Posts Tagged ‘onTalent’

Niche-ing New York City: Talents Out of School

Monday, June 30th, 2025
Heather Male

In an attempt to begin this guide with a success story, I met with one of the most talented, most successful people I know to tell her story: Heather Male. My aunt, friend, and role model, she has accomplished what many young creatives living in New York City long to – a balance between a great salary and a fulfilling creative outlet. After work at her corporate day job, she spends evenings writing at coffee shops, taking acting classes at the Kimball Studio, and collaborating with photographer Charles Johnstone on their photo books, one of which is currently on display in The Helmut Newton Foundation Museum for Photography’s Polaroids exhibition. 

What many of us broke liberal arts students long to understand is this: how did she get here? What steps did she take after graduating that can land us a successful career built on our talents? Unfortunately, as Heather has found, no two paths to success are the same, even within the same niche. Her first piece of advice is that we learn to live with that and become nimble and adaptable when it comes to change. Her second piece of advice, however, is that we set up a good foundation upon which to build; while we won’t ever be able to replicate the exact same opportunities – what she calls “happy accidents” – that landed her where she is today, the things we can plan for – like going to school and getting trained – will set for us a foundation that will yield the most opportunities. 

For her, that meant graduating from Fordham University with a double major in Film and Theatre and a minor in Communications followed by a two-year acting conservatory at Esper Studio. Dedicated to the Meisner Technique – based on emotionality and improvisation, producing especially instinctive, empathic, authentic actors – the Esper Studio has also trained well-known actors like Jeff Goldblum, Kristen Davis, Ian Somerhalder, and Kathy Bates, among others. Excellent actors, Heather notes, who are successful and getting paid. It was here, and in the consequent years at the Kimball Studio, where she built her community. She found herself surrounded by actors of different ages, at different stages of their lives, whom she could teach and from whom she could learn – she had a lineup of exceedingly intimate friends to go to for help and advice no matter the problem. 

Outside of acting class, Heather grew her network by bussing tables, running food, and cocktail waitressing, jobs that she found made her the best money while also providing her the opportunity to meet hundreds of new people every day and to develop relationships with her regulars. She never felt like she was sacrificing time that could be spent creating because the job was layered with possibility and benefit – you never know who you’ll be talking to that night, and in New York City, it is a near-guarantee that you’ll meet someone important. Whether you work in food service, retail, or as a barista at Starbucks, Heather just advises that you stay in the mix. College students should find a way to spend their breaks in the city, get out of the apartment, and establish your community – “To have the highest odds of a happy accident, you have to be here.” 

Believe me, Heather knows it’s not the easiest city to live in, especially compared to the glamorized New York City we all dream about. Whatever your talent, however, suffering will help you – it will add a new dimension to your character in a play, it will add a unique emotion to your painting, it will prepare you for any conflict that comes up in your PR job. We learn by experiencing, and the best way to experience is to get out there, to meet people, to begin building your foundation for success.


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By Lauren Male

Lauren Male is a senior at Pace University majoring in English and Communications, with a minor in Journalism. She is pursuing Pace’s M.S. Publishing program. When she’s not reading, Lauren can be found trying new coffee shops, thrift shopping, and spending all of her money on concert tickets.


For over 25 years, the Campus Clipper has helped college students in New York City—and later in Boston and Philadelphia—save money and succeed in city life. We offer a digital coupon booklet with discounts on food, clothing, and services, plus an Official Student Guidebook with real advice on how to navigate college life in a big city. Our internship program lets students build skills, earn money, and publish their own e-books. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @CampusClipper, and sign up for our newsletter to get deals straight to your inbox. To access the digital coupons, scan the QR code on our printed card—available in dorms, student centers, and around campus.

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Niche-ing New York City: Finding Your Niche

Wednesday, June 18th, 2025

Finding Your Niche

New York City is particularly famous for creating particularly famous people. Lady Gaga, Timothee Chalamet, Cardi B, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Lena Dunham – all globally acclaimed despite their vastly different talents – each grew up among the 8 million New Yorkers we pass on the street, the neighbors whom we greet every day, and the strangers we squeeze against in packed subway cars. There’s something about this city – maybe it’s the reservoir water, maybe it’s magic – that produces talent like no other. Los Angeles may be teeming with Hollywood actors and London with members of the royal family, but New York City claims some of the most successful rappers, designers, and thespians, but also businesspeople, professional athletes, and politicians. New York City has a diversity in its people – and thus in its talent – equal to no other city in the world. 

An image of the crowd at Lorde’s free performance in Washington Square Park, Apr. 22 2025.

