ePortfolioAnna Gress

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, or Good Evening! My name is Anna Gress and I am from East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. At the Roy H. Park School of Communications I am studying Television- Radio with a concentration in media production.  I am minoring in humanities and sciences as well as business. I love challenging myself and being challenged and my favorite color is purple.

I aspire to work with Disney or the Today Show upon graduating. I am aware that the media industry is difficult to break into and extremely competitive, although this obstacle is terrifying, I find it exciting. I've learned that to be successful in this industry you have to be prepared to work long hours and have an interest in being married to your job essentially. I can not imagine doing anything else in my life other than becoming a director, an executive producer, or an editor. I am interested in discovering what will happen with my career and what opportunities I will be granted along the way. 

From my experience thus far at Ithaca I've learned being flexible is the way to break into this industry. Being versatile is the ultimate asset in the media industry because there are new job opportunities daily and if you can not cope you will not be able to succeed. I have learned this from countless professors to not be only centered to work for the Today Show or work for Disney, but to also accept other opportunities if they appear, to be open-minded. My educational career has also inspired me to stay connected with social media sites. Through Twitter!, Facebook, and Tumblr there are endless ways to connect with professionals and influence people with original ideas. Lastly, I have found face to face communication is the one skill that is irreplaceable. I am fortunate that I enjoy public speaking and striking up conversation in elevators, in the end the way to success is through communication skills verbally and media related.