Alief Taylor High School alumna Jessica Tifase has been selected for the prestigious Television Academy Foundation Internship Program. She is one of just 38 students chosen by Television Academy members from across the country for the 2023 summer program. The Foundation’s annual Internship Program provides eight-week paid internships at top Hollywood studios and production companies to college students nationwide.

Tifase, a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University earning her Master of Fine Arts in photography and film, will be a production intern this summer in the commercials department at RadicalMedia, a global media and production company that produces award-winning content across all platforms, including Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, Emmy-winning David Byrne’s American Utopia and Netflix’s Conversations With a Killer.

“This is an opportunity that puts me one step closer to reaching a goal that was deemed impossible by others around me,” said Tifase, “and I am seriously so grateful [for it.]

“Television shaped the way I saw and understood the world [as a child], and I want to be a part of its future,” continued Tifase. “Ultimately, I want to help create and tell stories that can transcend barriers and change culture.”

The Internship Program also provides professional development sessions with leaders in the television industry and customized seminars covering personal brand-building and navigating the job market ahead for participating students. Interns also become lifelong members of the Foundation’s alumni family, giving them access to events and networking opportunities as they build their careers in the industry.

The Television Academy Foundation shapes the art of creating television by engaging and educating the next generation of television professionals, providing essential resources that help them discover their voices, refine their skills and forge rewarding careers in every sector of the television industry. The Internship Program annually provides 50 students from across the nation with hands-on work experience, mentorships and opportunities for accelerated career development in more than 30 industry disciplines.