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Saying Yes to Opportunity: Amanda Kis’ Journey from Manhattanville to NBCUniversal
19 Plays21 days ago
In this episode of Valiant Talks, host Frank Furbacher reconnects with Manhattanville College Class of 2007 alum Amanda Kis, now Senior Vice President of Business Operations and Services at NBCUniversal.
Amanda shares how Manhattanville became the place where she found her voice—through student government, leadership experiences outside the classroom, and a willingness to explore different paths. From starting as a dance and theater major to considering law school, Amanda walks through the pivotal internship that redirected her career toward media and ultimately led her to NBC during a challenging job market.
The conversation explores Amanda’s rise through the organization, her leadership philosophy, and what it’s like working behind the scenes on major moments like presidential elections and the Olympics. She also reflects on the importance of work ethic, saying yes to opportunity, and not putting too much pressure on yourself early in your career.
A thoughtful and grounded look at career pivots, long-term growth, and building a meaningful professional life.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction of Amanda Kiss
00:00:27
Frank Furbacher
Today I'm joined by a very, very special guest. Her name is Amanda Kiss. She is class of 2007. She is currently the senior vice president for business operations and services at NBC Universal.
00:00:40
Frank Furbacher
Amanda, it's great to see you. Thank you so much for joining.
00:00:44
Amanda
Likewise. Thank you so much for having me. I feel honored. This is my first podcast.
00:00:49
Frank Furbacher
Well, I hope it's a good experience. um And as we were talking about before we started recording, um you know, we have, uh, basically connection in Manhattanville's, uh, world was through student government. He was student government president for two years prior to, me taking over after that.
00:01:09
Frank Furbacher
Um, and so, uh, we were talking about how that was a special connection and all of that, but, um, just tell me, Amanda, you know, off the top of your head, like what did Manhattanville mean to you? And, um, uh, tell me about, uh,
00:01:24
Frank Furbacher
you know, your your experience there.
Finding Home and Leadership at Manhattanville
00:01:27
Amanda
Sure. So before attending Manhattanville, I think I was someone that was a little bit more quiet, maybe not necessarily as comfortable with who I was. And I think a lot of people probably go through that if you're just sort of finding yourself.
00:01:45
Amanda
And what drew me to Manhattanville was It felt like home and it was something that I couldn't quite put my finger on it or couldn't describe, but I didn't get this feeling at any other, it was college at the time or university.
00:02:01
Amanda
And I felt really comfortable and I felt like at Manhattanville, I really became the person that I am today. and the experiences that were really the most meaningful for me actually happened outside of the classroom, which maybe is a little bit more unconventional. um But i i I changed my major, bounced around a little bit. Like many people, i didn't really necessarily know exactly what I wanted to do. And through the experiences that I had at Manhattanville really shaped that when I graduated, I knew i wanted to be a leader. I knew I wanted to work where I'd have purpose. I'd be able to lead other people, develop strategies, and and be able to execute and do something that had some sort of meaning in business.
00:02:56
Amanda
what that was exactly. i didn't know necessarily initially, but those experiences that I had, whether it was student government, which is really the biggest portion, there were other groups that I was involved in as well.
00:03:10
Amanda
The relationships and people that I met and and learned from, quite frankly, i think are what was really the most meaningful for me at Manhattanville.
00:03:21
Frank Furbacher
I had that same thought. I knew I wanted to do something in business, but I didn't want to kind of corner myself into one specific aspect of it, which was you know one of the benefits of studying at Manhattanville.
00:03:34
Frank Furbacher
um And what were how did your major change throughout the course of your ah college experience?
Academic and Career Shifts
00:03:40
Amanda
So I originally came to Manhattanville as a dance and theater major. And then it was about my sophomore year, approaching end of sophomore year, I was a little worried, as were my parents, um of the chances of becoming an actor and sort of breaking out into that field is is really difficult. And it's a combination of talent and it's also a lot of luck.
