If I Can Make It Here, I Can Make it Anywhere

By Kim Wunner, September 30, 2026

IC alumni have found unexpected, thrilling jobs in the biggest city in the country.

IC Alumni are part of the heartbeat in the city that never sleeps.

New York City has 8.5 million inhabitants and welcomes 178,000 visitors a day, which is about 65 million visitors each year. Sightseers marvel at the lights of Time Square, ride in elevators to the highest of heights, and applaud opening nights for Broadway shows, all while taking in the various smells, sounds, and sights. Ithaca is just under a four-hour drive to this, the biggest city in the country and arguably the most renowned in the world.

Behind every visitor’s unforgettable New York City experience are thousands and thousands of professionals whose jobs aren’t so well known. Behind the dazzling marquees, soaring skyscrapers, and bustling streets are people who keep the city that never sleeps moving—and Ithaca College alumni are among them.

Many of these city careers weren’t widely known when Ithaca alumni chose their majors. But IthacaCollege students found experiences that opened doors to careers they never imagined, contributing to the lifeblood of the city they call home. Sometimes student experiences meant discovering professions they didn’t know existed, and sometimes it meant combining their passions into one remarkable career.Sometimes it simply meant realizing that the skills they developed—critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaboration, leadership—mattered more than the degree listed on their diploma.

For a vast number of people, New York City is magnificent, dynamic, and extraordinary. To live and work there, its inhabitants face competition, a high cost of living, an intense pace, and complexities in the daily experience. When it comes to work, expectations can be extremely high, and there’s little room for error because often there are immediate, wide-ranging effects in the results. Yet Ithaca College alumni have found careers at the center of it all—dream jobs they didn’t even know existed when they were students—helping to drive the pulse of the city itself.

Where Love and Career Converge

Taylor Varga ’17 celebrated his first Times Square New Year’s Eve. Photo submitted.

On New Year’s Eve, more than 150,000 people pack the streets of Times Square to celebrate as New York City rings in the new year. Another billion people tune in from around the globe to count down the final seconds of the year. Performers take the stage, cameras roll, and the famous crystal Times Square Ball begins its descent.

For most people, it’s a time of celebration. For Taylor Varga ’17, it would be another day at work.

For a decade, Varga helped keep one of the busiest—and most recognizable—places on the planet running. As director of production and operations for the Times Square Alliance, he oversaw everything from the day-to-day maintenance of theBroadway pedestrian plazas to some of the world’s largest live events. If a bench needed replacing, pavers needed repair, oran entire plaza needed to be power washed before welcoming thousands of visitors, he and his team were responsible. When artists like Snoop Dogg, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, and Shakira performed in Times Square, Varga was part of the team coordinating the logistics behind the scenes. Product launches, concerts, protests, live television broadcasts, and the iconicNew Year’s Eve celebration all require months of planning and coordination with city agencies.

Varga’s office overlooked Times Square, but some of his favorite memories happened beyond the office walls—standing atop Times Square’s red steps looking out over a sea of fans fora Shakira concert or joining the crew responsible for one of the world's most recognizable New Year's celebrations. Varga has had experiences of a lifetime putting him in places where many of the most renowned performers with the greatest theatrics and largest crowds converge. It’s the kind of career most people never imagine exists.

Growing up, Varga loved performing. Theatre was a constant throughout his childhood and high school, and he still maintains a love of the arts. When it came time to choose a college, he knew he didn’t want to go the performing route. His passion for the arts and an interest in business led him to IC’s School of Busiuness, where he earned a degree in business administration. “I was challenged from day one to think about what I was interested in and the types of opportunities I wanted to have. There was the importance of not only what was happening in the classroom and on campus but also how to use your time—summers and breaks—to prepare yourself for what you were going to be doing in the future,” he recalled.

“Ultimately the experiences that I hadprepared me for this. But I never saw it coming before then.”

Taylor Varga '17

Varga was responsible for the environment of the Times Square district.

As the director of production and operations at the Times Square Alliance, Varga was responsible for the beauty and safety of the Times Square District. Photo submitted.

Varga had three internships during his time at IC, one at CBS Consumer Products, one at Disney Theatrical Group, and one at the Times Square Alliance (TSA), but he had a favorite: “I loved being [at TSA] in New York City. I loved the energy of the neighborhood. I loved the people that I worked with.” And so, even after his internship was over, he visited TSA when he was in the city, did side projects, and “just always kind of stuck around because I always had the hope I would end up there full time.”His New York City dream came true. When Varga graduated from IC, he was offered a full-time position as an operations coordinator. He recounted, “Ultimately the experiences that I had prepared me for this. But I never saw it coming before then."

The TSA is one of New York City’s 78 business improvement districts—nonprofit organizations that partner with the city to maintain and activate public spaces. Varga and his team refer toTimes Square as “the front door to New York City,” and it’s one of the busiest public spaces in the world.

