By Shannon Friel
Contributing Writer
Happily employed while a full-time student, Stephanie Vaughan, 21, displays passion and diligence in her work ethic and musical career. She already has her dream job at the Soroka Agency, a local record and label company. Vaughan will graduate this December with a bachelor’s degree in music industry and a long list of experience that has already proven beneficial in the industry world
First inspired by bands such as Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, The Clash, and Jimmy Eat World, Vaughan was only 10 when she became seriously interested in music and 11 when she knew she desired a career in music. She began playing the flute at 9 but shortly thereafter found her true passion with the guitar, although flute is still her secondary instrument.
She has taught lessons for a short time, done a bit of free-lancing, and has participated in jazz and guitar ensembles on campus. Her music preference has expanded over the years, spanning as far as global music, particularly Chinese and Indian. Vaughan’s vast musical background and career-driven attitude have led her to explore various outlets of the music industry world.
Vaughan was the president of the Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association (MEISA) at The College of Saint Rose her junior year and the secretary the year before. For these positions, she contacted and booked various types of musical performers, balanced a budget, promoted shows, and prepared venues. She has also been involved with running soundboards, lighting, stage crew, and managing performances both in Jack’s Place and the Picotte Recital Hall. This past spring break she returned to her alma mater, Bristol Eastern High School in Connecticut, and was paid to run the sound for the Varsity Vocals International Championship of High School A Capella.
Her various experiences aided her when it came time to apply for internships. Vaughan’s resume was reviewed by Laura Kyprie, the internship coordinator at Equal Vision, who recognized and appreciated Vaughan’s participation in the music industry, especially with MEISA.
This experience was a great attribute that set Vaughan apart from other applicants and helped her attain the internship. While interning, Vaughan was given the responsibility of writing biographies.
This was not a task usually assigned to interns, but Kyprie explained that Vaughan’s capabilities were better than most interns. Dan Sandshaw, the record label’s general manager, oversees all departments, including the interns, and explained that the internship is what an individual makes of it. He said that Vaughan continually “took the ball and ran with it,” which he found impressive. Sandshaw recalled that his first impression of her was “She is dedicated and diligent.”
In fact, the company she interned for helped her get a job with the Soroka Agency, where she has been working since May. The agency is a smaller company associated with Equal Vision. Vaughan, an assistant, hopes to get more responsibility but said this is exactly the type of job she hoped to start with. Some perks of being employed by the company have included a paid overnight trip to the Skate and Surf weekend music festival in New Jersey and an opportunity to go to the Warped Tour for free.
Since returning to school for her senior year, Vaughan’s work schedule with the Soroka Agency is consistently 16 or more hours a week while also taking classes full time. As an assistant, Vaughan handles a lot of smaller tasks but is slowly receiving more intensive work.
She creates itineraries for artists and sends those to the labels, management, other artists, and tour managers, as well as writes contracts for promoters, handling most of the social media, writing newsletters, and most recently, booking tours. She has booked tours for Allison Weiss, a pop-rock alternative singer-songwriter, and Team*, an alternative band, both scheduled to tour through October and November.
Vaughan said her favorite part of her job is going to shows for free as well as meeting artists and people who love music. She also enjoys getting people excited about different artists and seeing people find joy out of the live music she helped promote.
Vaughan said that balancing work and school has not been difficult so far. Professor Matthew Finck, Vaughan’s applied guitar instructor and ensemble conductor, explains that “Anything under a hundred things to do in a day is a day off for her.” She has taken 18 credits almost every semester, not to mention all the zero-credit requirements and ensembles that are affiliated with the music program. Her biggest current stressor is her senior project, an original CD that is composed, recorded, edited, and mastered all on her own. Even so, Finck said that she has almost the entire CD recorded while some students haven’t even started. Vaughan has a schedule planned for exactly how much time she needs to complete each task of the project as well as personal deadlines. Composing has recently become a more prominent part of Vaughan’s musical career. The most notable composition is an Indian-style group arrangement that she pursued from a mere idea to a finished product, a challenge for many artists.
Finck said that Vaughan has never been afraid to broaden her musical horizons, no matter how difficult or time consuming it could be, especially in relation to composing. Vaughan is a fearless individual who is not easily intimidated, explains Sean Wendell, the technology manager for the Hearst Center. He also remarked that she has no qualms about being one of the few females in a predominantly male major, let alone being the only female whose primary instrument is guitar.
“At the very least she has a strong sense of self and isn’t afraid to be who she is which is refreshing,” Wendell said. He also said that Vaughan maintains a friendly and collegial attitude with everyone she meets. Wendell explained that Vaughan is tenacious and doesn’t even consider intimidation an option in any aspect of the music industry world. He explains that a lot of people want to have a career in the music world, but many don’t have the resolve that Vaughan possesses to actually make it happen.
In the future, Vaughan would maybe like to book her own roster of artists or move up the ranks in a record label. Most importantly, she said, “Basically no matter what I do I just want to help the artists I work with to try to bring them to their full potential and have their music and message reach as many people as possible.”