00:04:11
Amanda
And I felt like Perhaps if that's a path that I still want to go down. I was involved in theater since I was in dance, since I was very small. um And i thought I could always do that, but I should really work on my plan B. Because technically I don't need to major in dance and theater if I want to audition and do things after school. But I should have a plan B. And so i swiveled prelaw particularly political science with a concentration in legal studies. That concentration really nearly killed me at the end of graduation because of the amount of classes I had to take with Professor Pauly um in order to be able to graduate. But I thought I could fuse being it potentially doing mock trials, being in a courtroom, frankly, kind of felt like acting. And i liked speaking in front of other people. I also thought
00:05:10
Amanda
perhaps I can break into entertainment law and be in the entertainment industry, but then also have a career or business pursuit that could perhaps be more stable and more lucrative. And so i went down the path of adjusting my major, my now fast forward to senior year,
00:05:34
Amanda
I start interviewing at different law firms within Westchester, close to Manhattanville, or shadowing in court in White Plains, just trying to learn, absorb as much as possible. And we start preparing to study for the LSATs.
00:05:48
Amanda
And I went to the Office of Career Services one day. And was checking on, are there any other internships available? Anything come up for local law firms? I've been talking to a lot of different lawyers, just asking questions, getting different perspectives.
00:06:02
Amanda
And my minor was communications. And so the person at the office at the time said, we actually have a producer from WABC-TV, so the local branch of abc located in Lincoln Center in New York City. And she's never had a alumni of Manhattanville and is interested in interviewing alumni for the role. And so I said, that seems like a pretty cool way to get class credit. Sure. And I get to go into New York City. And that feels like an adventure in and of itself.
00:06:37
Amanda
So I remember I went in for this interview. Her name was Jilu Bilimoria. And I've always tried to contact her and find her, but I haven't had much luck post. I remember I walked into her office.
00:06:50
Amanda
She literally had spread across her desk. There was about 20 different resumes. And she said to me, just because you're an alumni doesn't mean that you're getting the job. Here are all the applicants. And I thought,
00:07:00
Amanda
Okay, I really need to bring my A game. I was expect I wasn't expecting a handout. So okay, I'm good here. And ended up getting the internship.
Challenges of the Recession
00:07:10
Amanda
um And upon finishing the internship, I said, you know what, I think this is the exact path that I want to go on. I think working for a television company sort of brings that entertainment aspect and there's the business component as well. I could also be a bit creative. There's a lot of different functions and opportunities at a TV station. This is the direction that I want to go in and I want to put law school on hold.
00:07:40
Amanda
And so they did not have any internship opportunities upon finishing my internship, which I was devastated by. i mean, I was working, my days in interning, I believe were Mondays and Fridays.
00:07:55
Amanda
And on Fridays, because I didn't have to rush back to campus to get to class, I would literally stay at the station until 7, 7.30 at night so that I could do extra work because I was determined of if I work really, really, really hard, and it was the most unglamorous work of ever, but I didn't care. I was so excited to be there. i thought that, okay, they're going to give me a job, but they just didn't have anything. It was ah a small team of producers that I was working with. And when I graduated in 2007, there was the recession and it was really, really difficult to find a job.
00:08:33
Amanda
And so out into the market, I went. And ended up working for a local media company that basically was a rep firm for local station affiliates to sell linear ad time. Basically, they were like, I think one of them was an affiliate I worked with in Kansas, and they just didn't have a big enough station to have a sales team.
00:09:01
Amanda
And so I did that for a few years before then finally landing a job at NBC.
00:09:09
Frank Furbacher
Wow. That's yeah, but that's amazing.
00:09:09
Amanda
Sorry, and I just went off on like a whole tangent there.
00:09:13
Frank Furbacher
um So you get the job at the media company. um So you're essentially working with companies to have them buy ad space. Is that what it was?
