Morgan Brown was chosen by MTV to be a vlogger for the network at the Video Music Awards. | Courtesy of Morgan Brown
Wharton junior Morgan Brown landed a gig any videographer would die for: reporting on the MTV Video Music Awards as a vlogger for the network.
She was selected for the job out of a nationwide search done by MTVU, a network geared toward students.
“We received some great video submissions, including several from Penn students,” said Kelly Diamond, an MTVU producer and 2013 College graduate. “Morgan’s stood out to us because her personality shined on camera.”
Brown was not expecting to be chosen. “I was super shocked,” she said. ”It was pure excitement when I found out.”
On Aug. 26 Brown flew to the Viacom office in New York City, where she met with Diamond to discuss how the week would be scheduled.
In the days before the ceremony, Brown toured Madison Square Garden and even peeked at one of Rihanna’s rehearsals, she said.
Brown interviewed artists as they walked the “red carpet,” which was actually white.
“It was all a blur,” Brown said.
Some of the celebrities she talked to included rapper ASAP Ferg, actress and model Amber Rose and Nev Schulman from the MTV show, “Catfish,” among others.
“She was fun to watch and showed a level of excitement that excited us as producers,” Diamond said.
Brown said that one day she could see herself as an on-screen television host, and that the experience gave her ideas for additions to her already-popular YouTube Channel.
Brown’s channel “ItsHeyMorgan” has over 360,000 subscribers and her latest video reached nearly 1.5 million views. The channel talks about lifestyle topics relevant to teenage girls including makeup, fashion and hair.
Working as a host for MTV gained Brown new fans as well. In her hometown of Chicago she was featured on the local Channel Five news.
“I was just at Target one day and people were following me,” Brown said. “They came up to me and said that they followed me online.”
Brown looks forward to doing more work with media in the future and potentially with MTV, although she does not know yet if she will have another opportunity to work for them.
“As the producer, I was hopeful that we¹d get great footage, but the most important thing for me was to show viewers what a fun time Morgan was having,” Diamond said.
“I wanted it to be clear to our audience that a college student's dream was coming true.”
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