Maggie Quackenbush \u201917 (BUS) jumped at the offer of\u00a0a job at Sony Music as an opportunity to leverage her degree in management information systems and learn something new every day.<\/p>\n
But if the members of her favorite bands, Aerosmith or AC\/DC, happen to walk through the doors of the Manhattan record company, that will be a bonus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very excited to be joining Sony Music. I wanted to work in a creative industry,\u2019\u2019 Quackenbush says. \u201cI enjoy constantly learning new things, and I think that’s what is great about the music business. There are always new genres, new artists, and new ways of producing music.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Sony Music, the world\u2019s third-largest \u201crecord\u2019\u2019 company, is launching a new, two-year rotational program for recent graduates interested in information systems and technology. The application process was highly competitive and the former UConn business student is one of only two recent graduates accepted.<\/p>\n
Quackenbush, who started her new job Aug. 1, expects to be working in both the Manhattan and New Jersey offices for 18 months, before spending six months abroad, most likely in Munich. Her first assignment will probably involve data analytics.<\/p>\n
Quackenbush\u2019s route to her MIS degree was not typical. She enrolled in UConn as a human development and family studies major, interested in building on her experience working at a daycare center in high school and fostering her interest in psychology. But by the end of sophomore year, the Framingham, Massachusetts-native missed her math classes, craved a new challenge, and began exploring different majors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found MIS and it was the perfect match for me,\u2019\u2019 she says. \u201cAs a former human development major, I\u2019m interested in the perspective of how people interact with technology, and also in helping people to use it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Quackenbush, who played piano and violin as a child, considers herself a music consumer who \u201ccan\u2019t be in the car without music playing.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
When she interviewed for the Sony position, she opted to be herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they were looking for someone whose personality matched their culture,\u2019\u2019 she says. \u201cI have learned to acknowledge the fact that my background is different from many others. I\u2019ve learned to make it a strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom working with children, I know how to present things in easy-to-understand ways,” she adds. “I think creative companies are seeking people who can bridge the different aspects of their business. I tried to be myself and I figured if it was the right match, then it was meant to be.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
She heard about the job from her adviser, operations and information management instructor Jon Moore, who urged her to apply. Until then, living in New York City wasn\u2019t even on her radar, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cJon advised me in the fall of senior year that it is OK to be somewhat picky, but not overly picky,\u2019\u2019 she recalls. \u201cHe said, \u2018You can take your time and figure out your interests. You don\u2019t have to have an offer by winter break.\u2019 He understood that I wanted to find a creative company where I really wanted to work, and he was supportive of that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Moore says he\u00a0recommended her for the Sony position because it was something \u2018out of the box.\u2019 “She had been looking around for something different, and I thought that it might be a good fit.”<\/p>\n
He says Quackenbush was a top student who produced a number of creative projects in class that exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat always struck me most about Maggie was that she was a very hard worker. She switched her major halfway through to MIS, which is quite a different life path,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cShe\u2019s really into gaming and design, so naturally she and I connected in my OPIM 4895 \u00a0Gamification in Business course.”<\/p>\n
Quackenbush envisages herself someday designing video games for special needs children, a group that touches her heart. She has ideas for virtual-reality games that might help autistic and other children overcome anxiety in unfamiliar situations.<\/p>\n
She\u00a0says she experienced a great mix of academic accomplishments and extracurricular activities during her four years at UConn:\u00a0\u201cI definitely think I got the broad educational experience I wanted from UConn. Taking the general education classes was beneficial, and I was lucky enough to be at a big school that allowed me to switch majors. I had a really good experience.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Outside the classroom, she volunteered as a mentor in the First Year Experience program; served as a member of the American Sign Language Club and as a teaching assistant for an ASL class; became a member of the Information Management Association; and was morale captain of the HuskyTHON dance marathon, in which she participated for three years.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, the experience of attending a large university taught her to look for opportunities to distinguish herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing to a big school and finding your own place in it is really great,” Quackenbush \u00a0says. “I know that I can go to a big company and I can find ways to stand out.”<\/p>\n
After completing two internships at Fidelity Investments during previous summers, she also recognizes the importance of tackling big challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, I intend to do the work that I\u2019m assigned, but I think it is a huge help to be a self-starter,\u2019\u2019 she says. \u201cI always try to look for projects that would enhance the company. That\u2019s something that benefits your career and your company.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maggie Quackenbush ’17 (BUS) is one of only two recent graduates accepted for a two-year program at Sony Music that will take her to Manhattan, New Jersey, and Munich.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":128250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,156,1862,2225,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1922],"class_list":["post-127976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-profile","category-busn","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 04:11:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127976"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128435,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127976\/revisions\/128435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/128250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127976"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=127976"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=127976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}