While many country music fans watched the Country Music Awards from the front row seat of their living rooms, Chris Gusa, a senior in public relations, was working back stage at the live show.

Gusa said she got the chance to escort award-winning artists like Brooks and Dunn and George Strait to be interviewed by reporters after she worked for CMA in an internship last summer.

After having an internship with the Iowa State Center, she said she became interested in a internship in Nashville, Tenn., but did not think it was possible.

“Throughout the concerts and working the promotions of those concerts, I got interested in country music and wanted to work in the music industry,” she said.

At first, Gusa said she was too scared to take the chance to apply for an internship in Nashville.

But her advisor, Barbara Mack, gave her the encouragement she needed to push forward with sending out resumes.

“I think it was 50 resumes I sent to Nashville… to PR agencies, recording companies, advertising firms, things like that,” she said.

In less than a week Gusa started getting letters in response to her resumes but it was almost two months before she heard from CMA.

“Last spring break I went down for an interview, and she told me to come in May… I was really lucky,” she said.

During the summer internship, Gusa said she worked on three major events with CMA.

Those events included the International Fan Fair, an annual celebration created to honor and entertain country music fans, the CMA awards nominations press conference, and the CMA awards.

“I did a lot of things like putting press kits together for the media, for Fan Fair and the CMA awards. I got to go to a lot of parties for album releases and video releases for different country music artists,” she said.

Gusa said at first she was nervous about how to act and what to wear to these types of social functions.

“Before Fan Fair we talked about how to act around the artists and we were told to treat them like they are anyone else,” she said. “It’s really exciting to be right there next to them, but that’s how you have to treat them,” she said.

The highlight of the internship was definitely the CMA awards, she said.

She spent four days in Nashville preparing for the show. She handed out promotional donation gifts to artists’ dressing rooms and distributed credentials for people invited or allowed to go to the awards show.

Gusa also got a behind the scenes view of rehearsals.

“Out of all the stars I met, Vince Gill was the nicest and Jr. Brown was really cool. I also stood in a lunch line twice with Bryan White and I asked him if he wanted to go get McDonald’s,” she said. “We didn’t go though.”

After the awards show, Gusa said she went to a spectacular party for CMA members and the press.

“They rented out three ballrooms and there were 16 tables of fabulous foods. We are not talking chips and crackers either,” she said.

Gusa said she is not sure where she is headed after graduation but she would love to work for CMA. No matter what, she said she would stay in the music industry.

“I encourage anyone to go for the impossible. It may sound cheesy, but I went after my dream and I got it!” she said.