Longwood Student From Norfolk Interns At L.A. Radio Station

Special to the New Journal and Guide

When Natalie Joseph walked into the iHeartMedia offices in Los Angeles earlier this summer, she was greeted as a sort of mini-celebrity.

“You’re NatJo!” exclaimed her co-workers. “We love your radio show.”

Joseph was admittedly a little taken aback. She had touted her experience as a DJ on WMLU – The NatJo Show has been a night staple on the Longwood radio station for the last year – but had no idea her new co-workers would tune in.

“It was that experience that I think really opened the doors at iHeartMedia for me,” said Joseph. “I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to learn by doing at Longwood, and that’s paid off here. From working a producer’s board to editing sound, I had done all of those things before and it really gave me a leg up when I arrived in Los Angeles.”

In a job like this, though, Joseph isn’t the only celebrity in town. Part of her internship requires her to work performances at the iHeartRadio Theater LA, where she has seen chart-topping artists like Chris Brown, T.I. and Of Monsters and Men perform live. 

The fact that she landed the internship is a testament to Joseph’s will and personality. “I told myself that I was going to get an internship in either New York or Los Angeles – the two largest media markets in the country,” she said. “It took a month and four interviews, but I was able to show them that I had a good understanding of communications principles – things I had learned in class – and the practical knowledge that I gained from working at WMLU.”

For Joseph, the opportunity to work at one of the nation’s largest media companies is exactly that experience, and she hopes it will help her land a position in communications after her senior year. “I’ve learned so much, and I realized that this is exactly the profession that I want to pursue,” she said.