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Meet Charita Carter, The First African-American Woman Executive Producer Of Walt Disney Imagineering
Yolanda Baruch Oct 18, 2022,
Two years ago, the nation endured a summer of civil unrest, and out of that tumultuous time emerged rallying calls for increased efforts of diversity and inclusion in every facet of society. Walt Disney World took note and launched its
Reimagining Tomorrow initiative that seeks to represent marginalized voices in the various tiers of its offerings ranging from the company's parks, merchandise, and entertainment.
Recently, Disney announced they were upgrading Splash Mountain to
Tiana's Bayou Adventure, a move that Disney aficionados perceived as controversial because they opposed the change. Understanding the nostalgia its customers held for the ride, the multinational and media conglomerate remained steadfast in its decision to become more inclusive.
To bring the adventure to life the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the first African-American princess from the fan-favorite animated film,
The Princess and the Frog, as a ride at Disneyland Park in California and Magic Kingdom Park in Florida, Disney tapped
Charita Carter, an African-American woman, as lead on the project. Based on her corporate bio, Carter works as an executive producer; she is responsible for creating, collaborating, and developing Disney Parks experiences from ideation to execution.
Recently, Carter held the position of senior creative producer and development manager of Walt Disney Imagineering's Scenic Illusion team, a cohesive integration group committed to developing new applications and techniques to furnish designers efficiently with multiple storytelling capabilities. Imagineering is "the branch of the Disney company that comes up with the ideas and the execution for [its] parks, for [its] cruise ships, and for [its]shows." Under Carter's tutelage, this team was granted more than 20 patents for the Walt Disney Company and implemented attractions for Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Tokyo Disney Resort. She also produced the critically-acclaimed Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios, the premier ride-through in the history of the parks to feature Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
Before embarking on the pathway to an Imagineering career, Carter served as a senior accountant. She has a degree in Accounting from California State University Northridge. Carter worked as the Creative Development Division's finance manager and strategic business partner. Later, she grew into the role of Blue Sky Strategic Initiatives development manager and then advanced to show producer.
Armed with a multidisciplinary background that includes creative, finance, and accounting, and over two decades of experience honing her skills on Walt Disney Imagineering teams, it's understandable why she led the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride efforts. Once unveiled and open to the public, the attraction will allow Disney park attendees to experience an enchanting adventure.
"I have been with
Walt Disney Imagineering for 25 years, so when I worked in finance, I worked for Imagineering because Imagineering has many disciplines. I had worked as a general ledger accountant before coming to Disney, and I'd love to tell [this] story; when I came to interview, the accounting director asked me to hang out for a minute because he was running a little late. Of course, I would hang out all day because I was looking for a job. But I was able to listen to the conversation that he was trying to wrap up, and it was two individuals who had worked in finance, and they were transitioning to creative," she says. "I thought that was the most bizarre thing I had ever heard of, but little did I know, within about ten years, that would be partially my story."
Carter worked as an accountant in the Imagineering department for a couple of years before transferring to the creative division's financial analyst role. With no previous work experience as a financial analyst, a completely different discipline from accounting, Carter took a slight disadvantage and molded the position into her own. As part of her responsibilities, she managed the annual budget for the department. She had to acclimate her to their operation, ensuring they had the necessary financial resources, equipment, and staff to bring the ideas to fruition.
"It was almost like this baptism by fire because I had three or four weeks to get it all done. But when I was in accounting, I used to be an auditor, and I would have to walk into an organization and read about their business, whether it was manufacturing or service. Then I looked at the generally accepted accounting principles. I had to come in and quickly make an assessment to make recommendations to their leadership on how they could improve their margins, their inventory, or whatever they were trying to solve," Carter expounds, also describing how centrally managed the division was at the time.
During that period, a singular Vice President was supervising the creative unit, and one director focused on the ideation of
Blue Sky Studios, Inc. The animation film studio eventually closed down on April 7, 2021, due to the economic downturn brought on by the
pandemic.
Carter recalls that upper management noticed a glimmer within her and began giving her assignments to scout at senior art shows and look for potential interns. "I remember the VP, she went with me to one show, and I shadowed her around, and the second show, she said, 'Okay, we're going to split up, and I want you to go and select who you think would be appropriate for the group, and I'm going to do the same.' When we got back together, at the end of the day, I picked ten people, and eight of the people that I had picked, she had picked, and she's like, 'You got it.'"
The executive ushered Carter into working on the finance side with show producers and had to learn what their days entailed. Carter noticed they disliked receiving her notes as a financial analyst requesting information from them to complete her reports because it interrupted their schedule. She decided to streamline the process to expedite collecting the needed details.
"I think there was a realization from the senior producers. Wait a minute, the more information she knows, the better; she can make our lives, so that was my invitation into the room," she says, letting out a hearty laugh.
