HawkTalk
Christian Grotewold

Oh The Places Wagner Will Take You

Christie Acquazzino rocks her Alpha Sigma Alpha letters on Graduation Day!

From being a Wagner arts administration and marketing student to being a production assistant for the MTV Video Music Awards, Christie Acquazzino is fulfilling her dreams! Alumna and former Alpha Sigma Alpha sister Christie Acquazzino has proved that Wagner’s students do go far. I am not surprised at all, to be honest; she has an amazing personality and a drive to accomplish her goals. Once I heard she had done this award show, I had to contact her and interview her for the HawkTalk, and let me say, it was very entertaining and instructive.

From the moment I saw her walk across the Towers bridge dressed in business attire, I could sense the feeling of professionalism in her.  We greeted one another as old friends and eagerly began the interview. As a legacy here at Wagner, Christie had a good idea of the opportunities this college offered and took advantage of all of them. Her program required her to have internships, so she began her quest with a casting agency, later moved on to a public relations company, and finally landed an internship at MTV.

How was she able to get an internship at MTV?, you might ask; well, it is all about who you know and are friends with. Christie knew people who had already interned at MTV, including her sorority big sister, Michelle Lesperance. With the help of her friends she was able to begin as an assistant in administrative duties, filing and answering the phone. Christie then began to work her way up. It all began with being able to shadow the assistant senior VP of Music Production for the MTV Movie Awards; she was able to see all the creative process in mounting this show. Afterwards, she got hired as a project-based employee who got called for events that needed coordination, one of them being the TV Land Awards.

Being able to coordinate award shows got her name out there, and she was eventually called to fill in for the executive assistant to the senior VP to coordinate the VMAs. She was the production assistant on the main show production staff. Some of her duties included setting up the offices, putting props together for that night’s performers like P!nk, and all the little things that had to be done. She even got to buy a pack of cigarettes for One Direction. Christie said she loved every bit of putting together the show and the group of people she worked with. She said they were fun and taught her great things, and that it always helps to be good friends with people in the show business. It was hard for her to find something she disliked about it; she even said that the long hours invested in the show were worth it.

Christie said that by being able to coordinate the VMAs, she was able to put everything she learned while planning Wagnerstock for the past four years into action. She saw everything in a much bigger scale; it is one thing to plan a music event for college, and a completely different and more serious thing to plan a world-famous event. Christie says that by doing this event more doors opened for her; she recently got a job to coordinate a concert for the band Boys Like Girls. My final question was if she would do it again, and her response was exactly what I was looking for: “In a heartbeat.” Christie Acquazzino will continue to freelance for MTV and other production companies; greatness has no limits for this amazing woman!