First-year Courtney Hancock camps with her friends in Deer Creek, Colo., in June 2019. Hancock said she enjoys being in nature.
Photos Courtesy of Courtney Hancock
First-year Courtney Hancock, a songwriter, singer and guitarist from Denver, released five songs and one cover on her website and Soundcloud in 2019 and 2020. She said music is her biggest passion in life.
Hancock said she started singing when she bought a ukulele in seventh grade. She joined her school’s guitar band and she was one of the lead singers and guitarists. Now, Hancock is a singer-songwriter who produces her own music. She mostly writes indie and R&B songs.
“Music has the power to transport us to another time and place,” Hancock said. “I love to harness that power with a broad audience of music lovers.”
As an Integrated Marketing Communication major, Hancock said her ideal career goal is to work in the music marketing industry.
“I am looking for opportunities to develop my technical skills and collaborate with creative professionals,” Hancock said. “I like to push myself in stretching my musical boundaries as a songwriter.”
In hopes of meeting new friends in college, Hancock joined the Green Team and Art Club last semester. This semester, Hancock became a member of Word Up. Hancock said she is glad to be on a worship team and participate in Bible studies with other club members. Hancock never had the chance to do Bible studies with her friends, so she is excited to finally have the opportunity.
“This is a nice way to grow in my faith and bring music back into my life,” Hancock said.
Apart from music, Hancock said she does a lot of hiking in Colorado, and one of the things that brings her the most happiness is being in nature. What attracts her about Pepperdine is its close-knit community and the fact that Pepperdine is close to nature feels like home to her.
Despite the fact that she always dreamed of attending Pepperdine, Hancock said she had a hard time deciding between Pepperdine and the NYU Music Business Program. When deciding which school to attend, her goal was to go into music marketing and to be behind the scenes of the music industry.
“I came to the realization very late that Pepperdine was just the better place for me to be for the next four years,” Hancock said. “New York is like a concrete jungle.”
Hancock said choosing between Pepperdine and NYU was one of the hardest decisions she has ever had to make.
“You always think it is going be easy for yourself to just be yourself and follow what you want to do,” Hancock said. “Things can get so muddy when taking under account what everyone who’s raised you and all your friends expects of you.”
Hancock said even though it was a last-minute decision, she was proud of herself for making the right decision.
“I thought about where I wanted to be, what I wanted to do and what the best was for me,” Hancock said. “I think going through this process of decision-making really helped me grow as a person.”
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Email Stella Zhang: stella.zhang3@pepperdine.edu
