Month: August 2021

Graduated in 2012 with majors in Professional Music and Contemporary Writing & Production. Principal instrument: voice.

Position: Privacy Analyst (in-house corporate attorney) at Wellframe, a healthcare-related tech startup in Boston that sells software as a service, helping health insurers direct people toward the most effective (and cost-effective) treatments. Dayle is on their four-person legal team, focusing on making sure their software remains in line with privacy-related regulations and expectations. She assesses projects in development for relevant privacy-related risk, and evaluate third-party contracts for the same.

Overview: At Berklee, Dayle was briefly a Music Business major and really liked a class on copyright. After graduating Berklee, Dayle quickly found a full-time job teaching music at a boys & girls club in Boston, which she did for a couple of years. By the end of that, Dayle was feeling underchallenged and, decided that eventually she wanted to be an entertainment lawyer. She did some other jobs, including teaching skiing and working at a digital marketing company, while she studied for the LSAT test and took it (twice, the second time after more rigorous preparation). Dayle applied to law schools and got into her top choice, NorthEastern University School of Law. The school is progressive and has a good co-op program that gives good work experience.

Starting law school in the fall of 2016, Dayle focused on intellectual property. However, with many tech-related issues, privacy-related law “was becoming the hot new thing”, so she focused on that. After graduation in the spring of 2019, she studied for and passed the bar exam, while also spending a month to pass another test to be a certified information privacy professional. By November that was all set, and in December Dayle applied and got a job as a privacy-related compliance analyst at a consulting firm. Then the pandemic hit and she was furloughed (effectively laid off). She reached out to people in search of a new job and connected with her now-boss, whom she had met at a professional networking event. Dayle was hired into her current position in August, 2020.
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You can see Dayle’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “It’s a really fast-paced environment, which I appreciate, because it keeps me on my toes and I’m never bored. There’s anways something new I need to think about or look at with a different lens…Honestly when I was at Berklee I expected a desk job to be very boring and routine. This is the opposite of boring!”

“I have to have enough complicated rule sets on recall to know where I need to look when there’s something I don’t know. It’s a combination of knowledge and looking things up. It’s like Jazz improvisation–you need to know your scales so that when you improv you do so knowing the basics and where you need to end up.”

“Law school felt like being a first semester student at Berklee again — drinking from a firehose and getting help wherever I can get it. (I started Berklee not reading music or having any real formal music training.) But it was great. It challenged me in a way in a way I never was challenged before. It’s cool when an opportunity makes you rise to your highest potential, or shows you you have more potential than you thought you did. It was equal parts painful, exciting, and enriching.”

“The rigor of seriously pursuing music prepared me to throw myself into something and focus on it. At Berklee I’d shut myself in a practice room for hours and work on a song. That same work ethic has served me in all the jobs I’ve had since. That focus and willingness to put in the time to really work on something has served me as a human as well as a lawyer.”

At Berklee I was surrounded by music all the time and it felt like more of a job. Now when I close my eyes and listen to an album I’ve found that joy again. I have a relationship with music now that I enjoy more now.”

“Talk to the people who have the job you’d want. I’ve never had anyone say no to me. Ask them real questions to — do they like their job? etc. Find out whatever it is you really want to know about that job….Any current students or alum hearing this trying to figure things out and interested in law, I’m 100% available to chat.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2018 with a major in Professional Music. Principal instrument: voice

Position: Domestic Violence Program Coordinator at St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, a very large human services nonprofit organization with many clinics in the Los Angeles area. Sarah coordinates the Domestic Violence and Emergency Home Services programs at her clinic. In addition to supervising six other employees (mostly case managers), Sarah publicizes her program to the community, audits other people’s work, helps grant writers obtain new grants, and meets regularly with both her boss and others in the organization. She also stands ready to assist those she supervises if a client or situation is particularly difficult. Every day is different!

