Search Results
Your search for "community" returned the below results for sessions and speakers.
Marlena Abraham (they/them) is based in Pittsburgh, PA where they work as a Lead Designer at Steel Wool Studios. With nine years in the industry, Marlena specializes in designing gameplay systems to complement and enhance a game's vibe and story. Their credits include Security Breach: Ruin, Help Wanted 2, I Expect You to Die 2: The Spy and the Liar, and a variety of other VR/AR, location-based, and educational projects. Marlena is also a member of the organizational team for Bit Bridge, a community group for game developers based around Pittsburgh.
Lyn is a Senior Community manager with 8 years experience working in the games. Industry. Currently working at Noodle Cat Games, she specializes in launching new IPs and building healthy communities and growing brand awareness from zero. In her free time, she is a mental health advocate and industry mentor across a number of organizations.
As a game developer who specializes in narrative design, implementation, and programming. Jarory inspires his colleagues and next generation developers through collaborative projects and teaching game development. As a developer, he has worked on properties such as Madden, Marvel, and Star Wars as both a Narrative and Technical Designer. He dedicates his spare time to a Hip-Hop RPG, which he describes as a passion project. He has participated in multiple game jams including global game jam and train jam. As a developer of color, he seeks to amplify minority voices through inclusive design, unique perspectives in narrative, community service, and activism. Jarory is also a community organizer for Black in Gaming (BiG) and a member of the Latinx in Gaming community, as well as President of the Board for Global Game Jam. His current studio, Coquito Games, is the culmination of his years of experience and passion for telling stories from under-represented voices.
Mika is Director of Community at Gay Gaming Professionals and co-chair of AAPI in Gaming. They are actively involved in building communities through DEI&B efforts across the industry and helping developers feel welcome in spaces. They previously worked on Throne & Liberty, Bit Heroes and held global events for games such as Insurgency Sandstorm. They graduated from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) with a BA in Anthropology.
Video Community Manager & Livestream Host for Behaviour Interactive for Dead by Daylight - based out of Montreal, QC. Dork has more than 6 years of applicable social media and digital marketing experience. Passionate about building up player communities with fresh ideas and organizational skills to create innovative social media campaigns that increase player acquisition, retention, engagement, and community sentiment. She is excited to grow within a team of creative individuals. Let's create together.
Kelli Dunlap, PsyD, MA is the executive director at Take This, the original mental health and games non-profit. She brings on over a decade of experience working at the intersection of mental health and games, including esports, community management, and game design, and uses this experience to inform and drive Take This' mission. In addition to her work at Take This, Dr. Dunlap is a licensed clinical psychologist, holds a Masters in Game Design, and serves as a researcher-in-residence at American University's Game Center. She is an award-winning game designer and has collaborated on game design projects with organizations including the National Institute of Mental Health, UNESCO, VOX Media, and U.S. Congressional staffers. Dr. Dunlap is an internationally recognized researcher and speaker on the intersection of games and mental health, especially pertaining to mental health representation in games and ethical game design.
With over 18 years in hospitality and experiential marketing, Abbie Hamilton has built a career centered on creating spaces where people feel seen, valued, and connected. Currently the Co-Founder of AAPI In Gaming, Abbie heads up Brands, Partnerships and Experiences and is the founder of The Inner Lantern, a sanctuary for mental health, healing, and well-being for the AAPI Community and beyond. Her background spans in hospitality, global brand experiences, and inclusive community-building. Through every project, Abbie continues to champion belonging, authenticity, and the power of shared stories to bring people together.
Nick Hartman is an Audio Producer and Communications Manager working within the wonderful world of game audio. He currently serves with the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), where he supports the Guild’s efforts to foster community and celebrate excellence in interactive audio. Having worked with clients including SEGA, Firaxis Games, Riot Games, Wizards of the Coast, and more, Nick is passionate about supporting the creative ventures of the gaming industry while cultivating welcoming spaces where talent can thrive.
Sarah Hays (she/her) is a doctor of counseling psychology and licensed mental health counselor in Washington State. Her passion for serving the gaming community has been clear since before she started working for Take This in 2018, where she serves as the Accelerate Program Manager – providing revolutionary mentorship to marginalized individuals seeking to bridge their careers between games and mental health. She also delivers live, educational content like workshops, panels, and co-hosts Take This' Twitch stream. Never satisfied with limiting herself to serving one part of the gaming community, Dr. Hays is an outpatient therapist for the game-based mental health nonprofit Save Point Behavioral Health, specializing in working with games industry, ADHD, and LGBTQIA+ populations. She has served as the Director of Programming for Queer Women of Esports, as an advisor for the Games Hotline, and is one of the editors of the groundbreaking book A Clinician's Guide to Geek Therapy. She has authored a number of other works, including a chapter in Video Games and Well-Being and The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: The Witcher. She will be releasing her first solo-edited book this fall, The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Black Mirror.
