Olivia Pess ’24, an accomplished jazz singer, is prepared for a career in music industry.
If you combine a Division I softball player, an accomplished jazz singer, an outstanding scholar, a student leader and an international sports competitor, what do you get? Olivia Pess ’24, who’s all those things and a whole lot more.
Recruited from her hometown of Seattle to play softball for Syracuse University, Pess jumped at the opportunity. “I wasn’t expecting Syracuse to be one of my options,” she says, “so I was really, really excited.”
With the help of academic advisors, Pess chose to major in management at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and minor in music industry at the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Her goal: to work on the business side of the music industry, perhaps for a record label or managing artists. “I’d like to help people in the same way I would want to be helped if I was an artist,” she says.
Pess has received multiple athletic and academic scholarships at Syracuse, starting with the Chancellor’s Scholarship, which she says have taken an enormous weight off her shoulders. “The scholarships have been a very big factor in my ability to give my best efforts,” Pess says. “They’ve allowed me to focus on the things that are really important. I’m super thankful for those opportunities.”
The scholarships... allowed me to focus on the things that are really important. I’m super thankful for those opportunities.
Olivia Pess ’24
Focus has been essential for Pess as she balances her dual responsibilities as a student-athlete. She balances well: In her junior year alone, Pess posted a career-high .292 batting average for the Syracuse Orange and was named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll.
Honoring Her Grandmother
Pess says playing softball gave her opportunities to travel abroad and to give back to the Syracuse community.
Her skills as a softball player have opened the way to international travel opportunities for Pess as a member of the Greek national softball team. Playing on the team is a way to honor her grandmother, a Greek immigrant who passed away when Pess was a sophomore at Syracuse. “She was such a pivotal figure in my upbringing,” Pess says. “I’m upholding her legacy and her memory and representing her to the best of my ability.”
She leads her fellow student-athletes at the University as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which advocates for them and conducts outreach to give back to the greater Syracuse community. Pess is especially proud of an initiative to raise awareness of mental health and wellness challenges faced by student-athletes.
Fielding Job Offers
Pess balances dual responsibilities as a student-athlete.
Last summer, Pess squeezed in a mostly remote internship as assistant to Bill Campbell, CEO of Barefoot Media, an entertainment consulting company in Rockefeller Center in New York City. “I got to really understand the roots of an entertainment business through my internship,” Pess says, “how to work with clients, how to interact with people at the professional level, while also having the privilege of learning from people in the professional world.”
I got to really understand the roots of an entertainment business through my internship, how to work with clients, how to interact with people at the professional level, while also having the privilege of learning from people in the professional world.
Olivia Pess ’24
In the weeks before she graduates, Pess is finishing classes, playing softball, interviewing for jobs and considering job offers—both inside and outside the music industry. “Having that business degree from Whitman has led to other corporate avenues that I really wasn’t expecting,” Pess says.
Her advice for others considering Syracuse? “Follow your gut. It’s what you make of it, and things aren’t always perfect. But I truly wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.”
