Emily Miethner
Fine Arts

Massachusetts’s Emily Miethner is a Hofstra junior majoring in fine arts with a concentration in design. Her dream is to work as a designer in the music industry. She recently had a taste of that life when she was tapped by MTV to design a T-shirt for Iggy, their new global pop culture and music network.

A senior executive for MTV was a guest speaker in Emily’s New Media class taught by Professor Tom Klinkowstein. Emily was not shy about asking the MTV representative for career advice. She even “friended” him afterward on Facebook and was very happy that he accepted her invitation to stay in touch. Not long after, he invited Emily to come up with a shirt design for Iggy – a very prestigious assignment into which she immediately jumped. She worked with Professor Klinkowstein, and together they came up with more than 60 different concepts.

Emily’s design work for MTV is currently on hold while MTV concentrates on their marketing plan for Iggy. Emily is taking the delay in stride – she knows this is part of the ups and downs of working in show business. She says that even if nothing comes of the work she’s done so far, she is grateful for the opportunity to have worked on such a high profile project. Her MTV connection gave Emily the opportunity to network with other freelance artists in the music world, and MTV invited her to a concert celebrating the U.S. debut of Asian pop star BoA.

The MTV experience also showed Emily the importance of making the most of every chance to network. Recently, Ian Wheeler, president of the famed Knitting Factory, was also a guest speaker in Professor Klinkowstein’s class. Again, Emily introduced herself, asked questions and even rode the bus back with him to the train station. The result: an exciting summer internship.

In addition to working at the Knitting Factory this summer, Emily will also be interning for +1 Records, a music management and public relations firm. Currently she’s overseeing the promotion and publicity for the student art show presented by the Department of Fine Arts.