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Position: Editor at Top-Ten-Apps.com,  an iPhone app discovery email newsletter

Short description of what you do: I work on web development, app discovery and review, social network integration, analytics, email marketing, creative direction, art direction, and copywriting.

Degree at Dartmouth: Visual studies

1. Did you pursue any further education or training?

I took night classes from a San Francisco-based advertising school. All other training was done on the job.

2. Describe the path from your time at Dartmouth to your current activity.

I went from working in advertising in New York to advertising in Boston, and then I moved on to San Francisco. Eventually I moved from advertising to online marketing.

3. What activities/groups/events did you participate in while on campus?

I was a member of the squash team and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. I also skiied, worked on the snow sculpture design for Winter Carnival in 1980, designed Dartmouth Film Society posters, participated in the New England Art Show, and designed the Winter Carnival poster for four years. 

4. How do you translate your Dartmouth education and/or major to your career?

All my coworkers went to art school and had a four to six-year head start on me…. That was a sobering realization. However, in the field of creative advertising, the ability to call on my liberal arts background, and to reference pieces of societal and historical information that my colleagues did not have, helped a great deal. I also found it far easier to present ideas to business leaders because I was relating to them on a level playing field.

5. Do you have any advice for current students who are interested in the arts, both academically and personally? 

As I see it, there are three directions to take after Dartmouth as an artist:

1) You have the means, or a benefactor, with which to follow your creativity unencumbered by the necessity of income,

2) You choose a second career, and creating visual art becomes a second career or hobby, or

3) You go into marketing or advertising.

I chose the third path. As a piece of advice to artists in today’s digital world: Today it is so easy for non-artists to create beautiful things, that the fruits of our labor have become commodities. Photographers know this best. While the few truly great in the industry welcome the competition and claim that it will just “up the game,” for those just entering the field, the competition to just get a start is daunting. Why pay a professional photographer when I can just use my iPhone? Why hire an artist to create the art for a billboard when I can use Photoshop and stock photography at a fraction of the cost?

The smart way forward for today’s graduate is to find a way to use digital capabilities to expand the touch of your creativity — printmakers learned this. Make an engraving once, make a hundred prints, number them and sell them. One piece of art and a hundred copies = greater income and greater exposure. Today’s graduate has to look to multipliers in order to make an impact.

Continue reading »]]> Position: Principal, Gold Star Studios/Independent Graphic Design Professional 

What do you do to keep your practice/perspective fresh and evolving?

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Career Services is hosting a Career Conversation via Skype with Talent Agent Joe LaBracio ’00

Joe LaBracio ’00

Agent, United Talent Agency

Joe LaBracio is the co-head of the Alternative Television department at United Talent Agency (UTA), where he has played an integral role in building the agency’s international and cable television business, packaging over 100 cable and network television shows in the past year. LaBracio represents Emmy and Peabody-award winning executive producers, directors and production companies as well as several independent UK and European production companies. A graduate of Dartmouth College with a degree in Government and Italian, LaBracio began his television career doing a producer fellowship at ABC News Nightline. He cut the fellowship short to work as Ted Koppel’s assistant for two years before moving to Los Angeles to work at CBS where he was hired as an assistant to then Senior Vice President of Alternative Series Development. LaBracio was rapidly promoted through the ranks at CBS in 10 months and served as Director of Alternative Series Development, where he oversaw production on The Amazing Race, Big Brother, and Rock Star, among other shows before leaving to join CAA as an agent in 2006. He left CAA to join UTA in 2008. Several of the shows that he has helped to put together in the passed few years are: Catfish (MTV), The Great Food Truck Race (Food), Gloryhounds (special on Animal Planet), The American Baking Competition (coming to CBS in May), Preachers’ Daughters (Lifetime), Big Rig Bounty Hunters (History). He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.  (Bio kindly submitted by Joe LaBracio’s office)

Joe LaBracio ’00 on DAEMA

United Talent Agency

Continue reading »]]> Learn about the Career Paths of the following Alumni on the Creative Arts Career Panel on Fri, 3/29 @ 3:30 PM:

