Creative Director - Narrative Strategy & Experience Design
I design stories you can walk through.
Published author, keynote speaker, and creative lead for brand experiences and location-based entertainment. I bring 20 years of creative leadership at Walt Disney Imagineering, Airbnb, and beyond.
Let's play → immersivestory2022@gmail.com
What I Do
Worldbuilding & Narrative Design
I define the story rules, character logic, emotional arc, and thematic spine that make a place feel inevitable — not invented. From theme park lands to museum galleries to IP expansions, I build the world before a single wall goes up.
Experience Development & Creative Direction
I lead the creative from brief to opening day — making decisions across design, copy, spatial storytelling, and partner briefs, not just advising on them. If there's a vision, I'm the one who keeps it whole when everything tries to pull it apart.
Cultural & Human-Centered Storytelling
I ensure the story reflects real people — not archetypes — grounded in authentic cultural research, diverse voices, and emotional truth. The difference between a land that represents a culture and one that honors it starts here.
How We Work Together
Three ways to bring me in — depending on where you are in the process.
Embedded Creative Lead
I join your team as a senior creative voice for the duration of a project. I attend the meetings, make the calls, and keep the story whole from blue sky through delivery. Best for large-scale experiences, IP expansions, and flagship activations where the vision needs a single keeper.
Strategy & Story Sprint
A focused engagement — half-day to multi-week — to define the experience vision, map the guest journey, or crack a creative problem that's been stalling the project. Best for teams that need clarity before they can move forward with confidence.
Workshops, Speaking & Advisory
Built around my four published books. Half-day and full-day workshops for creative, hospitality, cultural, and marketing teams. Keynotes for conferences and leadership summits. 1:1 advisory for executives entering the experiential space.
MCK Creative is a Woman, Minority-owned small business.
Creative Leadership
Driving Story Forward
Across projects, I operate as a creative problem solver at the center of complex systems—stepping in where ideas stall, priorities conflict, or execution loses clarity. I don't just develop story; I ensure it progresses, evolves, and delivers under real-world constraints.
Unblock
Identify where creative work has stalled and restore momentum with clarity and precision
Align
Bridge disciplines and competing priorities to unite stakeholders around a shared creative vision
Direct
Translate ambiguity into clear, actionable narrative direction that teams can build from
Deliver
Move projects forward from concept through execution—reliably, cohesively, on time
Selected Work
2007 – 2026 · A two-decade body of work spanning world-class theme parks, cultural institutions, global brand experiences, and emerging experiential concepts.
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge & Star Wars Portfolio
Walt Disney Imagineering, 2014–2021
Managing Story Lead — I led land-wide narrative across attractions, retail, dining, and live entertainment. I directed multidisciplinary design from blue sky through opening day.
Museums & Cultural Institutions
MCK Creative, 2007–2026
Story Lead / Creative Consultant — I led creative and narrative across multiple global projects through concept, design development, and production, including exhibits for NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Shanghai World Expo 2010, Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, and others.
Airbnb Experiences & Host Community
Airbnb, 2022–2024
Senior Creative Lead — I led narrative strategy for experiential blue sky and host initiatives. I shaped new experiential product concepts and directed host communication campaigns.
Unannounced IP Experiences
TAIT, 2024–2025
Senior Creative Director — I led concept design on two global IP experiences, balancing creative ambition with production realities.
Brand Design & Experience Strategy
MCK Creative, 2007–2026
I partnered with entertainment clients and design agencies to shape narrative strategy, experiential storytelling, and cultural experience design — bringing creative clarity and cohesive story direction to projects from blue sky through execution.
Who I Work With
Theme Parks & Destination Experiences
Studios, operators, and design firms building or expanding location-based entertainment. Having worked at Disney Imagineering and TAIT, I know how these projects are made — and what it takes to keep story at the center from blue sky through opening day.
Museums & Cultural Institutions
Organizations translating complex histories, scientific ideas, or cultural narratives into spaces that move people. I've worked with NASA Kennedy Space Center, National Geographic Museum of Exploration, Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, and others — I understand the balance between accuracy and emotional resonance.
Brands Entering Physical Space
Companies moving from digital or product-first into experiential — pop-ups, flagship stores, brand activations, or immersive campaigns. I help them build a story that works in three dimensions, not just on a screen.
Independent Creators & Emerging IP
Writers, game designers, filmmakers, and founders with a world worth building — who need an experienced partner to figure out what it looks like when people can walk through it. I help turn strong IP into a viable, emotionally grounded experience concept.
