By: Kayla Capone, Staff writer

There were old faces, there were new faces and there were famous faces.

The annual VALE Media Industries Conference took place on Saturday, Nov 19. It was an all-day event featuring panelists from different areas of the music and media industries with a heavy focus on music business.

Among the panelists were LVC alumnae Rachel Lightner ’12 and Rosemary Bucher ’14. These women both have gone on to careers in the music business. Cristabelle Braden ’15 was an artist featured during the VALE Crawl which occurred after the conference.

“It was really cool to be asked to play the Vale Crawl this year as an alumna,” Braden said. “I also played at the crawl during my senior year, and since graduating, I’ve become a full time touring singer/songwriter. So it was really fun and nostalgic to be able to come back and play.”

Throughout the day, there were numerous panels offered on many different topics including social media, publishing and women in the industry.

“I loved being able to come back and see the students running the conference, after having done it myself as a student,” Braden said. “It’s amazing how much it has grown. It was a lot different to watch the students run it and just enjoy the conference and panels as an alumna. They did a fantastic job and I can’t wait to see how much more it grows.”

Perhaps the biggest highlight of the conference was hearing from Grammy Award nominatee David Ivory and Emmy Award Winner Corey Choy. They spoke about their individual journeys to get where they are in the industry now, and each had advice to those aspiring to follow in their footsteps.

“Technology is great, but you don’t want it to control your creativity,” Ivory said.

Connections were made, inspiring discussions were had and another successful VALE Media Industries Conference is in the books.