This story is part of a recurring feature meant to highlight members of FAU who are accomplished in their field, i.e. leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, etc. If you would like to nominate someone for Owl of the Week, email Features Editor Hope Dean at [email protected]. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are all eligible.

Peregrinate: to travel or wander about from place to place; voyage.

Brandon Sirota intends to get that verb tattooed on himself someday, possibly in the same place that the temporary ink of his Snapchat QR code, reading “Let’s Go” right above it, was.

From the middle of Kentucky to the red carpet at the Emmys, Sirota has voyaged wherever his acting and fraternity endeavors may lead him.

“I don’t know what my path is yet, I’m just walking on it. Wherever it takes me, it takes me,” he said.

As a two-term Interfraternity Council (IFC) president, the senior multimedia major is no stranger to pursuing unfamiliar endeavors.

When it came to rising up in the ranks of Greek life at FAU, Sirota had no choice but to kick down doors, occasionally getting them slammed in his face during the process. Before becoming IFC president, Sirota ran to be chapter president for his own fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi — and lost.

After brushing off the dirt and rolling up his sleeves, Sirota applied to be vice president of the IFC.

“I got a lucky nomination and was slated for VP,” he said. “Something happened to the slate and I was bumped up to president [on the ballot], which was crazy because I didn’t have much IFC experience.”

After taking a leap of faith, Sirota wielded his position to help grow the IFC and fraternity life at FAU. Sirota and his team made “huge strides” in what Greek life is at the university by adding two fraternities to the IFC and creating the Greek Alliance.

“[Being the IFC president] was a really exciting time … We saw the IFC come from a place of being looked at as a club or punishing authority for fraternities, and we made it a go-to source,” Sirota said.

While he never saw a day as a chapter president, he still put himself in the position to advocate for his chapter as an Undergraduate Supreme Governor (USG).

The USG acts as a “student ambassador” on a national level and represents all 12,000 undergraduate Alpha Epsilon Pi members, hailing from seven countries. Sirota influenced other, often older, board members on matters of “where to spend money, where houses should be purchased, and where investments should be made,” he said.

“Brandon has always set the bar high,” said Director of Student Activities and Involvement Donald Van Pelt. “This past fall, Hurricane Irma hit the east coast of the United States, leaving thousands without the basic supplies needed to survive. Brandon and other members of the Greek community helped clean up the FAU Boca Raton campus to help restore it back to normalcy. He then also advocated to have the tailgate before the home football game on campus.”

His position required him to travel to over 33 different universities across the country, landing him in states such as California, Kentucky, Idaho, and Georgia. He “realized there was more than FAU” when he met over 3,000 other Alpha Epsilon Pi members.

Sirota is one to contribute, but is also one to absorb others’ contributions in order to take care of his 12,000 constituents.

“Although he may not know it he typically applies the 80/20 rule unconsciously,” said Van Pelt. “Brandon listens 80 percent of the time to his peers and only speaks about 20 percent which lets those individuals understand that he listens to what they have to say.”

Aside from impacting board members, Sirota has been able to effect a slightly larger audience: his 15,000 followers on Snapchat, a number that would fill half of the FAU stadium.

As a “Snapchat influencer,” Sirota was able to spark conversation and engagement with whom he refers to as “the beautiful people of the Snapchat universe” at the palm of his hand using giveaways, contests, and weekly riddles.

Through Snapchat, Sirota connected and collaborated with FAU alumni and fellow influencer, Eric Dunn.

“Brandon’s liveliness on Snapchat and his ability to draw you in right at the beginning is a quality that not many people have,” Dunn said via email.

Sirota’s signature — displayed on Snapchat and the ink on his back — is “Let’s Go!” He uses this as a call to action to tell people to “be inspired. Let’s do whatever we want to do, let’s go do something.”

Sirota’s passion for creating content extends farther than 15,000 tiny screens — it reaches national television. Sirota, joined by Dunn and other FAU alumni, recently snagged the chance to appear on a new television show called “Ultra Sultra” to be aired online.

The show was supposed to be about an exclusive club with locations such as Miami, New York, and Las Vegas, but fell through because Hurricane Irma pulled the plug on production in Puerto Rico.

Sirota doesn’t mind the chaos of the industry because of all the connections it brings. At 13, he started his own production company called ProMediaFx productions. Through this, he scored a role as a casting coordinator for the HBO show “Ballers,” and later on a trip to the Emmys in 2016.

“The idea [behind ProMediaFx] was to create content that people would enjoy — same thing any filmmaker would want to do,” Sirota said. “It was something I didn’t think would go anywhere, and now I’ve been doing it for nine years.”

Sirota had no idea that he would be working with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in Miami, or having breakfast with Miranda Cosgrove in Hollywood.

Along with these endeavors, Sirota also initiated an on-campus organization called the Coast Guard University Auxiliary Program, similar to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). Although the program is in hiatus due to Sirota’s IFC duties, he hopes to revive the program before he graduates on May 3.

From the Coast Guard to the TV screen, Sirota has dipped his feet in it all, and the one thing all his ventures have in common is creativity.

“Creating content is something I’ve always been passionate about, as well as helping people create it and telling a story,” Sirota said. “The film industry lets you do that like no other, and that’s where my heart’s at.”

With graduation quickly approaching, Sirota hopes to continue creating and shouting “Let’s Go!”

“My life could go in a million different directions … but I know where my passion’s at,” he said.

Kristen Grau is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected].