2025 Speakers
Sonia Michaels, Career Coach/Consultant, Independent
Sonia Michaels is a game industry educator, speaker, and career coach who has spent the majority of her 30+ year career working at the intersection of the Humanities and Game Development education. She is deeply committed to preparing game developers at all levels to build longer, healthier careers, avoid burnout, push back against crunch and toxicity, and transform the industry from within. Sonia has presented at GDC (2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024, and GDC Showcase 2024), PaxDev (2015, 2016, 2019), PAX (2023, 2024), GeekGirlCon (2017, 2019, 2024), and the New Directions in the Humanities International Conference (2018, 2019), among many others. In April 2023, she completed a three-year elected term on the Board of Directors of the IGDA (International Game Developers Association), and in June 2023, she was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award at the IndieCade Horizons Showcase (a partnership between IndieCade and HEVGA, the Higher Education Video Game Alliance).
