New Kingsport Chamber employee reflects on time at Disney, returning home

KINGSPORT — Caroline Luethke traded in her Disney badge for an office in the Kingsport Chamber, bringing her back to Kingsport for the first time in about six years.At 25 years old, Luethke serves as the Kingsport Chamber's newest communications and events coordinator. She graduated from Dobyns-Bennett High School in 2015 and continued her education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Luethke graduated in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in English literature and a minor in political science.During her time in college, Luethke started her role as character performer at Disney World. She completed her junior year online while working in Florida but stayed as a seasonal employee to finish off her senior year. She would travel back to Disney on weekends and breaks from school as she was able.She befriended characters such as Anna, Snow White, Cinderella and Mary Poppins as a performer. Luethke called seeing the world through Disney's characters an "indescribable experience.""It was such an honor to be a part of such an iconic legacy that is Walt Disney and all the stories that he tells," Luethke said. "I got to use very innovative communication and animation techniques to portray these stories and immerse guests into the stories that he tells."Luethke acquired her master's in mass communication from the University of Florida through the Disney Aspire program. The Disney Aspire program allows full-time and part-time employees of the company opportunities to further their education.While working for Disney, she said interpersonal skills were an important part of the job, interacting with thousands of people in a day. She hopes to carry that over into her new role with the Kingsport Chamber."I think building those relationships, getting to know people and creating magic, it just gave me a love for communications and relationships and building all of that," Luethke said. "And I think that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be in communication."She is excited to work on her writing and website skills in the new role while learning from the best. Luethke said the community is unlike anything else, and she already loves being a part of it.As a Dobyns-Bennett graduate, Luethke said she streamed all of the football games on Friday nights while she was in Florida. She looks forward to getting to be there in person once again and support her hometown team.Little things like going into Food City and running into someone she knows or making small talk with others are just a few of the things Luethke missed while she was away from Kingsport — and also the food."I think I've eaten at Chef's Pizza like 18 times since I've been back, probably more than that," mentioned Luethke. "I think my first holiday back was Memorial Day, and getting to be with my family, because I've missed so many holidays, was irreplaceable and something that I really needed to be back to be able to do."Luethke hopes to bring what she learned from Disney and those characters into everyday life at her job; she said we all could use a little bit more magic.