Bridget Herrmann ’05 is the Midwest and Northeast manager of radio and streaming for Warner Music Nashville. Ever since her student days, she has been promoting musical artists and bands — a career that she says was launched and is continuously enhanced by her Wagner education.
“I loved how well-rounded the curriculum was,” Herrmann says. “It made me think outside the box.” Her First-Year Learning Community, with the theme “Living on Spaceship Earth,” combined biology and English, and it dealt with topics of environmental pollution and sustainability. Her other favorite Wagner classes included Military Law and Astronomy.
“I had professors who really challenged me, and I loved that. I love talking with other people about the experiences I had at Wagner, and saying ‘I felt like I had really good classes and really good professors. And it all came together.’ … I was always given the opportunity to speak my mind, and think outside the box, think of things differently.”
Being a member of the sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha was also an important learning experience, Herrmann says. It got her involved in the community and taught her discipline, as she juggled multiple priorities and contributed to the organization. “I had to learn how to do it all, and that’s exactly what the real world is,” she says.
“I need to know as much as I can, to constantly educate myself. The education process in any occupation is never over.”
An arts administration major, she says that her semester-long, full-time senior internship was the key to her career path. She interned at the record label A&M/Octone (now owned by Interscope). “There’s no better learning experience than physically being in the industry you want to work in four to five days a week,” she says.
That internship networked her into a career in the music business. She has worked at Sony, Warner Elektra Atlantic, and A&M/Octone. Before she went to Warner Music Nashville, she was director of radio promotions for Crush Music.
As the music business contends with rapid change, Herrmann says that her habits of constant learning, reinforced at Wagner, serve her well.
“I read a lot, and I think that had a lot to do with Wagner. … I always had professors and classes that were like, ‘Get this book. Read this. Just absorb as much as you can from every angle.’
“I need to know as much as I can, to constantly educate myself. The education process in any occupation is never over.”
