Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition we talked Astrid Refstrup, Developer Relations & Business Development at WINGS Interactive. She speaks about the ongoing importance of her education, the lessons learned from closing her own studio, and her efforts at WINGS to support under represented voices in the gaming, industry through transparency, and targeted initiatives.  Read more about Astrid here:
Hi Astrid! How has your diverse educational background in visual communication and law influenced your career path and provided unique perspectives that have shaped your professional growth in the games industry?

You are never really done educating yourself. Just after I finished my BA in visual communications at the Danish Design School, I felt it was all very useless and that I had wasted time. However, many times throughout my career, I have found myself needing old connections, reconnecting with former teachers, and using the skills I learned in ways I did not imagine. At the moment, I study law as a hobby alongside my day job at WINGS. Studying later in life is a huge gift, and I find myself learning faster and better today than when I was in my twenties. Like most in the games industry, my career path is not straightforward, but I keep being curious, and that is always important.

Given your experience founding Triple Topping Games and navigating its challenges, including its eventual closure, what ket lessons have you learned from this journey?

I have to make a GDC talk about this one day, and I still struggle to find the right words. The closing of Triple Topping was the lowest point of my career, and I often reflect on how I wished I had tackled some things better for the people who worked in my studio. I learned a huge life lesson about letting go. In hindsight, I should have closed the company when my premature baby and I were in the hospital. You can’t lead a good workplace when you are as unfit yourself as I was—that will always be a regret. While you can sympathize with my personal situation, it does not take away, that running a company is always your responsibility. If others are in similar situations, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m more than happy to support you with my personal perspective.

In your current role as Developer Relations & Business Development at Wings Interactive, how do you foster strong relationships with developers, and what initiatives have you implemented to ensure that underrepresented voices in the gaming industry are heard and supported?

I’m very transparent in the way I work with the teams in our portfolio and the developers who pitch to us. I know from my own experience running a studio that there is a lack of funding for female developers in the games industry, but there is also a knowledge gap. So we talk a lot about transparency on our team. It’s been amazing to join WINGS—they work on so many levels to change our industry. It can be partnerships with organizations or our WINGS Women’s Day Sale on Steam—I’m so impressed with Corina and Krista, who made all that possible, or our WINGS Award for female lead teams. I’m also very honored to work with our committee, which gives unique feedback to all games pitched to us.

Thanks for this interview, Astrid!

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories Feature by Madeleine Egger