Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Deborah Woznicki, CEO of REACH OUT AGENCY. She speaks about her experiences and insights regarding various aspects of her career, including gaming influencer management, marketing and leadership, her entrepreneurship, along with personal reflections on finding balance and fulfillment. Read more about Deborah in this interview:

Hi Deborah! Your current role as CEO of Reach Out Agency focuses on gaming influencer management. How do you see the intersection of gaming, influencer marketing, and social impact evolving in the coming years, and what role does Reach Out Agency play in this landscape?

This might be the worst possible time to admit that I probably say “I hate gaming” at least once a week, only to then pour myself a fifth decaffeinated coffee because my doctor has banned caffeine. But what gives me new grey hairs and coffee withdrawal every month is also what makes gaming and its communities so special. It’s where a parasocial bond with your favorite influencer meets an equal passion and poof, you have a target group that isn’t just passionate about one thing, no, gaming communities like to go the extra mile. Which of course doesn’t always turn out positively, but that’s what makes it exciting. However, what can be realized with so much passion and loyalty are of course campaigns that go beyond simple consumption. I’m a big sucker for multi-level campaigns that don’t just do the bare minimum, but awaken real emotions in you and create a lasting connection. Take classical music with a pinch of gaming, for example, and you have a “campaign” that touches people of all ages and brings generations together, such as the live Let’s Play concert by Lost Ember and Journey we had the pleasure to work on at the Elbphilharmonie on 13 February 2024. With REACH OUT, we want to create more of these opportunities for brands outside of gaming, which is why we have long ceased to be a pure gaming influencer management agency and have been a 360-degree marketing agency for a while now. 

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Laura Kaltenmaier, CEO & Co-Founder of GameBoot. Laura speaks about how her background in architecture influences her approach to game design, advocating for diversity and change, and navigating the transition from creative roles to leadership positions. Read more about Laura in this interview:

Hi Laura! As someone having a degree in both Animation & Game, and Architecture, how has your background in architecture impacted and shaped your approach to game design?



Architecture and Game Development have a lot in common. The Projects are developed for people with specific needs and tastes in mind. Building is a team effort with lots of moving parts and people involved, just like games. So there are plenty of topics, themes, and things that translated well or inform my way of approaching game projects to this day.

My main focus has always been on Design, both visual and conceptual. That’s also a reason why I moved on from architecture. The “real world” can be very restrictive for creatives. And I just wanted to do and learn more. Explore different scenarios and worlds instead of drafting the same apartment complexes and office buildings over and over again.

Still, I would say that studying architecture and sticking with it prepared me even better for the reality of being a game developer than my second bachelor’s degree. The curriculum for architects is great for forming multi-talents with a broad view of social, political, and technical topics. And aspects like budgeting, project, and resource management are very much comparable.

The most important thing I learned in architecture school for the rest of my creative career is, how to create a concept.
A lot of people have a lot of great ideas, but how do you develop a product out of this initial spark? That is a lot of hard work, iteration, and re-evaluation. Architecture school taught me to be in love with the concept and the process. Getting rid of ideas, models, sketches, and texts over and over to get the best possible outcome, is a constant reality in production.

As a game artist, which was my main focus before taking on the role of CEO, I draw a lot of inspiration from architecture, classical art, and nature. I don’t like to reference games too heavily even though I certainly have favorite concept and game artists. Making games for me is about creating an experience. I love exploring myself and crafting an engaging environment and world, that is believable and has a huge impact on all other areas of gameplay. Playing with a sense of scale, non-euclidian spaces, very nostalgic surroundings, or all-together alien locations can vastly impact the emotional starting point of the player. Architectural styles can communicate cultural heritage, a sense of time and place, and have a huge potential for game designers to use them as tools, to tell their stories on a subconscious level or via environmental storytelling.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Sandra Friedrichs, Content Creator. Sandra speaks about how her personal struggles led her to understand the therapeutic, but also potentially harmful aspects of gaming, inspiring her to advocate for mental health awareness within the gaming community through her content creation. Read more about Sandra in this interview:

Hi Sandra! How did your early experiences in gaming journalism impact your overall career in the gaming industry? What important skills or lessons have you learned that help you adapt to the ever-changing nature of gaming and content creation?

