#violetpride

“I thought that coming here would mean going to school with a lot of people who weren’t like me,” Silvana reflects. “But it’s actually really comforting to get lunch with a classmate you don’t really know. You always find something to talk about, and it helps you relieve stress because you don’t feel like you’re all alone in the city. You see that other people are going through the same things that you are.” Know someone you’d like to see featured here? Send suggestions to [email protected]

Title: Lighting Designer, Amélie On Broadway Director of the Program in Theater, Princeton University Where it all started: The thing about NYU that most changed my life was being in day-to-day contact with a bunch of people who made their living in the arts. Everyone who teaches in the design program at Tisch is a working artist. I’d never experienced that before, and it gave me a really different sense of what the possibilities were. It's hard to start a career in the arts of any kind. But in a way I had the feeling that you started your career when you started school there. You become part of the theater community. Susan Hilferty, who’s now the director of the program, helped me get my first job out of school, and there are a number of people I met there that I’m still working with. If I’d known then: When I was a Tisch student, I never pictured myself doing Broadway musicals. That wasn’t really my world back then, and never in a million years did I think that I would be directing a theater program. It’s pretty unusual to have a designer in that role—usually it’s a director. But the biggest thing is that I didn’t think it was possible to make a career in the theater and have a reasonably stable life with a home and a family. When I went to Tisch I felt like I was choosing art over the normal markers of a happy life. But I’ve been very blessed to have been given all those things. That’s been the biggest surprise.

Advice to students pursuing a similar career path: Be memorable. There are so many people who want your job. Don’t be passive when opportunities arise. Go to the big boss and ask to get coffee so that they know your face. Write really nice thank you notes. Be friendly and never complain in front of your boss, even in a casual work environment. And ask a million questions! You want to be a problem solver, but sometimes you just don’t know the answers.

I’m gonna miss you all. @nyutisch @itp_nyu #nyu2019 #violetpride #nyualumni https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx2xuF2JIhq/?igshid=1r35z7fd5lfu6

Last graduation post for the day, you’re safe until Tisch Salute on Friday. lol. Seriously though, thanks for the love and support during one of the most difficult and exciting two years of my life. This one’s for you, Dad. <3 @nyuniversity @nyutisch @itp_nyu #nyu2019 #violetpride #nyualumni (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxx-xZ2Jzgz/?igshid=11f3wgwddlhqw

Love when I get gifts from my alma mater #VioletPride #nyualum #nyu https://www.instagram.com/p/Bto9pVvgQFA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=59purs7tp6qz

💜I know this is a little late but I want to officially say that I will be attending my all-time dream school, NYU Tisch for the next four years! #NYU2023 #VioletPride #goviolets💜 (at New York University) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrgGfApg9Em/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5u5kgk32gp9v

Congrats to my schoolmate @clandestineham and a dear person. All the best. #nyugrad #nyu2018 #steinhardt #nyusteinhardt #steinhardt2018 #cctop #nyuart #violetpride #nyu (at Radio City Music Hall)