After graduating from Notre Dame in 1995, Christina Glorioso did what many recent college graduates hope to do. She took a well-paying job in Chicago.
But a few years later, Glorioso realized she wanted to take the plunge and seek a career she loved — a career in the entertainment industry.
"I wanted to live in Chicago and I wanted to make a lot of money," she said.
But three years later, Glorioso changed her mind.
"The position didn't matter … the pay didn't matter," she said.
Now vice president of Marketing Partnerships for MTV Networks, Glorioso will speak Friday about business in the entertainment industry.
The lecture is sponsored by the Notre Dame MBA Entertainment Club and will be at 10:30 a.m. in room 162 of the Mendoza College of Business.
Glorioso, class of '95 and MBA '99, has worked with MTV Networks since 2003. She has recently been working to promote MTV's Rock Band game and the new, critically acclaimed The Beatles: Rock Band.
Glorioso was not always headed towards the entertainment industry. As a Notre Dame undergraduate she was a student manager of the football team and then head student manager of the men's lacrosse team.
"I knew I had an interest in sports marketing but that's not what I did when I left [Notre Dame as an] undergrad," Glorioso said.
Glorioso joined Viacom/MTV Networks in 2003 and was promoted to her current position in 2008.
She said students should follow their passions because "in the end, it all kind of works out.
"If you can sacrifice when you're young and work hard, ultimately you'll be rewarded," she said.
Glorioso's job as vice president of Marketing Partnerships for MTV Networks includes meeting with the developers of different games and discussing how to market them, meeting with media outlets and working with a community team to build grassroots marketing. She also works with major retailers like Walmart, Target and Best Buy to develop large promotions.
Recently, Glorioso has worked on a number of promotions for Rock Band that have included partnerships with Pepsi, Harrah's and Energizer.
"We encouraged Rock Band bands to produce a music video … 650 videos were submitted and we nominated five … the one that won was from a group of college students … they came to the awards show and we ran a 30 second vignette showing the band and their music video," Glorioso said.
The main objective of the Rock Band promotions is to give people who cannot play a musical instrument the chance to truly experience music.
"We do these promotions and work with partners … to give benefits [to the fans] and create opportunities for the fans to experience the feeling of playing live music," she said. "We see that [with Rock Band] people experience music in a new way."
Even with her busy schedule, Glorioso keeps in touch with the Notre Dame community and is a co-founder of Notre Dame's iNDustry Alliance. She formed iNDustry Alliance in 2007 along with another Notre Dame alumna to build networking among Notre Dame alumni in the entertainment industry.
"Obviously, Notre Dame has a lot of different [alumni] clubs based on your interests … but there hadn't been, at the time, a lot of groups based on career track or industry … I thought wow it would be great to network in the entertainment industry with [other Notre Dame] alumni," she said.
Glorioso said the network's focus is "to bring together alumni with a shared career path."
"The entertainment industry is very much about networking."
Glorioso said she not only enjoys her job, but feels that it truly makes a difference. Fans have even sent personal letters explaining how Rock Band has renewed their relationships with family members.
"Making a difference of course is helping people in third world countries, but being in entertainment business can make a difference as well. Rock Band brings joy to people's lives," Glorioso said.