00:09:26
Amanda
Yeah, so but we were working with advertising agencies like a Zenith and they would they would represent a client and we would basically work with these different stations and say, okay, this client, General Mills, has X amount of money to spend and wants to buy advertising on your network.
00:09:30
Frank Furbacher
Okay.
00:09:33
Frank Furbacher
Mm hmm.
00:09:51
Amanda
And then i handled all of the deal bookings, allocating the different brands that they wanted to run for their ads every week. If there was breaking news and they needed to make good their ad time, i handled all of that. Plus there was a component of um this is This is dating me. um We had actual landlines and there was a rule where the phone could never go unanswered during business hours. And so if you were taking lunch, not all of the assistants could take lunch at the same time because someone had to answer the phone to just be able to respond and reroute or take a message. Mm-hmm.
00:10:33
Frank Furbacher
That's awesome. And then you go through that, you wind up at NBC. How do you wind up at NBC?
Breaking Into NBC
00:10:39
Amanda
So I actually met someone that lived in the neighborhood that my parents were in. um My mom, I think, had met her walking the dog.
00:10:54
Amanda
and and And she had a dog as well. They started talking. She said she worked for NBC. um My mom told me about her. I saw her on the train and struck up a conversation. we started talking.
00:11:09
Amanda
She took my resume and she was working for the actual NBC store. and She ran, I think it was supply chain management for the store and her boss previously ran operations. And so... She, her boss provided my resume to the leader who had taken over for her and i got an interview and it was was sort of one of those things where the job market was really, really tough. And unless you knew someone, I had been applying to every single job at NBC. possible. I literally would have worked in the mailroom and happily would have done so just to get my foot in the door.
00:11:52
Amanda
And so I got this interview. i had no idea. I couldn't even understand from the job description what it was, but I didn't care. I just thought I'm going to go This is like the Eminem song. It's my one shot, my one opportunity to try to do the best I can to sell myself.
00:12:07
Amanda
ended up getting the job. It was an entry-level role. i had already been an assistant for almost three and a half years. So i basically made a lateral move knowing that I'm going to bust my butt and I'm going work as hard as I possibly can to try to catch up to where i hope that I could be in my career at this point with this amount of experience.
00:12:29
Frank Furbacher
That's amazing. So what are you doing when you start out?
00:12:34
Amanda
So i was a Linear Operations Coordinator on MSNBC. Basically, i was working with advertising agencies to receive their physical commercials and then schedule them on MSNBC.
00:12:52
Amanda
And i did that role for about, want to say, I think it was about two years. And then within that job working on NBC, I had also expanded to helping on CNBC or the Today Show. i volunteered to be on call on weekends, which was not fun, but again, i was really trying to catch up and do as much as I possibly could. i was also seeing a lot of my friends at the time who were working in finance and were doing really well. And I was struggling to buy my Metro North monthly train pass every single month and just pay my cell phone bill um because I was still in an entry-level role in my mid-20s. So started out on MSNBC and then volunteered to do anything and everything.
00:13:37
Amanda
um Upon those two years, a supervisor role became available. i pitched it, didn't get it the first time. And then second time around, the first time it was for a job in entertainment, Second job that I pitched was directly on news. And so I made sure that I was volunteering to do as much as possible so that when that next role came available, it was just of, Amanda's already doing this job. This kind of feels like a natural fit.
00:14:06
Amanda
We'll interview people anyway. But I was trying to set myself up um strategically in that way. And it worked. Mm-hmm.
00:14:15
Frank Furbacher
That's amazing. So what is it like to work for such a renowned brand
Climbing the NBC Ladder
00:14:21
Frank Furbacher
like NBC? I mean, it's an institution, right?
00:14:24
Amanda
Mm-hmm.
00:14:25
Frank Furbacher
um But tell me about like what it's like to work at a place like NBC. And then also um you mentioned setting yourself up for success as you go through.
00:14:40
Frank Furbacher
What are some of the things that you were doing as you were in those roles to set yourself up?
