Two years ago, Alexandra Redrick ’25 interviewed President Adam Weinberg for a series of short videos.
Redrick asked all the questions until the camera stopped rolling. Then, Weinberg asked one that ultimately changed Redrick’s career ambitions and demonstrated the power of the university’s alumni network.
The president was curious about her summer plans. Redrick, an English major and communication minor, mentioned she was looking for an internship in entertainment.
“Adam’s ears perked up, and he mentioned Angela Bliss, who worked for the Walt Disney Company,” Redrick recalls. “He said he’d be happy to connect us.”
While flattered by the offer, she understood there was nothing unique about their exchange. Redrick has seen Weinberg and other faculty members talk to students about career and internship opportunities. It’s one of the reasons the Baltimore native chose to attend Denison.
It’s also why Bliss ’99, who spent 25 years at Disney, was eager to help Redrick land the year-long internship after receiving Weinberg’s email in which he called Redrick “the real deal”— an asset that any employer would be lucky to have on their team.
“I love the emphasis President Weinberg and Denison are placing on getting jobs right away and making meaningful connections with alumni,” says Bliss, a former Disney public relations executive. “That doesn’t happen with a lot of universities.”
‘Crushing her interviews’
Even before their first Zoom meeting, Bliss got a sense of Redrick’s levels of ambition and work ethic.
Disney internships are coveted positions, and Bliss, working for the company’s park in Paris at the time, messaged those in charge of hiring global public relations interns. She was surprised to learn that Redrick had already applied for the position at the Disney Grand Central Creative Campus in Glendale, California.
“She had started the process,” Bliss recalls. “I knew the people on that team, and they told me, ‘Alex is crushing her interviews.’”
Some college students wade into the pool of cocurricular activity and employment. Redrick made a splash from the moment she arrived on The Hill.
During her first year, she began working for the admission office. She later pledged Delta Gamma sorority, joined Burpee’s Seedy Theatrical Company, and started the “That Black Girl” podcast with four other students. The podcast tackled subjects such as dating, self-care, and the black student experience at Denison.
Carianne Meng, senior associate director of admission, lauds Redrick’s ability to build relationships and find common ground with people she’s just met. Redrick serves as a docent, interviews prospective students, and helps run informational sessions at open houses in front of large audiences.
“She’s just super professional, an absolute pro,” Meng says. “You can give her a task and she’s like a duck to water.”
Real-world experience
Excelling in a campus setting came naturally to Redrick, but she wanted to test herself outside of Denison’s welcoming environment. Taking a gap year to work at Disney, where she was the youngest member of her team, fulfilled that desire.
“I wanted substantial real-world experience to learn what I was good at,” Redrick says.
Before her pivotal conversation with Weinberg, Redrick was leaning toward law school. She envisioned herself as a contract lawyer at a large entertainment agency. The Disney experience, followed by a 2024 summer internship with the Motion Picture Association in Washington, D.C., altered her career path.
Redrick immersed herself in public relations and communications at Disney. She wasn’t fetching coffee for bosses or driving executives to the airport. She was working with powerhouse members of its empire, including Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm, on campaigns that featured in Disney parks, stores, and cruise lines around the world.
“Alex was a force,” Bliss says. “The team she joined took her in and was a fan of her work. They said she did a fantastic job.”
Angela Bliss, who spent 25 years at Disney, worked for the company as an intern just like Alexandra Redrick.
Although they’ve never met in person, Bliss and Redrick have formed a bond. Bliss also had aspirations of being a lawyer before working as a Disney summer intern while in college. She earned that opportunity through an indirect connection to another Denison alum, Michael Eisner ’64, the former Disney CEO, whose company had a summer internship program that recruited at campuses across the country, including Denison.
“Angela is amazing,” Redrick says. “She’s so supportive, and one of the best people I’ve ever dealt with.”
As she prepares for graduation, Redrick continues to tap the Denison alumni network. During Big Red Weekend 2024, she met with James Anderson ’85, the longtime marketing and communications executive at Turner Broadcasting. Once again, Weinberg encouraged her to approach Anderson.
“A lot of the person I am today I wouldn’t be without Denison,” Redrick says. “I feel like I’ve grown so much here, and I’ve made so many valuable connections. Denison alums have truly been some of my biggest champions.”
