The great thing about today’s music business is that there’s so many different ways to build your career. Or if you’re Ross Lara, maybe even a few careers. As a 2009 graduate of Full Sail’s  Recording Arts Bachelor’s Degree Program, Ross has already found success in the industry through a number of different outlets – including working as a freelance producer, making music with his electronic band SECTR 24, and even developing his own DJ application for Apple’s iPad.

“There’s so many things I’m involved with, I sometimes forget what I have going on when I talk to my family,” he says. “It’s really just determination and passion, there’s so many things that I want to accomplish and I feel like now is the time in my life to do that. I always write my goals down and look at them every day, and that helps motivate me to do all these things.”

Ross’s diverse list of projects is even more impressive when you realize that it’s been less than a year since he graduated from Full Sail. In that short window he’s also found the time to head out on a 15-date East Coast tour with One Night Crush, a band he’s been producing, as well as co-produce Erika Jayne’s number one Billboard Club/Dance track “Pretty Mess” with GRAMMY®-nominated producer Bill Hamel.

“It was the networking skills I learned at Full Sail that really helped prepare me for all of this,” he says. “One of my Pro Tools teachers told me I needed to meet this producer who lived in Orlando, Bill Hamel. So I met up with him and he opened up a lot of opportunities. I eventually became a co-producer with him while I was still in school, and we ended up doing four songs together, one of which was the Erika Jayne track. It was really unreal.”

Following the song’s success Ross’s career as a producer has taken off, and he’s currently affiliated with a number of different record labels, including majors like Universal, Armada Music, and Warner Bros., where he’s been writing, recording, and remixing songs with a range of artists. This includes a popular remix of the Tegan & Sara track “Alligator,” as well as the trance record “Lay Down,” which he collaborated on with German producer/DJ Roger Shah.

“I’ve been so fortunate that I’ve been meeting great people who show my music to other artists, who will then hire me to work with them,” he says. “I have a lot of different influences, many different genres of music, and I’ve found that that’s what people like about my production work, because I fuse electronic music with pop songwriting. It’s given me so many great opportunities, like working with Roger Shah on that song.

“What’s mind boggling is that you can go on YouTube and type in ‘Roger Shah Eurofest 2010,’ and there’s a video of 15,000 people jumping up and down at a festival to this song.”

It can take years of hard work for many artists to have the kind of success Ross Lara has seen in only his first few months out of school. Your first question after hearing his list of accomplishments is how someone can fit so much into only half a year, but after speaking with him you soon realize that through all of these different endeavors the one constant is the genuine love for music that informs everything Ross dedicates himself to.

“At the end of the day I make music for myself and because I love it,” he says. “That’s what I excel at the most, and I’m really excited to see what comes in the future. I think the coolest thing about all the projects I’m working on is it shows that hard work and sleepless nights really pay off. It’s a rewarding feeling. It’s very humbling and very exciting to be where I am, and only makes me want to do more in the industry.”