
Bernice Chan on How Berklee Helped Jumpstart Her Career as a Publicist A panelist at Career Jam 2023, the recent alum discusses landing her current position and how shes adjusted to life after graduation.
By
Mirtini Oikonomou
March 28, 2023
Bernice Chan B.M. '22 will speak on a panel at Career Jam on March 31.
Through her work as a publicist at T.C.B. (Taking Care of Business) Public Relations, a company founded by women, Bernice Chan B.M. '22 has worked with a variety of artists such as Duckwrth, Del Water Gap, Lauren Jauregui, and Tamino, and she recently helped promote the score and soundtrack for the Academy Award-winning film smash Everything Everywhere All at Once. Chan has a diverse skill set in management, public relations, A&R, and music journalism, and is particularly passionate about guiding independent artists.
Her musical journey began at a young age in a children's opera company and continued at a performing arts high school in Toronto, Canada. She later studied music business/management at Berklee, where she was introduced to the industry through the A&R club and working as a student employee in the Office of Media Relations. She believes in building genuine relationships in the music industry, and strives to amplify the breadth of artistic talent she sees around her. In this interview, we delve deeper into her experiences and insights regarding the music industry ahead of her appearance on the Bursting the Berklee Bubble panel at Career Jam on Friday, March 31.
What are some of the things you learned at Berklee that you apply to your current job? The job with the Berklee Office of Media Relations definitely helped me with PR projects and pitch language; I think it helped to get the job where I am currently because I had previous PR experience.... You could have the Berklee name on your r sum , but the important thing is what you do with it. I wasnt the typical academic student because I wanted to do more things outside of the classroom. Thats why I joined the A&R club, took the media relations job, and did internships. I used the Berklee network to do that and also utilized the Career Center. I was really focused on how I can use Berklee as a stepping stone to get to where I want to be after graduation.
What piece of advice did you get that really helped? One of the most valuable pieces of advice that really helped me is to find someone who grew up with a similar background that you can relate to and has the lifestyle you want to have-[use] it as a rough guideline, knowing that there is someone like you who has achieved what you want to achieve.
What are some challenges that you have faced in your career so far, and what are some of the skills that helped you get through them? I think once you get yourself in the door you need to build discipline and grit to transition as a student to a full-time employee. Half of my degree was completed during the pandemic so when I started working from home, it was a struggle to figure things out and learn on the job. I had to be okay with making mistakes and learning from them-and at first it didn't feel great because it felt as if I might be bad at this job, but it's all part of a learning experience. Being a musician first and having your success come with your talent and then shifting to a job where you need to have the foundation of a skill set, which includes things that you have to learn-and you are not born with these skills-is tough. Founder Carrie Tolles and vice president Alison Smith at T.C.B. were big mentors for me, and they gave me space knowing that I was young, and they guided me along the way. But a lot of it was on my computer alone figuring out how to maximize the presence of an artist in the media.
As a woman in the music industry do you think there are difficulties starting out? What changes do you hope to see? Being led by a woman and working with so many women, I felt pretty comfortable the whole time, which I'm very grateful for! However, there is so much more work that the industry could be doing, and knowing the experiences that other women have had in the industry are always kind of in the back of my mind. I think because of that, women in the music industry need to work so much harder, and I think there is a lot of pressure.
What are some pieces of advice that Berklee students need to know before they head out into the music world? Use what's available to you, and understand you don't have to make a whole new connection; since the industry is so small you are going to find people who know someone. I had zero connections starting out in the music industry, but the reason I ended up in New York was that I used the Berklee network and found alumni or people who worked in the industry. I messaged people through LinkedIn, asked to interview them or get coffee with them, and asked them, How did you get to where you are? Another key takeaway is to take it one step at a time. A lot of the time we are comparing ourselves to other people and where they are in their careers. Take baby steps and you are going to feel more confident in yourself. Dont forget the reason why you got into music and keep that passion close to your heart because there are a lot of things that may keep you away from that. Finally, try to keep some kind of balance. It is so easy to burn out when you are constantly thinking of how to get ahead.
Related Categories
Keyed In
News
Most Popular
Berklee President Erica Muhl
Image by Kelly Davidson
Berklee to Hold Inauguration of President Erica Muhl in April Muhl is the fourth-and first female-president of Berklee.
Latest
Loretta J. Ross
Image by Dave Green
A Remedy for Cancel Culture MacArthur Fellow Loretta J. Ross spoke about toxic internet culture and the virtues of calling in instead of calling out at a recent campus lecture.
G
North America Stories
18/07/2025
Blanche Barton, Peter Gilmore, Scott Cummings, Sundance Institute Director of Programming Kim Yutani, and Peggy Nadramia throwing horns. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutte...
18/07/2025
By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fest...
18/07/2025
BOSTON Sports network NESN today relaunched the NESN 360 app with a redesigned user experience and upgrades....
18/07/2025
Berklee Singers Wow the Competition on Netflixs Building the Band Netflixs new music competition show features two Berklee artists looking to make their pop b...
18/07/2025
As the House of Representatives voted early Friday morning to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting, advocates warned that the elimination of $1 bil...
18/07/2025
DENVER Imagine Communications has announced that it is deepening its commitment to the North American sports and live events market with investments in its prod...
18/07/2025
LOS GATOS, Calif. Netflix once again reported strong financial growth, with revenue increasing 16% year-over-year to $11.079 billion in Q2 2025 as net income s...
18/07/2025
Live from the 153rd Open Championship: SMT Enhances Video Board Experience; Enab...
18/07/2025
ShotTracker's Davyeon Ross on Revolutionizing Basketball On the Court and ...
