Theme Park Design Producer Jodi McLaughlin

A TCAP Video Podcast Series

Theme Park Design Producer
Jodi McLaughlin

3 episodes

Jodi McLaughlin, Theme Park Design Producer

Jodi brings a multidisciplinary background and more than three decades of Disney experience to her work. She started her Walt Disney Imagineering career as a show Set Designer and Set Decorator for Disneyland Paris and spent the next 36 years honing her skills in design and creative development before retiring from Imagineering in June 2023.

Upon completing her work on Disneyland Paris, Jodi joined the Disney Animal Kingdom team as a principle Set Decorator and then transitioned into a management role in the Show Arts and Theme Finishes studio. Jodi then returned to projects working as a Senior Producer on Mike & Sully to the Rescue! At Disney’s California Adventure.

Subsequently, Jodi produced “it’s a small world” for Hong Kong Disneyland in 2008, and was then promoted to Executive Producer for the Hong Kong Disneyland Expansion. Following that, she moved into the Portfolio Executive Producer role for the Shanghai Disney Resort as part of the key leadership team on Disney’s first theme park in mainland China, opening in 2016. She then joined the EPCOT transformation team in 2017 as part of a multi-year, multi-project effort.

Beyond her project work, Jodi was a founding leader of Imagineering’s Women’s Inclusion Network, a Business-Employee Resource Group (BERG) that was established in 2014. Prior to Imagineering, Jodi worked in various roles at the Walt Disney Studios, where she started in the mailroom and then had the opportunity to work as a production assistant in the Disney Studios Art Department. She also worked for the American Film Institute and Showtime’s Faerie Tale Theater as an Assistant Set Decorator.

Jodi holds an art history degree from UC Santa Barbara and studied environmental design at UCLA.

Episode 1 — Early Career

Episode 2 — Leading Creative People

Episode 3 — Mentorship and Advocacy

Disclaimer
The California Arts Project is providing this free video podcast program as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by The California Arts Project. The views expressed in the podcast may not be those of the host or The California Arts Project and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.