PMI-LA Blogs

What does project management have to do with filmmaking, Disney Imagineering, directing, or producing?

Turns out, quite a lot.

On Saturday, PMI-LA returned to Mount Saint Mary’s University for Frame by Frame: Stories, Strategy & the Future of Creative Careers, bringing together project professionals and members of LA’s creative community for an evening of conversation, connection, and some pretty interesting career stories.

We’ve had the opportunity to work with MSMU on creative programming before, and it was great to be back at the Doheny Campus. This time, we brought together four people whose careers have taken them through very different corners of the creative world.

And their paths to get there looked just as different.

Four Careers, and Definitely Not Four Straight Lines

David Doan opened the conversation before turning things over to Kelby Thwaits, Director of Graduate Film, Television & Photography at Mount Saint Mary’s University.

 

Kelby brought us into the world of film and producing, where the parallels with project management started showing up pretty quickly. He also shared some candid advice from his years working in the industry about navigating the people side of creative work.

We’ll keep the advice itself with those who were in the room. ;)

From there, Swisyzinna Moore brought us into another side of the creative world. She shared pieces of her journey from acting to stepping behind the camera as a director, writer, and producer.

 

Her story was also a good reminder that where you start doesn’t necessarily tell you where you’re going to end up.

As the conversation expanded across the panel, Eddie Choi, Executive Project Manager at Walt Disney Imagineering, gave us a peek behind the curtain at what project management can look like when creative and technical worlds come together.

His career has taken him around the world working on some pretty incredible projects. Attendees heard about the scale of collaboration behind the experiences people ultimately see and enjoy, and got a glimpse into a side of Imagineering most of us don't normally get to see.

Cheryl Venable brought yet another career path to the conversation. Her own journey has taken her through creative environments, including Disney, and into more corporate and operational roles. She shared some of what that transition has looked like and how her earlier experiences have continued to shape her career.

 

For anyone still figuring out exactly where they want their career to go, that was one of the coolest parts of having these four people together.

Nobody on stage followed exactly the same path. And none of those paths had to be perfectly straight.

Once the conversation opened up to questions, David and the panel covered even more ground, with plenty of stories, experiences, and advice coming from the stage.

We’re going to leave quite a bit of that in the room, too.

Giving Back Along the Way

There was another part of the evening that deserves its own spotlight.

Before the panel began, attendees took part in our Projects for Social Impact initiative, assembling care kits with toothpaste and other personal care essentials for people in need.

 

It was a chance to do something together for the community before settling in for the evening’s conversation.

Project management brings our members together professionally, but opportunities like this give us another way to use that community to make a difference.

Food, New Faces and Time to Connect

Of course, not everything happened on stage.

There was food, conversation, new introductions, and plenty of time before and after the panel to meet people from across LA’s project management and creative communities.

 

That’s part of what makes getting together in person different. You might register because a speaker or topic catches your attention, but you never quite know who you’re going to meet once you’re there.

A huge thank you to our PMI-LA Programs team for all the work that went into bringing the evening together, from the pieces attendees saw to plenty they probably didn’t.

Thank you as well to David Doan for guiding the conversation and bringing some of his own creative background and consulting experience into the discussion.

 

And, of course, thank you to Mount Saint Mary’s University for welcoming us back to the Doheny Campus and continuing to build this relationship with PMI-LA. We’re excited to keep finding ways to bring LA’s project management and creative communities together.

Most of all, thank you to everyone who spent their Saturday night with us.

If you missed Frame by Frame, the photos will give you a peek at what happened.

But we’ll save a few of the best stories for those who were in the room.