Yomi Desalu has a dream job: As vice president of music and talent programming strategy at MTV, he spends his days with top talent and working behind the scenes at all of MTV's music channels. But he didn't always think he would wind up in the music industry—Yomi got his undergraduate degree in civil engineering in 1999, before landing an entry-level job at MTV. So when he realized that he wanted to further his career in the music business, he knew it was time to go back for a second degree.
Yomi Desalu
Yomi enrolled in the MS in Business Management and Leadership program at the City University of New York's School of Professional Studies, and, from 2009-2011, balanced life as a student and full-time MTV employee. We asked him the secret to pulling that off, and how working and learning simultaneously allowed him to skyrocket to the top of his field.
What was your first job out of college like?
It was an entry-level position at MTV, in the music department, and I just sort of worked my way around within the department focusing on entry-level production duties, production assistant roles, and department assistant roles, until I really found my language in the music programming space. I found that within the company, that was the department that really was suited for me, and just worked my way up, from a coordinator to a manager all the way to where I am now, which is a vice president.
How has the knowledge you gained in your course of study helped you in your career at MTV?
We deal with a lot of artists and managers and record label executives, and so our days are peppered with their initiatives — coming and playing music, going to shows — and trying see through our filter if what they deem important is in fact important to us. A lot of that stuff delves into marketing, and I think that the marketing course right off the bat was one of the ones that definitely came into play. How do we take what these guys are providing us and curate it so it makes sense to us but more importantly to our audience?
And the negotiation course — having the ability to successfully negotiate and meet halfway, or sometimes meet further on their side or further on our side. Things like that came into play very quickly. It was what really propelled me in my move up to vice president in a short timeframe.
What were some of the courses that resonated with you the most?
I thought the entrepreneurship program was interesting, because it was something that I was aspiring to venture into. It really focused on building a business plan and understanding things from the foundational aspect of a business. Working for a business as big as MTV, there are certain things that you don’t necessarily see because that plan has been set in place from 1981, so this is the end product of the success of that.
Was there anything about the program that surprised you?
What did surprise me about the program were the other students and their backgrounds — there are a lot of executives and a lot of people in notable companies that were going to get their master's online. I didn’t actually expect that, because at the time I felt as though there was a stigma attached to an online degree, in the sense of you’re not getting the same thing that you may be getting in a brick and mortar situation, which I don’t believe to be true anymore.
I think having the ability to do a masters in a timeframe that’s more conducive to your lifestyle is vital, and I don’t think that you miss anything by doing it online. I think you’re getting the same rich, robust information that you’d get had you been sitting down in class. Because ultimately, regardless of if you’re taking a course online or in person, the onus is going to be on you once that bell rings to make the decision to read the information, to study, to absorb the notes, and to execute when it comes time for the exams.
How did you know that the online system would work for you?
I actually went to an experimental high school, the John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, New York, and we had a lot of independent study kids, so essentially it enabled students to take courses within their own time. You would get the coursework and it was on the student to complete the work by the end of the semester.
In college, I did independent study as well. So that positioned me in a space where this was second nature to me. I’d be reading the textbooks or the handout notes on the train to and from work — the only time when having an hour-long commute actually was actually beneficial! I'd be studying on weekends and late nights — thankfully I’m more of a nocturnal person — and using all the available time, because you really have to focus on studying and execution.
So how did you structure your time to get the most out of school and work?
A week probably consisted of a lot of studying, a lot of reading of the information in the mornings and afternoons, and sometimes at lunch, for the master's, and then a lot of late night reading. Not too late, I just work better when everybody’s asleep, I think it lends itself to less distraction that way. And then of course, the weekends. It really forced me to practice time management. Get up a little earlier on the weekends. In the world of entertainment you tend to find yourself out late nights both on weekdays and weekends, so I did curb some of my going out for work related purposes. The good thing about the job is that a lot of it can be left at the office, you come to realize, and with the great team that I had under me we were able to offset some of the workload.
So you were working full time while also being a full-time student?
Yes. I wanted to get in and hit the ground running. I really wanted to take the learning and apply it to my everyday thinking and execution, and I really wanted to do that in an expeditious way before anybody could sidetrack me. I know for some people, to take online courses can be a little bit daunting. It requires a lot more time management, and the onus is on the individual to execute, but I felt it was something that really worked well for me and my study habits and timeframe.
What made you go back for a master's degree, when you were already doing so well in your field?
My current field, entertainment, is not what I studied as an undergrad. I was a civil engineering major, so with the current climate and ever-evolving space when it comes to entertainment — in particular, music — I wanted to step up my business acumen.
I knew that I wanted to grow within the company over here at MTV, and to do so I felt that I needed to go back into school and sharpen my skills in certain areas and focus on certain concepts, and I felt as though the MS in Business Management and Leadership from CUNY SPS was the one best suited for what I was looking for in a graduate degree.
For more information about the CUNY School of Professional Studies, or how to continue your own education, visit sps.cuny.edu and see what works for you.
This post is a sponsored collaboration between CUNY SPS and Gothamist staff.