Patrick LeMieux is a media artist, game designer, electronic musician, and associate professor in the Cinema and Digital Media Department at the University of California, Davis. His research and teaching engage game studies, media theory, and art making to explore the material practices and community histories of play, from speedrunning, modding, and esports to installation art, modular synthesis, and alternative control. He is the co-author of Metagaming with Stephanie Boluk and the creator of small games like Footnotes, Triforce, and the Octopad, an eight-player controller for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Daniel Lin is a Tech Artist at Schell Games, co-founder of Ludoko Studios, and an organizer for Bit Bridge, a local game development community in Pittsburgh, PA. Dan usually wears a lot of hats including working with art performance and optimization, figuring out art pipelines and tools, shaders, visual effects, low poly modeling, pixel art, and more. He has participated in over 30 Ludum Dare online game jam events and helps organize the Global Game Jam event in Pittsburgh.
Sandy is a creative team leader with decades of industry experience as a video game developer. As an Art Director, she is well experienced in articulating artistic visions with clarity, meaning and purpose. Sandy supervises the visual directions across all the art disciplines worldwide ranging from concept art, character design, environment, set dressing, VFX, lighting to cinematics. Her role is to steer production pipeline and hire quality developers. She finds opportunities to partner with other development disciplines to constitute creative pillars, drive toward a singular vision, and strategize through technical and artistic lenses. Sandy is an energetic leader who values and fosters an open, inclusive and collaborative team dynamic that provides creative freedom within set boundaries to ensure her team reaches the highest level of innovation, productivity and quality. Sandy's past experience as an individual content contributor on various game genre has provided solid foundations for her to become an intuitive and well-rounded art leader and manager in the video game and entertainment industry. She seeks growth both professionally and personally, and constantly adjusts to lead with courage, compassion, integrity and honesty. Sandy cares greatly about her community both at work and outside. She volunteers as a mentor and a coach to students, peers and women leaders in other organizations. Her hope is that positive influences will bring more diversity to the video game and entertainment industry. In her spare time, she stays physically active with her children who inspire her mindfully as they grow old together.
Wes McDermott is an artist who skillfully balances technical knowledge with artistic creativity. As a Creative 3D Evangelist & Community Advocate at Adobe, he is widely recognized as an expert teacher, sharing tutorials and tips through his YouTube and social media channels. Wes has also authored several books, including The PBR Guide: A Handbook for Physically Based Rendering, Real World Modo, and Creating 3D Game Art for the iPhone with Unity.
Matthew "Slim da Reazon" Parham is a Los Angeles based voice actor, photographer, poet, and musician born from Cincinnati, Ohio. His interest in Black literature, spoken word, rock, hip-hop, and jazz blend to become a language and lifestyle Parham calls AfroGrunge™. Duality, double consciousness, and the alternative Black experience are themes Parham explores across genre-blending visuals and performance mediums. Visually, this edgy style is replicated behind his lens through a photographic portrait approach, which relies heavily on darkness and light, black and white, and most often focuses on Black subjects or like-minded creatives. Parham is also a sought-after voice actor, nominated for a Society of Voice Art and Sciences Award in 2022, the VOA Unicorn Award and two One Voice Awards in 2024, with a client list including Marvel, MTV, MGM, PBS, Nike, and DSW. Matthew is most notably the Director of Operations for the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), where his advocacy includes lobbying on Capitol Hill and national panel appearances, while also serving as Community Liaison with the South Los Angeles arts gallery Range Gallery. Since 2017, Parham has been the MC in a 15-piece jazz hip-hop ensemble called The Urban Renewal Project, with whom he has toured nationally in 100+ shows. When he's not serving the voice-over community with NAVA, voicing projects, performing poetry, or making music, Matthew is finalizing a photography certificate at UCLA.
Susanna Pollack is the President of Games for Change, the leading global advocate for the power of games and immersive media as drivers of social impact. As a social entrepreneur and cross-sector leader, Susanna has over 25 years of experience advancing ambitious social impact goals through traditional and interactive media. At Games for Change (G4C), Susanna leads a global nonprofit and community dedicated to using games to tackle real-world challenges, from humanitarian conflicts to climate change and education. She has initiated dozens of G4C's world-class events, public arcades, design challenges, and youth programs in partnership with clients like Nobel Peace Center, Minecraft, Bezos Family Foundation, Google, Hasbro. Under Susanna's leadership, G4C has been widely recognized for innovative programs and cross-sector impact; receiving a Classy Award, an Anthem Award, a Shorty Impact Award, and an Engage for Good Halo Award. She has been named on the Nonprofit Times Power & Influence Top 50 List and the Worthy 100 List. Prior to Games for Change, Susanna worked across the commercial and public sectors, including a 14-year stint in various SVP positions at BBC Worldwide.
Simon is a hands-on community builder who helps turn ideas into action. He is actively involved in many game industry events across Austria and spent the past year working on Panta Rhei – Guardian of Time. Simon is also the founder of creAT and recently began teaching, sharing his experience with the next generation of developers.
Within Austrian Game Developers Association (PGDA), Simon serves as Vice Chair. The organization is dedicated to supporting, showcasing, and accelerating Austrian games, developers, and businesses, strengthening the country’s game development ecosystem.
Jesse Sell is a games industry partnership leader currently serving as Senior Director, Head of Games Business Development at Twitch. He leads strategic partnerships across publishers, developers, and esports organizations, shaping how games launch, scale, and build communities on live streaming platforms.
