Pioneering Women of Walt Disney Animation: A Legacy of Art, Innovation, and Leadership
At the Walt Disney Family Museum, Jill Brehm and Doug Engalla from Disney’s Animation Research Library traced a century of trailblazing women whose artistry and ingenuity shaped Walt Disney Animation Studios — from the distribution deal that launched the company to today’s creative leaders in story, animation, design, and effects. The panel not only showcased the women who broke barriers in a male-dominated era, but also connected the dots to today's trailblazers. The Nine Old Men are legendary, but here are the women highlighted in the panel who also deserve their flowers.
1923 — Margaret J. Winkler (film distributor)
The first break.
At just 21, “M.J. Winkler” became the first woman to distribute animated shorts. On October 16, 1923, she signed Walt and Roy to produce the Alice Comedies, scaling output and stabilizing the fledgling studio. Her early backing also helped pave the way for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Early 1930s — Hazel Sewell (head of Ink & Paint)
Disney’s first woman department head.
Sewell professionalized Ink & Paint — creating training, role specialization, and quality standards (opacity, line accuracy, unscratched cels). Her team’s precision enabled the Technicolor pivot on Flowers and Trees and the leap to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
1936–1937 — Dorothy Ann Blank (story)
A foundational voice on Snow White.
A former journalist, Blank helped build Disney’s feature-length story process: treatments, scene structure, character beats, and key dialogue for Snow White. She also established the studio’s research-driven story development practice.
1934–1938 — Dot Powers (color model/color arranger)
The authority of “Return to Dot Powers.”
Powers assigned character and prop color models, reviewed test cels, and ensured visual consistency so routinely that model drawings carried her stamp. Her color calls shaped the look of pre-war shorts and the first features.
1934–1940 — Bianca Majolie (story)
First woman in Disney’s story department.
Majolie elevated cartoon storytelling with pathos and research (famously translating Pinocchio for adaptation). Her Elmer Elephant treatment became a touchstone for sincere, emotionally grounded comedy.
1939–1942 — Retta Scott (story → animation)
The first woman credited as a Disney animator.
Scott’s ferocious charcoal boards for Bambi’s dog-pack attack were so dynamic that she was moved into animation to execute them, an unprecedented promotion that impressed the Nine Old Men.
1940–1950s — Gyo Fujikawa (promotions/design; later author-illustrator)
Designing the myth, then rewriting the rules.
At Disney, Fujikawa designed Fantasia premiere materials and merchandise. In publishing, she insisted on royalties and created bestselling children’s books featuring racially diverse casts years ahead of the industry.
1940s–1960s — Thelma Witmer (backgrounds)
A credited constant in the painted worlds.
Witmer’s backgrounds span shorts and features — Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book — with adaptable palettes and styling. The Paint Department even mixed a custom “Whitmer Red” to match her needs.
1940–1950s — Louisa Field & Evelyn Kennedy (music editing)
Pioneers on the track.
Field is recognized as Hollywood’s first female music editor. Kennedy followed with nearly a hundred Disney credits, from Lady and the Tramp to The Fox and the Hound, mentoring a young Richard Sherman and codifying meticulous cueing/sync workflows.
1941–1960s — Mary Blair (color/styling, visual development)
Modern color, Disney warmth.
The 1941 South America tour catalyzed Blair’s bold palette and graphic simplification, influencing Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Cinderella, Alice, and Peter Pan — and later it’s a small world. Her mid-century sensibility still echoes across Walt Disney Animation Studios.
1940s — Sylvia Holland (story/visual development)
Music made visual.
Holland led story work on Fantasia’s “Waltz of the Flowers” and contributed widely to the film (and its planned sequel), bridging musical structure with animated staging and nature studies.
1982–present — Lisa Keene (visual development, background supervision, production design)
A color/story bridge across eras.
