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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
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.
