My name is Alyssa, and I graduated in December of 2023 with a major in Media Arts,
a concentration in filmmaking, and a minor in graphic design (and an honors distinction,
which I only mention about because of the ridiculous amount of work I put into it,
haha)
I chose the WSU School of Digital Arts after touring WSU a second time - the first
time was when I thought I would major in Astrophysics! Going to Shocker Studios was
such an exciting day, and to be honest, my conversations with Justin and Jeannie pushed
me over the edge - they cared so much about me as an individual and a creative, and
saw potential in me early on that I didn’t always see in myself. I remember going
home and being annoyed that I liked WSU as much as I did, because it meant my parents
were right.
After graduating, I took a few months to mourn the current state of the industry and
being consistently rejected from jobs (AI and strikes and the job market being a mess…oh
my!) before being offered a position as a multimedia producer with KAKE News. I was
there for a little over a year before needing a break from news - after working through
the 2024 presidential election I had become completely exhausted. I then accepted
my current role with Kent Audio-Visual, where I work long days doing live events all
over the state of Kansas - including concerts like Pentatonix and The All-American
Rejects, corporate events, and local celebrations. I’m currently in the interview
process for a dream position - crossing my fingers so hard! I also freelance wedding
videography, graphic design, and more. Definitely keeping busy!
It took me some time to reach where I currently am. 2+ years out from graduation and
I’m still working very long days (I have an event at 3am this weekend?!) doing heavy
labor (3 concussions in the last 6 months, oof), and coming home exhausted. There’s
a long way to go, and I’m not planning on settling anytime soon - there’s many more
goals to reach and opportunities to witness as I continue to grow! I wouldn’t change
my path for anything though, I wanted to try a little bit of everything, and everyone’s
timeline is different!
I’ve had several accomplishments I was proud of since graduating, and I’m so thankful.
These include a second place win for best commercial series at the Kansas Association
of Broadcasters awards in 2025, a selection of my Practicum 3 film (part of it) being
selected for Tallgrass Film Festival and several other national film festivals in 2024,
being invited to be a juror for Tallgrass in 2025, among others. But my biggest accomplishment,
in my opinion, is continuing to apply myself, put myself out there, make connections
and go for scary new opportunities, even when our industry is so tough, and the world
is especially heavy. My resilience is something that has continued to surprise me,
and I’m very proud of that.
My words of advice: Go. For. It. Put yourself out there, even when it’s scary! Spoiler:
no one knows what they’re doing. As long as you’re open to learning, being critiqued,
and growing, you’ll be perfectly fine. Don’t worry if your path doesn’t match what
you’ve been told is ideal - it will work out for you as long as you continue to put
in work and believe in yourself! Make art - even if it’s not perfect, talk to everyone,
and know that you will never know everything, and that’s totally okay. You can do
this!