How the Wachter Fellowship Helped These Students Launch Careers in L.A. The fellowship, offered through Berklees Career Center, provides students with the means to overcome logistical and financial obstacles standing in the way of internships.
By
Bryan Parys
March 29, 2023
In summer 2022, student William Tiong secured an A&R internship based in Los Angeles, and it was a dream come true-almost. The internship was unpaid, and Tiong, an international student from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, didn't know anyone in L.A., and due to his visa status, wasn't eligible for any kind of paid work outside of Berklee's campus. On his own, the internship just couldn't happen.
Determined not to let the opportunity slip by, Tiong applied for a Wachter Fellowship, one of the fellowship programs offered through Berklees Career Center, and that made all the difference. The Wachter Fellowship was an incredible opportunity to pursue my career aspirations, overcome financial barriers, and gain invaluable experience in a field that I'm passionate about, Tiong said.
The intern next to you one day could be the executive in the next few years. Establishing and maintaining genuine friendships with industry peers will put your name in rooms you'd otherwise work years to enter.
- Dom Jones B.M. 19
Since its inception in 2016, the Wachter Fellowship has helped many students overcome logistical and financial obstacles standing in the way of career development opportunities in L.A. The program is the brainchild of Paul Wachter, an investment advisor and entrepreneur who has worked with high-profile clients such as Time Warner, Beats Music, and LeBron James.
Wachter, who recently joined Berklee's Board of Trustees, makes it a point to mentor the fellows, including meeting with students during their stays in L.A. and arranging networking opportunities with the likes of FINNEAS, Darkroom CEO Justin Lubliner, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
To learn more about how the program has helped Berklee students launch their careers, read about Tiong and two other past Wachter fellows, Dom Jones B.M. '19 and Pedro Osuna B.M. '19, in the following profiles.
Pedro Osuna
While working as a guide for a virtual reality cube in the Berklee library in 2018, composer and Granada, Spain, native Pedro Osuna happened to strike up a conversation with Stefanie Henning, associate vice president for career and digital strategy. As he gave her a tour of the VR device, they got to talking about Osuna's desire to build a career as a film composer, and she told him about the Wachter Fellowship, which he applied for and received. I would not have been able to go to L.A. that summer without that fellowship, Osuna said.
While in L.A., Osuna worked for composer and fellow alum Lucas Vidal B.M. 07, and by his third day on the job, he was working on the Netflix show Elite. He made extensive use of the access to the technology he was granted, and often stayed for hours after his shifts in order to apply his new knowledge to his own music. I often fell asleep on the bus back to Hollywood and I would wake up in the middle of nowhere at one or two in the morning, he said. Don't tell my mother.
His experiences that summer changed the game for me, he said, and put him on a path that led to jobs on major films including Klaus, the 2020 James Bond film No Time to Die, Marvel's Thor: Love and Thunder, and the Oscar-nominated Argentina, 1985.
I can draw a straight line from my internship to having the skills that allowed me to get to and through all of that, Osuna said. Without Berklee, I might still be a copyist in my hometown. But I am just getting started.
Listen to Osuna talk about his composition approach on Sounds of Berklee:
<br />
Dom Jones
Image by Ian Davis
In 2019, Dom Jones B.M. '19 knew she wanted to eventually move to L.A. to pursue a career in music for film and television, but she also knew she couldn't afford to take any of the unpaid internships she needed to kickstart her career. And yet, later that summer, there she was, living in the Valley and working in West Hollywood, across the street from the Roxy Theater. Receiving a Wachter Fellowship, she said, provided not only the mentorship, but the necessary financial bridge, which allowed me to live in L.A. while I interned at a small music publisher in the sync department.
The momentum from the internship continued to push Jones further, as she's now working as a sync specialist at Sony Music Entertainment. She learned early in on her internship that the key to being successful is relationships. Working in sync, that means fostering relationships with music supervisors to, as she said, not only relay the music of our artists, but also their overall story and brand.
