Sitting in her office, decorated with Disney books and princesses and photos of her nephews, Dr. Kristi Gatto is preparing lessons for her classes.
Gatto is the newest professor in the Mass Media and Strategic Communication Department at UT Martin. While being a new professor is impressive in its own right, Gatto’s educational background is interesting as well. She got her undergraduate degree in music from Baruch in New York, a master’s in film and television production at LIU Brooklyn, and her PhD at Texas Tech in media and communication.
Gatto got her undergraduate degree in music because of a love of music and seeing the effect music has on people.
“I loved music my entire life. I can play instruments. I can play almost any song by ear. So, I just always loved music in that sense.” she said. Gatto would use her love of music to make montages on her first laptop when she was in eighth grade. She used Windows Movie Maker and the montages would make her family cry.
She describes the degree as more of a business management degree than purely a music degree. She started filming highlight reels for her younger cousin while he was playing sports, which inspired her to get her master’s degree in film and television production as a way to combine the two.
That was the start of her work in documentaries.
Before coming to UT Martin, she worked with Dick Clark Productions on a show pilot called A Real Sports Story.
“It didn’t get picked up. The show wanted to take sports athletes and show them in a different light. So the pilot episode was about Michael Vick. And it was sort of his background story outside of the whole dog-fighting situation.” Gatto said.
She later worked with Jigsaw Productions, which has produced documentaries such as Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Taxi to the Dark Side and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.
The production she worked on was a one-season show in which cameras were given to high school seniors, who were also followed by a camera crew. The show conveyed what it was like to go through their final year of high school.
She also worked with Just Jenn Productions, the company that created the show Mob Wives, where she worked in development, doing research and pitching new show ideas.
Her favorite job before coming to UT Martin was working in a post-production company.
“My boss sort of handed over the reins to me in creating these YouTube series. And that was sort of at the beginning of my career, so I got to really play around with a lot. I got to do casting, I had people come in, and things like that. I was involved in a lot of the decision-making. I think I really enjoyed that,” Gatto said.
Before she taught at UT Martin, she taught at Texas Tech while getting her PhD.
“The PhD students would teach, and my class was one of the smaller classes because I taught production. So they’re in a lab. So you’re limited. And that was 36 students. I had one friend who was first semester in the program and taught like 300 students. A lot of my friends would teach 70 to 90 on average.” she said.
The smaller class size is one of the things that Gatto likes about UT Martin.
“I like the small feel here. I feel like I can help you all more. And even if someone came to me with questions, it’s easier for me to help the smaller groups. So I really liked that when I looked into the program,” Gatto said.
“I think the difference aside from the class size, like I mentioned, is that the students here, I feel like you guys care more. You’re nicer. Like at Texas Tech, I feel like a lot of them were there because their parents probably said, you need to go to college….I feel like you guys participate a little bit more.”
“Maybe I got lucky with my students. It’s just, it’s more. It’s more strict in a way. Even though I was given pretty much free rein there. Here, you’re given a baseline. They’ve allowed me to make certain classes my own.” Gatto said.
Her favorite class to teach so far has been Film Appreciation.
“It’s a small group. We’re in a small room at a conference table. So it makes it easier for people to want to participate. They asked me to completely overhaul and change it, I created it from the ground up and selected the movies we’re going to be watching. I really like that small group around the table. Most of them participate a lot. It’s a good class. So I think I like that one the most this semester” she said.
Moving from New York to Martin is a huge difference that some people do not really seem to get the used to, but Gatto is getting adjusted nicely.
“So living here, I think my body is just relaxing, ” she says.
“I went to a play in New York City [for fall break] and, I was with my sister-in-law. I told her as we were walking back to the train station, I just don’t feel right here anymore. And I hadn’t been to Manhattan in a while. But I was like, I just, this is a lot.” she said.
Gatto is also a huge fan of Disney.
“Some of the research I do has to do with Disney. I’m working on a grant application to get funding to go to Disney for a research study. I love Disney, all things Disney, Disney music, Disney movies and going to Disney,” she said.
She is also a very loving aunt to three nephews, she loves to FaceTime with them as much as possible. She says her oldest nephew only wants money, the middle nephew shares her love of planes and will be on a flight app called Flight Radar 24 and they will track planes together and the youngest loves the effects on FaceTime. She says FaceTime also has helped her settle in a lot with the new move and change of environment. She says her mom jokes that she knows when she’s bored because she’ll FaceTime her.
She is also a dog mom to Enzo.
“I’m paying a lot of money for a trainer to start at the end of the month because he’s been a little bit reactive since coming here.” She said, “He was attacked a couple of years ago, so he was reactive to big dogs in general, but it wasn’t bad. When I’m taking him for a walk, if he sees a person or if he sees a little dog or a big dog, it’s even gotten to the point where if he sees a truck going down the road, he runs and I’m holding the leash and he’s like, like barking like crazy.”
Gatto enjoyed her first homecoming here at UT Martin, but she was disappointed she was not able to enjoy many events as she was still getting used to the job. She is excited to be more involved as we get closer to the end of the semester and starting in the spring as well.
As she continues to settle in as one of the newest professors on campus, she has a message for her students.
“I don’t want to say tricky, but this is a field where there are jobs everywhere. You just need to find them. It’s just about learning how to present yourself, but to have confidence in that and it’s okay to feel down because you’re going to, you’re going to experience rejection, but it’ll be worth it when you get the jobs that, you know, you really enjoy and don’t let anyone discourage you.”
