Good Morning POU!
Imaginations is a design competition created and sponsored by Walt Disney Imagineering with the purpose of seeking out and nurturing the next generation of diverse Imagineers. Today’s featured Imagineer competed on the very first team for Hampton University.
Dexter Mansley is a graduate of Hampton University and competed on its very first Imagineering Team in 1992. As a result of his success in the competition he was awarded a position with Walt Disney ImagiNations and is currently a Senior Project Design Manager with the organization. The Orange County Register interviewed Dexter last year before an Imagineers Conference:
• What project/research are you working on?
I’m working with a team of talented people to design an incredibly exciting land for one of our theme parks. Unfortunately, that is all I can say about it because it’s super top secret.
• What is your specific role in moving this project/research forward?
We tell stories three-dimensionally in our parks. I am a design manager, which means I am responsible for leading a host of talented designers and engineers in producing the actual construction documents that serve as the backbone for our attractions.
• What would be the most successful outcome of your work and what impact would it have on how we live?
We want our guests to feel like they’ve been transported to another world. We always strive to exceed their expectations with authentically themed environments and effects that heighten the overall storytelling experience. If we make our guests happy, the odds are they will visit us again.
• What about this project is important to you personally?
I look at every project I undertake at Disney as the next benchmark of design. I search for ways to take the guest experience to the next level for fun, thrill and amazement through the design of our buildings. I want to uphold the rich Disney legacy.
• What is the very best part of your job – when do you feel the most satisfaction?
I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with amazing people to create magical places for our guests all over the world. I do not take this for granted. My pixie dust is renewed when we open a new attraction or land and we get to witness families enjoying the fruits of our labor.
• Why did you choose this career?
I entered a national design competition called Imaginations through Walt Disney Imagineering. After winning the contest and completing my architectural degree, a six-month internship transformed into a full-time position.
• Who or what inspired you to study in your field?
A high school drafting teacher, Bill Mandelare, not only encouraged me to study world-famous architects, he pressed me to understand the how and why behind their designs.
• What makes you particularly well-suited to this work?
Being a storyteller at heart, no matter what your profession, makes a person well-suited for the work we do. Telling stories through architecture is what I began doing early on beginning with my Imaginations project in 1992. Fast forward 20-plus years, and you can find that storytelling in Cars Land at Disney’s California Adventure and the New Fantasyland at Walt Disney World.
• Where did you go to college?
I studied architecture at Hampton University.
• During high school and college, which courses helped best prepare you for your current position?
At Greece Arcadia High School, my schedule was loaded with drafting, math, art and creative writing classes. At Hampton University, the architectural core curriculum, science, mathematics, psychology, art and music all prepared me for life at Disney.
• What is the best advice you received that has helped further your career?
1) My parents always encouraged me to work hard and strive to be the best at everything I did; 2) Technology will shape the future once engineers finish creating it; 3) Remain curious about everything.
• What would you tell students – especially girls, who are underrepresented in science and engineering careers – who think that math and science are “too hard” and may believe that STEM careers are beyond their reach?
I would tell them the same thing my wife and I instill in our 13-year-old daughter: Anything you most desire to achieve will be hard work. Why not make it the thing that excites you the most?
I celebrate and respect the talented women I work with, who have designed, engineered and delivered the art and science that form Disney attractions, restaurants, shops, hotels, ride systems and landscapes that millions of guests experience in our parks and resorts globally. These individuals pushed through the short-term challenges of math and science so they can enjoy a lifetime of doing the things they love to do.
Remember kid journalist Damon Weaver? Well here are students at the same school he attended, getting their reporting on! They interviewed Dex at the 2012 Dreamers Academy!