From background supervisor on Beauty and the Beast to visual development on The Lion King, Tangled, and Frozen, and co-production designer on Frozen 2, Keene helped evolve watercolor-inspired digital workflows and reconcile the cool palette of Frozen 2’s autumnal world.
1996–present — Becky Bresee (animation/head of animation)
Acting with pixels.
Bresee’s performance leadership spans Frozen (Anna), Zootopia (young Judy Hopps), and Encanto’s intimate family beats. As head of animation on Frozen 2 and Wish, she balances nuanced acting with large-scale ensemble clarity.
1998–present — Amy Smeed (animation/head of animation)
Performance clarity and momentum.
From Chicken Little to head of animation on Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World, and Moana 2, Smeed’s reel ranges from comic timing (the princess scene in Ralph Breaks the Internet) to quiet, emotionally precise moments.
2000-present — Yvett Merino (producer)
Award-winning producer and studio pathmaker.
A WDAS veteran who rose through production management, Merino produced Encanto (Academy Award winner) and continues to shepherd major features, modeling career pathways that didn’t exist when the studio began.
2004–present — Josie Trinidad (story; head of story; directing)
From boards to the big chair.
Trinidad rose from story artist (Tangled, The Princess and the Frog) to co-head of story on Zootopia, head of story on Ralph Breaks the Internet, and co-director on Zootopia+. She’s currently co-directing a new original feature, Hexed, with Jason Hand.
2009–present — Lorelay Bové (visual development / production design)
Palette as story.
Bové channels Blair’s graphic boldness into modern palettes—establishing Encanto’s warm, vibrant color story (associate production designer) and leaving stylistic fingerprints on Big Hero 6, Wreck-It Ralph (Sugar Rush), Tangled, and more.
2010–present — Brittney Lee (visual development; character/costume foundations)
Color-forward character identity.
An admirer of Mary Blair, Lee helped define Anna and Elsa’s hair, costume, and color language, then extended that sensibility across Moana, Zootopia, Raya, and more. She also illustrated the picture-book biography Mary Blair’s Unique Flair.
2011–present — Fawn Veerasunthorn (story → directing)
A Thai director at Disney Animation.
Starting as a story artist on Frozen and Zootopia, Veerasunthorn became head of story on Raya and the Last Dragon and co-directed Wish, bringing a collaborative, food-and-family “recipe” metaphor to story structure you can feel onscreen.
2011–present — Jennifer Lee (writer, director, Chief Creative Officer)
First woman to direct and be Chief Creative Officer at Disney Animation.
Co-writer of Wreck-It Ralph, co-writer/co-director of Frozen and Frozen 2, and the studio’s CCO from 2018 to 2024, Lee sets creative direction while developing the next Frozen chapters.
2015–present — Griselda Sastrawinata-Lemay (visual development; costume/graphics)
History + modernity = readable silhouettes.
From Moana to the shadow-puppet prologue in Raya and the Madrigals’ wardrobes in Encanto, Sastrawinata-Lemay fuses period silhouettes with contemporary clarity. She led Olaf’s Frozen Adventure character design and now helps steer projects in producing/design roles.
2010s–present — Erin Ramos (effects animation/head of FX)
The ocean as a character.
With a computer science foundation and experience at Rhythm & Hues, Weta, and ILM, Ramos brought science-meets-art rigor to WDAS FX—earning major guild honors for Moana and Frozen 2, and heading effects on Wish.
What emerges from a century of credits, sketches, paint recipes, cue sheets, and color scripts is a throughline, not isolated breakthroughs. From Margaret Winkler’s contract that launched the studio to Jennifer Lee’s slate today, women at Disney Animation have continuously expanded what the medium can do: systematizing production, inventing color languages, translating music into motion, engineering effects, and crafting stories that hold together under the brightest lights. The Animation Research Library preserves the receipts; the films preserve the feeling. And as this lineage shows, the next generation isn’t starting from scratch; they’re starting from a foundation women built.
Visit waltdisney.org to learn about upcoming presentations like this one at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.