Back in my early days diving into gaming journalism, I made it my mission to break out of my comfort zone. Instead of sticking to what I knew, I dove headfirst into every gaming genre out there. From strategy games to racing, I was open for any game. This willingness to explore broadened my gaming horizon. Sure, I’ll always have a soft spot for Sims and JRPGs, but I’ve learned that every genre brings its own flavor to the table. This openness helped me to adapt to the ever-evolving world of gaming and content creation. It has taught me that there’s no one-size-fits-all in gaming—each genre has its own charm waiting to be discovered. And that’s the kind of passion I want to bring to my work, spreading the joy of gaming to everyone, gamer or not.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Mafalda Duarte, Studio Director and Producer at Telescope Games. She speaks challenges and opportunities in the Portuguese game scene through community work, and underscores the importance of communication, respect, empathy, and vision for effective leadership in game development. Read more about Mafalda in this interview:

Hi Mafalda! From your background in Multimedia Art to your current role as Studio Director and Producer at Telescope Games. Can you share a pivotal moment or project that helped you transition into the gaming industry, and how your artistic background has influenced your work in game development?

I always wanted to become an artist and make projects bigger than myself. That artistic journey led me to art multimedia as a path to explore creativity in different mediums: photography, video, audio, design, and particularly animation. I loved how animation felt like breathing life into art, creating movement out of pencil strokes, and the collaborative aspect of an animation project. I wouldn’t say I had one pivotal moment in the gaming industry, but three key steps led me to the path I am on now.

The first was playing Lume by State of Play. This was the moment I realised the traditional animation skills and craft I was developing could be translated into games, and were, in fact, already being translated into games. Games were art, and I COULD make games.

The second was having people already in the industry welcoming me in. When other creative friends who crossed into games started to invite me to their projects, game jams, conferences and meetups, I felt like I BELONGED in the game industry.

And the third was accepting I was already MAKING games. My first job at Leleh Land as an interactive designer taught me a lot of the same logic of game design, how to guide the players and make interactions meaningful, fun and engaging while accessible. 

Through these experiences, I developed an inclusive perspective of what video games can be, using my art background to explore references beyond games for myself and my teams, always pushing for accessibility, inclusion and diversity, in our techniques, stories, gameplay and audiences.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Karla Reyes, Founder & Studio Director at Anima Interactive. She speaks about her journey from the financial technology industry to game development and emphasizes the importance of mentorship while sharing insights and advice for aspiring professionals in the gaming industry. Read more about Karla in this interview:

Hi Karla! From working in the payments industry to becoming a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient and working in the games industry. What inspired you to transition into this creative space, and what valuable skills from your past career did you bring with you?

I had always sought to pursue a career path that combines my love of art and technology; however, as the daughter of working-class immigrant parents, I was unfortunately discouraged from cultivating a profession in the arts due to potential lack of economic security. Upon graduating from university, I worked in the financial technology space to pay off student loans but constantly craved a more creative outlet. I’ve been a lifelong gamer but truthfully hadn’t really considered video game development as a career path until I watched the film Her during university and was inspired by Amy Adams’s character who is a video game designer. It was cool to see a woman game developer represented in the media like that. It was around this time that I began teaching myself programming more seriously with the goal of making my own small games. I will unashamedly admit that I finally decided to take the leap and try to break into the video games industry when I was tens of hours deep into Breath of the Wild and reminded of the power of this immersive art form. I haven’t looked back since. 🙂

That said, I am grateful for my experience working in another industry. I generally think it’s valuable to work in multiple industries throughout one’s career because it gives you unique perspectives that can be refreshing in certain contexts. When I worked in payments, I helped develop products that reached billions of people globally. Understanding how to design and execute experiences at that scale helped when I transitioned to developing games for large studios such as Square Enix and Niantic that have millions of players across the globe. Beyond that, I acquired valuable transferable knowledge and skills including but not limited to: 1) agile software development and flexibility/adaptability to change, which are crucial in the inherently iterative world of game dev 2) technical proficiency and literacy (e.g. system design and software architecture) 3) user research and human-centered design and 4) cross-discipline collaboration.

Last but certainly not least, I was quite fortunate to participate in a leadership development program early in my career, and my learnings from that experience have been invaluable in my career in games. I’ve observed that studios do not always invest in mentoring and training junior talent, often leaving those who are interested in assuming leadership responsibilities with little resources or direction on how to grow. 

I used to joke that I was ‘selling my soul’ while working in financial technology, but I’m truly grateful for many of my takeaways from that experience and recognize how it has shaped my perspective.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Stefanie Curth, UI Artist at InnoGames. She speaks about the importance of adapting and learning new skills, overcoming mental health struggles, and encouraging others not to give up on their passions. Read more about Stefanie in this interview:

Hi Stefanie! How did your background in digital media and games, combined with your journey in the industry, contribute to your unique approach as a UI Artist?