Published Author
Putting Story Into Print
My expertise extends beyond the studio — I am a published author whose books have become essential references for practitioners and students of immersive storytelling and narrative placemaking.
Michael Wiese Productions, 2022
A foundational guide for writers working across physical and experiential mediums.
ORO Editions, 2024
Exploring how story shapes built environments and the human experiences within them.
Michael Wiese Productions, 2025
Drawing on game design principles to advance narrative strategy in live experience.
ORO Editions, 2026
Personal essays on the intersection of urban landscape, cultural identity, and lived experience.
Media & Press
Selected Features & Appearances
Features:
Speaking & Events
Selected Engagements
2026
- SXSW — Crafting Culture: How Experience Designers Shape Our World, Panelist, Austin, TX
- SXSW — Berlin Day Panelist, Austin, TX
- CalArts — Visiting Artist/Instructor, Worldbuilding Session
- APA-IL State Conference — Keynote Speaker & Workshop
- SXSW London — The Art of Reimagining Engagement, London, UK
- IAAPA EDU Session — Inclusive Storytelling, Speaker
- Author Event — Vroman's Bookstore Talk & Signing
- Teaching Artist — 826LA @ Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- USC Games / USC School of Cinematic Arts — Guest Lecturer
2025
- Host — The Worldbuilders Podcast
- Guest Speaker & Book Signing — Disney Live Entertainment Summit
- Lecturer — SCI-Arc, Fiction and Entertainment Grad Program
- Speaker — Arts Media Entertainment Institute, Burbank
- Mentor — Young Storytellers, Providencia Elementary, Burbank
2024
- Visiting Author Fireside Chat/Book Signing — BRC Imagination Arts
- Visiting Artist Presentation/Q&A — CalArts School of Theater
- Visiting Author Book Signing — Meow Wolf, Santa Fe, NM
- Moderator — Designer Panel, Caruso Summit 2024, Montecito, CA
- IAAPA Legends Panel — IAAPA Expo 2024, Orlando, FL
2023
- Paul Helmle Fellowship — Cal Poly Pomona, Dept of Architecture
- Speaker — OFFF MX Festival
- Speaker — SATE Themed Entertainment North America Conference
- Speaker/Visiting Author — Gensler, Los Angeles, CA
2022
- Speaker — Riot Games, Los Angeles, CA
- Speaker — Activision/Blizzard, Los Angeles, CA
- Speaker — Beyond the Binge: Developing Original Content, SXSW
2019
- Speaker — D23 Disney Fan Convention, Anaheim, CA
- Speaker — Star Wars Celebration, Chicago, IL
- Host — Imagineering in a Box, Khan Academy
Education & Teaching
Shaping the Next Generation of Storytellers
Education
- MFA, Screenwriting — University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts
- MS, Engineering Management — Tufts University
- BA, International Relations — Tufts University
Teaching Experience
- Adjunct Lecturer & Paul Helmle Fellow — Cal Poly Pomona, School of Environmental Design (2023)
- Visiting Artist/Instructor — California Institute of the Arts (2024)
- Teaching Artist — 826LA @ UCLA Hammer Museum (2026)
- Artist Mentor (Writing) - Theatre of Hearts
- Guest Lecturer — USC School of Cinematic Arts & USC Games
- Guest Lecturer — SCI-Arc Graduate Fiction & Entertainment Program
- Guest Lecturer — UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television
- Guest Lecturer — UC Irvine Film and Media Studies
- Guest Lecturer — Laguna College of Art + Design
- Guest Lecturer — Johns Hopkins University, Museum Studies Program
Teaching Philosophy
"Storytelling is both craft and inquiry. My teaching foregrounds narrative structure, emotional resonance, and interdisciplinary exploration across film, television, and immersive media. I cultivate inclusive, intellectually rigorous learning environments that actively center diverse voices, lived experiences, and ways of knowing."
You already know how to tell a story. Let's make people feel it.
Your audience doesn't need more content. They need an experience that changes something in them — the way they see your brand, your world, your story. That's the shift I make possible.
Whether you're building a flagship activation, rethinking how your IP lives in physical space, or searching for a creative vision that holds across every touchpoint — this work begins with a single question: what do you want people to carry with them when they leave?
If that question excites you, you're ready for this conversation.
Let's make your story their memory.
I work with a small number of clients at a time. If you're exploring a project, workshop, or speaking engagement — reach out. I respond to every message personally.
✉ Email
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MCK Creative is a Woman, Minority-owned small business.
Margaret Chandra Kerrison