PEGGIE FARISS
IMAGINEER, THE WALT DISNEY CO.
WHY: Worked 50 years at Disney, starting with guiding a little canal boat full of visitors into Storybook Land and ending with leading the Imagineering Design and Show team at Disney Paris. Now retired.
NOTABLE: Worked with scores of corporations like AT&T, Coca Cola and Visa to accommodate their brand messaging at theme parks without being overly commercial.
QUOTABLE: “I wasn’t chosen Disneyland Ambassador and thought it was because I didn’t prepare myself. I was determined to improve my prospects. I took out a $500 loan, enrolled in the John Robert Powers Modeling School, put braces on my teeth and read everything I could about Disney, including the annual reports. I knew the answers to everything. While I still wasn’t chosen, I must have impressed someone because, in 1969, they asked me to participate with nine other young Disneyland tour guides and hostesses in press conferences to announce the first phase of Walt Disney World.” — Leader Board
