Charles “Siege” Santiago Jr. ’09 earned a master’s degree in communication arts from the New York Institute of Technology and works at the HBO Communications Center on Long Island as an encoding coordinator, a job he loves. His deepest passion, however, is music. Skills he learned at Hamilton College are helping him pursue his dream career in his dream field. He majored in sociology and minored in digital arts.
In 2013, Santiago, who is a rapper, launched Laureate Records. His goal is to produce his own music and the music of other artists who don’t fit into a commercial niche. His position as a multimedia intern in Hamilton’s technical services department solidified his interest in digital arts. The College Career Center helped him get an internship at Atlantic Records, which fueled his interest in the record and music industry.
Beyond the knowledge he gained through digital arts coursework, Santiago says Hamilton helped him discover a range of interests he never knew he had, taught him to communicate well and how to overcome his shyness. An overarching lesson he learned at Hamilton, he says, was "know thyself."
