What if you were stuck on an island with Beyoncé?

For MTV’s Mark Serrano, the question isn’t quite rhetorical. Early this year, he accompanied Destiny’s Child and people from around the world to Belize, where they spent a week hanging out with the sexy trio.

Mark, 25, handles the international press for MTV’s marketing and communications department. One of his best experiences on the job was escorting Destiny Child for the network’s Destiny’s Isle contest in February whose winners included viewers from the US, Germany, Italy, Costa Rica and Singapore.

"It was so rewarding to be able to plan it and see it all pay off, and then be able to relax and have fun with them," he says.

A graduate of the University of Virginia where he majored in Media Studies, Mark is one of the handful of Filipino-Americans working at MTV Networks in New York. His family is originally from Pangasinan. His parents first settled in California more than 30 years ago, then Illinois, Maryland and Virginia.

"I lived in Virginia Beach all my life, which is a highly concentrated Filipino area on the East Coast next to New Jersey and New York."

For nearly three years now, Mark has been living at New York’s financial district. "At first I didn’t think I’d enjoy living in NY. I thought I was more used to a slow pace, like Virginia Beach is really laid-back and the University of Virginia is a very small town type, too. But I’ve adjusted very well. I’m a work hard, party hard type of guy."

Growing up watching MTV and Nickelodeon, Mark always knew he wanted to be in the entertainment industry, behind the scenes or in front of the camera.

So how did he break into MTV? "I met a producer at Nickelodeon who was a actually a Filipino, too. When it was time for me to look for a job, I contacted him and he told me about a program of MTV Networks called the summer associates program, and so I applied. It’s funny, I graduated on a Sunday and the next day I found out I got the job at MTV, which was the only job I applied for really."

What’s the coolest thing about working at MTV? "Having this kind of exposure to the industry. Obviously, there are run-ins with talents all the time, especially for the type of work that we do for the press and marketing.

On the marketing side I deal with the global contacts; in terms of the press, we’re always behind the scenes, escorting talents on the red carpet like for the VMAs or the Kids Choice Awards. Another one of my responsibilities is to facilitate calls for the talent and the journalists, so it’s cool interacting with the various MTV talents."

It might not be strange that Mark is now immune to big celebrities, but what’s strange is that he gets starstruck over people from reality TV – yep, those stars whom the public forget at the 16th minute.

"I’m a reality TV show junkie. I was able to go to the Survivor All Star after-party and I was like, Hey, Richard, Amber, Rob! I love Amber and Rob. I see big celebrities all the time but I’d be more starstruck seeing reality stars, which is weird."

His favorite reality show? The Amazing Race. He thinks he would have played the game exactly the way Rob did (season 7); he thinks there have been worse contestants than Flo (season 3), like Jonathan and Victoria (season 6); he liked the episode that featured a leg in El Nido, Palawan (season 5); and he loved the widely vilified Charla (season 5).

Here’s a short list of Mark’s favorites:

Musicians on his iPod: Gwen Stefani, Green Day, Missy Elliott, Kelly Clarkson and Dave Matthews.

Music he grew up with: "I love ‘80s music. I listen to everything, from alternative to pop, classical and country. I grew up in Virginia, my parents were into country music. And cheesy type of music as well, Madonna and Michael Jackson."

Favorite museum: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Favorite Broadway shows: Westside Story, Hair and Rent

Clothes he wears to work: "Alterno-preppy. From vintage stuff you find at thrift stores to J Crew and Diesel jeans." There’s no dress code at MTV except that most people are wearing ripped jeans and the rule seems to be to wear nothing fancy.

What reality show would he want to be on?: "I’d love to be on Amazing Race with my cousin."