TSA stakeholders are the Broadway theatres, world-class restaurants, hotels, and retail businesses between 40th and53rd Streets and between 6th and 8th Avenues. Their charge is to offer the most appealing environment possible and the best quality of life. Varga’s work started in that space—keeping TimesSquare looking sharp and pleasant. Over the next 10 years, his responsibilities evolved to encompass the logistical planning, scheduling, and operations of all events happening in TimesSquare—concerts, protests, fashion shows, art installations, film shoots, brand activations, and everything in between.

In a full circle moment, Varga hosts IC's business students in a Meet The Firms trip. Photo submitted.

When an entity wants to hold an event in Times Square, they call the TSA, which acts as liaison between the event producer and all of the city agencies involved in the permitting, crowd control, installations, vendors, and security to make the event an immersive spectacle and an experience of a lifetime for visitors.

The pieces of Varga’s life experiences fit together. His love of theatre, interest in business, and his internships exposed him to a career he hadn’t known existed, and his journey continues: This past summer, after more than a decade helping shape one of NewYork City’s most iconic destinations, Varga began a new role as theatrical operations manager for one of Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest ships sailing the Mediterranean. He is responsible for the quality and logistics of all of the onboard entertainment, making sure the talent and enthusiasm run high. According to Varga,“This opportunity combines the arts and the performance aspect and then also the operations and logistics aspect.” It’s another unexpected chapter in a career built by following interests instead of job titles—and proof that sometimes the most rewarding workis found in places you never knew to look.

The Skills That Matter

Spencer Isaacs '06 makes sure 270 Park Avenue and its inhabitants has everything it needs. Photo submitted.

Rising 1,388 feet above midtown Manhattan, 270 Park Avenue has reshaped the New York City skyline—and it is impossible to miss. The 60-story headquarters for JPMorgan Chase is one of the most technologically advanced office buildings ever constructed—a fully electric tower designed to produce net-zero operational emissions while supporting 10,000 employees.Inside are eight trading floors, a 19-restaurant food hall, a fitness center, conference spaces, a medical office, and more than 50,000 connected devices working together to keep the building running. It’s a structure designed for the future. Making sure it works that way is Spencer Isaacs ’06.

As head of program management for the newly completed skyscraper, Isaacs helped oversee the planning, reporting, analytics, design, and operational requirements that went into one of the world’s most visible corporate headquarters. “When a real estate property is being built, there are requirements,” Isaacs explained. “If it’s a house, what do you need in your house? Do you need a two-car garage? Do you need a three-car garage? For a commercial building, the questions translate to, How many seats are you going to need to accommodate? Do you need a gym? Do you need conferencing?” The job requires systems thinking, collaboration, organization, and the ability to solve problems that may not have straightforward answers. What it doesn’t require—at least on paper—is a degree in athletic training.

Isaacs graduated from Ithaca College with dual degrees in exercise science and athletic training, with a minor in health, fully expecting to become a physician assistant. At the time, it felt to her like the natural next step.

Ribbon Cutting ceremony of 270 Park Avenue.

Spencer Isaacs '06 holding the ribbon for the building opening of 270 Park Avenue (Isaacs is holding the right end of the ribbon). Photo submitted.

Instead, while applying to physician assistant programs, an unexpected opportunity appeared. A fellow Ithaca College alumnus and friend connected her with a position in a real estate office. She accepted it. Then something interesting happened. People noticed the quality of her work: “People noticed the job that I did, and I was poached to another job. And then, from that job, I was noticed and poached to another job,” she said.

One opportunity, literally, led to another, and 11 years after that first position, Isaacs joined JPMorgan Chase. “Eventually, I was enjoying what I was doing in real estate, and so I stopped pursuing the physician assistant thing and just continued this real estate journey and ended up at JPMorgan just from doing a good job for people, and people recognizing it, and mentors pulling me along for the ride.”

“My major set the groundwork for knowing how to figure things out and do a good job.”

Spencer Isaacs '06

Looking back, Isaacs sees her education as preparation for her career rather than a diversion: “My major set the groundwork for knowing how to figure things out and do a good job.” In exercise science and athletic training, students are required to analyze information, solve complex problems, communicate clearly, and keep moving when the path isn’t obvious. These skills became more valuable to Isaacs than any specific technical knowledge. It’s a lesson she now shares with young professionals navigating careers of their own: “If you are sharp and you do a good job, that’s what people recognize. It’s those people who can just figure it out regardless of what your training is.”

Her story illustrates one of the central truths behind career construction: People often build careers around transferable skills rather than predetermined job titles. Curiosity, work ethic, adaptability, and the confidence to say yes when an unexpected opportunity appears matters. Today, those qualities have placed an Ithaca College graduate at the center of one of the most ambitious construction and operations projects in New York City—not because she planned to get there but because she kept building on the strengths she already had.

Knowing What's Important

The Broadway résumé of Faith Maciolek ’16 includes representation for productions such as Mamma Mia! which was the first Broadway show she ever attended. Photo submitted.

