Disney Employees Empower the Magic at Grace Hopper Celebration 2022
The Walt Disney Company was recently an Emerald sponsor at the 28th annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC). This year, the conference was held in-person and virtually with thousands of attendees, technologists, and technology companies coming together from across the globe to celebrate women and nonbinary people in technology. We’re thrilled to introduce three Disney representatives who shared their journeys at the conference and what it took to bring Disney’s presence at GHC to life.
Meet Jacquelin, technical program manager, supporting Disney Streaming. Jacqueline supported Disney’s virtual presence through an online hosting platform for virtual events.
“I had the amazing opportunity to meet with GHC attendees for virtual 1:1s,” said Jacquelin. “Our meetings were open to whatever help I could provide that best suited the candidates. If they were looking for information about specific roles at Disney Streaming, the history, and culture of Disney, or personal mentorship and advice as a woman in technology, I was there to help!”
Jacqueline was also able to speak to technologists about our open roles as well as share a glimpse into what it’s like to work for The Walt Disney Company as a technologist.
“My role was to answer questions and help inspire attendees to consider Disney Streaming as the place to fulfill their career goals, but I end up being inspired right along with them! There have been times over the past 20+ years that being a woman in technology has been a real challenge, and I’ve dealt with some frustrations now and then over the years. Meeting so many women entering the tech sector with such passion for cutting-edge technology and so motivated to have a positive impact on the inclusiveness and culture of our organizations always makes me excited for the future of the industry.”
Meet Elena, outreach and engagement manager with the Outreach & Engagement Team. Elena’s role was to ensure everything before, during and after the conference ran smoothly for the Disney team and as a Disney representative in the booth, she connected with attendees and assisted with giving away exclusive Disney swag items in the booth.
“The Outreach & Engagement Team oversees Disney’s partnership with the nonprofit organization, AnitaB.org, which hosts the Grace Hopper Celebration,” said Elena. “Leading up to GHC, my team worked closely with the AnitaB.org team and the Disney GHC team to develop Disney’s presence at the conference, including engagement opportunities in-person at the Expo Hall, at the after hours event, and virtually on GHC’s chosen engagement platform.”
As a Disney representative, Elena had the opportunity to attend the after-hours event held at EPCOT and described it as a key highlight of her time supporting the conference.
“The highlight of my GHC experience was attending the Disney-sponsored after-hours event at Epcot. During this event, the Disney team had the opportunity to host a networking reception with attendees we had met throughout the week at the celebration. The attendees were able to see in real-time how Disney technology is being implemented in the parks through attractions like Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and products like the new MagicBand+. After experiencing these technologies in the park, the attendees were able to hear from Disney technologists as they shared their experiences working on these projects and empowering the magic through technology.”
Meet Weilin, creative designer with the Talent Acquisition Marketing team who conceptualized and designed the creative and in-person booth experience for the conference.
“In my role as Creative Designer, I designed the in-person booth experience, social media graphics, giveaway swag as well as any additional needs from the marketing team to help deliver the best experience for attendees both in-person and virtually,” said Weilin. However, none of Weilin’s designs could have been made possible without the support from the many incredible partnerships she built along the way. “I had the amazing opportunity to work with other designers and motion graphic artists from across the company along with film studio partners and construction teams to help bring my visions to life.”
At the celebration, Weilin was able to see her designs in person for the first time and most notably, see attendees engage with the booth, just like she had envisioned during the development.
“I shed a couple of tears on the first day of the event because it felt very surreal to see attendees and Disney employees stop and take photos and videos of themselves in front of the booth panels. My first Grace Hopper Celebration was definitely a memorable one,” she said.
The Walt Disney Company is proud to continue its investment in the women and non-binary technology community by actively supporting events such as the Grace Hopper Celebration. We look forward to attending for our eighth year in 2023!
To explore technology career opportunities at Disney, visit DisneyTech.com. Follow Disney Careers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or The Walt Disney Company on LinkedIn to hear more about our technology, our employees, and how we are aligning technology, content, and platforms to deliver world-class, personalized entertainment experiences to consumers around the world.
by Disney Career Recruitment