I was the artsy kid growing up. If you do something everyday for years you get better at it and people noticed my “talent”. I was also a super awkward child in social situations and drawing was something where I could connect with people. They started talking to me and gave me compliments. Appreciation was something I was not used to so it encouraged me.
I always knew that I wanted to work as an artist – also I thought this was the only thing I was good at. In my teens I discovered my love for games and I have wanted to work on them since. I never thought of myself as an UI artist though. If you think of game art you think of concept art, especially character design and illustrations. That’s what I wanted to do and started looking for a university to study games. Back in 2009 the only public university advertising “games” was in Trier so I moved 8h away from my hometown. In the end it turned out to be only one course of character design and storyboard in one semester. The whole “study games” part was greatly exaggerated and seemed like more of a hobby to some professors. What I found instead though was an extremely diverse degree program. Suddenly I had a ton of different directions I could develop myself into. It broadened my mind to all the possible working fields in design and art.

Even though I loved to do all the different courses I still had only one goal. In 2013 I moved to Hamburg to study the first public games master I could find back then. This actually turned out to be exactly what I wanted to do – developing a prototype in a team over the course of one year. The education part was lacking but I gathered my first actual development experiences during this project and many Game Jam’s.
I wanted to gather experience at an actual games company as well. Making a livelihood with the thing I love instead of random service jobs and also getting my foot in the door. Since I had to gather some of my university credits through an internship as well, I started applying for open positions.

It so happened that at the same time some friends of mine started their own games studio and began development on their first game, “Sir Eatsalot”. They were looking for someone to help with concept art and 2d animation. While not a paid position, there was a profit sharing model and I could gather my missing university credits. In the end I worked on this project for almost 3 years, staying until the game was finished. I discovered my love for 2d frame by frame animation and finally did character design for a “real” game.
During the same time a group of people I knew from my university also started a company and were looking for an illustrator for their game “Orwell”. This project was actually paid and the style was really lovely so I applied and got a part time position. It was another step in the right direction. This project was so successful that I worked as a freelancer on the sequel one year later.

I had a small team of talented people for the Game Jam’s I participated in. They started a company during this time as well and I began to work as jack of all trades for them. At some point we wanted to actually publish one of the Jam games “Doki Doki Ragnarok” on a bigger scale on Steam and mobile. This was the first published game where I did the art direction and worked on everything art related, from concept to advertisement and also UI.

With “Sir Eatsalot” and both “Orwell” games coming to an end in 2018 and finishing my master’s thesis in 2019 I started to look for a full time position intensely. After working in 4 different teams I learnt one thing about myself: I love to work broadly diversified. I appreciate doing concept art, illustration, 2d animation, 3d, getting into various art styles but also advertisement and print – in the end it boils down to learning new things constantly.
In the same sentiment I started to apply for different jobs. My portfolio was a reflection of my diverse work. Looking back now I understand why it was so difficult to find a job in a bigger company where you need specialized people.
I applied to all major studios in Hamburg. This didn’t work out so I tried in other parts of Germany and even Europe.

At some point a friend asked me why I’m not looking for UI positions. Up to this point I had never seen myself as a UI artist. Sure I had done UI before but more as a “needs to be done” subject where I always felt like I lacked the knowledge and deep understanding to be good at it. I also had the feeling that it’s not working on the “actual” game anymore. In my head it was pure conceptual work, menu design and placing buttons, even after my fully illustrated UI in “Doki Doki Ragnarok”.
Nonetheless I started to apply for UI positions and to my surprise I got invited to multiple trial works and interviews in a short amount of time.

How your daily work looks like as an UI artist totally depends on the project you are working on. In my case my wide spread portfolio and interests as well as my strong focus on illustration got me the job I’m in now. Yes, I do my fair share of conceptual work, mockups and placing buttons but they are actually fun to do. I mostly work on event games inside of the big game, almost like a lot of big Game Jams. I don’t have to commit to one thing and I can still do concept art, illustration and 2D animation and most importantly I learn new things every day.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Annina Melissa, Music Designer & Composer for Games. Annina speaks about transitioning from a gaming-centric upbringing to translating games, leading her to discover a passion for creating music for the gaming industry. She emphasizes the collaborative nature of game music, discusses challenges in non-linear composition, and advises aspiring game composers to prioritize collaboration over ego. Read more about Annina in this interview:

Hi Annina! Your career spans across both the music and gaming industries. Could you share a pivotal moment in your journey where you realized your passion for merging music with gaming, and how did that influence your career path?