00:14:47
Amanda
Sure. So I've been here now for, i think it's a little over 15 years, which is kind of a bit of a unicorn. I know you've been in your current role for 10 years. We're a bit of an anomaly now because most people or kids these days kind of bounce around a bit. But one of the things that has really kept me here is the people. Many of the people that I work with have become my best friends in life and the people are really amazing.
00:15:18
Amanda
And the culture here is that because it's so so large and it's it's such a large media conglomerate, there's always opportunity.
00:15:28
Amanda
And so if you're looking for opportunity and you're looking to grow and develop, you can make what you want of it. And the way that I did that was, um and this is maybe not the the approach that works for everyone, but I basically never said no.
00:15:47
Amanda
And I always said yes to more work. I always went above and beyond. And then what I really think set me apart from many of my colleagues, and i i think I was a bit ahead of the curve at the time, was cost savings. And so now it's kind of an expectation of every leader's job of we need to be mindful of overhead. need invest in automation as much as possible so that I can complement team members' jobs, but also just make us more efficient and and manage our overhead more effectively. But I started doing that very early on in my career. And I was also motivated of, I always had a lot of direct reports and it was really hard.
00:16:36
Amanda
And I wanted to be able to build almost a tiger team. And so through attrition, anytime someone gave their notice, I would then think, okay, how do I want to backfill this role?
00:16:50
Amanda
Instead of just saying I'm going to backfill it like for like, do I want to do something a little bit different?
00:16:52
Frank Furbacher
Bye.
00:16:55
Amanda
Do I want to challenge someone on the team that's hungry and give them a bit more work? And maybe I can actually increase their compensation a bit And take money from that job that I have and then give the best rest back to the business.
00:17:09
Amanda
Started doing this. I started tracking it in Excel. And so when positions became available, um i was sort of this go to of okay, we have an area of the business that's new or we have something that needs to be fixed. And I started doing that organically.
00:17:26
Amanda
and it was stimulating and I felt like it was different from what other people were doing. Just working hard wasn't going to cut it. I had to do something a bit more unconventional from that. and And so I think the way that i um financially managed the team and efficiency really set me apart. And that allowed me to accelerate within my my career. And I went from being in an entry-level role for about five years, maybe five and a half years to being a supervisor for six months, being promoted to a manager, going to a director. and then like i kind of caught up for a lot of lost time or at least it was lost time for me to be able to achieve my goals um to really start accelerating at a certain point.
High-Profile Event Experiences
00:18:18
Frank Furbacher
And what are some of your favorite parts about working at NBC? I know we've talked previously about working the Olympics and some those large, you know, notable pieces that are part of the NBC world.
00:18:32
Frank Furbacher
um What do you enjoy most about it?
00:18:35
Amanda
So the, you, when you work on these large temple events, it, it kind of feels surreal because you could literally watch a TV or right now I work on our digital platform. So I could turn log into Peacock and actually see the work that my team and I are doing. And it feels really impactful that we've established processes. We've established technical troubleshooting that allows people across the country to view our ads and our content. And so it feels really exciting to be part of that for the Olympics in particular. Fun fact. I always screenshot it every year for my mom. They have at the end of the games, there's, it's usually the last Sunday of the Olympics. They roll credits for like four hours and your name is on the credit on NBC. And you just, it, it feels, um, really valid validating of all of the time and effort working Monday through Sunday, late hours. Um, it feels really good. But I would say what the experience that I think is my absolute favorite ever at NBC was working on the elections when I was on news, because i would work with producers that were in the control room.
00:19:58
Amanda
And I would basically be changing around um commercial breaks on the fly, sometimes literally 10 seconds before air. And it was this adrenaline rush. And I remember one of my bosses telling me, You just need to make a decision. It's not always the best decision and you have to remember to breathe.
00:20:15
Amanda
And at the end of the night, you just feel this sense of accomplishment, like, wow, I really was up against, you know, really, really tight timelines and had to be very, very strategic and make a call and everybody was listening to me and was on board.
