Field Notes: The Media School Travel Blog

The sleek, modern reception area featured screens playing clips from “SpongeBob SquarePants” and MTV.

I would not have guessed that amid the hustle and bustle of Times Square lies the headquarters for Viacom, a mass media conglomerate whose properties include Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV and BET.

Daion Morton, BAJ’16, a former member of the Media LLC who is now a Viacom talent manager, gave us a tour of the building. The environment was creative and collaborative, with open spaces and funky seating areas on every floor.

Each floor paid tribute to a specific department or studio and reflected its style. The floor dedicated to VH1 and MTV was tastefully lined with memorabilia and photographs from important moments in VH1 and MTV history, including an 8-foot replica of the Video Music Awards Moonman trophy. The Nickelodeon floor was saturated with oranges and greens, and walls featured framed art of iconic characters. Its “Blue’s Clues” thinking chair almost made me cry from nostalgia.

At the end of the tour, we met up with Deva Newman, BA’90, for a Q&A session. She and Morton told us about their paths from IU to Viacom. Their paths were not linear, and they found success by putting themselves out into the world and taking career opportunities that came their way, even if those opportunities weren’t exactly what they saw themselves doing. They also discussed the synergy among different Viacom properties, such as the Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, where some Nickelodeon shows are filmed.

The experience of walking the halls of this revered media company coupled with meeting real-life examples of IU graduates succeeding in this fast-paced creative environment was encouraging. It’s the motivation I needed to take back to Bloomington to finish the semester strong and move one step closer toward my professional goals.