Quincy Brown ’19 of Kailua, Hawaii has a “small world” story about how he ended up at the College.  When he was younger, he sang in a choir and had the opportunity to perform at New York’s Lincoln Center as part of the World Choral Fest.  As it happens, the Marist Singers were also participating in the event that year, and Brown made a connection with one of the Marist students, who told him to consider applying to the College.  Brown always kept that in the back of his mind, and when it was time to apply to colleges, he followed through and ended up attending the College on a theatre scholarship.  The student he met at the World Choral Fest was still on campus when he arrived as a freshman and ended up being a great contact for him.

Brown has thrived at Marist as a communication major with concentrations in public relations and advertising.  He laughs at some of the cultural misunderstandings he’s experienced because of his Hawaiian upbringing.  He notes, “People notice the way I pronounce things, or the fact that in Hawaii we call flip-flops ‘slippers.’  And some people are surprised to learn that Hawaii has malls and movie theaters.  I remember visiting a local bank and they wouldn’t cash my check from Hawaii because they thought it was foreign!”

Cultural miscues aside, Brown has thoroughly enjoyed his Marist experience and has kept himself extremely busy.  He spent a full semester at New York City Center doing a marketing and communication internship through the Marist in Manhattan program.  He also had a full-time summer internship at the Roundabout Theatre Company, where he worked on their social media, billboards, and ad purchases.  Brown adds, “The absolute highlight was when I got to meet Idina Menzel!”  Back on campus, he has appeared in productions of A Chorus Line, Cabaret, and Anything Goes and looks forward to life post-Marist.  “The semester in New York City in particular got me excited for what lies ahead professionally.  All of my experiences at Marist have made me feel really prepared for a career in the administrative side of theatre.” 

As if all of that didn’t keep him busy enough in his last year, Brown is also taking master’s-level courses in integrated marketing communication, serving (remotely) as marketing director for the Salomon Theatre at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, and assisting with social media for a new musical at the New York International Fringe Festival.  He is also an account executive with North Road Communications, Marist’s student-run integrated marketing firm.  Still, he always manages to find time for his favorite guilty pleasure – Sunday brunch.