"So the next thing I know, I'm sitting in ideation sessions and project meetings where we're talking about how we will approach a particular project. Then I'm having ideas about how we can streamline and how we can focus. Being in the room and hearing that just started sparking something in me, and I realized, 'wait a minute, this is intriguing.' So I went to leadership, and I asked them, could I do a survey of the senior people? The question that I wanted to ask was if the reigns were completely ours as Imagineers, what would we be focusing on from a Blue Sky perspective? Where will we be for the next five years? I did a survey, connected the dots, put together a proposal, and presented it to management."
The executives accepted her presentation when Bob Iger was preparing for retirement and for the Disney corporation's new chairman of parks and resorts.
Bob Chapek succeeded Iger as CEO,
previously serving as the Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products and as the Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
Carter's leadership at Imagineering presented her proposal for ideation to Chapek, who was looking for an opportunity, Carter believed, to quickly put his mark on Imagineering. "He liked what he heard. He greenlit it, and he funded it," she remembers, adding that her employer invited her to manage the proposal and establish the programs. Carter immediately jumped at the opportunity and developed a roadmap and initiatives described in her plan.
Blue Sky director John George urged Carter to partner with a Disneyland director who was a well-respected creative and special effect expert. "As you can imagine, working with him every day was a masterclass, and we were able to put together some programs. We managed this group called the Scenic Illusion group, and basically, it was a bunch of people with theatrical backgrounds," she says.
"We were responsible for updating and bringing new techniques to the table so that our creative directors, as they were dreaming about the possibilities for guest experiences, we'd have more to work with; we had some success and had a number of patents that we started getting a critical mass of these techniques that were being adopted. Then it was time to get it into our pipeline to get it into our projects so we could get it in front of our guests. I stepped in and said, 'I'd be happy to do that,' part of it was ignorance was bliss."
Armed with confidence from working on the ground level with a talented group of people at Imagineering launched her from managing a creative development team to producing. The initial projects she started refining were the Disneyland classics, now fortified with new tools; Carter's mission was to revisit the stories and execute them with a fresh perspective.
For two scenes from Snow White's Scary Adventure at Disneyland, her team utilized
projection mapping, an immersive technology that projects imagery on surfaces spanning from 3D animation to video.
"We were able to do that, not only for the guests but also for our operators and our maintenance crew at Disneyland to test how our new tools were going to work, and they worked out beautifully. They asked us to come back and make it permanent," Carter informs. Disney also commissioned her to update scenes in the Indiana Jones Adventure,
Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow, a walk-through animated attraction at Disney Hollywood Studios.
Carter branched out and oversaw the first fully theatrical projected shows in collaboration with the live entertainment group in Tokyo and continued with the development of the first Mickey and Minnie ride attraction allowing to put Disney's guests into a cartoon.
"That ended up being an amazing experience. I worked with one of the most prolific and talented creative directors I think I've ever known [like] Kevin Rafferty, and we were able to get together and lead a team of people for this attraction, and it was just absolutely amazing. I felt the way we approached; it was a combination of the work I had been doing over the last decade in the lab," she speaks ecstatically, expressing how satisfied she was about her achievements. But she admits that she hit a brick wall with Imagineering, doubtful she could top her current work experiences. However, as an Imagineer, Carter should expect that Disney never rests on its laurels as an innovator of family entertainment.
Before the pandemic turned the world upside down, the Mickey and Minnie attraction was open for nine days. A few months later, the then President of Walt Disney Imagineering,
Bob Weis, contacted Carter and told her that "we are bringing Princess Tiana to both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, and we would like you to be the producer," she disclosed as tears flooded her face. She communicates that her creative journey as an Imagineer was only just unfolding.
The preliminary conceptualizations by Blue Sky fueled the current ideas that helped to complete Princess Tiana's Bayou Adventure attraction. Carter's team is presently solidifying the script for the ride, which is the synergistic phase, "People get together in a room, [with] a board, [and] start throwing stuff on the board, pin it up, and have a conversation, and you read people's body language."
However, the pandemic halted in-person creative interaction, and the group had to rely on Zoom calls to continue constructing the project. Carter worked with Carmen Smith, Senior Vice President, and Executive Creative Development Product/Content and Inclusive Strategies for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products; she made sure to supply the teams with connections, knowledge, and the necessary tools to work on the design. Since the employees could not travel to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Princess Tiana's story takes place, one of their colleagues who worked in New Orleans provided the team members with virtual tours of the location by using her iPhone on a gimbal.
"We're getting ready to go into our production phase where we start building stuff, then next we'll be at a point where we start installing. We will have previews for our guests, cut that ribbon, and then we get to be opened up to the world," Carter promises of the ride that will be available to the public in late 2024.
When the animated film "Princess and The Frog" premiered in 2009, it was met with jubilation. "Finally, here is something that all little girls, especially young black girls, can embrace,"
Cori Murray, the then entertainment director at Essence magazine,
said to CNN. The first Disney-animated African American princess impacted young girls to women who finally had the chance to see themselves reflected in a cherished art form.
