Senior to Senior Series: Leo Liotta
Hello! My name is Eliza Moore, and I am a senior at Chatham University. The person in this interview has been an absolute staple of the Chatham community from the very beginning. You’ve likely seen them around campus in various clubs and CSG, or, if you’re anything like me, depended on them to carry a tune that you definitely should have looked over a little longer. Please join me in welcoming one of the most talented and hard-working people on campus: Leo Liotta!
Name: Leo Liotta
Pronouns: he/they
Majors: Arts Management & Music
What led you to choose Chatham?
I had what I call a quarter-life crisis when applying for colleges and realized I wanted to go for arts management and not musical theater in January of my senior year. Chatham was one of the only places that was still accepting applications and also was the least expensive option. It was a huge benefit that Chatham is in Pittsburgh because I really do like Pittsburgh, and it is relatively close to home.
Did your plans change at all throughout your time at Chatham?
I added a music major, which was my biggest change. It actually wasn’t until this year that it occurred to me that I can actually do something with that and am not limited to working a job in just arts management.
You’re such a creative individual, what inspired you to begin pursuing the arts?
I’ve been singing since I was very young. My parents are very musical: my mom is a classically trained singer, and my dad can play literally any instrument and also sings, so I was just always singing. We moved around a lot and one of the places had a performing arts studio, which led me to get really involved with musical theater. I was doing like 8 shows a year and it completely consumed my life so I was like, “I mean, I might as well continue as that’s the thing I know the most about.” But I also really like it, which helps.
You may be one of the busiest people I know, what leads you to be so involved on campus?
When I came onto campus my freshman year, I just got really excited. I think I was just happy to kind of be alone. It was like “there are so many people here and I’m not related to any of them, this is awesome!” I moved a lot, so I was used to being the new person, but never have I gotten to be the new person at a place where everyone else was also new. This was very exciting for me because I got the opportunity to establish myself at the same time as everyone else, so I just got involved in literally anything I thought was interesting. It has shifted a lot over the years, my freshman year I was an officer of 5 clubs at one point, but I’ve progressively dropped some of those positions, gained other ones, added another major... I just have a lot of things I really like doing so why not just do all of them.
What would you say was your biggest challenge during your time at Chatham?
2020-2021 was just a hard year. I was an RA that year, which wasn’t bad at all, but it meant I lived alone. I also was placed in a building that none of my friends lived in and due to the circumstances of that year we weren’t allowed to go into a dorm building that is not our own. This meant that I was alone constantly, and I was just really miserable. It was also just a big year that was full of a lot of change for me, and I had to process it by myself for the most part.
What are your plans for after graduation?
I’m looking for any type of job I can get. I would love to perform professionally, but I don’t know exactly how to do that just yet. I’ve been applying to a lot of arts related jobs in Pittsburgh, so hopefully something like that.
What does your dream job(s) look like?
I have like 7 dream jobs. Do I wanna manage an arts company? Yeah! Do I wanna be a jazz singer? Yeah! Do I wanna run a non-profit that has nothing to do with the arts? Yeah, for sure! Do I wanna research music? Yeah! So, I don’t really know... why pick one? Right now, I'm really into musicology, specifically preservative musicology, which is like going around and learning things about different cultures music and recording it. I would love to travel to different places on a research grant and just record music and note how they perform it. That’s the current dream.
Do you have any advice for new or perspective students?
Just do stuff, you know? I feel like people do this thing where they say they aren’t going to get involved in anything their first semester and I’m just like “why?” It’s going to be your easiest semester so get involved and find out what you like, you can quit things later. That’s another thing, don’t be afraid to quit things. If something isn’t working: leave. If you don’t like a class: drop it. If you don’t like your major: change it! College is about you, so do what you need to thrive.
If you or a friend would like to participate in the Senior to Senior series, please reach out to Eliza.Moore@chatham.edu. We want to hear about your journey at Chatham University!