Senior explores music industry with internship

A student at the University of Rhode Island takes gaining field experience through internships to the next level.

Surya Moreira, in her fifth year at URI, has gotten the chance to meet big-name stars through her internships at Atlantic Records in New York City and Warner Brothers in California.

“Coming into school I thought I wanted to follow in my mom’s footsteps as a nurse,” Moreira said, “but I realized it wasn’t what I was into.” Soon after enrolling, she switched her major to communication studies and she said it’s the best decision she has ever made. In her fourth year at the university, she applied for her internship at Atlantic Records.

“It was a long process,” she said. “I received a phone call in June that said I should know in a couple weeks, which turned into a couple months and by the end of August I had the interview and spent the rest of the semester at Atlantic.”

Moreira worked in the publicity department with the company doing things like sending out press releases. She even got the chance to meet stars like Bruno Mars, Rick Ross and Hoodie Allen. One of the best things Moreira said she got the opportunity to do was create a marketing plan for one of the up-and-coming artists at the record label.

“Our group started out with 10 people and it ended up turning into just me and one other student,” she said. By the end of the process, Moreira and her partner had put together a 30-page marketing plan for the artist.

At the end of the semester, Moreira was able to present this plan to the CEO of Atlantic Records. “Being able to create my own marketing plan and present it to the CEO was probably the best day of my life,” she said, “She loved the ideas that we came up with and that was really amazing.”

Through her experiences, she was able to create her own brand called White Rose. In the long run, Moreira would like to turn her brand into an event planning company that handles artist management as well. “I’ve been able to talk to people and get advice from them,” she said.

In addition to her internships, she is also the advertising president of the Student Entertainment Committee here at URI. “I’ve learned a lot with SEC,” she said, “What people don’t understand is that URI has a lot of opportunities, but it’s just how you go about it.”

With help and encouragement from different professors and advisors at the university, she realized she could take initiative on her own.

Moreira made connections within the record label as well as with people from different television shows. She said that these internships really provided her with hands on training.

“The experience that I got was really life-changing,” she said. “Interning at these places has showed me that I could go out and complete these internships and I didn’t need any help.”

Leaving Rhode Island and going to California for her internship with Warner Brothers was scary, but she did it. “The fact that I got it on my own was very surprising, but it gave me more confidence in myself,” she said.