Carter recollects, outfitted in a green dress, going to a fundraiser at a museum in New Orleans that selected Princess Tiana as the theme with a group of Imagineers. "There was a sense of inspiration and pride in seeing that, but I remember going to this particular ball, and the majority of the African-American people there were serving. They were either in the kitchen or doing various things. I remember walking in with my dress on, and one of the waiters asked, 'Do you have a minute?' I'm going to cry when I tell the story," Carter becomes visibly emotional as her voice shakes and eyes well up with tears as she retells the poignant story.
"And I said, 'Sure.' I walked back toward the back, and they had all lined up and started clapping. They shared what Tiana meant to them and what it meant for me to be at that ball. Tiana inspires me because she represents a woman who looks like me, has a dream, works very hard, and won't take no for an answer; she overcame and then wanted to turn back and make sure that everybody else was healthy and whole in realizing their dreams. So I see myself in her, and I wasn't planning on crying," she sentimentally remarks.
She attempts to choke back her tears as she continues to speak and acknowledges how attendees at the D23 Expo have expressed their gratitude. The people of New Orleans have also thanked her for building Princess Tiana's Bayou Adventure. "It's one of those realizations that it's so much bigger than me or anybody on the team to be a part of it; it's an honor," she weeps as her voice trails off, engulfed in an overwhelmingly gentle appreciation.
Within a few moments, as she returns to a tranquil composure, she addresses the concern about how the lack of representation on television and film has affected minorities, "We've learned to self-impose ourselves on the heroes that we face. I would see Wonder Woman and be able to self-impose, but it's not the same. When you look and say they look like me it's all the difference in the world. It's just so amazing that the Disney company is, in my mind leading right now, making sure that we have representation across the board. I think the impact that will have on our society and on young people we can't even imagine at this juncture, what the impact that will have on the future," she powerfully states.
Carter embraces the responsibility and the significance of being an African-American woman Imagineer and appreciates that the opportunity is "bigger" than her. She respects the fact that she must do her very best to serve as an inspiration for others. Carter makes it a point to say that when she first came into the company, she worked with many men but observed a unique dynamic when a woman of color occupied a leadership position which she considers an advantage.
"A lot of people I worked with had never worked with an African-American woman before, and they weren't sure what that entailed. So there were no preconceived notions. Often with women, it's like you might relate to a woman at work as your wife or sister. I was kind of like an unknown entity. So I decided to lean into that and craft my own script. I was very fortunate to work with a group of people who, like a lot of the characteristics of Imagineers: are curious, want to learn, wanting to have new experiences, and I found myself surrounded by a group of very supportive people who recognized my talent, and felt as we're all just firing on all of our cylinders, we can, we can make the best product," she says, sharing that her journey was not easy and there were moments she felt invisible and misunderstood.
Nevertheless, she moved forward because she grasped the gravity of her role, "That's my inspiration, and that's why I keep going. I'm happy to say that Imagineering that I've had more positive experiences than I have had negative ones. There have been negative experiences, but the positive ones have outweighed them, and as I've worked with teams now in the creative space for 15 years, yes, I am an African-American producer. But I'm, I'm sure Charita Carter, I'm a known entity, first and foremost. I think that our organization's magic is the people we work with and the fact that we work with so many amazing, talented, passionate people. That's the reason I'm still here."
She advises young Black boys and girls who may consider pursuing a career in Disney Imagineering is available to take the time to understand what makes them excited and discover the myriad of opportunities the company offers.
"Once you determine that, lean into it, and give it everything you have. I'm one of those people who believe that your gifts and your talents will make room for you," she says, continuing, "Don't be afraid to try new things; that has been at the base of my career, every opportunity that I have gotten it was completely new to me. But I was willing to lean in and figure it out and not be afraid to fail, which is not easy, but it's the attitude that you have to have because you don't want to forgo an opportunity to find what you truly enjoy and what you were designed to do."
Unknowingly, Carter echoes revered Disney ethos of maintaining bravery in the face of opposition; she guides future Imagineers to surround themselves with a formidable support group and for creators of color to gain as much experience and knowledge as they can ascertain without deterrent.
"If the direction they want to go, and they're pulled another direction because the road is never straight, I think about auditing, working in finance and for a food company, all the things that I've done [like] working in community theater, and my photography, everything that I have done cumulatively has equipped me to be a more rounded and better producer," she reveals. "Some of it was not logical, so not to be deterred, it seems like you have to go left when you want to go straight because eventually, you'll be able to get back there with much more than [if] you had taken a straight path. So hang in there, lean into the opportunities, stay true to who you are and what you love, and you will get to where you need to be."
Before embarking on the pathway to an Imagineering career, Carter served as a senior accountant.
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