There is a reason why I moved here, why my classmates attend school here – the actors, writers, artists, business majors, and criminal justice minors alike – and it’s this: opportunity. The chance to meet people who could skyrocket your career – the scout who could sign you off the street, the friend of a friend who could refer you for a huge internship, or the 500th customer of your closing shift at Starbucks who would love to publish your sci-fi novel. New York is a city that allows you to find your niche and hone your talent with no judgment and with complete confidence. 

Me presenting research at the 2025 American Historical Association Annual Meeting.

Of course, there is a caveat: you must want it, you must try for it. You must leave your shoebox apartment and look for that opportunity. You must surround yourself with talented people and seek out community. You’ll need a support system through your failures and friends to congratulate you on your successes. You’ll stay motivated by motivating those around you, and you’ll learn from them as much as you teach them. 

Me with four of my freshman year suitemates — my very first community.

As a student, this can come quite easily. I was thrust into my community quite unexpectedly when I was assigned eight roommates with whom I would squeeze into a tiny New York City freshman dorm. Even as this community shrunk after move-out, it grew as we branched out, and soon we had a web that crossed apartments, dorms, clubs, departments, and even schools. In my freshman year I joined the Honors blog for a chance to try something new and beef up my resume, and I left with some of my closest friends – and most strategic connections, but we try not to make that too obvious. 

Caroline pursuing her talent.

As we will hear in the coming interviews, it is harder to build a strong community when you aren’t forced into a ten-by-ten box alongside them. It becomes even harder when you don’t know what your talent is yet, or you haven’t entered your niche. Some of us – like me – find out in grade school that there is only one subject whose homework doesn’t feel like a Herculean task, but others don’t encounter their talent until much later. As the coming articles will discuss, New York City is the place to be if you want to discover your talent and hone it, to turn it into a fulfilling career or simply a weekend activity. 

What I do know for sure, however, is that talent – and the chance to tend to it – is necessary. It is what makes us feel good about ourselves, what makes us feel useful. It is something that nurtures our ego after a failure or a rejection, and something that drives us to work past it. It brings us together as friends, as New Yorkers, as humanity, and I want to help you find it. 


Cool down this summer affordably! Take 10% off with this coupon and your Student ID on a refreshing acai bowl or smoothie.


By Lauren Male

Lauren Male is a senior at Pace University majoring in English and Communications, with a minor in Journalism. She is pursuing Pace’s M.S. Publishing program. When she’s not reading, Lauren can be found trying new coffee shops, thrift shopping, and spending all of her money on concert tickets.


For over 25 years, the Campus Clipper has helped college students in New York City—and later in Boston and Philadelphia—save money and succeed in city life. We offer a digital coupon booklet with discounts on food, clothing, and services, plus an Official Student Guidebook with real advice on how to navigate college life in a big city. Our internship program lets students build skills, earn money, and publish their own e-books. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @CampusClipper, and sign up for our newsletter to get deals straight to your inbox. To access the digital coupons, scan the QR code on our printed card—available in dorms, student centers, and around campus.

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Adam Schatz: Search and Restore

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

written by Aramis Grant

NYU senior and Jazz Saxophone major ADAM SCHATZ runs an art organization called Search and Restore – a nonprofit group, dedicated to the promotion and audience expansion of NYC’s modern jazz scene. Search and Restore was created in 2008 with the goal of “making the jazz scene more sustainable,” as Adam described it.
“Everything we do is to expand,” said Adam about the efforts of the Search and Restore team.
The team’s base is SearchandRestore.com – made in February of last year. The website is an “all-encompassing website for live jazz and improvised music in New York City,” as expressed on the site.
SearchandRestore.com is host to numerous events — listing many venues, times, days, and dates that all the jazz shows in the city are happening.
Being a jazz student and playing in multiple jazz bands, Adam wasn’t happy with the small amount of light being shed on jazz musicians.

Adam Schatz "Search and Restore"

“Jazz was literally boxed in … the shows were being held in really small clubs. It wasn’t a good way for people to find out about what was going on,” said Adam.
Besides expanding the size of the venues jazz artists were playing at, Adam wanted and does work to expand the jazz audience and jazz awareness.
“We want to bring the music we love to more people,” he said.
Adam also makes it his duty to reach out not only to the general public, but specifically to the people he relates to the most … students.
Search and Restore advertises affordable tickets to shows with no drink minimums, at venues that don’t have an age requirement.
Adam invites people to become involved with the NYC jazz scene, stating it is the “most human form of music that exists.”
“It is so anchored in improvisation in the way that no other form of music is. It’s fun to watch because it happens right in front of your eyes,” said Adam, “People need to feel the music through the experience.”

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