Katie Corner, Staff Writer–
Alex Redrick is not a “Disney Adult.” She wants that to be abundantly clear.
She did, however, grow up in a household where screenings of Disney films on the family TV were commonplace, the magic of princesses and talking animals illuminating her living room in Baltimore, Maryland.
Every year until she was 13 years old, Redrick and her family traveled to Disney World, where she and her two brothers ran wild down Main Street, U.S.A., eager to squeeze in every single ride during their annual trip. Even as a young girl, Alex knew she wanted to work in the entertainment industry, largely because of her early exposure to Disney.
“I’m not one to cry in front of the castle or anything,” said Redrick, defending her age-appropriate, totally normal interest in Disney.
In the spring of 2023, having just returned to Granville from a semester abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, Redrick found herself feeling jaded toward academia. Three years deep into her English and communication degrees, she craved something bigger, something where her interest in public relations and entertainment could flourish. Luckily, that’s when what Redrick likes to call a “series of fortunate events” landed her an internship with, you guessed it, Disney.
At the time, Redrick was working with the University Communications office to conduct a series of interviews with Denison President Adam Weinberg. Being the expert networker and cheerleader for Denison students that he is, Weinberg asked Redrick what her plans were for the upcoming summer. She had no firm answer but mentioned several possibilities, including a few openings at Disney. At the mention of Walt’s Fortune 500 institution, Weinberg’s ears pricked up.
“We have several alums at Disney!” he told her, immediately setting her up with Angela Bliss, Denison grad and then Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for Disneyland Paris. Next came a series of phone calls with recruiters and three rounds of interviews, and before Redrick knew it, she was offered a six-month position with one of the world’s largest entertainment companies.
However, accepting the offer would force her to take at least a semester off of school, an entire year if things went well. It would mean pushing back the graduation date she’d been working toward her entire academic career, while her original classmates of 2024 got their degrees and hightailed it off campus and into the “real world.”
“I knew I would survive without having homework for a while, but letting go of what I always imagined my college experience would be was the hardest part,” Redrick said.
She sacrificed her podcast, “That Black Girl,” that she and four of her best friends co-hosted on Denison’s Doobie Radio station to leave campus. It was their much-needed platform to discuss their experiences as black women at a predominantly white institution. She stepped away from leadership roles in Delta Gamma and her job as a tour guide in the Office of Admission. She traded all of the things and the time with people she cared about for a stint in the place where dreams come true.
In May 2023, Redrick packed up her dorm room and upgraded to a garage-turned-studio apartment in North Hollywood. As she navigated the whiplash of moving from our small college bubble to “adulting” in Los Angeles, she did what adults do: she joined a book club and promptly disaffiliated, realizing she is “maybe not an organized activities person.” She got post-work drinks with her “mid-to-late twenty-something” co-workers, who talked about their kids and plans to buy houses. She experienced the glamor of L.A. and public transportation on her daily commute to the office — full of characters, sights, and unfortunate smells Redrick assured me I “would not believe.”
Day-to-day life on the Franchise and Campaigns Team at Disney varied but always started with Redrick making her rounds, greeting each of her co-workers with her radiant smile. From her desk in the pod of interns, Redrick vetted influencers’ social media profiles to ensure they were “brand safe” for a partnership with Disney. She assisted in global campaigns such as World Princess Week, checking that every detail, down to the precise shade of Sleeping Beauty’s dress, was flawless. She served as an intermediary between Disney’s partner studios to promote new movies and attractions at Disney theme parks. And if “talent” made a visit to Disneyland, it was Alex’s job to coordinate content creation.
As a “cast member,” Walt Disney’s preferred term for employees, Redrick was granted free admission to the park whenever she wanted. Put in the wrong hands, such a privilege would lead to over-indulgence on ginormous turkey legs and an indefinite earworm of “It’s A Small World.” But she knew how to practice moderation during her year in California.
“I tried to be mindful of the fact that there are people who save up for years to go to Disneyland for just one day,” Redrick said. “Once or twice a month was perfect for me — it kept the novelty, but I also got to take my time.”
No longer plagued with the starvation mentality of accomplishing every Disney “to-do” in a matter of hours, she relished in visits dedicated to one corner of the park. She got the luxury of unlimited stops at Mickey’s PhilharMagic, her favorite “low-intensity” attraction featuring self-sweeping brooms. She’d swing by Jolly Holiday for the famous birria grilled cheese, which she claims is “irreplicable,” and say hello to Princess Tiana, her favorite “walk around character.” Once, Redrick got to spend the day with Roger Gould, the Chief Creative Director of Pixar, picking his brain about everything that’s crossed his desk since 1998. And while she and Roger chatted, talk show host Ryan Seacrest happened to walk right by.
It all sounds like a dream, right? As if Redrick’s Wish Upon a Star manifested itself in the form of career development and free time to frolic in theme parks. But is the magic we were spoon fed by Disney as children real? Isn’t there a seedy underbelly to the Magic Kingdom, revealed only to those employed by the company?
Her answer was simply: “Not really.”
Down to the exquisitely decorated trash cans that line the park’s paths, every square inch of Disneyland is intentional, according to Redrick.
“Even though I was seeing how the sausage got made, I got to see all the time and painstaking care that goes into every single thing that fans see. The work that it takes to make a three-year-old believe Cinderella is real and that she’s in Toontown is so cool!” Redrick said.
Her glimpse behind the curtain of such a well-oiled machine only enhanced the wonder of her childhood memories, making it all the more difficult to return to Denison for her put-on-pause final year.
“I don’t want to say I didn’t want to come back to school, but I didn’t want to come back to school,” Redrick said candidly.
Redrick’s return to student mode has not been easy. Her time away from school opened her eyes to how “all-consuming” our tiny school can be, how small it can make the world feel. Though she does not regret seizing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity she was afforded, she couldn’t help but feel like she made a terrible mistake when she first arrived back to campus and her closest friends had graduated without her.
But, if there’s one thing her work with Disney instilled in her, it’s how to find magic in everything.
“I’ve come back with a new perspective on the things that matter and the things that don’t. Everything you care about matters, but I would damn near give myself panic attacks over student clubs I was in!” Redrick said, laughing at her younger self.
“I used to know where I fit on campus, and as I’m readjusting to being back, I’m slowly finding where I fit again,” she said. “College does not have to be a linear experience. It doesn’t always go A, B, C, D. You can skip to D and circle back to B, and that’s exactly what I did.”
Now back at “B,” Redrick is giving herself time to enjoy her senior year, despite its untraditional nature. She is making new, but younger, friends to spend her last year on campus with. She is practicing patience and staying motivated, hoping to find a role in PR communications in a new branch of the entertainment industry after her delayed commencement.
While her fellow seniors fear the post-graduate job search, Redrick can hardly wait for what comes next. Unlike most, she got a sneak peek at what her future might look like, and she liked what she saw.
Photo: Redrick stands in front of a Mickey Mouse sculpture at her Disney internship.