Meet the Volunteers: Brian Shoicket

At NY Creative Interns, we love our volunteers. These individuals are the ones who track down the internships, write the articles, and help make every event a success. We’ll be introducing you to a new member of the team each Friday to help you get to know them.

Brian Shoicket grew up in Stoughton, MA, and enjoyed calling New England home, but when the time came to look at colleges, he knew that a change of scenery was in order. To the dismay of his parents, he had launched a music company called What-Not Records during his sophomore year of high school, which exposed him to an industry where hard work collided with music and fun; he was hooked.

Brian moved to NY in 2006 to attend Hofstra University and graduated in 2010 as a Liberal Arts major with a Marketing minor. Through internships and on-campus organizations, he worked with such talented artists as Gym Class Heroes, Brand New, Ghostface Killah, The Format, Lupe Fiasco, and The Proclaimers, as well as organizations like the Government of Canada and SiriusXM. With meaningful relationships developed in the NYC-area and access to a 24-hour subway system, Brian wasn’t leaving any time soon. He began working for a boutique music management company upon graduating, where he assisted with the representation of GRAMMY Award-winning and nominated producers, songwriters, and mixers who worked with artists like John Legend, Shania Twain, Kelly Clarkson, and Eric Church. He currently freelances as a copywriter and copy editor, focusing on the language strategies necessary for organizations to effectively communicate with their audiences.

What made you want to volunteer for NY Creative Interns?
I attended Hofstra University with Emily Miethner and Reb Carlson, who co-founded NY Creative Interns in 2010. From the start, I loved the organization’s mission and the events they were hosting, but my work schedule prevented me from taking on an active role at the time. Everything aligned in January 2012, when a New Year’s resolution to become more involved was met with the opportunity to aid with the copywriting and copy editing efforts leading up to our first Find and Follow Your Passion conference. I continue to work closely with NY Creative Interns on the “word front” to this day, whether it be for our Weekly Opportunities Newsletter, the creation of event descriptions and titles, or a speaker/sponsorship proposal. I’ve had the good fortune of meeting some of the most incredible people in our members, volunteers, speakers, and supporters and could not be more proud of the events and resources that this organization provides for aspiring creative professionals.

What has been your favorite event so far?
The “next” one. Our events bring out the most amazing attendees and presenters, so I never know whom I will meet, what I will learn, or how I will be inspired. In addition, we are always challenging ourselves to keep the next event fresh and exciting, and by looking at past events to see what worked, what could be modified, and what people want to see more of moving forward, we can tweak our “magic formula” to create something new that we know people will love. This ongoing energy, growth, and development is part of what I think makes the content of each event so special.

If you could hear anyone speak at a future NY Creative Interns event, who would it be?
As cheesy as this might sound, any one of my fellow NY Creative Interns volunteers. I’ve become such close friends with them at this point that we tend to interact on more of a personal level than a professional one. The members of this organization are truly some of the most driven and accomplished people I know, so to hear their full stories presented to an audience (I’d be in the front row) would be an incredible experience for me.

Beyond the members of this organization, I would love to meet Joe Escalante, who introduced me to my first true passion of the business behind music when I was a teenager, and William S. Burroughs, whose literary work transformed the English language for me. For obvious reasons, the latter might be trickier.

How many internships have you had, and where?
Two-and-a-half. I interned at Nettwerk Music Group, Broadcast Music, Inc., and Frontside Promotions Group while in college, although only one of those internships was done for academic credit (and this was at the requirement of the company). I say “two-and-a-half” because my internship with Frontside evolved into a paid, contracted position working with their Online Marketing department (thank you, Gary and Geoff!). Despite not being formal internships, my involvement with student-run organizations at Hofstra also provided me with some of the best career preparation and hands-on experiences that I could have asked for.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice that I’ve ever explicitly received from an employer is a quote by David Freeman: “The goal of life is to take everything that made you weird as a kid and get people to pay you money for it when you’re older.” There is a lot to be read beneath the humorous surface of this sentence.

However, I think the best “advice” that all of us can receive is through simply interacting with others. Although it may not be phrased as inspirational quotes, I have learned so much from the everyday words and actions of friends, strangers, and employers. These lessons have guided me to this point in my life and will continue to transform me moving forward.

It’s 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon. What are you doing?
Trying to figure out how it got to be 3pm so quickly; I feel like I just started working 15 minutes ago. Schedules are helpful for remembering where you need to be and when, but I will always believe that time is a state of mind.

Brian loves connecting with anyone and everyone. If you’re interested in chatting with him about music, literature, language strategy, or why he no longer allows himself to use Groupon or Living Social, reach out to him. You can email Brian at bshoick [at] gmail [dot] com or find him on LinkedIn and Twitter.