Pixar vice president, a Chico alum, visits campus
Left to right: Angela Trethewey, Dean of College of Communication and Education and Lori McAdams, Vice President of Human Resources at Pixar. Trethewey arranged the luncheon for students to talk with and hear advice McAdams has learned since graduating. Chico State Photo credit: Josh Cozine
Lori McAdams, a Chico State alum who now works at Pixar, agreed to share her story and answer questions from students over lunch Thursday.
A graduate from Chico State in 1983 with a degree in Communications and Education Studies, McAdams went on with work with other big names companies like Lucasfilm and Electronic Arts, before starting her work at Pixar in 2004. She now carries the title of Vice President of Human Resources at Pixar.
McAdams has been recognized as one of Chico State’s 2018 distinguished alumni. She said she was able to use her education to be flexible within these organizations to find the role she wanted. She also urged students not to give up after one failure; her work at both Lucasfilms and Pixar came after initial rejections and reapplying.
“I like failure stories,” McAdams said. She stated that it can be a great opportunity to show that you learned something or help you learn how to overcome challenges, which she added is a more important skill to have and share with employers or put on a resume than a specific class.
“I’ll remember your story later,” she said, “not the classes you took.”
@theorion_news What does Lori McAdams, Chico State grad and VP of Pixar think about naysayers? First listen in case there is a way for you to improve, but stay true true to yourself pic.twitter.com/7AqhjdMt3v
— Josh Cozine (@joshcozine) March 8, 2018
Josh Cozine can be reached at [email protected] or @joshcozine on Twitter.
