Sonia Narang

Class of 1998, B.A. in Psychology

Where have you worked and/or studied since you graduated from USC?

After USC, I attended Teacher’s College Columbia University for my graduate degree in Organization Behavior. I spent about five years living in Manhattan and working for the Organization Development group at American Express. I returned home to sunny Los Angeles in 2005 and worked for the ABC Disney Television Group. After two years I moved to our London office for six months. In 2009, I moved over to the West Side and joined Sony Pictures Entertainment. I recently completed my degree as an executive coach from Fielding University in Santa Barbara.

What was the most beneficial thing you did as a student at USC to prepare you for post-graduation?

The Undergraduate Research Psychology program was the most enriching experience at USC. Developing a research project from inception to execution was exhilarating and terrifying. Research projects don’t always go as planned and that sums up life. USC was a great training ground for managing my own large scale change projects with Amex, Disney, and Sony.

What course did you enjoy the most?

My favorite course was Developmental Psychology with Dr. JoAnn Farver. It was the first time I heard about Daniel Goleman’s research on Emotional Intelligence and adult development. Both of these were key in helping me in my role as an Organization Development consultant.

If you were an undergraduate again, is there anything that you would do differently?

I would have done a semester abroad. Moving to New York and working for global companies that sent me to different countries was such an incredible experience and gift.  I was a bit timid to travel as an undergraduate and now I can’t get enough of it.

Have you won any awards, accolades, etc. after you graduated from USC?

Dr. Farver and I published our research findings from my honors project in the Journal of Family Psychology.  Recently, I won the Compass Award that our parent company Sony Corporation awards for world class excellence in Human Resources.  I built a curriculum with our top digital executives called Decoding Digital.  We leveraged a leader teacher model where our executives taught employees about the digital trends impacting the entertainment business. Our last module included external speakers from Intel, Microsoft and Professor McDowell from USC School of Cinema.