We are thrilled to share Hostos student Brittany Lanzano is a 2019-2020 Vanguard Award finalist.
The Vanguard Awards recognize outstanding post-secondary level students enrolled in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs aimed at preparing them for careers that are nontraditional for their gender. Eligible students are nominated by faculty and staff of CTE programs throughout New York State. Lanzano was nominated by Professor Laura Andel and is one of 16 finalists selected from a pool of 57 nominees.
“I became interested in this field because I was always around it,” shared Lanzano, a digital music major. “My mother has been a songwriter since before my birth; she is also a DJ. I started messing with the equipment and computer programs she had and found out that I was also musical and I had the ‘ear.’”
Lanzano writes and produces music, recruits artists, and likes creating new plugins using the digital audio workstation Pro Tools. She also really enjoys using her skills to help artists become the best versions of themselves.
“Brittany Lanzano is an exceptional student, with a strong drive to do what she is most passionate about,” shared Professor Andel, an adjunct assistant professor in the humanities department. “She strives to become the best and most efficient in her field of music production and audio engineering. Her joy and confidence are contagious.”
Andel explained role models like Lanzano are important and deserve lots of support and recognition, particularly in her field of study, where women are under-represented.
“Women in the world of music production and audio engineering are a noticeable minority,” said Andel. “That is why is important to have more role models to inspire other minority students to pursue non-traditional careers in which one gender comprises less than 25% of the employment within the field.”
Moving forward, finalists will complete an essay describing the importance of nontraditional careers and their motivation for choosing to pursue one. A committee will select eight winners who will be announced in February and honored at the Vanguard Award Ceremony and Nontraditional Employment Training (NET) Conference in the spring of 2020.
Congratulations and good luck to Brittany Lanzano!