Patrice Ragusa

Patrice's creative foundation was built across three of Los Angeles' premier design institutions — Cal Poly Pomona's School of Environmental Design (BS, Landscape Architecture with an Ornamental Horticulture minor), UCLA's College of Fine Arts, and the Art Center College of Design, where she received a Fine Arts scholarship. That convergence of disciplinary rigor and artistic instinct became the hallmark of everything she would go on to build.

Her entry into themed entertainment came with Universal Studios Islands of Adventure's Seuss Landing, where she served as Area Development Design and Construction Project Manager — responsible for bringing to life one of the most whimsically demanding landscapes ever designed for a theme park. The project's iconic topiary program, which required both specialist procurement and hands-on creative direction, earned the TEA Award for Best Theme Park in the World (1999) as well as multiple Florida Nurseryman's Association Awards. It was here that Patrice demonstrated what would become her signature: treating the landscape itself as a storytelling medium.

She then took that expertise to the global stage as Area Development Design and Construction Project Manager for Universal Studios Japan in Osaka — overseeing a $26 million exterior area development program for one of the largest theme park openings in Asia. Subsequent years brought resort-scale work including The Viceroy Anguilla in the British West Indies ($8.5M capital budget) and a seven-year tenure as Owner's Liaison and Landscape Architecture Design and Construction Manager for the Tavistock - Lake Nona Development Company in Orlando, earning ASLA Florida Awards of Merit in 2017.

Since returning to Universal in 2018 as Senior Manager of Planning & Area Development Design, Patrice has contributed to some of the most ambitious projects in Universal's history — including construction assistance for Universal Studios Beijing and, most recently, the design and construction of multiple land areas within Epic Universe, Universal's landmark new park in Orlando. Her work on the Dark Universe land stands as a testament to her mature artistry: sourcing trees with gnarled, haunted forms and twisted bark that seem to reach and recoil simultaneously, she built an exterior landscape that doesn't just surround the story — it is the story.