Welcome to MTV

17 March, 2015

My junior year of college, I desperately wanted to intern at MTV. Living in Malibu, the MTV headquarters (owned and operated by media powerhouse Viacom) was located in downtown Santa Monica, a short drive down Pacific Coast Highway from the Pepperdine campus. I knew a boy that had interned there a year prior, and he had shared some pretty cool stories about his experiences.

On a whim, I applied through the MTV website, sending my resume and cover letter, not thinking I'd get a response back. Lo and behold, the very next day, I received a call from an unknown number on my phone between my Ethics class and Argumentation class. Nonchalantly answering the phone, I was a bit shocked. "Hi, this is the VP of marketing at MTV. We've received your resume and think you'd be a great fit. Can you be here in 30 minutes for an interview?"

Mouth agape, I didn't know what to say. "Um, yeah totally! I'll leave right now!" Skipping my second class, I ran to my apartment, changed into heels, a long dress, and a blazer, and hopped in my car.

Stepping into the elevator off the underground parking structure, I had to laugh. Each floor housed the offices of different television channels (all owned by Viacom). Level one indicated the BET offices, level two was CMT, three was Comedy Central...

As I passed through Nick Jr, Nickelodian, Nick@Nite, Spike, MTV2, and VH1, I finally hit the top floor: MTV. As the elevator door opened, I felt I had stepped into Disneyland. An airsteam trailer welcomed me into the offices, as well as surfboards and streamers hanging from the ceilings. I was immediately greeted by a beautiful, thin woman in heels three inches higher than mine. "Welcome to MTV! You must be Paige, right? The parking attendant told us you were on your way up. Follow me to the waiting room and Michael will be right with you."

Sitting in an oversized red chair, I was a bit nervous. An hour ago, I was sitting in Ethics class, now here I was. Pulling out my phone, I clicked on my Bible app and scrolled through some Scriptures:

For I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. - Jeremiah 29:11
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. - Proverbs 16:3
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. - Proverbs 19:21

Suddenly completely at ease, I knew I had nothing to worry about. If it was God's plan for me to intern at MTV, it would happen, regardless of the interview.

Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I turned around to face a man, probably in his early forties, wearing thick-rimmed hipster glasses and striped suspenders. He led me to a massive conference room with floor-to-ceiling windows on all three out-facing walls overlooking the Santa Monica pier and bright blue ocean.

As he started asking me questions, we immediately clicked. He was a swimmer, I was a swimmer. We both did triathlons and ran in races and enjoyed the beach. We hit it off quite nicely. Once we began talking more about the intern position, he told me there were hundreds of online applicants of which he had decided to interview a small handful. The other interviewees, he told me, were media students from USC and UCLA. He said it was rare for him to hire a Pepperdiner.

"What? Why?" I asked, confused. "Well, Pepperdine is known for strong faith, and I don't want a conflict of interest. You seem like a very nice, put-together girl, but are you sure MTV is your style? Do you even watch MTV? Do you watch Teen Mom? Or Teen Wolf? What about Ridiculousness? They produce South Park on the third floor, have you ever even seen that show?"

Woah. A bit shaken up, I chose my words carefully: "I am going to be completely honest with you, Michael. I am a Christian. I am a woman of faith and that won't change. I'm not an avid TV watcher. I've seen bits and pieces of MTV shows, none of which I watch weekly. But, I'm a hard worker, I'd like the position, and I don't believe you will be disappointed if you choose me."

Standing up, he showed me around the office for a good half hour, introducing me to staff members and taking me from floor to floor to check out each of the different "channels". He sent me off with a gift basket of notebooks, pictures, signatures, and pens, telling me we'd be in touch soon.

Receiving an email from Michael the following day, he told me he'd chosen another candidate for the position but thanked me for my time and told me to keep in touch. Obviously, I was a little bummed.

I hadn't gotten the internship of my dreams. The internship I had longed for... dreamed of... for so long. But, after sitting on it a bit more, I began to re-evaluate my so-called "dreams."

Why had I wanted to intern at MTV in the first place? Michael had a good point - I wasn't much of a TV watcher and hadn't even watched a full episode of anything on MTV besides my short-lived Hills obsession back in high school. Was MTV really the best place for me to flourish and thrive? Would it allow me to be creative in the exact ways I craved? Would it fill me up? Would my time there help make the world a better place, at all?

I had applied at MTV simply because MTV was cool. Lots of people watch it (largely in part to thinking they have to watch it) ... and, looking deeper, I had wanted an internship at MTV just to SAY I had an internship at MTV. Living for the approval of others is a dangerous path to tread on, and yet I had fallen victim to it, thinking an internship at the highest ranking television company MUST be my dream, right? Lots of girls at Pepperdine would have killed for that interview, so obviously I should have wanted it, right?

Nope. We are all wired differently. I am not the same as you, you are not the same as me. There is nothing inherently wrong with interning at MTV, of course, but it didn't line up with my dreams and goals in life: to encourage and uplift young women through love and faith.

Not getting the position ended up being the best thing that could have happened to me that year. I immediately started interning at Calvary Chapel Malibu and took a job at the Malibu Health Club. Faith and fitness: my two life passions.

My words of wisdom? Trust God to lead you down the right path. Don't compromise your dreams, no matter how exciting someone elses may look. Own it. Live it. Because you, dear, are the boss of your own life.