They say the bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you refuse to take the turn. For Kent Muscaro ’81, this message rings loud and clear as he has faced not one, but several “bends” on his road to becoming the Director of Finance at Walt Disney World. Much like the road has its bends, success is not linear either – so, where did Kent begin?
In 1980 Brother Muscaro was a chemistry student at West Virginia, looking to become a pharmacist because he “was told” to be one by someone along the way. Without a clear sense of purpose behind him, this son of a welder and loving mother went from chasing a degree – something neither of his parents had – to falling apart. Looking back, Kent thinks he was just “immature and not disciplined” with “a lot of misaligned priorities.” A boiling point was reached after nearly 4 years of struggling in school, before the dean essentially advised Kent to change paths altogether.
“Ouch” is how Kent put it.
Working-man-blues erupted as Kent was now out of school, working minimum wage jobs while juggling the part-time gig of trying to “figure out where [he] was supposed to be.” If his 20s weren’t frustrating enough, he was soon seeing fraternity Brothers (he once considered himself equal to) buying cars and getting married; Meanwhile, for Kent, “pizza and a pitcher of beer on a Friday night was ‘living it up.’”
Enough was enough as Muscaro eventually drew a line in the sand, deciding to go back to school for accounting. A novel idea, however, Kent’s grades weren’t in an ideal state for this comeback … yet. Kent took the path less traveled by attending a community college to rewrite his life’s story one letter grade at a time. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but Kent eventually got his accounting degree after 8 years of adversity.
Things seemed to have taken off from there, as Kent got a chance in the financial career field at Deloitte from a fellow West Virginia alumni. From there, Muscaro got his CPA while working full-time before eventually landing a job with Disney.
As the current Director of Finance for Walt Disney World, Kent oversees finances for Disney parks, entertainment, and more. This step forward brought several more with it, as Muscaro soon met his wife, Kelly, through their work. “The day we were married, West Virginia upset Cincinnati in the NCAA tournament” Kent shares, adding how he remembers that game every year on their anniversary.
It took a few years of hard work and soul searching, but after refusing to give up on himself time and time again, Muscaro embodies perseverance, discipline, and achievement on almost every level of life. However, much like how we can’t overlook how Rome was not built in a day, we must not forget the trials and tribulations that make us who we are.
While it’s hard to see what once was these days, Kent’s humble beginnings are even more admirable with time. Since starting with Disney and getting married, he has obtained an MBA from Duke University and now has 6 children of his own. For someone who used to live for a cheap drink and slice of pizza, a new pie in the sky has surely appeared.
