Student Spotlight: Carlos A. Illanez

His corner of the Northeastern Programming Board's office says a lot about Carlos A. Illanez, NPB's Special Events Coordinator.  The desk is very tidy, suggesting a certain level of organization and professionalism, while the walls to the side and behind the desk are decorated with a guitar chord poster and inflatable instruments, hinting at Illanez's fun, artistic side.

     The Northeastern Illinois University sophomore sat down with me to talk about his job, his music, and his experiences at NEIU so far.   

MJ: What has been your favorite thing that you've organized?

CI: Well, actually one of them, I would have to say was the end of term party that we held at Navy Pier on the Spirit of Chicago.  It was just something new, something off campus and it worked out great actually.  Every event that I put together, there's a certain interest involved in it.

What's the process like to put an event together?

It's a long process actually because first off you have to have an idea, you know, what is the event gonna' be like?  What's it gonna' involve?  And then you know, putting the idea together as far as figuring out the space, where it would be best held at and also know what it's gonna' be like.  What's the purpose of the event?  Who might attend?  And just a blueprint of it can take a lot of time.  Then, when we move into the working part, we actually have to fill out contracts and call up companies, negotiate with them about the artist and whatnot.  It's a long process.

What has been your most memorable experience at Northeastern?

I would have to say my performance that I did for the sorority Gamma Phi Omega.  It was pretty cool because they dragged me into the performance to participate the day before and when they explained it to me they didn't even tell me what it was about.  They asked me ‘do you wanna' perform?' and I said sure but when I got there and got the whole spiel of what it was, I was kinda' in a situation as an underdog, considering it was a lot of Greek groups there.  Personally I'm not in one at the moment.  So with all those people there, my idea was just to perform, and at the end of the results they announced the winners and it ended up being me.  So, that was pretty cool, I felt good vibes from the organizations and the people.

What would you say has been your most challenging experience at school?

As far as classes go, I would say it's a tough thing, it's very time consuming. It's time consuming because as I was explaining, planning events for the campus, dedicating time to work in order to go to school and having to deal with classes and study, and trying to be at best at both sides can be a challenge, but you know, I've managed.

Would you say it's worth it?

Yeah definitely, cause' everything that is good and challenging that I've been doing has definitely contributed to what I know now and where I'm going actually, so yeah I wouldn't regret it.

What are your plans for the future?

Well as far as plans go, I have quite a few.  Academically I will be headed for a Master's in business.  On the personal side, I'm currently working on music.  And then you know, just considering everything as far as work and incorporating it into my personal life.  I would say after getting my Masters, I'll continue to grow through the music.  And not necessarily as far as reaching a level of certain fame or whatnot, but it's just more of reaching people.  Music is a big part of my life for so many reasons.  So, you know, in that sense I'll continue to work on that, and as a side note, hopefully owning my own business as well. 

Could you tell me a little more about your music experience?

For me, music didn't start out as something I wanted to do; it was just more of a therapy.  It was an outlet, an outlet for a lot of things.  Eventually I started building the character of speaking that out loud and letting people hear what was going on.  That allowed me to go through a lot of situations in life and now I love that more than ever, it keeps me going.  It's still a therapeutic thing. but now I'm also starting to see a more show business side of it, where you're put into a position where you have to show business because it's show business. 

I noticed the guitars in your office, do you play guitar?

Yeah, actually my instrument is the piano though but I play guitar.  But my main thing is always writing a lot, writing and composing music and also poetry. 

How do you feel music helps you with the other things in your life?

Well, it actually helps a lot because I'd like to say through music I've met a lot of people from different paths of life, with different dreams, whether it was to do another show or whether it was to talk about other things that happened in somebody's else's life.  We sat down with that and it brought a lot of different things and opened up many opportunities and many different experiences.  But it also has changed a lot of my work here in school as well because as far as work goes from an entertainment point of view you kind of understand from both sides.  You understand the kinds of the demands that are expected.

What advice would you give the student body of northeastern?

Keep working hard and keep reaching new goals.

I noticed the guitars in your office, do you play guitar?

Yeah, actually my instrument is the piano though, but I play guitar.  But my main thing is always writing a lot, writing and composing music and also poetry. 

How do you feel music helps you with the other things in your life?

Well, it actually helps a lot because I'd like to say through music I've met a lot of people from different paths of life, with different dreams, whether it was to do another show or whether it was to talk about other things that happened in somebody's else's life.  We sat down with that, and it brought a lot of different things, and opened up many opportunities and many different experiences.  But, it also has changed a lot of my work here in school, as well because as far as work goes from an entertainment point of view you kind of understand from both sides.  You understand the kinds of the demands that are expected.

What advice would you give the student body of Northeastern?

Keep working hard and keep reaching new goals.