00:20:31
Amanda
That will forever, at working any of the presidential elections, that will forever be my my favorite moment and my accomplishment that I'm most proud of.
00:20:42
Frank Furbacher
So as you're in the control room, are you essentially trying to ensure the timing is correct, ensure the commercials are correct? Are you huffing and puffing as somebody rolls right through a scheduled break? or how does that work?
00:20:59
Amanda
Yeah, so good question. it's It's a bit of a combination. So you have your advertising sponsors who you want to get basically a certain amount of commercials in before the night ends. And so I'd have my list of priorities and then news is news and the content is organic. And so you go in with a schedule of anticipated breaks, but that's typically not what happens. And so we would sometimes expect to have a two minute commercial break and we would extend it to three knowing that we might not get one in or we might kill four breaks and then we have an opportunity to be able to basically we might have killed 10 minutes of ad time and now we have two minutes and so you want to make those two minutes as impactful as possible for the clients who wanted to and needed to be in um the content.
00:21:55
Frank Furbacher
Wow, that's gotta be a juggling act as you're going through.
00:21:59
Amanda
it's a It's a little stressful, but ah exciting nonetheless.
00:22:04
Frank Furbacher
That's amazing.
College Memories and Skills
00:22:06
Frank Furbacher
So just to go back, Amanda, the where did you grow up?
00:22:11
Amanda
Sorry, it's, you know, the live action here. well Waiting outside my office going, are you on a call? Yes, I am. I grew up northern Westchester.
00:22:24
Amanda
i was, well, I was born in Yonkers, and lived there until I was a toddler, and then lived in Mount Kisco you most of the time and then when going to Manhattanville i loved Westchester wanted to stay in Westchester in the close proximity to the city paired with being an only child and being very close with my family and and wanting to stay nearby
00:22:53
Frank Furbacher
And was it the dance and theater that originally attracted you to Manhattanville?
00:22:58
Amanda
Yes. and um because of that, the close proximity to the city, I didn't want to necessarily be in Manhattan.
00:23:03
Frank Furbacher
Mm-hmm.
00:23:06
Amanda
It felt a bit overwhelming and where I felt like I had the best of both worlds to be close enough to just take a train ride or we used to take sometimes the Valiant buses.
00:23:17
Amanda
I took advantage of a lot of the Broadway shows. I think we would get like $20 tickets for like the very, very back of the theater, but it you still were there.
00:23:29
Frank Furbacher
And what were some of you mentioned student government, um you know changing majors and going through that. What are some other core memories that you have from Manhattanville?
00:23:39
Amanda
Um, I loved any of the castle events. Um, I don't know if they still do those, which I think would be really unfortunate. um I also was part of, i think it was called Minds in Motion and it was a dance team, but not necessarily a dance team. It was more of,
00:24:01
Amanda
We would perform at Quad Jam or the pep rally. And so it was a really fun way to be able to get together with people that enjoyed dancing but without having a lot of the pressure.
00:24:19
Frank Furbacher
And what would you say are the skills that you've developed and sharpened over time that have helped you most throughout your career?
00:24:28
Amanda
One, definitely first and foremost of prioritizing and task management. I used to go to the library typically at seven o'clock in the morning and get, I loved those iced cappuccinos. I drank way too many of those iced cappuccinos that they had. um And I would write because of my major majority of my work was essays.
00:24:57
Frank Furbacher
Mm-hmm.
00:24:57
Amanda
And so i would go into the stacks where it was all dark, you could be by yourself.
00:25:02
Amanda
And in two hours, you could just knock out a a four page essay. um And so i was i learned how to be really efficient with my time.
00:25:12
Amanda
And the the reason is I also i wanted to be able to participate in those castle parties and extracurricular things. But I also prioritized I needed to do well in school.