Over his career, Jesse has worked at the intersection of licensing, platform strategy, and go-to-market execution, helping global franchises drive audience growth and long-term engagement. He is particularly passionate about the convergence of community, commerce, and live service design. Outside of his day job, Jesse is an active tabletop and video game designer exploring systems-driven experiences and emergent multiplayer storytelling.
Justin Sousa is Roblox’s Head of Developer Community, where he has spent years building and leading a global network of millions of creators. He works closely with developers across the spectrum of game creation—from persistent worlds and breakout hits to first-time projects and emerging forms of digital culture—helping shape one of the largest creator ecosystems in games.
Prior to Roblox, Justin served as a spokesperson and producer at 2K, representing the company and its partners, including Turtle Rock Studios and Gearbox, on stages around the world through major events, launches, and industry presentations.
Justin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his studies explored comparative media and the evolving impact of social gaming and digital culture.
Matt Stevenson has worked as a Senior Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) for over 5 years where he directly assists studios in building, running, and growing games in the cloud. In addition to general cloud architecture, Matt specializes in generative AI and game streaming. He is a 2x AWS re:Invent speaker who also has a passion for exploring human skills such as connection, leadership, and collaboration in the age of AI. Arya: Arya Subramanyam is a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) based in Toronto, Canada, helping Independent Software Vendors architect and deploy cutting-edge generative AI solutions that push the boundaries of intelligent applications. Arya holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia. She specializes in multi-agent systems and production-ready AI architectures, and has presented on leveraging generative AI in gaming at multiple industry conferences including the AI & Games Conference in London, the International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2025) in Ottawa, and AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas. Arya actively contributes to the broader tech community through published technical blogs and thought leadership on emerging AI technologies.
Arya Subramanyam is a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) based in Toronto, Canada, helping Independent Software Vendors architect and deploy cutting-edge generative AI solutions that push the boundaries of intelligent applications. Arya holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia. She specializes in multi-agent systems and production-ready AI architectures, and has presented on leveraging generative AI in gaming at multiple industry conferences including the AI & Games Conference in London, the International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2025) in Ottawa, and AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas. Arya actively contributes to the broader tech community through published technical blogs and thought leadership on emerging AI technologies.
Maria Tamellini is an award-winning social impact entrepreneur working at the intersection of trust & safety, technology, and community health in games. She is the Co-Founder of GamerSafer, a company innovating in cross-platform identity and verification technology to strengthen player accountability, and manages Minehut, the largest independent Minecraft server network in the world. Maria is a driving force behind community-led initiatives like the Minecraft Official Server List and the DefenderNet Initiative, and has led collaborations with organizations such as the Thriving in Games Group, Common Sense Media, ECPAT International, Take This, WeProtect Global Alliance, and Stanford's Reach Lab.
Asim Tanvir is a 15 year veteran of the games and tech industry, he currently serves as Lead Marketing & Partnerships Manager at Kinetic Games, the independent studio behind the genre-defining horror game Phasmophobia. Asim has led marketing, community, and social for some of the biggest games publishers, spearheading campaigns both in‑house and agency-side with major brands including 2K, Konami, Zynga, CI Games and Deep Silver. His work spans some of the world's most popular game franchises including Dead Island, Saints Row, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Sniper: Ghost Warrior, Pro Evolution Soccer, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Contra, and many more. He is also a proud BAFTA member.
Dana Ware is the Founder and CEO of Hidden Realities, an immersive storytelling studio creating interactive worlds that blend physical environments with augmented and mixed reality. Her work focuses on transforming everyday spaces into living story worlds where audiences become active participants rather than passive viewers.
A pioneer in large-scale spatial entertainment, Dana has architected stadium-scale augmented reality platforms capable of synchronizing tens of thousands of participants in real time. Turning live sports and entertainment venues into shared digital experiences layered seamlessly over the physical world.
Previously, Dana served as Creative Director at The VOID, where she helped define the emerging field of location-based virtual reality. She led multidisciplinary teams developing premium immersive experiences in collaboration with global studios including Disney, ILMxLab, and Sony, integrating cinematic storytelling with real-time engines and spatial design.
In addition to leading Hidden Realities, Dana advises several XR startups on product vision, immersive systems design, and scalable creative strategy. Her work sits at the intersection of emerging technology, narrative design, and human connection, exploring how spatial computing can reshape how stories are experienced in the real world.
An internationally recognized Chicana director and advocate for inclusive innovation, Dana serves as Chair of the IGDA Women in Games+ Special Interest Group, a judge for the Webby Awards, and an Advisor to the Future Realities Summit at the Game Developers Conference, helping shape the future of immersive media through community leadership and mentorship. She is also a member of the Producers Guild of America and the Television Academy.
Ben Williams is President of Community Clubhouse and founder of Project0. With a background spanning film, games, and large-scale production technology, he has led high-throughput infrastructure environments where storage, versioning, and operational integrity were critical to delivering work at scale. His work now focuses on the structural realities of integrating AI into long-running production systems, with an emphasis on memory, authority, and accountable collaboration as AI becomes embedded across creative industries.