By Rachel Zarrell

When Tony Strickland drove his car from Boston to Los Angeles after graduating from Northeastern, he didn’t have a job, a connection or a back-up plan. He was armed with only his soon-to-be shattered hopes of entering the music business.

Today, with a producing gig for an upcoming animated TV series and a page dedicated to him on the Internet Movie Database website, Strickland, a 2003 alum, has found an unlikely home working behind the scenes in television.

As a Ujima Scholar, Strickland indecisively entered Northeastern in the College of Arts and Sciences, eventually landing in a major in biology with an emphasis on pre-med.

“I was really doing the biology thing because my father wanted me to be a doctor like him,” Strickland said. “My experience was somewhat adventurous and challenging only because I entered the school not knowing what I wanted to do.”

After seeing a friend doing promo work for Def Jam records, Strickland switched into the School of Business and changed his major to accounting.

It was Strickland’s third co-op, marketing for BMG Records, that inspired him to move in with his father in Los Angeles after graduation and to pursue a career in the music industry. But life took an unexpected turn for Strickland when he found music industry jobs in short supply.

“Because of the downloading and pirating of music