Major Representatives Help Students Choose Additional Business Major

For the past two years, BHP has sought out upperclassmen representing each business major to serve as Major Representatives. Major Representatives are available to help underclassmen trying to determine which business major would be the best fit for them. Although BHP students do not need to take on another business major, most choose to do so and the choice of which one to pursue can be a difficult one.

Senior Kruti Mehta is serving as a major representative for Management Information Systems (MIS). Kruti came into UT planning to do pre-med, but realized freshman year she didn’t want to pursue that path anymore.

“One day I woke up and decided I didn’t want to be a pre-med student anymore. So I  did the only thing I could think of and ran straight to the BHP office, having no idea what I wanted or how to even ask for help,” said Kruti. “I must have looked so terrified when I got there, because the upperclassman working the desk immediately left his chair and came and sat on the couches with me. And an hour later, I was still sitting there, except five to six additional upperclassmen had joined the discussion.  A few hours and many conversations later, I finally left the office, relieved. I’ll never forget the immense gratitude I felt towards these students that willingly came to the rescue of a lost freshman that they didn’t even know. I still think back on this day as one of my favorite memories from being a part of this program.”

Kruti encourages students to visit with a major representative or another upperclassman if they need help figuring out what they would enjoy doing or are just looking for a dependable friend to help guide them.

BHP has devoted a page of our current student site to our major representatives. On this page, students can read about why these students chose their major, what specific skills they associate with the major and why they would recommend the major to other students. Their contact information is also provided for students who are interested in contacting them to learn more about their experience in the major.

Additionally, BHP will host a Major Representatives Coffee Chat on Monday, October 17 from 5-6 pm in the GSB Event Room. This event will give students the opportunity to visit with all of the reps and ask them questions about the specific path they are considering. Please RSVP for this event in advance.

Senior Nadia Senter is living her dream working for Universal Music Group

nadia-senterBHP senior Nadia Senter has wanted to work in the music industry since high school. She got her wish when she landed a coveted internship with the Grammys, which then led to an even more coveted internship with Universal Music Group (UMG), eventually leading to a full-time job with UMG which she will start this summer. It has been a long journey full of hard work and persistence, but that persistence has paid off.

As a senior in high school at Westlake High School in Austin, Nadia called nearly 100 places in Austin trying to land her first internship in the music industry. Finally one person, Freddie Krc, said yes, and took her on. Freddie owns his own record label, has a lot of music industry connections and he was a governor on the board of The Recording Academy, which administers the Grammys. He encouraged her to get involved in GrammyU in college.

Each year GrammyU hires two interns from each of their chapters who are juniors. Nadia landed the internship her junior year. It isn’t your typical internship, as it is a year-round commitment and requires 20 hours a week. It was through a connection she made at GrammyU that Nadia made an introduction to UMG.

The UMG interview process was rigorous, with multiple rounds of interviews and reference checks for all of her previous jobs. Nadia was one of only 60 students nation-wide to land the internship. Again, she was expected to work year-round, part-time during the year and full-time during the summer. Nadia doesn’t mind the work load, because she loves what she is doing. She is a College and Lifestyle Marketing Representative, serving as UMG’s boots on the ground in Austin. When one of their artist’s comes through, she goes to the show, then reports on the venue, how the show went, the demographics of the audience, and builds relationships with the venues and record stores in Austin. She is also working on new artist development, coming up with ideas to gain exposure with college students in the area.

Once a semester Nadia and the entire intern team are flow to the UMG headquarters in Santa Monica for a type of case competition. Each team is given a new artist and tasked with determining plans for how to market their artist. The teams then pitch their plans to the executives. The interns are also introduced to employees in all departments. If interns in their program do well, they will be hired full-time and will have the opportunity to pick which department they are most interested in working in, so it is important that they understand all the functions at the company. Nadia is still figuring out what function she prefers, but knows she has an interest in entertainment law, and is considering pursuing a law degree in the future.

Reflecting back upon her success in landing these coveted internships, Nadia says networking was the key to her success. “I went to every possible event in the music industry that I could,” she says. “Getting a good mentor, which I had with Freddie, was also important.”

BHP Alum Leads Students in Unique Career Design Workshop

By Kate Shanks, BHP Junior

A couple weeks ago, I attended a workshop put on by BHP for the first time, called Design Your Career. The workshop was led by BHP alumnae Haley Robison, CEO of KAMMOK, an Austin-based startup. As a junior who still isn’t quite sure what I want to do after graduation, I thought the workshop could be really useful to me. I also knew a bit about Haley and knew she was really dynamic, so I was really looking forward to learning more from her.

The workshop was designed to give students tools based on design thinking that could be applied to plan their careers. One of the best activities of the day was a 100 jobs exercise. We each identified 12 jobs that were most appealing to us, then broke into groups to discuss themes emerging from the list. The exercise helped me better understand myself, my passions, my interests, and career options that I hadn’t previously considered.

We then used the prototyping element of design thinking to each plan out three completely different career paths for ourselves. We ended the workshop by bringing those prototype dreams to reality by creating achievable stepping stones for ourselves so we can better understand what we want for our future.

The workshop created a structured but creative space for students to explore different future possibilities. Haley’s experience in design thinking, from her time working at IDEO and working for the Stanford Design School, really helped her to guide us through this unique style of thinking. For me, I found it interesting how I was able to combine elements of what I dream of doing with what I am preparing myself in college to do, in order to propel myself forward. I left the workshop with more tools to design my own career path and excited about all of the directions that I could go in after graduation.