One trip to Disneyland at the young age of five was all it took for Julia Finder ’25 to discover her true calling: creating immersive experiences. The attractions. The music. The characters. She loved it all. But what she adored most was the Light Magic Parade.
“I can still sing the main song,” says Finder. “The floats stopped in the middle of Main Street, and you watched the fairies wake up. Disney characters danced with the crowd. I danced with Genie from Aladdin and a fairy who put pixie dust in my hand. I wasn’t just watching a parade go by … I was interacting with characters and experiencing the magic of a whole other world.”
From that moment forward, she was fixated on immersive storytelling. She studied entertainment, delved into more Disney experiences, enjoyed theater, and watched indie movies with her family.
When she was a high school freshman, her sister encouraged her to get involved with the morning news program. She learned to use tools like Photoshop and iMovie and became captivated by film and television.
Attending the University of Evansville, Finder studied two subjects: management (with the goal of running a Disney theme park) and anthropology (because she wanted to better understand the elements that shape culture and people). She also joined the student video production group, which gave her an opportunity to live stream sports, create videos for different groups on campus, and film previews of theater department performances.
Finder’s dream came true after graduation, landing a job at Disney World. But, after a few months of working for the theme park, she realized the environment wasn’t for her. She missed filmmaking and production.
A few months later, she secured an internship at a Chicago production company and did some freelance production work before relocating to Los Angeles to assist her sister’s family while her sister attended graduate school.
During this time, Finder was offered a full-time role at Showtime Networks. She spent five years there, absorbed in the world of film as an executive assistant and then coordinator.
Through her work, she saw how quickly technology and entertainment were changing. “The switch from linear TV to streaming, for example, is a really big transition that’s causing industry dynamics to play out in an entirely different way. Based on what I saw happening at work and in the production industry, I thought it would be a good time to get a master’s degree so I could move to a higher level.”
She considered earning an MBA, but finding the MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises (MSLCE) program changed her mind about what she wanted to study.
While she was applying to be a student at Northwestern, she was also applying for full-time jobs on campus. Within a week of joining the Office of Alumni Relations and Development as a program assistant, she was also accepted to the MSLCE program.
She takes two classes per quarter and says the balance works well. “It’s been good at helping me develop time management and project management skills,” explains Finder. “It’s also helped me understand how passionate I am about my industry. I might be tired when I come home from work, but I’m still excited to do my reading and work on group projects. I can’t wait to go to class and talk to my teammates.”
Her enthusiasm is fueled by classes like Arts and Entertainment Law and Ethics. She says Professor Rick Morris does a fantastic job of making information accessible and teaching not only about law today but also about how law is changing and how it can be applied in the future when the landscape may look different.
“It’s a class I wish I would’ve taken before I worked at Showtime, and it’s one of those classes I know I’ll use on a regular basis when I leave Northwestern,” says Finder, “because everything you learn is so relevant. In every class, I see how what I’m learning can apply in the real world.”
She’s also enjoying learning about modern-day applications of artificial intelligence in Managing AI in Creative Industries. Segmented into three sections—each taught by different faculty whose AI research and practice align with those components—the course covers the essentials of leveraging AI in the workplace, how to harness the technology’s potential for problem-solving, and ways to assess its ethical implications.
Coming into the class, Finder admits she was one of many students who was worried about AI’s potential to change creative industries. “Because AI is such a new topic, they push us to learn what it can do, whether we like it or not, because it’s not going away. It’s helping me learn to think about it in a new way, which puts us ahead of people who haven’t learned about it or aren’t willing to. At the same time, it’s given me practical tools to use AI while still supporting the people that make the industry what it is.”
These unparalleled experiences are preparing her to reshape immersive storytelling and production by making it more welcoming and accessible to all kinds of professionals.
After graduation, she envisions working for an organization that drives industry transformation, whether that means encouraging more women to work in film or providing platforms for disabled entertainers to share their unique voices.
“The people who watch TV and film are so diverse,” says Finder. “We’re seeing content made in the Unites States become global. At the same time, content made in, say, South Korea is coming to the United States. The people who help manage and lead entertainment companies and major streaming platforms should represent that same level of diversity. Diverse voices create better entertainment.”
The Building Blocks for Success
The skills Julia Finder ’25 is developing today are ones she’s confident will serve her well, no matter her career path. This includes skills like:
- Business-oriented framework development. “I’m learning how to treat art institutions as businesses, and how to create a better, more supportive workplace by creating efficiencies.”
- Practical accounting. “No matter where you work in entertainment, you’ll be working with contracts and in a structured business environment where accounting skills will be needed.”
- Responsible AI implementation. “Now I’m motivated to keep learning about AI and advocate for how the technology should be used in entertainment.”
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