diametervision is Lara Sasaran, an innovative Emmy® Award Winning Creative Leader and Futurist with 15 years of experience in the entertainment, news, and technology spaces. Spatial consideration and the multidimensional axes in which we move, have always been common themes in her approach.
Amazon: Lara was brought in to stand up the first design organization, resulting in a new capability for the Alexa operating system and core services organization, as their first Creative Director. She strived to fostered an elite creative environment by leading thought grounded in futurism.
Microsoft: Lara was messing with reality as a Principal Creative Director for the HoloLens Worldwide Holographic Studios. She led a global creative strategy, aligned expectations, and defined system-design requirements for this new interactive paradigm. She kept a keen focus on deep versus shallow experiences by clarifying, shaping, and pioneering the vision of mixed reality applications for premier enterprise clients.
Walt Disney Studios: Lara was a Creative Producer of product development for the Technology Strategy & Innovation team, an R&D environment focused on the future of film distribution. She was also asked to pioneer the first-ever Best of Disney, an event that showcased emerging technologies and innovation throughout the entire Disney company.
International: In South Africa, Lara was a diplomatic guest of the US Consulate in Johannesburg, a lecturer to students at the Mae Jemison Science Lab, a mentor to a group of students from The Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking on their final thesis, and a Social Media for Youth consultant to the US Embassy in Pretoria. In South America, she volunteered as a guest speaker to student programs in Uruguay and Argentina - and crossed an item off her bucket list by hiking the Torres Del Paine in Patagonia.
ESPN: Lara was an EMMY Award-Winning Art Director for digital editorial, original programming, emerging technology, branded marketing experiences, and advanced multimedia products. She produced integrations for some of ESPN’s top tier brands such as The ESPYS, ESPN Films, 30 for 30, Action Sports, Outside the Lines, E:60, ESPNW, Mayne Street, Monday Night Football, College Gameday, Insider, SportsNation, and the Olympics and SuperBowl packages. Lara also had the opportunity to produce a short-form, four-part documentary series for the Beijing Olympic Games on coach James Li and his first return home since his departure during China's Cultural Revolution.
Lockheed Martin: Lara was the Multimedia Art Director for Integrated Systems & Solutions and a Multimedia Design Engineer for the Aeronautics Visualization and Simulation team at Skunk Works. These both offered experience in thriving, think-tank environments where 3D product innovation, script and storyboard development, interactive design, special effects rendering techniques, experimental video production, virtual worlds, exhibit design, business, creative strategy, and science all merged.
Additional Tenure: abbr. roles as Creative Consultant (present) at various startups in LA, Florida, Palo Alto, and Seattle (fintech, VR, mobile, health, video subscription-service, content production), as Industry Mentor for the Ghetto Film School in LA, as Creative Consultant for Walt Disney Imagineering’s Connected Experiences, as Guest Critic and Studio Partnership Leader at RISD, and as pro bono Creative and UX Director at Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) in Boston.
Asked to create the first-ever Best of Disney, an event that showcased emerging technologies and innovation throughout the entire Disney company, including Studios, ESPN, ABC, Animation Studios, Pixar, ILM, Marvel, Parks and Resorts, Disney Imagineering, Disney Research, and the Disney Animation Preservation Team and Getty partnership. The festival included an exhibition and multiple panels throughout the day on the diverse paths innovation can take. I acted as a producer, curator, panel and exhibitor selector, and provided content and creative direction.
Hosted representatives from CERN at ESPN and produced a series of talks to various technology groups as well as liaised multiple partnerships between various Disney organizations and CERN. I was invited to ATLAS in Geneva to be a special guest on a google-hangout with physicist, Steven Goldfarb and theorist, Carlos Salgado.
Created and led the Disney-wide Emerging Technology Community to help foster synergistic and collaborative opportunities, knowledge sharing, and technologies of possible interest to the various R&D teams across Disney.
Created and led a Walt Disney Animation Studios + ESPN partnership comparing content development strategy for film verses topical news. Interactive and Beyond, Part I: Animation's Creative Storytelling Process by Bryan Davidson, Sr. Creative Executive. Interactive and Beyond, Part II: The ESPN Creative Storytelling Process by myself and five other award-winning content creators.
While at ESPN, I ideated and mentored a Connected Experiences’ Imagineer on a mobile sports and fitness game experience for the parks.
While at Disney Studios, I was asked to be an industry mentor to students’ content productions, pre-prod and on-set.
Established a multidisciplinary studio class with other ESPN design leaders and RISD partners exploring the concept of fandom.
The ESPN + RISD multidisciplinary studio class final presentations to ESPN business products.
Original Content and the Creative Process - Presented to an interdisciplinary studio class with Bryan Davidson, Sr. Creative Executive from Disney Animation Studios.
Interactive Text - Digital Media Final Presentations invited by Professor Rafael Attias.
Personality Disorders and the Artists - Illustration Midterm Presentations invited by Professor Oren Sherman.
An event for women who code! was held at Stanford University. I was a mentor to the competing teams. Submissions were judged by editorial and product executives from ESPN, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and educators from Stanford.
Organized and hosted the webcast for the first-ever TEDWomen event on ESPN’s campus.
ESPN Original Digital: Superbowl MVPs
ESPN E-Ticket: Death Race - Flash
ESPN E-Ticket: The Real Frozen Tundra
ESPN Outside the Lines: Sincerely Lou
ESPN Outside the Lines: YouTube Baby
ESPN Original Digital: Mayne Street
ESPN E-Ticket: An UnAmerican Tragedy
ESPN E-Ticket: Don't be like Mike
ESPN E-Ticket: Love at First BEEP
ESPN.com: Best Sports Website
Walt Disney Studios: Disneymoviesanywhere.com
ESPN.com: Best Sports Website
ESPN Original Digital: Mayne Street
ESPN E-Ticket: Haunted by the Horns
ESPN E-Ticket: An Un-American Tragedy
ESPN Collegegameday.com
Leadership
Creative Leadership in Exhibition Design
Team Accomplishment
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