00:25:23
Amanda
I wanted to do well in school. And so I had to figure out how to fit all of that in The second piece was the ability to lead. but My favorite part of my job right now is leading meetings. I do a monthly meeting with my full org where i go over things that I'm working on, um how we're pacing towards our goals, overall strategies. I try to be as transparent as possible. While it's the meaning that makes me the most nervous because i take it really seriously, it's also the meaning that I love the most. And that that foundation all came from student government. Mm-hmm.
00:26:02
Frank Furbacher
That's amazing.
Advice to Younger Self and Career Tips
00:26:04
Frank Furbacher
What advice would you give to your younger self?
00:26:07
Amanda
I would tell myself, don't put so much pressure on yourself. i very early on was caught up of just my goal was i wanted to be successful and success is different for every single person and it should be.
00:26:26
Amanda
And for me, success meant I wanted to be financially independent. I wanted to be able to take care of myself without relying on anybody else. And i just wish that my younger self knew it's going to happen.
00:26:42
Amanda
Enjoy being in a job where you're not attached to your cell phone every day and checking your email hour by hour and just enjoy it. It will happen. I spend so much time just worrying about, I feel like I'm so behind. Is there anything else that I can do? I feel like I'm behind with my goals. um And so I wish I just relaxed a little bit more and enjoyed being in a role that didn't have as much responsibility.
00:27:11
Frank Furbacher
And what advice would you give to someone, whether it's a you know a recent graduate or even someone who's you know in the midst of their careers, what advice would you give them in terms of ways in which they can ensure that they they're successful in their role?
00:27:30
Amanda
I would tell them first and foremost, wck work ethic should be impeccable. And it seems simple, but it's something that is relatively rare at times. um And working hard is the secret sauce. And then layer on top of that, doing something that's unconventional.
00:27:55
Amanda
Coming up with ideas and strategies that no one else has thought of. that can help to improve the business and move the business forward. And a business could be anything. A business could be a school institution, an actual corporation. At the end of the day, almost everything is essentially ah a business in some way or another. um but not being afraid to fail and coming up with ideas to implement improvements and try them. And if they don't work, then try again.
00:28:24
Frank Furbacher
And have you ever attended an episode of snl Live?
NBC Experiences and Gratitude
00:28:29
Amanda
You know, i haven't, and people ask me all the time for tickets. I've never attended SNL. um I attended Seth Meyers, and that was because my husband got tickets from someone at the hospital that he works with. um I recently, though, did get tickets to Fallon, and I gave them to my team. to some team members that have been working exceptionally hard on Sunday Night Football. um I felt like they deserved it more than me. So I really haven't gone to any shows, um any any taping of any any NBC shows.
00:29:08
Frank Furbacher
your favorite personality.
00:29:09
Amanda
Actually, I feel sad saying it out loud. Yeah.
00:29:13
Frank Furbacher
and your favorite nbc personality
00:29:16
Amanda
Andy Cohen. I am a huge Real Housewives fan. I actually saw him in the elevator recently and i embarrassed myself. For starters, I got off on the wrong floor in the morning. I was just kind of like a zombie going to work.
00:29:31
Amanda
And I was that girl that got into the elevator, like one floor up, and he was just standing there. And I froze and looked at him with the biggest, goofiest smile. And he looked at me like,
00:29:44
Amanda
girlfriend, get it together. um and I finally got in the elevator and I didn't have the courage to just tell him how much I love his work, his shows. Um, so I'm a big, I'm a big Andy Cohen fan.
00:29:58
Frank Furbacher
That's great. Well, Amanda, we'll wrap it up here. Anything else you want to share before we sign off?
00:30:04
Amanda
No, I would just say thank you so much for having me. i think it is absolutely incredible what you're doing. And I think more people should be doing this. I would love to be able to connect with and people from Manhattanville more regularly. We're all so busy. Everybody has so much going on. But I think it's really important to keep the community strong. And you're doing great work doing what you're doing and continue doing it.
00:30:30
Frank Furbacher
Thanks, man. It was great catching up.
00:30:32
Amanda
Likewise.