Raleigh Resident Lands Television Academy Foundation Fellowship

Natasha Berrios Laguerre, of Raleigh, NC, was selected for the Television Academy Foundation’s prestigious 2020 Summer Fellows program.

Laguerre, a 2020 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, majored in broadcast journalism. She is a broadcast news fellow this summer through the Foundation’s Summer Fellows Program. Laguerre attended Sanderson High School in Raleigh.

“I was not expecting to have any opportunities because of COVID,” said Laguerre. “Then I got an email that I was chosen to be a Fellow for the Television Academy Foundation and I was overjoyed. What this opportunity taught me is that in life somethings we can't control things so, what we can do is appreciate those things in life that give us an opportunity to grow and make the best out of it.”

Typically, the Television Academy Foundation’s annual Internship Program provides 50 paid internships, at top Hollywood studios and production companies, to college students nationwide. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Television Academy Foundation has had to re-imagine its internship program this year offering the 50 students selected from across the country the chance to either intern remotely or enroll as a Summer Fellow.

The Summer Fellows Program includes virtual one-on-one visits with professionals in a student’s field of study, online panels with leaders in the television industry, and customized seminars covering personal brand building and navigating the job market ahead. Fellows also become life-long members of the Foundation’s alumni family giving them access to events and networking opportunities as they build their careers in the industry.

The program includes a series of professional development webinars for students with top industry professionals including writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Old Guard); Amazon Studios executives Albert Cheng, (Chief Operating Officer and Co-Head of Television) and Vernon Sanders (Co-Head of Television); and the executive producer of the Apple TV+ series Little Voice Sara Bareilles and series star Brittany O’Grady.