Alumna Discovers Career Where Dreams Really Do Come True

co-hosted a hockey talk show on WNYO radio, shared her experience and advice to transfer students during Admitted Student Days, worked at Littlepage Dining Hall and interned in the Athletics Department Sports Information Office. An internship at Disney confirmed her passion for the company and Orlando.

Longton took on a job at the Disney Call Center, where she fielded 60 calls a day and assisted guests with a broad range of issues. She learned more about the company and gained deep knowledge about many facets of the operations from parks and resorts to Disney Plus to Disney shops.

Snorkeling along a beachside resort. Taking a three-night Disney Dream cruise. Spending a day at the spa. Drinking a flight of craft beers. Riding the latest Disney Park attractions after hours. Watching sea turtles spin underwater.

For most, these could be key elements of the best vacation ever. But for social media guru Samantha Longton ’18, it’s all in a day’s work.

Today, she works as a digital integration specialist for the Walt Disney Company—a dream job that she can’t imagine ever wanting to leave. She creates content, mostly short 15- to 30-second videos, for Disney Parks social media outlets, including TikTok and Instagram. (Editor’s note: In this story, she does not speak for the brand but only from her personal experience.)

“I got to shoot with every Disney character,” she said. “I got some shots of Goofy on the beach on a private island in the Bahamas. I have so much fun being out there capturing content and working with an amazing team of talented people. We’re all here to create happiness and magic for all of the guests.”

Longton transferred into SUNY Oswego as a junior from Hudson Valley Community College and immediately threw herself into as many activities as she could manage. She served as a sports writer for The Oswegonian,

While that job paid the bills and built her knowledge of the company, she fed her passion for creating content through her personal TikTok channel.

“I’d go out to a coffee shop and make a video about what I liked about the shop, what was cool about the place,” she said. “Then my videos started to go viral—like every one of them. I went from 50 followers to about 70,000 in less than a year.”

Companies like Margarita Resorts, Discovery Cove, Marriott Resorts and several public relations firms started to hire her to make videos for their social media channels. They’d pay for her to stay at their resorts, eat the finest meals, try out the various spa treatments, lounge by the poolside and share her authentic views via TikTok and Instagram videos.

After applying for and being rejected for maybe 30 other positions at Disney, she found an opportunity to create content for Disney Parks social media channels. The hiring manager checked out Longton’s personal TikTok channel and knew she was the person for the job.

Longton was hired in January 2021 and has excelled in her role.

“I love being able to see the magic being made for our guests before they get to experience it,” she said. “I get pumped up to see the guests’ reactions. Disney is just a really fun and amazing place…it’s magical, you could say.”

Jazmyn Eberts ’20 of Gloversville, N.Y., is a full-time art teacher in the Gloversville Enlarged School District after serving as a substitute teacher in the Hamilton-FultonMontgomery BOCES. At Oswego, she was a group leader for Adopt-A-Grandparent, graphic designer for Enactus and risk management chair of Phi Sigma Sigma Inc. Her first book, Battle of the Plastics: The Animals Story, was published.

Ryan Kreuser ’20 of Newark, N.Y., is the marketing coordinator at Ruffalo Appliance and Lagana’s Plumbing and Heating in Newark. He was a member of the Oswego State Swimming and Diving team and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Nicholas Mante ’20 of Palisades, N.Y., is a field sales consultant for Henry Schein health care company. He is in Delta Kappa Kappa fraternity.

Amanda Sclafani ’20 of Staten Island, N.Y., is a job coach at AHRC NYC. She helps people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities maintain their competitive employment. She loves that she found a job where she gets to help people everyday. She hopes to continue with this company and move up in her position. She is a member of the Alpha Delta Eta sorority.

Matthew Kensek ’21 of Rochester, N.Y., is a search engine optimization specialist at CGI Communications NEXT! Ad Agency.

Alexa Kosloski ’21 of Smithtown, N.Y, is an e-commerce account manager at Urtasker in Hauppauge, N.Y.

Andrew Nearbin ’21 of Oswego is in the master’s in biology program and a graduate teaching assistant at SUNY Fredonia.

Kamri Vazquez ’21 of Savannah, N.Y, is a safety and wellness specialist at Cayuga Centers in Auburn, N.Y.

Michael Oher ’22 of Miller Place, N.Y., is a help desk attendant at SUNY Oswego. As a student, he was the chief engineer and host of “Time After Time with Mikey The Oher” for WNYO 88.9 FM, the director of information technology services for The Oswegonian and a freelance video editor for WTOP 10. He was a general member in Jewish Life at SUNY Oswego.