TLDR: Jess loves pop culture and media. She started a YouTube channel and production company in high school which got noticed by outlets like Seventeen Magazine. Jess went on to become a pop writer for MTV News during college. While pursuing her masters degree, she spent on summer working on the Vans Warped Tour. Today Jess wears many hats — in her career and on her head — working as a freelance photojournalist and digital media creator.
As an entertainment reporter, interviewer, writer, photographer, and digital creative, my career has taken me many places. I graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a B.A. in Communication Arts and a minor in Journalism in 2016 and then graduated with a Master of Science in Media Management from The New School in 2019.
Camera By Her Side is a digital media company I founded in 2009. CBHS began as a YouTube channel that documented concerts in the NY/NJ Tri-State area and featured on-camera interviews with young Hollywood stars, artists, and bands. To this day I continue to work as "Camera By Her Side" in photography, video, and social media. CBHS led me to many different work opportunities that weren't always necessarily infront of or behind a camera...
My YouTube channel caught the attention of editors at Seventeen Magazine and I spent my entire high school career writing weekly columns as their "Seventeen Buzz Girl." I somehow found time to review new albums, movies, television shows, books, and interview pop stars and report from red carpets in between a full school day, field hockey and lacrosse practices, dance classes, and hours of homework. The "girl boss" era was not missed on me.
In college I interned at MTV News, which was a dream come true for a girl who idolized Carson Daly and grew up watching TRL every day after school. After my internship, I was hired as an MTV News Pop Writer. In this position I kept the world abreast on viral pop culture moments, plugged my favorite up-and-coming bands, live-tweeted from shows at Madison Square Garden at Radio City Music Hall, and publicly freaked out over literally anything Taylor Swift did — some things never change.
From a cubicle in NYC to waking up in a Walmart parking lot every day, my job stayed consistent at its core. In 2018 I got on a bus with a bunch of strangers to travel the country for two months on the traveling punk rock summer camp known as The Vans Warped Tour. I ran social media for a sponsor of the tour, photographing and interviewing bands every day.
My goal with my education and career has always been to be well-versed in anything that excites me. Pop culture and media has always excited me. I never wanted to pigeon-hole myself into one area of journalism, media, and technology. Being freelance has allowed me to work on so many creatively fulfilling projects and jobs.
While doing the aforementioned job situations, I also worked for companies and publications such as Alternative Press, Teen Vogue, PopCrush, Emo Night Brooklyn, AwesomenessTV, and Live Nation, to name a few. The skills I picked up over the years allowed me to pursue more digital, behind-the-scenes gigs -- like anonymously running a popular meme account for a corporate media company and working as a VIP assistant on concert tours, facilitating artist and fan meet and greets and pre-show opportunities.
