In 1998, a little boy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. His dying wish was to meet Buzz Lightyear. At the time, Karlynn Holbrook (MOL 鈥�06) was an undergrad at Cal State Fullerton and a pageant helper 鈥� close friends to Disney characters 鈥� at Disneyland. As a 鈥渧ery good friend鈥� of Buzz Lightyear, Holbrook鈥檚 time had come to make one boy鈥檚 dying wish come true.

Holbrook and other Disney representatives arranged to have Buzz make a special appearance at the boy鈥檚 house to watch Toy Story. 鈥淗e was in his little Buzz Lightyear pajamas,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd he had all his little Buzz Lightyear dudes lined up. And I鈥檓 crying, you know. The family鈥檚 crying and everyone鈥檚 just so moved.鈥�

Karlynn Holbrook believes in magic because she鈥檚 seen it. With Disney, she creates it.

After graduating from Biola with a master鈥檚 in organizational leadership, she worked at every Disney park around the world and is now senior manager of organizational operations at Walt Disney World. Essentially, she trains executives and leads a team that handles everything from budgets across all of Disney to billboards off the 5 Freeway. As a member of the Executive Steering Committee, she helps senior leaders ensure the department is running smoothly in every aspect of the team鈥檚 operations. But her journey wasn鈥檛 a straight line.

After serving as a pageant helper, she advanced in communications for 16 years. Then she was offered a position at Walt Disney World that took her around the globe. She was on the Aulani task force in Hawaii, at groundbreaking for Shanghai Disney Resort and at Hong Kong Disneyland during its fifth anniversary. At Walt Disney World, she worked her way to director of internal communications. Then, in 2014, she got an offer she never expected: to work with the Disney ABC television group in Burbank, California. She accepted. But after three years, she had an epiphany.

鈥淚 worked with a lot of red-carpet talent and met some amazing people,鈥� Holbrook said. 鈥淏ut you know, it really doesn鈥檛 matter how high you work your way up in an organization. What matters is where your heart and your passion is. ... It鈥檚 not about just climbing the corporate ladder. It鈥檚 about where God wants you to be.鈥�

It turned out God wanted Holbrook back at Walt Disney World in the position she has now, she said.

Holbrook is a firm believer that Christians can be successful business people without sacrificing their moral compass.

鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely a stigma attached to being a Christ-follower,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o you鈥檝e got to lead with actions first. You鈥檝e got to show them that, 鈥楬ey, I love on everybody! I want to see you be successful. ... I鈥檓 not going to go down a moral low ground just because other people are doing it.鈥� And believe it or not, that stands out by itself.鈥� In August 2019, Holbrook received the Walt Disney Legacy Award 鈥� a peer-nominated award given to less than 1% of Disney鈥檚 employees.

Holbrook still keeps a picture of that little boy with Buzz Lightyear on her desk. She鈥檚 taken it to every job she鈥檚 ever had as a reminder of the impact we can make when we 鈥渓ead with love.鈥