18/07/2025
Home Pitch: How the Danish League Brought Its Live Match Production In-House Matchday Production produced 800+ matches across Denmark in its first year By Geor...
18/07/2025
Live From the 153rd Open Championship: EMG Debuts Spidercam for Golf, Expands Su...
18/07/2025
Usyk vs Dubois II: Bringing the fight to life with state of the art cameras and ...
18/07/2025
Usyk vs Dubois II: DAZN's head of boxing Chris Glanville talks helicopters, ...
18/07/2025
Live From the 153rd Open Championship: NBC Expands Unilateral Effort; Shared Stu...
18/07/2025
Warner Bros. Discovery's Anne Graham on Training New Professionals to Ensure...
18/07/2025
Live From the 153rd Open Championship: How R&A Spidercam Became a Reality for Go...
18/07/2025
ESPN Bulks Up Onsite Studios, Cameras, Player Mics for WNBA All-Star Weekend Besides the game, four studio shows will be produced onsite By Jason Dachman, Edit...
17/07/2025
Blanche Barton, Peter Gilmore, Scott Cummings, Sundance Institute Director of Programming Kim Yutani, and Peggy Nadramia throwing horns. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutte...
17/07/2025
An advanced large solid rocket motor hot fire test conducted at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, site....
17/07/2025
L3Harris payloads and components have been on board every U.S. GPS satellite-more than 70 missions since the 1970s. Our technology is at the core of GPS availab...
17/07/2025
L3Harris' pack of launched effects is comprised of multi-role vehicles that ...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 17, 2025 - Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, has announced the appointment of Ryan Moore to the new role of Chief Business O...
17/07/2025
READING, Pa. Network technology startup Miri Technologies has added David Cohen as vice president, business development. He'll be tasked with expanding the ...
17/07/2025
Berklee Wins CASE Award for Standout Digital Campaign The Alumni Affairs team's Variations Signature Series earned recognition for offering an authentic p...
17/07/2025
Early Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate voted to cut federal funding for PBS and NPR in a bill that also included cuts for foreign aid. In a 51-48 vote, the act...
17/07/2025
GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions across IBC2025 (12 15 September, RAI Amsterdam) feature a remarkable 34 companies, each providing unique, innovativ...
17/07/2025
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers today introduced its Content Provenance and Authenticity (CPA) in Media Study Group (S...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Despite widespread concerns about a soft advertising market, NBCUniversal said it closed its 2025-26 upfront negotiation cycle with a record ad sales v...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Television advertising remains an effective means to market and influence younger baby boomer and Generation X consumers approaching retirement age, ac...
17/07/2025
ALLENTOWN, Pa. & JERSEY CITY, N.J. Service Electric Cable TV and OpenVault have announced that the operator is deploying the OpenVault Proactive Network Manage...
17/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following up on his first major policy speech just two ago, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is promising to buck the usual summ...
17/07/2025
Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2025 Emmy Awards Twenty-seven Berklee alumni received nominations across categories in sound mixing, sound editing, and compositi...
17/07/2025
Back to All News
What We Watched the First Half of 2025
Entertainment
17 July 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Today, we're sharing our latest Eng...
17/07/2025
Cast your vote in 2 categories for Ivory 3 American Concert DIvory 3 American Concert D is in the 2025 MIDI Innovation Awards and we are honored to be nominated...
17/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: OpenDrives' Sean Lee, Michael Wilsker, and Jason Matousek on E...
17/07/2025
Oracle's Geoff Tognetti on Staying Ahead of the AI Curve Through Further Ado...
17/07/2025
NBA's Summer League Is a Hot Bed of AI, Immersive Innovation Testing Audio mixing, intelligent camera framing are among AI-driven efforts By Ken Kerschbaum...
17/07/2025
SVG's TranSPORT Conference Returns to NYC on Oct. 21; Register Today! By SVG Staff
Thursday, July 17, 2025 - 8:29 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
St...
17/07/2025
Gravity Media chosen as group name for merged OB business By George Bevir
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - 11:30
Print This Story
Gravity Media executive chairm...
17/07/2025
SES Closes Deal to Acquire Intelsat, Creating New Giant in Satellite Connectivit...
17/07/2025
How MLB Pulled Off That Unforgettable Hank Aaron Tribute at the All-Star Game Vintage content, state-of-the-art projection/processing combine in marvelous mile...
17/07/2025
Back to All News
Thai Legendary Bandit Explodes to Life in Netflixs Gold Rush ...
17/07/2025
Listen up citizens, the law is back and patrolling the cloud. Nacon's RoboCop Rogue City - Unfinished Business launches today in the cloud, bringing justice...
16/07/2025
It's Emmy nominations day, and Sundance Institute storytellers are basking i...
16/07/2025
Warsaw - Poland, June 24, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, has released its latest May All Screens Video Landscape...
16/07/2025
Bluey Tops Nielsen's Overall Streaming List with More Than 25 Billion Minutes Streamed from January through June 2025
Big June Vaults Squid Game into Top O...
16/07/2025
TV SIM, the SBT affiliate serving Esp rito Santo state in Brazil, has launched a transmitter upgrade initiative with the installation of a Rohde & Schwarz R&S T...
16/07/2025
Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, is turning its vision to the future of automation with its demonstrations ...
16/07/2025
Ikegami announces a new addition to its UNICAM-XE product range with the introduction of the UHK-X700RF wireless portable camera: The new version has the same f...
16/07/2025
Today, Amazon Web Services added TwelveLabs as a new model provider to Amazon Bedrock, delivering what could be the most significant breakthrough in enterprise ...