Overview: In late high school and early college, Sarah was in an unhealthy, violent relationship, which ended shortly after she transferred to Berklee. At Berklee, she became heavily involved with Berklee SAAVE (Student Allies in Anti-Violence Education), and took as many gender studies as she could as part of her major. The then Health-and-Wellness coordinator who worked with SAAVE encouraged Sarah to get a Masters of Social Work (MSW) degree and pursue a career in anti domestic violence. By the time she graduated, Sarah was determined to do this, but she needed to work and make money first. She moved to L.A. in August 2018 to be with loved ones, and spent most of the year working a variety of jobs. She applied to grad school the following spring, getting into USC’s Online Masters in Social Work program, which she started in September, 2019 and quickly pursued their Social Change & Innovation track.

Graduating in December 2020, Sarah then spent almost five frustrating months looking for a job. She had plenty of real-life experience, but no directly relevant work experience, and most places declared her either overqualified or underqualified. Many of the jobs paid terribly. Finally, after sending out at least ten applications per day, Sarah found her current job, which fit her interests perfectly. She really clicked with her now-boss, who also had a MSW and was certain Sarah could handle the work, and she was hired into her current position.

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You can see Sarah’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “Not a day goes by that I’m not heartbroken by something I see, but this job is a way to take all the privilege I’ve been given and do something good with it. The thing I want to give back the most is education–not enough people understand the weight of domestic violence in general and that it’s the #3 cause of homelessness. I want people who come to us to know they won’t be judged and will be safe. We care about them so much. It’s lovely to do something I really care about every day.”

“If you’re going through an unhealthy relationship, please reach out to me! There are resources at Berklee too.”

“Social work is all about people and how you interact with people. That’s a lot what music is about too. Focus on getting to know people, be present, develop your empathy–which can be done through music. I learned so much at Berklee with people from all different backgrounds and cultures and walks of life. Treat everyone as someone you can learn something from. go in with an open mind. Social services is meeting and respecting where people are and believing in the inherent dignity and worth of everyone.”

“In the pro-music program, there’s talk about developing yourself as a marketable artist — your business plan, goals, etc. That sort of critical thinking is really helpful–I still do it! Am I doing what I want? Am I being perceived the way I want to be?”

“Music is so therapeutic for me. If I’m having any big emotion, I’m listening to music, writing music, playing music with my sister, looking for new music. Anytime I need to calm down or get a feeling out, music is my outlet.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2014 with a major in Electronic Production and Design. Principal instrument: upright bass.

Position: UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) designer at Ford Motor Company. One of several dozen employees in Ford’s digital experience group, Beau creates mostly 3D graphics and animations which are used in the display of new cars. For example, he creates animations that illustrate the drive modes in the electric Mustang Mach-E as well as graphics which will illustrate airflow around the cabin. Working from home as of mid-2021, his day consists of a few meetings where graphics are reviewed and mostly producing new graphics and illustrations, sometimes with some back-and-forth with other departments.

Overview: Beau was already interested in technology, and always very visual. While at Berklee he got interested in a graphic artist “Beeple” who would put up a new illustration or video every day. After graduation, Beau moved back home to the Atlanta area and looked for a job in music technology, but he wasn’t having any luck. After six months he started splitting his time between job searching and teaching himself 3D animation, initially as a hobby. Determined to get better, he posted a new image every day, always pushing himself to do things he hadn’t done before, teaching himself via his own exploration as well as tutorials on Google and YouTube. He’d post his images to Instagram, and built up a following of over 20,000. He picked up a bit of freelance work, and by the end of 2015 Beau had built up a good portfolio, made an animation reel to illustrate his stuff, and started to look for a real job in graphic design.

