An Interview with MTVU's Rising Star Quinn Marcus

By Ashley Yenick, Student at Merrimack College

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing MtvU's newest and coolest star Quinn Marcus, an Emerson senior who has her own show, "Quinnterviews!" Read on about how Quinn is making her dreams a reality!

Ashley Yenick: OK, first off, what is it like working for MTV? I think that's just so cool and amazing! How did you get the job?

Quinn Marcus: It's amazing and kind of surreal at the same time. My friend and I pitched the show last May to the executives with a video, and then they called me in class and I accepted their phone call and they said that they wanted another video about why I wanted the show and my personality. So we pretty much just shot a "Quinnterview" about why I wanted the show and sent it back to them, and they said that they wanted to meet me. I pitched it to them and I thought it was awful, but they said it was great and that they wanted to make the show so I was like, "Wow this is great!" [laughs]

AY: Wow that is awesome! That sounds so sick! I heard that you also go to Emerson, which is in Boston, right?

QM: Yes, it is!

AY: Is there a favorite place in Boston that you love to go to? Because I also go to school near Boston and it would be cool if you knew of a spot that you always love to go to.

QM: We'll my favorite place to eat would have to be this restaurant in the North End called Galleria Umberto. It's great because it's only open from 11 a.m. to like 3 p.m. and it's awesome because it has the best homemade pizza and it's cool because only the people that are the locals there really know about it. It has really good food.

AY: Oh, awesome! I've only been to the aquarium there, which is really cool, but it's good to know some places from people who have been there [in Boston] for a long time. [laughs]

QM: Yeah, you should go - it's really good! [laughs]

AY: What is your absolute dream job? What would it be and why would you want to get into that field?

QM: I would like to be a late-night talk show host. And that's the dream!

AY: We'll it sounds like you're on the road to that dream right now!

QM: I hope! That would be awesome! Yeah I just love David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel.

AY: Are you from Boston?

QM: No, I'm from Atlanta, Georgia.

AY: Oh wow, that's so cool!

QM: Yeah [laughs] that's where I started doing "Quinnterviews," and they came out after I graduated from high school, and it's just really cool because I just started doing these videos for fun and I got like 100 hits, you know, per video, and I thought it was such a big deal and it's like 100 people watched this! And that's pretty cool, so I hope now like 150 people will watch these!

AY: So where does your confidence come in? Because I've seen your videos and I love the one where you're trying to find a roommate and you go to like up to random people and you're like, "Would you like to be my roommate?" Where does that courage come from? Is that part of your personality? Or do you just like doing it for the show?

QM: I think when I'm in front of a camera it's easier to put on confidence, but some [videos] are harder than others. We just did one where I'm auditioning for the Emerson Dance Team, and that's coming out soon and I didn't have enough confidence with that one because it was awful! It's definitely easier just to talk to people instead of just dancing is what I realized. [laughs]

AY: So what does your typical day consist of? Like do you wake up and you do a "Quinnterview" every single day? Or is it just one day of the week that you just go and interview people or make a video?

QM: We do a "Quinnterview" a week, but every day I have class and I do a lot at school, like I host a late-night talk show, and I executive produce. I'm actually one of four executive producers of one of the largest student award shows in the nation called "The Evvy Awards." Some days I don't even think about how I have a show on MTV because I'm just so stressed out about school and other days I'm just like, "Oh yeah! This is cool, too!" [laughs]

AY: That's so cool! How many people get to say, "I work for MTV?"

QM: Some people don't bring it up to me like during a class or something that I do for school and I'll be like "Oh yeah!" but I don't know, sometimes I'm so busy with school that I feel like I'm living two lives right now because I sometimes forget like, "Oh, yeah I have an MTV show." Actually something funny is that I think today the video that was just put up is filmed on the Emerson Campus, so there are like, new Emerson freshmen that are in this video, so I think they're kinda weirded out because now they're on a TV.

AY: At least they get to say they're famous, too! You made them famous! [laughs]

QM: Yeah, now everybody can be on MTV!

AY: So you said before that you would love to be a late-night talk show host, who would be your ideal person to interview for a late-night TV show?

QM: Oh, that's a good question, probably you because you got to interview me! Maybe one day I'll interview Jimmy Kimmel.

AY: Do you want to stick to interviewing and doing "Quinnterviews" or would you see yourself having a comedy show or a sitcom?

QM: I guess I have a lot of goals. I would love to do anything that anybody lets me do. I think doing interview shows is awesome, I love that. My main goal would be a talk show, but I would love to be a part of other projects.

AY: That's really all the questions I have for you today! Thanks for taking the time out today to talk with me! I know that being a student is incredibly busy all the time - you have so many million things to do - so thanks for taking the time out for interviewing!

QM: Thanks for interviewing me!

Quinn was great to talk to and is so passionate about making her dream become a reality! She's truly a role model in the making. We wish Quinn all the best in her future endeavors! You can catch Quinn Marcus and all of her "Quinnterviews" here.