She also said that casting a wide net in building those relationships beyond your specific job description is critical. One should never allow a relationship to languish! Jones said, pointing out that most people believe networking up is the best way forward. Networking laterally is just as important, she went on to say. The intern next to you one day could be the executive in the next few years. Establishing and maintaining genuine friendships with industry peers will put your name in rooms you'd otherwise work years to enter.
William Tiong
The internship that William Tiong almost couldn't take was in the A&R department at Artist Publishing Group (APG), whose clients include 24kGoldn, Ava Max, Rico Nasty, and Berklee alumni Charlie Puth B.M. '13 and Salem Ilese '19, among many more. I knew this internship was a chance to learn from real A&Rs and gain valuable insight into how the industry operates, Tiong said. It was a key stepping stone to my professional career, so I was determined to make it work no matt
North America Stories
04/06/2026
Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p-compatible PTZ auto-frami...
04/06/2026
This recent grad from Spring, TX, led creative-video output for the Aggies' men's basketball team last season and has been producing video and creating ...
04/06/2026
For the first time at a women's golf major, every player in the field will r...
04/06/2026
Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin and Akamai have announced a collaboration with NRJ Group, a French mult...
04/06/2026
Telestream will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7952), demonstrating media work...
04/06/2026
Sony has announced the development of RIALTO 65, a 65mm format image sensor block for the VENICE 2 digital cinema camera, targeting release in the first half of...
04/06/2026
KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N8025, June ...
04/06/2026
Bell Media's TSN and RDS are the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of FIFA Wor...
04/06/2026
The Challenge: Receiving Heavy Media Files From Road Games Quickly and ReliablyT...
04/06/2026
MASV, a managed file transfer platform used in broadcast and live sports product...
04/06/2026
NESN has announced the appointment of Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Haider returns to NESN, where he previously served as Vice P...
04/06/2026
David J. Halberstam, who spent almost 50 years in sports as a broadcaster and an executive, died June 2 after a years-long battle with brain cancer.
Over his l...
04/06/2026
Although collegiate production programs are tasked with delivering high-quality ...
04/06/2026
California studio, two production trucks, global distribution system are combine...
04/06/2026
New global program empowers and supports storytellers through scriptwriting course and access to industry experts
TikTok and Sundance Institute today announce...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...
04/06/2026
American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...
04/06/2026
Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...
04/06/2026
Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...
04/06/2026
St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume Berklee alumni St. Vincent and Ruby Plume will appear on the same bill across seven d...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
All the Truth in My Lies Coming to Netflix on August 28
Entertainment
04 June 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Download the imag...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Larry Tanz, VP of Content, EMEA, Delivers a Keynote Speech at ...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Turn Your Living Room into a Stadium With the New FIFA World ...
04/06/2026
Keeping conversations real on LinkedIn Published on Jun 4, 2026 Categories: Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Share
LinkedIn
Facebook ...
04/06/2026
June's forecast with GeForce NOW: 100% chance of gaming.
GeForce NOW is lining up new adventures for the month, from big-name blockbusters to quirky indies...
03/06/2026
SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...
03/06/2026
The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...
03/06/2026
RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations.
P...
03/06/2026
Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...
03/06/2026
Liverpool FC and Wasabi Technologies have announced a multi-year extension of their partnership, with Wasabi continuing as the club's official cloud storage...
03/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP as part of the relocation of its n...
03/06/2026
The Riedel Group has announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 201...
03/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the deployment of its intercom solutions at Itaka Arena ...
03/06/2026
Scott Coker has announced six senior executive appointments for his new global MMA promotion, which launched earlier this year with $60 million in financing. Ad...
03/06/2026
Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the FIFA World Cup 2026, has announced its digital and social media programming for the tournament, running Ju...
03/06/2026
The Bundesliga has announced the launch of Captain, an AI assistant built into t...
03/06/2026
Anthony James Partners (AJP) is serving as technology consultant for a moderniza...
03/06/2026
Audio-Technica has announced the recipients of its annual sales rep firm awards for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The awards were presented by Jim Schanz, Executive ...
How the Wachter Fellowship Helped These Students Launch Careers in L.A. The fellowship, offered through Berklees Career Center, provides students with the means to overcome logistical and financial obstacles standing in the way of internships.
