Alumnus Found Pathway to Success at Student Newspaper
Brooklyn, NY, native Scott Donaton ’89SVC found his “tribe” at The Torch, St. John’s University’s independent student newspaper. That experience propelled him to an immensely successful media career at entertainment conglomerates such as Entertainment Weekly, Hulu, and the digital marketing firm Digitas.
“I learned the ability to juggle many things at once. I graduated with honors, spent all that time on the paper, and worked part-time jobs on the weekends and at nights. All of those elements made my life. I learned, and I took a lot of that energy and learning with me.”
Today, Mr. Donaton is Chief Marketing and Content Officer of VersusGame, overseeing all marketing and editorial functions for the media and technology company, including brand strategy, communications, content marketing, social media, and consumer insights.
VersusGame’s proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) technology gamifies content across entertainment, sports, news, and social media and search sites and apps, driving engagement, retention, and revenue for such partners as The Walt Disney Company, Microsoft, National Football League, and USA Today.
“I literally walked into The Torch office my first day on campus,” he recalled. “It quickly became the center of my life in many ways. They started most people out as feature writers to give you something easy to do.”
Mr. Donaton took his first feature assignment and turned it into an investigative news piece, which editors were not expecting, he said. He quickly ascended the paper’s editorial ranks, becoming the News Editor and Editor-in-Chief.
“Studying and learning journalism from the ground up in the classroom was fantastic,” he said.
Putting theory into practice daily on the student newspaper was invaluable, Mr. Donaton stressed. An independent entity, The Torch “didn’t always make us the favorites of the administration,” he recalled.
His experience with the newspaper taught Mr. Donaton the inherent value of a free and independent press. “They can hold things to account,” he said. “It was an awesome experience. It became the center of my social life.”
Mr. Donaton noted that the New York City experience provided by St. John’s was a key ingredient to his future success.
“That New York energy—and the hustle and bustle—made a big difference, especially in my early career.”
How one handles that is a determining factor in future success, he observed. “I learned the ability to juggle many things at once. I graduated with honors, spent all that time on the paper, and worked part-time jobs on the weekends and at nights. All of those elements made my life. I learned, and I took a lot of that energy and learning with me.”
Thanks to St. John’s, Mr. Donaton said he successfully navigated the transition from “the brownstones of Brooklyn to the buildings of Manhattan.” “St. John’s gave me the skills to navigate that transition confidently,” he reflected.
Mr. Donaton was previously Chief Marketing Officer at Hulu, overseeing a team of 230 people responsible for growth, brand, and partner marketing. He introduced the streaming industry’s first branded entertainment practice and executive produced One Killer Question, the Emmy® Award-winning companion series to Only Murders in the Building.
Before Hulu, Mr. Donaton served as Global Chief Creative and Content Officer at Digitas, leading the agency’s worldwide creative practice including campaigns, branded content, experience design, and production. He also served as Publisher of Entertainment Weekly and Editor of Advertising Age. He is the author of the book Madison & Vine about the convergence of entertainment and marketing.
“They say that you should do what scares you,” he said. “Every job I’ve taken throughout my career, and many of the challenges I’ve taken on personally as well, are things where I didn’t know going in if I could succeed. People who look at my career path’s twists and turns aren’t sure how to make sense of it. I never thought that I had to be on one linear path. I felt I could take things that I learned in any job and apply them elsewhere. Be passionate about what you care about. I took jobs that I wanted to wake up and do every day.”
