Martha Blanding is the first Black American to achieve a half-century-long career with the Walt Disney Company, and she was inducted into the Hall of Fame in August of 2024.
“I’m just an ordinary Black girl from South Central Los Angeles who had an amazing job at the Walt Disney Company and I would do it all over again,” she said in her acceptance speech at the ceremony.
However, back in the 1970s her career didn’t start so smoothy.
“I drove over to Disneyland, went to the employment office, went up to the counter and the castmember came up and asked ‘Can I help you?’ I said ‘Yes, I would like to apply for a job.’ He looked at me and said, ‘We don’t have any jobs here for you.'”
That didn’t stop her.
Blanding applied and got hired on as a tour guide and worked her way up to a senior manager.
Fast forward 50 years, and even though she’s retired, she’s never far from her Disney family, as she still mentors those looking to follow in her footsteps.
About once a month, or once a quarter, she and three others she’s dubbed “the elders” meet with a group of young Disney employees and help guide them with career advice and more.
“That’s why I feel like this is my home forever,” she told KTLA 5’s Annie Rose Ramos.
After each day at Disney, she looked forward to coming home to her family in Altadena; however, the house she once shared with her twin Mary is now it’s a pile of rubble.
Tragically in January, the Disney legend was one of the many Southern California residents who lost her home in the Eaton Fire.
“It hurts so bad the way that it was taken away from us and I’m sure that there are others who feel the same way,” she said holding back tears. “It was something that, [there] was nothing that we could do about it. You couldn’t do anything but get out of the way so that you don’t get hurt or get killed.”
Many black families moved to Altadena to build generational wealth. About 40 years ago, the Blanding sisters moved there from Compton to make the same dream become a reality for their family.
And while they lost their home, they are grateful they survived the Eaton Fire.
“I want to be in my own home. I want to be in my kitchen, in my bedroom and in my study,” Blanding said through her tears. “Who wants to be in somebody else’s home? I want to be here.”
On the night of the fires, the sisters frantically evacuated and had to leave many things behind, including Blandin’s Disney Legends Award.
“My award, it was heavy, so I couldn’t pick it up and bring it to the car. I said, ‘We’ll be back, so I’m not going to worry about it.’ We really thought that we were going to be able to come back home. And then the wind changed.”
Blanding had an emotional return to where her home once stood in Altadena.
“You work hard for what you had or what you got, now it’s all gone,” she said.
While the days seem dark, Blanding is finding strength through her home away from home.
“Annie, people at Disney have reached out to me and my family, and they’ve been amazing. It’s like it’s coming back from them,” she said getting emotional. “You know, that happy place, it’s coming back, helping one of their cast members. To get through this part of the process, you’re going to cry, and you’re going to cry a lot, and it hurts a lot, but we’re going to make it. We’re going to be fine.”
Disney said they are going to make her a new award to replace the one that burned down.
In the meantime, Blanding has come out with a book that chronicles her life story as a cast member at Disney. It’s called “Groundbreaking Magic: A Black Woman’s Journey Through The Happiest Place on Earth.” and is available everywhere.