The allure of Broadway is for audiences and performers alike. In thinking of Broadway, likely images include the glow of marquee lights, the rush of encores, and the curtain rising on a story meant for the world. There are more than 40 shows going on at any given time, filling Broadway’s theatres with hundreds of performances a week and welcoming millions of audience members from around the globe. In a single year, roughly 10 to 15 million people sit in those theatre seats. It is a massive, high-pressure, always-moving system built to make the magic feel effortless.

Before a Broadway show opens, another story has to be told. It’s the story that introduces audiences to a production and its actors, secures media coverage, fills opening night, and keeps a show in the cultural conversation before, during, and after the curtain call. That’s where Faith Maciolek ’16 comes in.

As a publicist with Aperture Public Relations, one of New York City’s leading theatrical public relations firms, Maciolek makes sure the world knows about her clients’ Broadway and off-Broadway productions, their producers, and the stars. She works with producers, performers, journalists, podcasters, broadcasters, and influencers to build awareness for Broadway productions, introducing audiences to the people and stories behind each show.

Off-Broadway productions only increase the scale. Off-Broadway are the smaller theatres scattered across New York City. With more than 100 venues and seating that ranges from intimate black-box spaces to nearly 500-seat houses, off-Broadway is constantly in motion, cycling through shows that may run for weeks, months, or sometimes transfer to Broadway itself. Together, these theatres—Broadway and off-Broadway—form a vast creative ecosystem that is a premier theatrical destination.

On any given day, Maciolek may be writing media pitches, coordinating opening-night events, arranging interviews, inviting reporters to performances, or working with artists and producers to tell the story they want the world to hear. It’s storytelling from the other side of a reporter’s notebook. “We’re not writing the story, but we know how we want the story to be told, and we can pitch that to the writer,” said Maciolek. The work draws on the same interviewing, research, writing, and communication skills she developed as a journalism student in Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communications.

Long before she knew what a Broadway publicist was, Maciolek knew she wanted to write. “I really wanted to lean into something where I could write for a living. I have no aspirations to write a book—that wasn’t the goal,” she said. “But I did love talking to people, and I loved writing.”

"Say yes to everything."

Faith Maciolek '16

Maciolek graduated from IC in 2016 with a degree in journalism. Photo submitted.

The clarity of her aspirations led her to Ithaca College. The strength of the journalism program drew her in. It also didn’t hurt that the lead anchor on ABC World News Tonight , David Muir ’95 , is an IC graduate: “I watched him every night with my mom. So as soon as I found out that IC had that illustrious alumnus, I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to go to Ithaca College.’”

Once on South Hill, her understanding of what a writing career could look like began to expand. During a semester in New York City, Maciolek landed two internships, one with the Broadway League and the other with Aperture, the firm she is with now.

Today, her Broadway résumé includes representation for productions such as Chicago , Mamma Mia! , The Cottage , The Little Prince , and The Kite Runner . She has even represented fellow Ithaca College alumni, including 2026 Tony Award winner Ali Louis Bourzgui ’21 during his run as Tommy in The Who’s Tommy and Victor Wallace ’95 in his role as Sam in Mamma Mia!

Along the way, she’s had the experiences of a lifetime. She has watched Brandy rehearse for Chicago from backstage while picking up playbills at the Ambassador Theatre. She’s held Helen Mirren’s purse moments before an appearance. She’s helped coordinate the publicity surrounding Broadway openings that audiences have celebrated. She has attended opening nights, the Tony Awards, and a range of afterparties.

For Maciolek, her career isn’t simply exciting because of the celebrities or opening nights. It’s exciting because it brings together every part of who she is: “It’s just the perfect culmination of all of the things that I wanted to do. I’m in a job where I don’t have to pick one. I’m writing pitches. I’m writing press releases. I get the event planning part of it because I’m planning opening nights and press events. I even get the organization because I’m doing all these spreadsheets.”

Looking back, it might be easy to imagine that this was the destination. But it wasn’t. Like so many Ithaca College graduates, Maciolek discovered her career only after arriving on campus—through internships, conversations with mentors, and experiences that introduced her to possibilities she hadn’t known existed.

Her advice to students entering the industry reflects that same openness: “Say yes to everything.” And perhaps that’s the larger lesson shared by all three alumni. In a city defined by scale—its skyline, its crowds, its constant motion—these alumni, and many more, do the work that makes New York feel like New York in the first place. From soaring skyscrapers and Broadway stages to the heart of Times Square, they are part of the systems that keep the city running and its stories alive.

Constant Evolution

These alumni have found roles most people would never know existed when they were 17 or 18 as they imagined what their futures might look like. Yet there they are, building careers not just in New York City but in service of it—shaping how millions experience its energy, its culture, and its moments of wonder.

No single path led them there. No predictable job title pointed the way. Instead, each followed their curiosity, leaned into their skills, and stepped into opportunities that resonated with them. And in doing so, they found themselves embedded in the core of the Big Apple, in a city that never stops evolving, and that may be he most New York outcome of all.