Michelle Sanchez-Boyce, former senior director of marketing for Mo Town Records, found her way to Iona’s campus to speak to the Marketing Club on Oct. 24, in a less than traditional way. She was sitting next to Dean of the School of Arts and Science, Sibdas Ghosh, on a plane back from Atlanta and agreed to speak.

Currently living in New Rochelle and originally from Brooklyn, Boyce used her difficult upbringing as a child from a young teen pregnancy and a father that struggled with a heroin addiction to motivate her during a successful career with four major record labels.

She has worked with top artists such as Whitney Houston, Usher, Baby Face, Jamie Foxx, Aretha Franklin, and Anthony Hamilton. “You could tell she was a genuine person whose upbringing shaped her into the go-getter person she is today,” said junior Amanda Boyle, president of the Marketing Club.

In school, Boyce was not a very good student, but she was very smart. She found one teacher that took a liking to her and gave her the opportunity that only one out of twenty women in New York had at the time to go away to college. This particular program was for inner city girls who had potential for doing well in college but did not have the funds to attend.

Going to and successfully graduating from Mary Mount College in Tarrytown, N.Y. with a bachelors degree in marketing, Michelle looked for her way into the entertainment business, but had a difficult time.

Her father introduced her to a distant relative, Reuben Rodriguez, who helped Boyce network her way into the industry.

“Networking is about thinking outside of the box,” Boyce said. “Talk to people; get to know their interests and similarities, find that common denominator that will keep you connected.”

Boyce stressed the importance of developing and maintaining relationships because in any business everyone helps each other out and works together.

She emphasized finding someone whose work ethic and interests inspire you and mimicking them. This will allow you to build confidence as an individual in any work place.

In her career, Boyce has worked with Tommy Boy records, LA Reed and Jermaine Dupri’s Arista records, Clive Davis’ J records and most recently Mo Town records.

“As a marketer you have goals,” Boyce said. “One of my goals was to work with an artist from the beginning, someone that no one’s ever known, an artist where I can just plant a seed and watch it flourish, and I did that with Anthony Hamilton.”

This was one of Boyce’s greatest accomplishments, to see an artist who wasn’t as established grow and flourish.

Her second greatest accomplishment was when established artist Jamie Foxx’s album, Unpredictable, sold one million units in one week, awarding Boyce with a platinum album.

This talk with Boyce allowed students, especially marketing students, to engage their networking abilities.

Early on it is stressed how important it is to build up your rapport, with a solid foundation of people you have met that hold those similar interests and hobbies.

You never know when you may need to reach out to a contact you met in the past. Maintaining a relationship that is friendly and interactive will allow any student to further him or herself in any career.

“I love when the club has professionals in the field come to speak because I think it brings a new energy on to campus,” Boyce said. “When people are willing to listen to other people’s success stories and hear how they made it, I think students then take the initiative to pursuing the necessary steps in making their career goals a priority.”