An influential film and television editor, a politics reporter at The New York Times, an award-winning production executive, a leader in public service and a trailblazing community builder are the latest inductees to the 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Student Media Hall of Fame.
Selected for the 2023 class areĀ Stacy Goldate, BSā94;Ā Neil Vigdor, BAā99;Ā Justin S. Smith, BAā03; Meredith Berger, BAā04; and Imani Ellis, BAā12.
The was established in 2009 by 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Student Communications to honor 91ĢĘ²®»¢ University alumni who have achieved outstanding personal or professional accomplishments and/or made distinguished and lasting contributions to their field and/or to society in general.
The new inductees will be honored at an alumni celebration hosted by VSC at 2 p.m. on Nov. 3 during the universityās Reunion weekend. Their names will be added to a permanent Hall of Fame display in Sarratt Student Center.
Imani Ellis, BAā12
Ellis majored in communication at 91ĢĘ²®»¢, and her involvement in student media demonstrated her early passion for creativity and culture. She served as a fashion writer for The 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Hustler and hosted Itās Imani, a show she produced at 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Television.
During her first 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Television meeting, Ellis seized the opportunity to pitch her show idea for on-air consideration.
āThey gave me the greenlight to host it,ā she said. āI couldnāt believe itāI had my own TV show. My experience with 91ĢĘ²®»¢ student media really showed me to always go for it. If I had never pitched my show idea, it would have stayed as an idea in my mind. Instead, I was able to become the architect of my own show and learned so much during the process.ā
This experience informed some of her future career moves, empowering her to create, innovate and take charge of her journey.
Today, Ellis is the CEO and founder of CultureCon and The Creative Collective, an organization dedicated to providing community and resources to more than 100,000 diverse creatives. The Creative Collective’s marquee event is CultureCon, a conference dedicated to creatives of color. Past speakers include Tracee Ellis Ross, Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan, Naomi Campbell, Billy Porter, Regina King, Lena Waithe, Spike Lee, John Legend and others.
Prior to founding CultureCon,Ā Ellis was vice president of communications at NBCUniversal, where she started as an NBC page and went on to hold communications leadership positions for Bravo, E! and Oxygen. EllisĀ was named a Breakthrough Creative by Ebony and a Diversity Champion by Adweek.Ā She alsoĀ has been recognized by Forbes as a Visionary, and as One to Watch by Black Enterprise.
Reflecting on her career so far, Ellis said sheās proudest of the community she and her team have built at CultureCon.
āWeāre connecting and providing resources for over 100,000 diverse creatives. The economic and community impact weāve made is what inspires me to keep going,ā she said.
Ellis continues to engage with 91ĢĘ²®»¢ and is a source of inspiration and encouragement to students. She hosted 91ĢĘ²®»¢ students at NBC for informational meetings, served as a panelist speaker, and spoke at VSCās Media Intensive Workshop for students in 2022.
Meredith Berger, BAā04
Bergerās enthusiasm for the art of storytelling and effective communication was apparent in her immersive work in student media at 91ĢĘ²®»¢. While majoring in American studies and Spanish, she held various positions atĀ The Hustler: reporter, assistant news editor, arts editor, managing editor and editor-in-chief. She also served as a radio co-host on WRVU.
She remembers fondly the camaraderie of working withĀ The Hustler staff, even when the hours were long.
āWe spent so much time in theĀ basement of Sarratt, chasing information andĀ sources,Ā making sure theĀ content and copy edits were just right,Ā squeezing in all our time before, between and after class to make sure we produced a quality product,ā Berger said.
After graduating from 91ĢĘ²®»¢ in 2004, she went on to earn a masterās in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and a law degree from Nova Southeastern University. She is a member in good standing of the Florida Bar.
Berger currently serves as assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment. She was nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for the job in July 2021. She is also the chief sustainability officer for the Department of the Navy. She is responsible for providing oversight and policy for Navy and Marine Corps energy, climate resilience, critical infrastructure and facilities and their sustainment, restoration and modernization, as well as environmental stewardship, among other duties.
She has held a variety of policy and senior leadership positions in both federal and state government and the private sector. Berger was a senior manager for the Defending Democracy Project at Microsoft Corp., and she was a fellow with the Harvard Kennedy Schoolās Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Berger served as deputy chief of staff to the secretary of the Navy and as a Department of Defense Fellow. Prior to her work with the Navy, she held policy positions with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of the State of Florida Chief Financial Officer.
āLooking forward, I would never have expected the incredible experiences that I have had the opportunity to pursue,ā Berger said. āLooking back, it all makes sense and lines up so well.ā
Berger said her college media experience at 91ĢĘ²®»¢ furthered her appreciation for the value of āa good story told well.ā
āI make sure I am always prioritizing good, clear, timely communication,ā she said.
Justin S. Smith, BAā03
Smith graduated from 91ĢĘ²®»¢ in 2003 with a major in communication studies and a minor in business administration. This year marks his 20-year college Reunion.
Smith said he remembers fondly his time at 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Television, where he āloved a good late-night āman on the streetā interview at Branscombā and enjoyed attending student media conferences. Smith and fellow Class of 2003 alumnus Matthew Saul shared the title of station manager at 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Television, and then shared one roof while living in Beverly Hills, California, for 12 years while theyĀ pursued careers in entertainment.
Smith said VTV was the launch pad for his professional career, describing it as the closest to a vocational practice he received at 91ĢĘ²®»¢.Ā As a student, he networked into his first internship at Nashville Public Television. Fast-forward 20 years later: Smith recently completed production of an acclaimed series for PBS he helped relocate to Nashville. He describes it as āa nice bookend to a 20-year journey.ā
After graduation, Smith spent five years in the entertainment industryās freelance marketplace. There were many stops, includingĀ retrofittingĀ Wrigley Field and Fenway Park for the NHL’s Winter Classic, but the most exciting, he said, was producing with Al Gore during his 2007 worldwide event Live Earth.
