Photo courtesy of Greg Perez.
“One of the most useful shifts for me in the DMM program was learning how to communicate creative and operational value in a way that is structured, clear, and decision-ready.”
Greg Perez, a seasoned digital media professional, kept seeing the same problem in real-world content operations. The core problem was not a lack of ideas, but rather the amount of time required to get to the finalized content. Perez found that handling the research, story framing, planning and platform adaptation for each piece of content was a bottleneck, and saw the teams he was on lose valuable time. In an effort to solve that problem, Perez enrolled in the Master of Science in Digital Media Management (MSDMM) program at USC Annenberg. During his time there, he developed stronger frameworks for the work he had been doing for years, and created a capstone project that is already reshaping how his team operates.
As a digital content leader at Classical California, a premier listener-supported classical radio network that operates 24/7, Perez is responsible not only for editorial quality, but for thinking strategically about how that quality scales. With more than a decade of experience working in different media environments including BuzzFeed, NBCUniversal and Yahoo, he arrived in the program ready to learn how to move from creativity and execution into leadership and strategic planning.
“What made the program useful was the combination of class discussion, industry insight from faculty and peers, and the chance to apply those ideas directly to the work I was already doing,” he noted.
Bridging Creative Work with Digital Media Strategy and Management
Perez was drawn to the DMM program’s distinctive blend of content strategy, product management and stakeholder communication. Unlike programs focused purely on production or craft, DMM gave him insight into how creative work gets evaluated and scaled inside a real organization.
“I was interested in workflows, product thinking, prototyping, platform strategy, stakeholder communication and how to translate creative work into something leadership can actually evaluate and support,” he explained. “That was the real value for me.”
Courses containing prototyping, UX thinking and platform strategy were especially formative, helping him reframe issues with workflow from a vague creative issue into a concrete systems and design challenge. “Faculty in the program reinforced that way of thinking by pushing ideas around digital products, user behavior and how to build something people will actually use instead of something that only sounds smart in theory,” he noted.
A Capstone Project That Redesigns Digital Media Workflows
A unique offering of the DMM program is its signature Digital Media Capstone Project, which students develop and refine throughout their time in the program. Rather than a traditional thesis, DMM students are encouraged to design a digital media initiative or project with real-world relevance by integrating academic theory with professional practice.
For his capstone project, Perez decided to build an internal workflow system designed to make digital storytelling more repeatable inside a small team at Classical California. At its core are clearly defined editorial frames, which give collaborators a consistent starting point for story development. From there, the system standardizes several upstream, time-intensive stages of the process, including research, interview direction, format planning and handoff into production. While AI is used to streamline select tasks, editorial judgment and final decision-making remain firmly in human hands.
That balance between human and AI was not incidental. Classical California’s identity is built on the culmination of years of deep listening and passion for the subject matter. Perez wanted to protect that identity while still building something smarter and more efficient. “I treated AI as a support layer, not the editorial owner,” he said. “It does not own the voice, it does not own the judgment, and it does not make the final editorial call. That stays with the staff.”
Perez recognized early that he wasn’t just solving a production problem. “What made this feel like a systems issue was the fragility underneath the work,” he explained. “I kept seeing how much content production quietly depends on a very small number of people who know how to do everything well. If ideation and planning are uneven, the rest of the production chain slows down with it.”
Rather than seeing this as a creative challenge, he approached it as a workflow design problem, an approach shaped by the DMM program. That shift in perspective shaped how he built the editorial framework at its core. The goal was not simply to identify new topics, but to develop repeatable storytelling frames that could make specialized subjects feel more compelling on digital platforms.
“DMM kept pushing me to think about media not just as output, but as design. That means framing, packaging, repeatability, audience fit and how ideas move across formats.”
Translating this work for leadership required another shift. Perez quantified his pitch, projecting savings of approximately 572 staff hours annually based on a future-state workflow model supported by prototype testing.
“Quantifying the impact mattered because leadership needs more than enthusiasm. They need a decision lens.”
He credits the program with helping him develop that capability. “One of the most useful shifts for me in the DMM program was learning how to communicate creative and operational value in a way that is structured, clear, and decision-ready.”
Looking Ahead: Leadership in Digital Media
For Greg Perez, the future of public media and content development verges on operational efficiency that makes storytelling at scale sustainable.
“Leadership in digital media is not just about being the strongest individual contributor in the room,” he said. “It is about building the conditions where strong work can keep happening.”
His workflow, validated through prototype testing, is now positioned for broader implementation. “What mattered most to me was proving that there is a viable direction here,” he said. “A smarter workflow that supports digital storytelling without compromising the human strengths that make the work meaningful.”
Ready to advance your career in digital media? Learn more about the Online Master of Science in Digital Media Management program.