Jill of All Trades

Samantha Troisi shares her experiences working in the news and entertainment industry.

by Andres Leon

Samantha Troisi poses on a couch with her dogs.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SAMANTHA TROISI

Samantha Troisi is a student at Long Beach State University who is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in public relations this spring.

Troisi is also the current president of LBSU’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America and the team leader of the 2021 LBSU Bateman team.

She is a well-traveled person, coming from Boston then moving to Los Angeles just before graduating high school.

Troisi previously attended El Camino College in Torrance for an associate’s degree in journalism before moving back to the east coast, New York.

Years later, Troisi transferred in as a journalism student to LBSU. She decided to pivot towards public relations to finish her education.

“I wanted to be more well-rounded in terms of my knowledge,” she shared, “There was the other side of business that I wanted to have a better understanding of.”

Troisi worked 15 years in hospitality before deciding to come back to school for her degree in public relations.

She described her career outlook, “The dedication of life was a lot… 14 hour days, 30-plus days in a row without a day off. Every holiday, every weekend night, that would’ve been my life no matter how far I was going.”

At 21 years old, Troisi worked in marketing for TapOut, eventually being moved to working in copywriting.

I remember sitting in meetings with people, and they would say words [and] I didn’t know what they were.

One time, she caught the attention of the Chief Executive Officer who asked her what she was doing because Troisi would write down terms she didn’t know, to later look them up when she got home. She would make a glossary in her notebook.

Troisi has also interned for E!, writing various articles for them. But she found that one particular article she wrote trumps her other experiences, in the eyes of employers.

Looking at her resume, interviewers will always inquire about her experience interviewing George Clooney.

“‘You worked with this non-profit that is really awesome and done things globally, but we really want to hear about your time at E! when you talked to George Clooney about fart machines,’” Troisi explained.

She recalls him to be a very nice person. They talked about pranks he would pull on his coworkers and she found herself wanting to write about the interesting anecdotes he shared about directing.

“That’s obviously from my journalism integrity side, but the person who I worked for there was like, ‘but what about the fart machine?’” she said.

Wherever Troisi goes, she finds herself taking on a leadership role. She has a part-time job working as a bartender at a restaurant.

“It was actually really hard to get a job just doing that because I come in with my resume and people are like, ‘What are you doing? Why?’”

This extends past her hospitality jobs as well.

“Even in my internships they’re like, ‘Okay I’m going to make you the lead on all the other interns’ — I can’t even intern myself,” Troisi shared in jest. “Can I just be the cog for a little bit? Can I just do grunt work for a while?”

She shared what she’s going to do after she graduates.

“I’m going to take a small break. I think I need a little vacation time to recalibrate and sleep,” she said. “I’ve been really lucky to make the connections that I have and I feel confident that I’ll land somewhere I’ll enjoy. Still, it’s a very competitive market.”

She knows that a career in public relations could take some time, especially because of the pandemic slowing most industries down.

I’ve been really lucky to make the connections that I have and I feel confident that I’ll land somewhere I’ll enjoy.

“Once all the projects I’m working on are done, I can focus on a different resume for every position, because you have to match it, the cover letters that nobody reads — that’s its own job and I believe that.”

For any students in journalism or public relations, Troisi offered some advice.

“Don’t be afraid to get involved quickly, really jump in,” she said. “Connect with the people around you and don’t be afraid to be involved in a big way. There are so many amazing organizations on campus and those are the people that are going to help you in your future.”

Troisi also strongly encouraged students to engage heavily in class.

“Our professors don’t get enough credit about how insightful they are… talking about real life experiences, asking about different scenarios — that’s what’s going to help you when you’re sitting in a boardroom.”