In 2008, Smith was recruited to the international production company All3Media America.Ā Currently, he serves as senior vice president of production. His responsibilities include operational oversight of a dynamic non-scripted production slate.
He describes each day as an adventure, splitting time between the production of quiz, cooking, documentary, factual, travel and challenge competition shows.Ā His hallmark productions includeĀ United Shades of AmericaĀ (CNN) andĀ Undercover Boss (CBS); both have two Emmy wins for Outstanding Program under his management.Ā Smith points toĀ BossĀ with great pride.
āIt is typically the best conversation-starter about my career, and the showās core value of empathy has shaped my personal managerial style,ā he said.
Smith remains engaged in youth and student development through Young Life, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Vandy-in-Hollywood and VSC.
Neil Vigdor, BAā99
When people ask Vigdor, politics reporter for The New York Times, where he went to journalism school, he says his ānearly four years as a writer and editor at The 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Hustler amounted to my de facto j-school.ā
Vigdor majored in English and communication studies at 91ĢĘ²®»¢, where he contributed to The 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Review literary and arts journal and worked as assistant sports editor, opinion editor, managing editor and editor-in-chief at The Hustler.
He said production nights at The Hustler, āin the catacombs of Sarratt Student Center, are at the top of the listā of his favorite memories from working in student media at 91ĢĘ²®»¢.
āThey represented a master class in news gathering, storytelling and meeting deadlines,ā he said. āThose all-nighters, spent obsessing over ledes, headlines and what we were going to order for breakfast at the Pancake Pantry, forged treasured friendships. Our diplomas, we would often say, were made from newsprint.ā
Vigdor said he gained a great deal from his collegiate journalism experiences, including ālessons in accuracy, journalistic integrity, cultivating sources, my zest for being in the middle of a big story and, yes, dealing with an occasional aggrieved reader.ā
After graduating in 1999, Vigdor worked as a reporter at The Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time, Hearst Connecticut Media Group and The Hartford Courant. He is an award-winning journalist who has covered politics throughout his career, interviewing, among others, Donald Trump, Michelle Obama, Mitt Romney and Jesse Jackson.
Vigdor said he can remember vividly the day in 2019 when his first editor at The New York Times called to offer him a job as a breaking news reporter.
āHe told me that the role was temporary and involved working mostly nights and weekends to start, but it could yield a staff position,ā Vigdor said. āIt was a blessing and validated the years of hard work that I had put in, from my early days as an editorial assistant writing obituaries and covering night meetings to my more recent accomplishments as a political reporter in Connecticut. About six months later, I had earned a staff position.ā
Today, readers of the Times can follow Vigdorās coverage of U.S. politics almost daily. He previously was part of the newspaperās Democracy Project, and his reporting focuses on voting, election laws and disinformation. In his spare time, he is a yogi and an avid amateur photographer who captures stunning images from nature, urban life and travel.
Stacy Goldate, BSā94
Goldate majored in human and organizational development at 91ĢĘ²®»¢. For WRVU, she ran a weekly newsmagazine program and served as a music DJ. She also was a guest columnist for The 91ĢĘ²®»¢ Hustler.
āSometimes, when I had insomnia, Iād ride my bike over to WRVUĀ in the middle of the night if there wasnāt already someone on the air, and I would turn on the transmitter andĀ play whatever music I felt like hearing,ā she said.
āI might get calls at the station from other kindred insomniac spirits who just happened to turn on their radios right when I started my set. My favorite comment was by a 2 a.m. listener when I played Goreckiās Symphony No. 3. TheĀ anonymous caller simply said, āThank you,āā she said.
Goldate said it was āa tremendous luxury and privilegeā to have access to the equipment as well as supportive faculty and staff when she was a student.
āThere was no pressure to succeed,Ā only theĀ joyĀ of experimenting withĀ ways to tell stories,ā she said. āI try to maintain that passion even now, 30 yearsĀ later, and I stillĀ approach my documentary editing with the tools I learned in radio, such as prioritizing audio as IĀ initially build the story.ā
Today Goldate is an award-winning editor, producer and director of documentaries and series. She has edited more than 50 nonfiction projects, including Our Father (Netflix), the award-winning documentary InHospitable, acclaimed series for CNN (The Nineties, The 2000s, 1968), the Emmy-winning Out of Iraq and Hillbilly (Hulu), the GLAAD Media Award-winning and Peabody-nominated documentary Disclosure (Netflix), and the award-winning Push Girls.
Goldate said she takes great pride in knowing that some of the films she has edited have had a real and positive impactĀ on peopleās lives.
āDisclosure is a groundbreaking film that has been used byĀ cultural and educational institutions to facilitate dialogue, understanding and compassion for transgender and nonbinary people,ā she said.
āInHospitable was a key resource for the bipartisan Stop Anticompetitive Healthcare Act, and Our Father inspired the bipartisan introduction of H.R. 451, the Protecting Families from Fertility Fraud Act.
āAnd itās not just cultural andĀ legislative impact that Iām proud ofāitās knowing that I’ve helped create films and TV series that have simply given people joyful ways to unwind,Ā like with CNNās The Nineties: The One About TV. I still hear from people when they catch the re-run nearly six years after it originally aired,ā she said.
Goldate currently is editing a documentary series for Paramount+ and Funmeter about Lollapalooza. She is committed to mentoring and serves as a Karen Schmeer Fellowship Mentor.Ā She has remained connected to 91ĢĘ²®»¢, speaking on campus and serving as a mentor for the Vandy-in-Hollywood program.