Nance Silliman ’95 ’96MALS – Artist/Gallery Owner @ Nuance Gallery

Nance Silliman, the owner of Nuance Gallery in Windsor, Vermont, is an accomplished artist and art educator. She has exhibited her oil and acrylic paintings, as well as prints, multi-media works, and charcoal and pastel drawings, in multiple locations in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Venues have included AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, Artful Things in Lebanon, Gallery 147 in Windsor, Black River Art Guild in Ludlow, Baker Berry Library and the Women’s Resource Center at Dartmouth College in Hanover, Twin Columns in Claremont, and West River Art in Rutland. Recent exhibitions include AVA Gallery members’ exhibition THE WAY WE WORK; Blue Angel Studio, Chester, Massachusetts; Hartland Public Library, Hartland, Vermont; and the Welcome Center in Guilford, Vermont. For 12 years, through 2010, Nancy Silliman was Assistant to the Director of Dartmouth’s Studio Art Exhibition Program. She holds a B.A. Degree and a Masters of Liberal Studies (MALS) from Dartmouth College. She is also a published poet and playwright whose work has been performed by such theater groups as The Parish Players and written about in the MALS quarterly publication. (Bio kindly submitted by Nance Silliman)

 Bradford Drazen ’90 – News Anchor @ NBC 

Brad Drazen ‘90 has had quite an eclectic career arc. After majoring in Drama and English at Dartmouth, he moved to New York to pursue an acting career.  He worked (periodically) in theater, commercials and independent films. His tour de force role was playing Greg in “The Real Live Brady Bunch” Off-Broadway.  He then moved to Los Angeles where he continued to work (a little less often) in theater, TV and film.

In 1997, Brad transitioned to the world of broadcast journalism, and he’s currently the morning news anchor and education correspondent for NBC Connecticut. Since arriving at the station in 2000, his assignments have run the gamut from crime and breaking news to presidential politics and sports. Brad has interviewed newsmakers ranging from governors and senators to Bill Cosby and Dr. Bill Petit ‘78. He has several won several awards for his work, including four Boston/New England Emmy Awards for writing, producing and feature reporting.

Brad is perhaps most proud of the work he’s done in the community over the past decade.  The opportunity to make a difference while working with organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs, the United Way and Special Olympics is the most rewarding aspect of his job.

Brad also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from UCLA Anderson and has taught courses in marketing and communications at Central Connecticut State University and Eastern Connecticut State University. (Bio kindly submitted by Brad Drazen)

Paul Gross ’73 – Jeweler @ Designer Gold

Paul Gross discovered a passion for making jewelry when he stumbled into the Hopkins Center Student Workshops Jewelry Studio as a freshman in 1969.  He had never even taken an art course in high school, so finding that he had some artistic talent was a surprising revelation.  He worked as a student assistant in the Jewelry Studio all four years at Dartmouth, learning all aspects of his craft.  After 2 years teaching school in Lebanon, Paul decided to try goldsmithing as a profession, first working for The Goldsmith, Ltd in Chicago, then moving back to Hanover in 1976 and establishing his business in 1977.  Paul and his wife, Peggy Sadler, own Designer Gold in Hanover, where he has been making custom designed and limited edition jewelry for 36 years.  He was won several national and regional design awards for his jewelry. (Bio kindly submitted by Paul Gross)

Eli Burakian ’00 – Photographer @ Dartmouth College 

Eli Burakian joined the Office of Public Affairs at Dartmouth College in November 2011 as the official college photographer. Burakian says he never expected to come back to his alma mater as a full-time staff member but found the position to be the perfect fit.   While at Dartmouth, Burak majored in geography with a minor in earth sciences. Outside of class, he raced on the Alpine Development Ski Team, enjoyed the outdoors with the DOC, and hiked 1,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail.

Eli previously worked as a freelance photographer; has co-photographed books; and now is responsible for the documentation of the College’s history through the visual medium of photography.  For further information, please consult the press release upon his hire. To learn more join us on Friday, March 29th @ 3:30 PM in the Career Services office.

This program is presented as part of the celebration of Dartmouth’s Year of the Arts initiative.

Continue reading »]]> Want to ‘hangout’ with a Broadway Producer?  Here’s your chance.  Career Services will be facilitating a Google Hangout with Andrew Asnes ’87 (see Bio below) on Thursday, March 28th @ 12:15 PM. If you’re on-campus, please RSVP & let us know you will stop by the Career Services Office to join.  If you’re off-campus, please contact Kate Yee (kate.yee@dartmouth.edu) to be added to the Google Hangout.

