Today we’d like to introduce you to Garrett Parrish.
Hi Garrett, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Lexington, MA, a suburb of Boston, MA with an older brother, sister, a single mom, and a turbulent household. My family was always struggling, and I learned resilience, creativity, and ambition at a young age.
Theater and music were always my greatest passions and interests and kept me focused outside of the challenges at home. I absolutely consider myself a theater kid – I went to theater camp for almost nine years and danced hip hop, sang in choirs and acapella groups, and performed in musicals as the leading roles. The sense of show and theatricality was in my DNA from the very beginning. I began to play the drums and always loved the music of theater above everything else. Eventually, I would come to study and play Jazz once I arrived in high school.
I was also always building things – I converted the bathroom in our apartment into a workshop, there were shelves of reclaimed materials, metals, wood, old electronics, and I turned the bathtub into a supply closet. I would build sculptures, robots, mechanical toys, and contraptions out of anything I could find. Legos got me started, and I continued to follow this passion to win the MIT State Science Fair with a pair of robotic hamster balls I built in the bathroom. I taught myself how to code and built games and software applications on the the weekends while listening to Seussical and Avenue Q. I’ve always been gifted at computers and mechanical concepts, and my first job in high school was working for an IT company fixing computers.
In High School, I became ultra-focused on both of my passions: music and technology. I played in my high school’s most advanced Jazz bands, orchestras, and wind ensembles, performed outside of school in bands and festivals, and played for all of the theatrical productions. I also became captain of my school’s robotics team and won the state science fair. Splitting both worlds was always difficult, but I refused to compromise on either of them.
My ultimate career goal was always to become an Imagineer for Walt Disney Imagineering. The day my mother finally got divorced, she came home and put my brother, sister, and I in the car, and drove 22 hours from Boston to Orlando to take us to Disney World. At the time and still to this day, the Disney Parks were an escape for my family and one of the only places that we could relax and enjoy our time together outside of the struggles of our normal lives. When I was there, I saw the fireworks show at EPCOT called Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, a show about the world coming together and moving forward into a brighter future. I knew then that my life’s work was to create big, spectacular experiences like that, and I set out to find out what that meant.
Coming from a poor background, I focused all my efforts on achieving acceptance to the best universities that offered need-based financial aid. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to Harvard University and ultimately MIT where I finished my degree in Mechanical Engineering. At both schools, I learned the trades of theater, engineering, mathematics, software, and ultimately how to design and build anything I could imagine. Though I would ultimately end up moving away from the subjects I studied, the people I met, and the projects I worked on in Cambridge allowed me to become the person I am today.
I kept following my goal to an internship at Walt Disney Imagineering where I worked on the Millenium Falcon attraction at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and ultimately returned after graduating to a Creative Development internship. I became part of the Disney Live Entertainment group at Walt Disney Imagineering that designs and produces the nighttime spectaculars, castle projection shows, stage shows, character experiences, and parades all around the world. The first project I worked on was Harmonious, a nighttime spectacular that opened at EPCOT to replace Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, bringing my dreams full circle. In the past six years, I have worked on nighttime spectaculars, parades, and theatrical productions in Tokyo, Paris, Orlando, Anaheim, Shanghai, and Hong Kong as a designer and Art Director. Additionally, I have worked on attractions in Tokyo Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland as a Creative Director.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road to the life I enjoy now has been turbulent and chaotic. Coming from a family and household that always struggled to make ends meet and survive, it has taken me the better part of two decades to create a life that I can call my own.
As a teenager, I started a wholesale business to help make ends meet for my family in college I started a technology company and worked multiple jobs to pay for books and food in addition to my financial aid, and only recently have arrived at a point in my life where every day isn’t a struggle to make sure my refrigerator is well-stocked.
I was always an enigma and sometimes feel like I am to this day – someone who never fully makes sense in any room I am in – an engineer that plays music, a creative designer who can write software, a cynical entrepreneur building a product to make the world more ethical. An MIT student playing in Boston jazz clubs and a Harvard student tinkering with robots on the weekends. I’ve never really made sense, and a lot of that is by design – I openly reject classification and have fought being pigeonholed my entire life.
I’ve always lived in contradictions and followed the zig-zagging path of my life wherever it has taken me. The words of Duke Ellington have always been incredibly important to be: “Beyond Category” is how he would refer to the players in his band, that they existed beyond race, creed, or specification. I’ve always tried to live by that and not be defined by my upbringing, the date on my birth certificate, the numbers in my bank account, or what I get excited about. As so many struggle to find the most authentic version of themselves and share that with others, I continue to work tirelessly to live a life that is true to who I am, who I want to be, and the world I wish to create.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I work as an Art and Creative Director for Walt Disney Imagineering, focusing on the Disney Resorts in the Asia Region: Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland. My role is to conceive, design, and manage the creative production and delivery of attractions, fireworks shows, and parades. This covers everything from writing stories, painting concept art, editing videos, digitally designing scenery to managing on-site scenic production, special effects programming, and operational training. Some days, I am running a rehearsal for performers; some days, I am hosting design sessions for floats in a parade, and some day I am pitching new concepts to executives.
I am most proud of the nighttime spectacular that debuted last year at Tokyo DisneySea, Believe! Sea of Dreams. This show was my first project at Disney Imagineering and spanned almost five years of my life. I worked on this project from the initial concept all the way through to opening night, starting as an intern and finishing as the Art Director. The show was the most ambitious nighttime spectacular that Disney Imagineering has ever produced, both in its technical and operational complexity and its storytelling and visual design. The show follows Disney Characters through their journeys of making wishes, enduring hardships, losing faith, and finding the power in themselves to continue on and realize their dreams. It’s action-packed and stunning, and tens of thousands of guests experience it every evening in Tokyo, and I could not have asked for a more exciting and meaningful project to start my career with.
At Disney, I have built a special niche where I can bridge both attractions and entertainment. I’ve had the privilege of working on many different types of projects. I have worked on stage productions, parades, character encounters, resort master planning, seasonal overlays, nighttime spectaculars, fireworks shows, and entire lands. I’ve been able to combine my skillsets and backgrounds in music, technology, theater, industrial design, and software together in ways I never would have imagined were possible. Imagineering is one of the few organizations that truly values what multi-disciplinary individuals can bring to the design of experiences at the Disney Parks.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
The most important part of finding the right people is to look at the work. The most influential mentors in my life have been the ones whose work I admire. I look for the work that I enjoy and believe in and find the ones behind its creation. It has worked spectacularly for me in my life and career and would leave it as simple as that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.garrettparrish.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garishparrot
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettvparrish
