promoted to Digital Content Coordinator.
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You can see Alyssa’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I’ve always been business-driven. I always liked marketing the best. I enjoy creating content, getting to know my audience–in part because I’m a performer. I love that I’m helping people–I see every day how our products truly help improve people’s quality of life. I’m one small part of that.”

“Every skill I learned at Berklee has been totally tranferable to my professional and personal career. Companies want to hire musicians! Before my job at Golden I interviewed and companies were so interested in my music caerer. They like creators.”

“Things have a funny way of working themselves out. I found something that was giving me purpose.”

“Keep learning. Marketing is CONSTANTLY changing! One week later there can be a new thing trending. Subscribe to marketing newsfeeds to stay on top of it. But at the same time your job isn’t your identity. Keep up with your passions, and if you’re meant to be at a different place, go with that feeling.”

“That first year after Berklee I was burned out on music and focused on school. Then Covid hit and I started to practice more. I never gigged much while at Berklee, though I sang a bit. Now I’m gigging more than ever and getting paid for it on top of my day job!”
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Graduated in 2014 from the Boston Conservatory, with a major in Musical Theater, with a focus on acting/directing.

Position: Technical Recruiter at Google. Connor works directly for Google, helping find promising software engineers and network engineers to work for the Google Global Network–their online cloud platform. Connor is given promising candidates and his job is to guide these people through the interview and hiring process. While Connor is in New York, many of the teams he hires people for are based on the West Coast.

Overview: During his last year at BoCo Connor realized that he liked acting and directing, but did not really envision himself being a professional musical theater performer. He moved to Chicago in search of alternative opportunities, worked a variety of side jobs, and started his own theater company which did well for about a year, then fell apart. The woman he’d cofounded the theater company with was temping at a recruiting firm. He got a temp job at this firm as their office manager/receptionist, did well brought on by the recruiting agency to be their full-time office manager–his first real job.

Because nobody else in this small office was doing it, Connor took care of their marketing, and ran their DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) program. It felt good, but it was a lot, and he chose to focus on his day job and do less theater. Then the pandemic hit and there wasn’t really an office to manage. Sensing that he would soon be laid off, Connor convinced them that he would make a good recruiter. He was given that position, and worked there for nearly a year. He moved to New York in 2021 to be with friends, and a recruiter reached out to Connor to work for Google.
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You can see Connor’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I love being a recruiter! It is so fun! It’s emotional, which can be good or bad. At my old agency I got this woman a job at a big law firm as an entry-level admin role. I really walked her through the whole process. When she got the job she cried to me–saying she was the first person at her company to get that caliber job–she’d been working at Target and serving coffee. Now she had this huge opportunity. It’s those moments that make me so happy!”

“Inherently, performers are well-suited for this job. We really learned at BoCo how to work on the fly and be flexible and open. Accepting the situation at the moment and knowing how to manage things. You’re always learning lines, doing shows, have lots of text in your head. I still reply on that now–in recruiting you have awkward conversations such as when someone doesn’t get the title/pay hoped for or gets rejected and is upset. being able to memorize lines and go through talking points–having those in my head while making it not sound like I’m reading a script.”

“If you are an artist and want to get into a corporate environment but are not sure how, be an office manager. It’s the best way to learn the lingo, get involved with things, take advantage of opportunities to do projects, get a sense of what you want to do.”

I had many ups and downs, especially downs, in theater. I thought I’d never recover. Looking back, I wouldn’t have changed anything. Even the awful moments–I learned and grew so much! Let things happen, learn and grow, apply what you know in your next situation.

My roommate is a BoCo grad. He’s been working restaurants his whole life. When he started hering my corporate speak last year he was so thrown off by it–like I’d really changed. 1 year later, tomorrow he has an interview with an office admin role at an insurance company. He saw how easy it is for us performers to “fake it until we make it”. It’s a good lesson: you may think you’re not qualified–my roommate is all nervous that he doesn’t know stuff, but I’m like “You’re going to learn it.” If you’re feeling stuck, give it a shot.
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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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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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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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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.