Today we’d like to introduce you to Althea Rapio.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Hi! My name is Althea Rapio, and I was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the US when I was 2. I had always loved animation, especially growing up on shows like Blue’s Clues and SpongeBob, and was even influenced by Dora the Explorer that I gave myself a haircut (which was a total surprise to my mom).
To be more specific, I got into animation because I really wanted to be someone who was part of the creation of all those beloved movies, shows, and anime I grew up with. When I was in high school, I thought pursuing a safer route like the medical field and doing art on the side would be okay, but then I realized how unhappy I’d be if I was always longing to be part of the animation industry. So, I took a chance, applied to college as an art major, and chose to go to USF.
Going to USF meant that not only could I afford college, through scholarships and grants, but also that I get a chance to focus solely on art. Though their program was primarily fine arts, the small but ever-growing animation course was where I wanted to be. I started off not knowing a single thing about animation, nor the industry, nor the hurdles I’d face to make it in. I was in it for the pure joy I felt creating and learning more about art, whether traditional or digital.
Back in the fall of 2019, the first thing I did when I entered college joined the Animation Club at USF, and I feel like that was where I thrived and also met so many like-minded, inspiring people. When Covid hit March of 2020, and President Tamara and VP Charlie were graduating, they offered me the position of Animation Club President. I was so thrilled to be given the position, and for the last two years, we went from 30 members to over 165 members, hosted hybrid lecture sessions, and created a lovely community of animators thanks to amazing executive board members who eventually became my best friends.
In my last year of the school year, when we were finally in person, I doubled up on my efforts to break into the animation industry due to realizing how difficult it would be, and I was going to maximize my time while I was a student. In March of 2021, I made a little chart of things I wanted to accomplish in order to get me on the right track to becoming a production assistant. I became a Women in Animation Mentee under Maansi Sunkara’s guidance in the fall of 2021, became a DreamWorks Production Intern in the spring of 2022, got my Bachelor’s in three years and graduated this past May, and began my role two weeks later as a Production Assistant at the Walt Disney Animation Studios, the home of all those beloved Disney movies.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It definitely wasn’t a smooth road, especially with Covid hitting during college. I also worked part-time jobs, other small internships, volunteering, alongside being a full-time student and attending late-night animation workshops, webinars, and applications.
When I was working at a grocery store for a few months, I thought to myself, “Oh my god…I can’t do this forever.” And it motivated me to break into animation more seriously. During the fall semester of my last year, I took four classes for my senior year, I took on a different part-time job, an internship, the mentorship, was still President of the Animation Club, and I was applying for internships and jobs. Then in the spring, I was a production intern on Puss in Boots Two (which comes out this winter!), finishing my senior thesis, wrapping up my last semester as the Animation Club President, and applying for jobs. Frankly, I was in over my head but I felt as though I couldn’t drop anything. It was incredibly stressful to balance school, financials, and career opportunities. But I think it all worked out in the end so it was worth it, but it was mentally very tough.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a story department production assistant on one of the WDAS projects, meaning I help out our production team with verbatim note taking, a little bit of scheduling, helping and checking in on our story artists, and other tasks. I also work closely with our Edit team, so overall whatever I can do to keep us moving forward with day-to-day responsibilities. Being part of such a central part of Disney allows me to witness magic in the making, and I’m always in awe of the talent that we have.
I’m most proud of my history having spent a little time in every single department during my production internship on Puss in Boots Two, and therefore it’s helped me gain a well-rounded view of how our animation process works. I think that knowledge allows me to stand out, but I think overall I’m just really enthusiastic about taking on new challenges and being surrounded by stories and animation. I think now the story department has a special place in my heart, and I ended up exactly where I dreamed to be.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I think what was most important to my success was an unwavering love of learning and belief in myself. I think it’s really important and humbling to know that you don’t know everything. That is why it’s so awesome to have opportunities in which I was able to learn what it’s like to really be in a studio or what the role would be like. When getting to know others, there’s always a lesson they may share from their own journey too! Also, believing in the fact that I could do it, that people also chose and believed that I could do it too, meaning that I was brave enough to keep going even when times were hard.