I grew up in a big family and we had a lot of different consoles, so I’ve always loved playing games. Even when I was a child I paid special attention to game music and would replay certain chapters if it contained a piece I loved. 
Fast forward, I came back from a bigger tour and needed a job to bridge the gap until the next tour. I found work translating games and from then on I thought ‘I could do music for games’. So I learnt as much as I could and worked in different studios, which exposed me to a variety of methods and workflows. Game tech develops so quickly, and every project is different, so the learning never really stops. 
Whereas I’m full-time employed at a studio, I still write music in my spare time too. One of my songs is actually playing in the finale of the new season of BBC’s Silent Witness.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Sophie Baker, Head of Operations at Lessmore. Sophie discusses how global experiences shaped her management approach, emphasizes empathy and communication for diverse teams, highlights the inclusive environment at Lessmore, and advises aspiring talents to align career choices with personal goals. Read more about Sophie in this interview:

Hi Sophie! Your career has led you to diverse locations, including Germany, the United Kingdom, and the US. How have these international experiences influenced your perspective on the gaming industry, and have they shaped your approach to managing diverse teams in a global setting?

Getting the chance to working with teams all over the world definitely had an impact on how I view the games industry. There are many differences between work ethics, expectations and requirements per country. In Germany, most people (not all) try to have clear boundaries between job and private life. This means they are happy to do their hours, but then aim to spend quality time with their families and friends when done. The labour laws do support this approach and thus it’s a vital part of understanding how to manage teams in Germany. In other countries, e.g. the social security systems might not be made to allow this idea, therefore employees may be more dependent on their jobs, or a certain proficiency level has to be reached to ensure a good reputation within the village. I’d say in order to manage diverse teams globally, empathy for the person’s/team’s individual circumstances and communication are main factors for success. Once you got the information on how things tick, and what motivational motives and goals are, you can manage more efficiently.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Narin Yousef, Co-Founder & Game Designer at Aftnareld. She speaks about transitioning from a Laboratory Technician to Co-Founder & Game Designer and highlights the impact she hopes their games will have on fostering connections and empathy. Read more about Narin in this interview:

Hi Narin! Transitioning from a Laboratory Technician to a Co-Founder & Game Designer is quite a shift. Do you see an intersection of science and art in game design, and how has this unique blend of skills contributed to the distinctiveness of Aftnareld’s game projects?

There is definitely some intersection! Chemistry and other forms of science can definitely need a type of creativity to figure out new solutions and methods. But what I mostly took with me from that world into my game design work is the methodical and structured way of working. Through my studies and the laboratory work I’ve learned to be meticulous and organised, and I think our Game Design Doc and other design sheets reflect that. The same analysing mindset I used for working at the lab sets in while designing as well, as I like to think through all possibilities I can think of before deciding upon a certain design choice. It may have led to a bit of a slower development time for us, but it’s been an important learning curve for us to experiment with different ideas and angels, also test our game with other people early and a lot, to find and polish the unique and fun parts of our game.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Jenny Tesch, CEO and Digital Artist of Totally Not Aliens. She talks about her path from computer science to founding her own company, highlighting the significance of diverse skills in smaller teams, balancing her CEO role with a passion for graphics, and encouraging gender diversity in the gaming industry. Read more about Jenny in this interview:

Hi Jenny! Could you share some insights into how your educational background in Computer Science and Virtual Design, combined with your early experience as a 3D Artist, shaped your path towards founding your own company in 2017?

Very early on, I decided that I would like to develop games as a career. However, when I did my Abitur in 2004, university programmes in game development were rare in Germany, and most of them were quite expensive. So I started studying computer science at the then still called Technical University of Karlsruhe (now KIT), did my Vordiplom in it and switched to Virtual Design in Kaiserslautern some time after, as I really wanted to get a better grasp of the graphical side of game development and had realised that I didn’t want to work purely as a programmer.

Both while working at Cooee during my studies in Kaiserslautern and afterwards at Upjers, I realised how valuable my computer science background was for the development of graphics in games and I think that was also one of the reasons why I was asked to step in for the head of the graphics department when she went on parental leave after I had been working there for barely six months. I believe that this time in particular helped me a lot to develop the confidence to set up and run our own studio.

In game development, many areas intertwine and an understanding of the processes behind them and the work of the other development areas, in my opinion, contributes greatly to the development of good games. While experts in certain areas are definitely an important part of game development, I think it’s especially important in smaller teams to have experience in many areas of game development.