Mr. Asnes kindly submitted the following Biography (but, I am sure there is a great deal more he can tell us!):

Andrew Asnes is an entrepreneur and theatrical producer. As a producer he has a keen eye for projects with both commercial appeal and artistic viability. Mr. Asnes is drawn to projects that attract audiences on various levels from emotional power to cultural commentary to pure entertainment. For Broadway he has been a producer of SUPERIOR DONUTS, THE COLOR PURPLE MUSICAL, LEGALLY BLONDE – THE MUSICAL and  ALL MY SONS, as well producing tours and international productions of THE COLOR PURPLE MUSICAL and LEGALLY BLONDE – THE MUSICAL. He is currently producing a new musical comedy spoof titled 50 SHADES! THE MUSICAL which is touring the US and planning for an Off-Broadway production.

His production company financed the Original Cast Album of LEGALLY BLONDE – THE MUSICAL and has placed profitable investments in productions of Noel Coward’s BLITHE SPIRIT and DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS.

He is the Founder of TheaterAdvisor.com, a website and technology tool for theatergoers to share their opinions of plays and musical and leverage the power of word-of-mouth as well as publisher of the upcoming book 1001 Broadway Fun Facts.  Previously Mr. Asnes was a principal dancer with The Paul Taylor Dance Company, Twyla Tharp Dance and performed in the Broadway productions of CONTACT, JUMPERS and DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS as well as in several television programs and films. A Dartmouth graduate from the class of 1987, he states, “Had I not attended Dartmouth College, I would never have been a dancer.”

This program is presented as part of the celebration of Dartmouth’s Year of the Arts initiative

Continue reading »]]> This is part two of our interview with Charles Li ’12. In our first installment, he spoke about EF (Education First), a leading private education company.

In today’s installment Charles, who is part of the EF360 Global Management Trainee program, explains how Dartmouth prepared him for his work at EF and why he likes his job.

1. How did your Dartmouth Education prepare you for the work at EF?

I learned everything from economics to drawing to skeet shooting at Dartmouth. Overall, I learned three things both inside and outside the classroom that I put to work every single day:

1. How to work in a team,
2. How to creatively solve problems, and
3. How to become a leader.

My group projects were invaluable. My out-of-class experience in a fraternity was also helpful. Even in college before I worked in mobile, I was always buying the latest phone.  I think I went through seven different phones in one year.  My economic studies got me interested in the business of this particular industry.

2. What’s the most challenging aspect of your current position?

There is not a huge amount of structure inside EF, which is sometimes challenging. It’s up to everyone on the team (34,000 people around the world) to take a great deal of initiative to find solutions to the business challenges they face. You have a mentor you can ask for advice when you need it, but it’s up to you to make things happen.

3. What are the tangible results or rewards of the work that you do?

In addition to seeing progress on the products we’re creating, it is exceptionally rewarding to see the team come together since we’re building it from the ground up. I also really appreciate the opportunity to support a company with a mission to break down barriers of education, language and culture. EF’s mission is particularly meaningful to me as my parents worked in education.

4. What are you working on right now?

I am currently recruiting a mobile development team that will bring programmers and designers together to work on new initiatives. As a global society, we are increasingly using mobile technologies over traditional desktop PCs and mobile usage is expected to overtake desktop usage by 2015.  Our mission is to break down barriers of culture, geography and language. 

5. What’s been the most interesting project you’ve worked on at EF?

My current project with mobile applications is the most interesting one I have worked on in my five months at EF. I get to brainstorm ideas for apps and then hire the people to make it happen. I’m learning a lot about management, hiring, and product development; essentially I’m learning how to transform ideas into tangible user experiences, and then bringing those ideas to life.

6. Where have you traveled?

In the past five months, I have been to London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Shanghai. I am exceptionally grateful for these opportunities. You definitely want to have a passport before you apply to EF. At EF, experiential learning and travel is an essential component of education.

7. In your opinion, what’s the most important thing that students can do as undergraduates if they are interested in working in the consulting field?

Use your time at Dartmouth to find opportunities to solve problems creatively. My position is all about coming up with creative solutions – and implementing them! Sometimes this skill is easier gained in the real world, through internships or by launching some sort of initiative that is meaningful to you, rather than in the classroom. My advice would be to get out there and see the world, learn about education, and always attempt to find ways to hone your creative problem solving skills.

