Alumni of the Week: Rachel Pfennig '09

Have you ever wanted to work with celebrities like The Black Eyed Peas or the cast of “So You Think You Can Dance?” For Rachel Pfennig ’09, working at D3TV helped make that dream a reality.

Rachel has always loved performing arts and knew that she wanted to be involved in student media when she was in college. With the encouragement of Nicole Pence ’06, Rachel joined D3TV her first day on DePauw’s campus. Rachel appreciated that every student on campus had the opportunity to get involved in any aspect of the station, whether it was appearing on screen, learning equipment to crew or run a show, or offering creative input. During her four years, Rachel took on any role offered to her within the station, from serving as co-host of “Freshman 15” to taking on the role of Director of Operations and Engineering, a role that she shared with recently spotlighted Scott Reasoner ‘09 (whose spotlight can be found here!). In addition to co-hosting "Freshman 15," Rachel appeared on-air for other favorites such as "The Source" and "The View."

In addition to the traditional D3TV activities that Rachel took part in, she also participated in other media projects while on campus. As an avid thespian and four-year member of Duzer Du and DePauw Theatre, Rachel participated in many theatrical productions, including "Steve Here," which was created by Steve Timm. Rachel served as assistant director for the theatrical production of the show, and she also adapted the performance for D3TV. Shifting a stage show to the television screen proved to be a challenge, but Rachel took on directing and staffing the performance so that it could be shared with the community on television. Rachel's creativity also came out in her work for The DePauw and WGRE; Rachel penned a column for The DePauw called "Pfashion with Pfennig," and she also hosted radio shows for three years, including a stint as a co-host of one of WGRE's longest running shows, "Breakfast with the Babes."

Life after DePauw has been interesting for Rachel, since she has taken on many different roles in the entertainment industry. Viewers of one of Rachel's favorite shows, "30 Rock," may not think the show is an accurate representation of life in the entertainment industry, but Rachel insists it accurately shows what it is like to work on a television show. Rachel was a Production Assistant for the Talent Department of "So You Think You Can Dance?" for two seasons, which gave her the opportunity to meet The Black Eyed Peas when they came to the show as guest artists. The band hired her as their Production Coordinator, and Rachel spent a year traveling the globe with The Black Eyed Peas. Today, Rachel is a creative assistant at Media Arts Lab, an advertising company that works exclusively for Apple, Inc. The position allows Rachel to return to her writing roots, and she is putting her Communications/English Writing degree to good use.

If you someday hope to embark on a career like Rachel's, she suggests taking a tip from Nike and "Just Do It." Rachel believes DePauw students who want to get involved in a particular industry can be successful, they just need to try. "It seems so simple, but most people are too scared and see their dream job is too out of reach," she said.

To help get dream jobs within your reach, Rachel advises reaching out to alumni, even in cities where the alumni network does not seem large, or current faculty members. "It isn't like a state school where thousands and thousands of people are in the network. Since it is a smaller unit of people, DePauw alum are incredibly responsive and willing to help," she said.

Want to see Rachel in action? Check out this clip from her time as co-host of "The View!"