William Samayoa’s rise within the entertainment ranks would have never been possible if not for the work he put in at UCLA Extension and the translation of those lessons into his day-to-day job.

He began his journey with UCLA Extension in 2021. Already employed by CBS News and Stations as a coordinator, Samayoa took courses in parallel to performing his job duties, often having to do the class work from across the country when he traveled for work. It was a long and winding path, but Samayoa graduated from UCLA Extension with a certificate in Business and Management of Entertainment last June. The lessons paid off as he put what he learned into practice and was rewarded with promotions along the way.

“Talk about divine timing – as soon as I graduated from UCLA Extension, that same week, I was announced as director of my department and received a promotion, so it was the highest title I've ever had in any kind of setting or environment,” he said.

Growing up, Samayoa admired film and television and experimented with filming and editing. Still, he would have never imagined himself in his current position as the director of on-air recruitment and talent strategy when he originally pursued his undergraduate degree in writing and rhetoric alongside a minor in media studies.

He started his career as a publicist, where he mainly dealt with documentaries and unscripted media. His outlook on his career changed when he was hired by CBS News and Stations and he made a transition to talent relations.

“It was then when I really became exposed to a lot of things that I just had no familiarity with,” he said. “I knew I had the communications skills down, but I didn't have the hard kind of business acumen.”

As Samayoa realized this, he knew he had to learn more in order to grow in this new field, but he also wanted to continue with his job. After researching the different paths that he could take, he found UCLA Extension.

“Extension really was the perfect thing for me because I was in a place in my life between still getting my grounding at work, and still adjusting to life post-college,” Samayoa said. “I didn't want to jump in and sign up to do a full graduate school or MBA. So I asked myself, ‘What is a kind of low-pressure way that I can continue to learn while finding a foundation to grow?’ and Extension was the answer.”

The flexibility of the certificate program allowed him to take his time and go at his own pace. When he looks back at the courses he took, though, a few stood out that really affected his career trajectory.

In the Legal Primer for the Entertainment Business course, students were given different contracts to read and review. One time, Samayoa was given a fake contract where he was told to go over it and redline it to make it fair.

“I spent a long time on it and felt so rewarded when the instructor came back and gave it good marks,” Samayoa said. “I actually went to my boss and said, ‘Hey, look at this thing I did in my course. I know that you redline contracts all the time, so how did I do as a first attempt?’ She read over it and said I did a pretty decent job, and by the next week, she started giving me contracts to redline because she saw that I wanted to grow and learn.”

What Samayoa learned in his courses opened new doors for his career. His other favorite topics included story development and marketing focused on the entertainment field. More responsibility at work followed.

“I started off supporting the team as an executive assistant, to then contributing to projects as a team coordinator and then becoming an associate manager. I was getting more confident to speak and deploy the skills and the information I was learning,” he said. “What UCLA Extension taught me was if there's something you don't know, go out there and learn it. That always stuck with me. And it’ll continue to follow me through to my future endeavors, too.”

Samayoa picked up on the integration and techniques of marketing, as well as understanding about technical terms and what to look at regarding narrative structures. Everything has proven very important to his role when working at a television station.

“In all, I really feel as though all the courses came together to give me the well-roundedness I needed to advance and climb the ladder to becoming director,” he said.

UCLA Extension gave him the push he needed, and the flexibility it afforded him was vital. In a field like entertainment where there is so much moving around, Samayoa appreciated the school’s flexibility when he was away from Los Angeles, visiting places like New York and Chicago for work.

“I could still log on, do my assignments and watch my lectures at work from afar,” he said.

Samayoa applauded the enthusiasm of all of his instructors, noting that they helped him enjoy subjects that he initially may not have been enthusiastic about.

“I would recommend UCLA Extension to anyone looking to grow more in their career, looking for a career switch and even to just learn something new,” he said. “I was in courses with people from all over the world and of different ages. Some people just wanted to learn to think about new things. Other people were fresh out of college and just wanted to get back to school. I absolutely tell people all the time, ‘Hey, if you want to learn, if you want to grow and explore, you can pick and select and take a few courses. It’ll be worth your while.’”