8. What’s the one question that most people don’t ask you that they really should?

What are your hobbies? I am an audiophile. I am obsessed with music. I am now obsessed with technology. I keep on buying and selling phones because they fascinate me. I use them, I explore them, and I sell them when I have learned how they do and don’t work. Now I get to do this as part of my work, too.

9. Any parting advice in two sentences or less?

When you look at jobs, make sure the mission speaks to you – and where you can see your role as helping to drive that mission forward.

Continue reading »]]> Position: Product Operations Fellow at PharmaSecure

Location: New Delhi, India

Short description of what you do: As PharmaSecure is still a young company, I’ve been helping out with a variety of things. My main responsibilities are supporting the product development team by defining requirements for new products and overseeing their development, data analysis, and monitoring of current products.

Degree at Dartmouth: Bachelor’s of Engineering focusing in Mechanical Engineering

1. What is most satisfying about your current work?

The general work environment and the people I work with — the organization is very flat, and I’ve gained some great friends and mentors during my time here.

2. What’s the best way to enter your field? Any essential elements of preparation? 

Networking — I audited a Tuck class my senior year, Intro to Entrepreneurship, and met the CEO (Nathan Sigworth ’07) after a class in which he gave a guest lecture. Ten months later I Facebook messaged him out of the blue during a week of intense job searching, asking him if there were any internships or fellowships available and luckily there were!

3. What advice would you give to others seeking opportunities in this field?

Reach out to and network with alumni. There are so many amazing people, and they will want to help you.  There are some useful job sites/lists that are more geared toward social enterprise as well, like social-enterprise-jobs@googlegroups.com.

5. How has Dartmouth supported you in your career development?

Dartmouth’s Network is truly amazing.  I’ve only just started out on my career more or less, with just a handful of internships under my belt, but all of my gainful employment post-graduation has been the direct result of networking with Dartmouth alumni.  As I’m starting to look for my next step, classmates a few years older than me have given great advice on how to frame my job search in a way that will help me clarify my career goals.

Continue reading »]]> William (Bill) Partland ’73 spent thirty years working as a free-lance director and as an artistic director in both the not-for-profit and commercial theatre before moving into education – join us via Skype to ask any questions related to either working professionally in the theater and/or pursuing graduate studies.

January 30th @ 3:30 PM in Rockefeller 1930s Room

RSVP:  http://www.wejoinin.com/career.services@dartmouth.edu

WILLIAM PARTLAN

Bill Partlan is Associate Professor and head of Directing in the School of Theatre and Film of the Herberger Institute for Design and  the Arts at Arizona State University. He is also the Artistic Director of Triple Espresso LLC. in Minneapolis.  His world premier production of TRIPLE ESPRESSO has been performed in 44 American cities, as well as in Canada, Ireland, London’s West End, Belgium in Flemish, and Munich and Berlin in German.

He has directed such well-known talents as Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Mary McDonnell, Frances McDormand, Howard Rollins, and John Turturro in off-Broadway, regional and international premiers over the last twenty-five years.  Known for his work with new plays and playwrights like Alan Ball, Lee Blessing, Jeffrey Hatcher, and John Patrick Shanley, he has directed forty-four new plays at the O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights Conference including premiers of August Wilson’s MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM and FENCES.

Bill directed the world premier of ALL GOD’S DANGERS, starring Cleavon Little at the Cricket Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Off-Broadway and for PBS American Playhouse. His American-premiere production of Hugh Whitemore’s THE BEST OF FRIENDS was produced off-Broadway by Michael Douglas and Producer Circle.  He directed SWIM VISIT and SACRED JOURNEY off-Broadway at Primary Stages.  His production of SACRED JOURNEY toured the U.S. and Great Britain, twice.  He has directed regionally at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Alliance Theatre, The Empty Space, Florida Stage, Jewish Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, New Mexico Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Festival Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Virginia Stage, and Yale Repertory Theatre.

Bill was for nine years the Artistic Director of the Cricket Theatre in Minneapolis. He served as Producing Artistic Director of New Stage Theatre in Jackson,  Mississippi and founded and directed the New Play Series at New York’s Bottom Line Theatre where he premiered the musical LEADER OF THE PACK, the music of Ellie Greenwich, featuring Darlene Love, Paul Shaffer, Jimmy Vivino, Lenny Pickett and Ellie Greenwich herself.   Bill has directed for National Public Radio’s EARPLAY series and has served as an on-site reporter for the National Endowment for the Arts and as Jury Chairman for the 2000 Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre.