The job search wasn’t immediately successful, but eventually a place where Beau’s future boss was one of his Instagram followers brought him in for more interviews and a job offer after he hadn’t got the first job he’d applied for. Beau moved to Chicago to work at this small advertising firm in late 2016. He enjoyed the work, but after a year and a half the parent company decided to go in a different direction and laid off the entire office. For four months, Beau freelanced and made fine money, then a recruiter approached him about working for Ford. Hired as a subcontractor in August 2018, Beau moved up to Dearborn, Michigan. He was converted to a regular employee in early 2021, though still does similar work.
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You can see Beau’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “I obviously enjoy the technical aspect of my job. I love the possibilities that the software allows, that it lets do things that would be much harder in real life. It’s interesting to apply that to the automotive world. Seeing how we can visualize features and different interactions with the vehicle is pretty exciting!”

“Opportunities will come to you if you’re consistent and improving and carving out your niche.”

“Berklee was instrumental in cementing my work ethic. I always had friend and faculty being supportive, having that community to push me further. I still feel that is very relevant.”

“Don’t feel you have to pursue exactly what you have a degree in. Nobody has questioned my education for any of my jobs. They’ve seen my portfolio, and being self-taught has not been a hinderance. For creative fields it’s all about the portfolio, not the education.”

“Maybe my interview will spark some idea in someone else regarding what they can do or inspire someone to take advantage of all the material that’s freely available online. It doesn’t have to be from a university. There’s so much material to supplement what you’re doing in school — endless possibilities!”

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.

Graduated in 2014 with a major in Music Business. Principal instrument: drums.

Position: Corridor Manager at Union Pacific Railroad., a major railroad covering the western half of the United States, operating freight trains and also providing rails for Amtrak passenger trains. Rio works in the operations room, overseeing 3 – 5 train dispatchers — giving advice, helping out in emergencies or finding the right people to fix problems. Her very-intense job involves watching both people and tracking trains in real time, and her area is most of Arkansas and bits of other states.

Overview: Unsure of exactly what she wanted to do after graduation, Rio moved back home to Omaha, Nebraska. She got a part-time job as a receptionist in a funeral home while unsuccessfully looking for a music industry job. At the funeral home she was promoted to directors assistant and took on more hours, but it wasn’t a real career. About a year and a half after graduation, Rio’s father, a retired railroad employee, suggested she apply for a railroad job. She did, and after a long wait, was told to start training.

Training was very intense, with biweekly tests where a single failure to hit the high required score meant you were let go. But she made it through the 3-month program. 3 months of supervised on-the-job training followed, where she had to learn the details of every position. Rio then started as a dispatcher at the “emergency desk” ready to fill in for anyone else. It was a high-pressure job, but she handled it well. In January 2020, after about three and a half years, she took a promotion from dispatcher to her current position of corridor manager.
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You can see Rio’s LinkedIn profile here.

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Choice Quotes: “It was refreshing to learn something new and then really try to perfect my own management skills as a craft. In my new position I get to meet new people and create positive relationships, which I enjoy. Networking (with others at Union Pacific) has been a really nice part of the job.”

“The standard that Berklee held me to and the amount of work I put myself through. — I took many credits per semester and finished a semester early. I learned to buckle down, what works for me and doesn’t work to help me learn and retain material. I credit Berklee with that process of learning things that were foreign to me. I started that crash course at the railroad and the constant tests. That work ethic and handling the stress prepared me for this in the best way possible.”

“Folks in this career find they’re making a lot more money than average. But if it’s not working for you, don’t be discouraged. It’s a very rough field of work. A lot of folks say “BNSF (another major railroad) stands for Better Not Start a Family”. It’s both the work and the type of hours you work. It’s physically draining. After a stressful night a lot of people walk out of the building and can’t remember where they parked or realize they forgot to eat lunch.”

“After Berklee, I was like, ‘What if I don’t do something with music?” it almost made me feel guilty about going to Berklee and getting the musical education that many would kill for. Yet I was still able to learn good skills and apply them to my field now. I don’t feel it was a wasted education. I don’t think so. I feel like I was able to get something out of it. I do have that accreditation that I went there and I’m proud to be a Berklee Alumni! I want to come back to Boston sometime and bring my husband and kids and say hi to my old professors and show them where I went to school.”

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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.