I met Annette O’Dell my freshman year, and ever since, I’ve been inspired by her involvement on campus! Now a rising junior, O’Dell is making her mark in BU’s professional, comedic, and film spheres. In this interview, I learned even more about her college experience so far, her goals for the future, and the advice she has to share.
Q: Tell us about yourself!
A: My name is Annette O’Dell and I’m from a suburb outside of Dallas, Texas! I’m majoring in business with a concentration in marketing, and I’m minoring in film and television.
O’Dell is pictured on the right.
Q: What made you decide on your current major and minor?
A: I came into BU as an international relations major, and I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with that degree. I’d been involved in theatre and was interested in movies and entertainment my whole life, and I realized that didn’t have to be a hobby. I could get a major in business and a minor in film and find myself within the entertainment industry somehow.
Q: What clubs and organizations are you involved in on campus?
A: I’m in Liquid Fun, the improv group on campus, and I’m involved in The Bunion! My roommate and I have a movie podcast with the Bunion called “Kicking and Screening.” I’m also a student ambassador for the Center for Career Development and the Educational Resource Center and I’m a host for the radio show at WTBU called L’Chaim.
Q: Tell us about your podcast. How has that experience been?
A: My roommate Veronica — who’s a film major — and I live in an apartment, and when we first moved in, in August, no one was really here and restrictions surrounding COVID-19 were really strict. So, we were watching so many movies (almost a movie every day) and we had such fun conversations and always talked about doing movie commentary. I saw the Bunion had an application for a podcast, so I decided to submit and they said yes! We’ve released a couple of episodes of just us talking about movies for 30 minutes. We try to be funny with fun themes — in our first episode, we ranked the hottest Disney dads.
Q: How has being involved in these clubs shaped your college experience?
A: It’s shaped my experience in a lot of ways. With the Center for Career Development, it’s fun to be familiar with all these resources and be familiar with people who will connect you to other resources, as well as the professional development that takes place in the job. Being involved in Liquid Fun has shaped my experience in that I’ve met a really cool group of people who are all from different majors, and we all enjoy getting together and performing comedy. It’s also the oldest comedy group at BU — people know it, professors know it — so it’s fun to be in an established organization.
Q: What are your goals for your next two years of college?
A: I’m really excited to perform in-person for an audience for improv. We were able to do some live-stream performances, but I’m looking forward to a real show at BU Central with a full audience and to hear laughter after you make a joke! I also want to study abroad, try to go to another Red Sox game and more hockey games, just get all the school spirit that we lost back.
Q: What advice would you give incoming students who want to get involved?
A: Advice I would give incoming freshmen is to put themselves out there to people you want to meet and be friends with. Also, look for clubs with people that interest you — you don’t have to just look at clubs for professional development — look for clubs with people you’re interested in or want to be friends with. Putting yourself out there is obviously hard, but try to find someone on your floor to go to club meetings with and meet new people with, in order to challenge yourself!
Thanks to Annette for doing this interview! Check out her podcast, WTBU show, and Liquid Fun!
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