He is a magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College and the National Theatre Institute.  He earned his MFA in Directing from the University of Minnesota on a Bush Foundation Fellowship.  (Biography supplied to us courtesy of Bill Partlan)

Continue reading »]]> EF Education First, commonly referred to as EF, is a leading private education company, offering “every imaginable way to learn a language, travel abroad, experience another culture, or earn an academic degree.”

EF recruits at Dartmouth for the EF360 Global Management Trainee program, a hands-on program that provides one-on-one mentoring with senior leaders, the opportunity to learn the company’s unique entrepreneurial style, and the chance to oversee a major project central to EF’s business.

We sat down with economics major Charles Li ’12, an EF360 Global Management Trainee, to learn about his work and get advice on best practices to prepare for this type of unconventional management track program.

1. Tell me about the EF360 program.

For the 360 global management training program, you work with a senior executive who serves as your mentor and guide, and you begin by rotating through departments such as sales, marketing, finance and operations.   Trainees then work with their mentors to identify a challenging project or projects to lead which will have a tangible impact on EF’s business, and you spend the remainder of your first year as a 360 implementing those projects.

2. Describe your job.

Everyone’s career path is unique. I’m fascinated by mobile technology and did a great team project on mobile application development while at Dartmouth. I now work as a Manager of Mobile Strategy, and my 360 project within EF is focused on recruiting mobile developers and other “digital natives” to help drive our mobile business objectives.

Many management training programs at other corporations hire a large number of people to work in specific positions and weed out based on performance. The EF360 program works in reverse.  They hire a small number of people, identify their strengths, and groom them to fit a position that capitalizes on their interests and the company’s needs. Because we travel to each of EF’s global headquarters for training, we have an opportunity to work closely with a small group of management trainees who share a passion for education and the company cause. Yet at the same time, each EF360 is working on his or her own unique project.

3. What’s most surprised you about the position?

The level of responsibility. After four months, I am already hiring a team. I’m grateful for the responsibility.  It demonstrates a level of trust that EF has in its recruits, and that trust naturally supports creativity and collaboration both within teams and across product lines. 

4. Is it necessary to have advanced coursework in Economics, Education, or any particular subject area to join the EF360 program?

Absolutely not. We don’t hire skills, we hire people. We recruit at Dartmouth because graduates have the leadership skills, problem solving ability, and a can-do attitude.  The recruiters here would rather find someone with a passion for education, travel, and learning languages, and the ability to problem solve, than someone who is an expert at one skill and only one skill.

5. EF is known for having a really unique interviewing process? Can you describe this, and share a few tips on how to best prepare?

EF is looking for creative thinkers. I was asked “what is the best business to create using the items in this hypothetical box?”  I created a business plan.

Once you make the interview round, you begin a series of meetings with key leaders across EF business units.  You do not receive a schedule of meetings before you arrive at EF.  The first few interviews focus on identifying your strengths and specific areas of interest.  Then you meet with executives within several specific products with whom they think you will have the greatest synergy.

The best advice I have is to simply be yourself.  Hopefully you’ll bring a love of learning and a passion for education and travel to the interview too.

Continue reading »]]> Position: New England Sports Network, Intern, New Media Department

Location: Watertown, MA

Short description of what you do: I wrote, edited and posted content to NESN.com. Often this would involve editing beat writers’ articles, editing photos and videos and jumping on trends by producing either articles or photo galleries on hot topics in the world of sports.

Major at Dartmouth: English

1. What was most satisfying about your internship?

It was great to be able to write about sports and have an outlet for my opinions. I also learned a lot while researching content, particularly when I compiled Top 10 lists/photo galleries.

2. What advice would you give to others seeking opportunities in this field?

Read and write as much as you can. Those are the two best ways to make you a better writer, and being a good writer is the best way to get a job.

3. How has Dartmouth supported you in your career development?

Career Services looked over my resume and provided a letter of support for my internships.

4. What do you plan to do when you graduate?

I plan to work as a sportswriter at either a newspaper or a website.

5. What are you involved in at Dartmouth?

I am a member of the men’s cross country and track and field teams, and I am the former sports editor of The Dartmouth. I spend a lot of my free time following sports, reading publications including Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine and The Boston Globe, as well as ESPN.com and Grantland.com.