Who You Know: Oriana Storey

NAME: Oriana Storey

ROLE & COMPANY: MTV International Talent & Music Team Assistant & Founder of Who You Know

HOMETOWN: Bradford

CURRENT CITY OF RESIDENCE: Bradford

Describe your typical day to day at work:

My day to day can differ depending on what show or event we’re working on. Typically my day starts off with a 10am team meeting where we discuss current projects and any work that needs to be done that day. Each Monday I prepare an International playlists, collating our playlists from MTV channels across the world & put together our weekly industry newsletter with information about our video priorities, video premieres, MTV PUSH and shows that week. Throughout the week there are multiple meetings, sometimes with labels where they tell us about their new acts and other internal meets to align on shows & production, usually with our MTV US colleagues who are based in New York.

One of the best parts about my week is the video meeting each Friday where we watch the new music videos of the week and discuss our favourites, this is fun and helps keep us all on top of all the new releases each week!

Throughout the pandemic, we haven’t been able to film many shows or events in person so I currently work from home (I moved back to my family home temporarily to do this) but I can’t wait to be back in an office surrounded by people & go to gigs again!

Tell us about your career journey and how you got your current role:

I studied Journalism at leeds Trinity University as I was interested in both politics & the music side of radio. Throughout my degree, my love for Radio won and I started to focus on this. From carrying out my final year project at BBC Radio leeds, my amazing mentor there helped me apply for the BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra ‘Where It Begins’ internship scheme. I was so lucky to be one of 4 interns that did the production scheme in 2016 - I had so much fun at BBC Radio and had the opportunity to work with multiple show teams. This experience taught me a lot about the media and music industry. To finish the two month internship, we worked at Radio 1’s Big Weekend which was an unforgettable experience!

After the internship, I moved back up north and went into Marketing & PR for 2 years. Even though I wasn’t working in music, these roles taught me invaluable skills that I apply in my current role. Then in 2018, I applied for the MTV International TAM internship as I always wanted to go back into music! Initially, I didn’t get the internship which was so upsetting at the time but 2 weeks later I was called and offered the job - I think it’s important for me to remember this as it’s one of those times in life that taught me to never give up! If something is meant for you, you’ll get there in the end.

The internship was a year long but 3 months in, the current Team Assistant left and I applied for the job which I got. So I’ve been in that role since, which has been great to learn from my team and support on wide scale events such as Isle Of MTV and the MTV EMA’s each year.

What’s your most memorable career moment?

It would probably have to be working at Isle Of MTV Malta, 2 weeks into my MTV internship. It was a last minute decision that I would be joining the team in Malta and was a huge learning experience. I looked after Paloma Faith & Ella Eyre who performed on stage with Sigala that year. This means that I was responsible for making sure the artist and their teams have their complete schedule, rehearsal times and making sure everyone is happy.

It was the first time I travelled abroad for work and it really was some of the best fun I’ve ever had in my life, getting to learn my job on the ground taught me so much and helped me bond with many people who work at MTV.

What’s one motto that you live by?

It’s pretty simple but ‘Be Happy’ is my motto. I actually have it tattooed in Greek on my shoulder ha. It’s short but sweet and I just use it as a reminder to stay positive and happy. Even when things aren’t going well, I try to focus on the happy part of life. Even if that’s just listening to my favourite song, facetiming a friend or eating a whole bag of Haribos - that can be my little moment of happiness that day.

Name three women creatives who inspire you:

Rihanna - She inspires me every single day, I started off loving her music & style and I’ve really enjoyed her growing into an outstanding entrepreneur. I really love that she’s turned her passions into multi million dollar businesses and looks like she’s enjoying every single second. It motivates me to stay true to who I am and never change that for anyone, especially your career!

Yasmin Evans - I worked with Yasmin while I was a BBC Radio 1Xtra intern but had been a big fan of hers beforehand. I really enjoy her positive & fun personality on the radio and she’s another female that ventures into things she likes unapologetically. Working with her on the 1Xtra show was a really fun experience and she’s one of the loveliest people I’ve met in the industry.

This isn’t technically a third woman but I have to say that all my female friends inspire me everyday. I’m really lucky to be surrounded by amazing women who inspire me across my life and career, seeing them succeed in their careers is really what motivates me every second. We’re all in this together and wherever we end up, we’re there together.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into your profession?

I think the main thing would be to network! I called this platform Who You Know for a reason, because a lot of the time in the creative world, who you know can really help you when searching for jobs or getting experience at your desired company. There are so many creatives across the UK, whether that be graphic designers, music producers, artists or photographers who are always willing to help someone if they reach out for advice. I’d say don’t be scared to reach out to someone and make LinkedIn your best friend! I sometimes spend hours on there, searching for companies and people. It can also be a great tool to show you different people’s career paths as they aren’t straight forward in a lot of creative roles.

Anything else you’d like to add?

My main goal with WYK is to help people achieve their career goals and connect them to other women making moves in their respective industry, I just hope I’ve already done that and will continue to do so. I’m the first to admit that the world of Instagram & growing a platform on there is so hard unless you give all of your time to it, which isn’t possible for me and the team so we just want to keep pushing on and spreading the knowledge & help where we can!