Brittany Jackson spent last semester on the red carpet, covering the entertainment scene.
The senior's internship at HollywoodLife.com, covering entertainment news and beauty, put her at the edge of the spotlight. The opportunity came about after one of her sorority sisters in Alpha Kappa Alpha passed her resume on to a friend, who is a publicist for the site.
Jackson said she enjoyed the internship and feels "blessed." At HollywoodLife.com, she covered celebrity events and awards shows, researched breaking news stories and wrote articles for the site. She said her favorite experience with HollywoodLife.com was covering the Vanity Fair red carpet in April. "I was literally on the same carpet with television personalities from VH1 and reporters from every news program in New York you could think of," Jackson said. "I received exclusive statements from designer Rachel Roy and actress Whoopi Goldberg, just to name a few."
While Jackson said her extensive resume and dedication to her work were factors in getting the internship, she acknowledged that networking is also an extremely important key to success in the entertainment industry. "The statement, 'it's not what you know; it's who you know,' proves to be absolutely true and definitely applies to the entertainment industry," she explained. In her area of interest, and in many others, "there is no way you can prosper without getting a little help from more established career professionals along the way," she said. Her advice to students who hope to follow in her footsteps: "Make sure to be friendly to everyone you meet."
Noora Badwin can be reached at noora. badwin@student.shu.edu.
