Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Marlene Beilharz, Activist for Accessibility in Games & Author. She speaks about advancing accessibility in gaming through inclusive design, authentic disability representation, and improved game mechanics. Read more about Marlene here:

Hi Marlene! Your work has already spanned roles in usability testing, accessibility consulting, and storytelling. What advice would you offer to gaming industry professionals looking to embed accessibility into their work, even if they’re just beginning to explore inclusive design?

That’s right, I can only play with the help of a mini joystick, which I operate with my chin. This serves as a substitute mouse control but without the mouse wheel function and right-click. That’s why I usually only play games that I can manage without any help and possibly with an extra button for my arm. However, I am thinking about solutions to make games more accessible for people with different disabilities in the future. To achieve this, I test a lot of games and give feedback to the companies regarding possible barriers. I am still relatively new to storytelling. The first game I wrote, SARA – Story of a Young Thief, is still in the early stages of development. It is being realized barrier-free by Birnchen Studios.

I can only advise developers to familiarize themselves with the publicly available accessibility guidelines right from the start and ideally integrate those affected right from the beginning of the development process. To avoid barriers in the plotline, you should question whether quicktime events are relevant to the story or whether they can be replaced or skipped.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition, we collaborated with ESBD – eSport-Bund Deutschland e.V. and talked to Anna Baumann Esports Executive & Attorney at Law. She speaks about how she builds legal frameworks, sustainable brands, and strong communities while leading in the fast-evolving esports industry. Read more about Anna here:

Hi Anna! As an attorney specializing in esports, you navigate a complex landscape of contracts, governance, and intellectual property. How does your legal work contribute to the growth and stability of esports organizations, and what unique challenges do you face compared to traditional legal fields?

As an esports attorney, my work focuses on creating robust legal frameworks that enable growth while ensuring long-term stability for both teams and players. Esports is a dynamic, rapidly evolving industry where governance structures are still maturing, and traditional legal concepts often require adaptation. For example, contracts must account for unique issues like streaming rights, competitive restrictions, and revenue sharing from content or sponsorship deals.By ensuring contracts are clear, equitable, and enforceable, I help organizations and talent build trust—a foundation that’s essential in such a fast-paced, high-stakes environment. This stability attracts investors, sponsors, and skilled professionals, fostering sustainable growth for the entire ecosystem.

Compared to traditional fields, esports presents unique challenges. Governance is fragmented across publishers, leagues, and tournament operators, which can create inconsistencies in rules or arbitration processes. Intellectual property adds another layer of complexity, as game publishers retain significant control over their titles, meaning teams and players operate within IP ecosystems they don’t own. Additionally, the global nature of esports requires navigating cross-border legal and jurisdictional issues far more often than in other industries.

You also cannot underestimate how fast paced esports is. Having a decade of M&A experience in this industry under my belt, I cannot stress enough how crucial it is to have intimate esports knowledge to help close landmark deals in a much shorter time frame than in entertainment or sports, no matter if we are talking about the best players, mergers or sponsorship deals. As esports moves at lightspeed with the ever changing landscape of tournaments and its media distribution, it is important to enable your clients to quickly seize opportunities in order to stay ahead of the curve.

Ultimately, my role is to align the interests of stakeholders—whether that’s players, organizations, or publishers—so we can reduce conflict and unlock opportunities. By addressing these challenges head-on, I help esports organizations move beyond short-term successes to establish lasting legacies.

Under your leadership, Rogue became an internationally recognized esports brand, blending competitive success with community-driven initiatives. What key strategies did you implement to create a brand that resonates with fans, and how can newcomers contribute to shaping the future of esports communities?

Elevating the brand from a challenger to an internationally recognized level, we focused on three key areas which played to the strength of our staff and investors: Talent Development, entertainment and community. We developed a successful path to pro model where we scouted and developed outstanding talent on the regional level to then either transition to the international stage in our LEC team at a reasonable cost or monetize the investment via transfers. This area of sports monetization is still wildly underdeveloped as it requires specific expertise and agility in the transfer market and turned out to be a successful commercial model for us, which also allowed us to tell an inspiring story setting us apart from competitors with ultimately winning the LEC in 2022 and performing as best Western team at Worlds. With music legends investing in Rogue like Steve Aoki and Imagine Dragons, it was logical to focus on music entertainment crossovers where we offered brand partners quality and fans entertainment beyond the competitive aspect. However, none of these areas would have mattered if we hadn’t found a way to connect to the community with a unique and authentic voice. Esports is a socio-cultural phenomenon deeply entrenched in society and organizations are in a great position to offer a place of belonging to everybody who feels passionate about competitive gaming. At Rogue, we offered everybody a place to belong to, to become a Rogue and experience this passion through the lens of an underdog hero while embracing our own messaging internally as well: We were the only organization with a 50/50 split in female/ male employees, embracing a diverse work environment.

From a strategic point of view, I believe it is now key to think about relevancy plays in the community and beyond and to scale your organizational platform while offering scalable products and services around it. This has been the driving force behind the acquisition of KOI and making one of the biggest influencers on Twitch, Ibai Lllanos, the face of the club. Building a media platform and ideally having your own successful model of distribution via influencers seems to be the most promising model now to grow a meaningful community which other clubs like Karmine Corp, Eintracht Spandau and Los Ratones are pursuing.

As a newcomer, I would recommend finding your own voice and building a community on the back of it, very much like Caedrel, Kammeto or Hand of Blood. Fans are ready to engage locally and in person, to share and benefit from their joint passion.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition, we collaborated with ESBD – eSport-Bund Deutschland e.V. and talked to Julia Zhytska, Director Social Media at ESL FACEIT Group. She speaks about  empathetic leadership, the evolution of social media in esports, and balancing strategy with hands-on work during major esports events. Read more about Julia in this interview:

Hi Julia! As Director Social Media at ESL Faceit Group, what core leadership principles guide your approach? How do you foster an environment where your team stays both creatively driven and aligned with the strategic goals of the company, while meeting the high expectations of the esports community?

I am an empathetic, people-oriented leader, my team is always my priority. I focus a lot on listening and supporting the team, using my diverse experience in marketing and esports to provide strategic advice and tactical direction where needed, as well as soft leadership skills to make sure people in the team feel supported, motivated and empowered to do their best work.

On the other hand, I set a pretty high quality bar for myself and my team. I’d rather do less, but better and with more impact. At the same time, if someone makes a mistake, for me it’s a learning experience, both wins and failures help us improve and evolve together. I organise regular retrospective sessions and workshops to encourage identifying improvements and brainstorming innovative ideas.

Working in esports means always focusing on serving a passionate, but also demanding and diverse community. This can be both rewarding and challenging.
At EFG we are bringing our passion for gaming culture into the content we produce for gamers and esports fans around the world.

In my role, it’s also important to navigate a very dynamic environment where tasks and project priorities can change relatively quickly. As a manager, I focus on helping my team members adapt to change, build resilience, and find effective solutions to help us achieve our goals.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Kristen Quinn, Audio Director at Bonfire Studios. She speaks about the importance of balancing innovation with practicality, continuous learning, and advocating for sustainable work practices in game audio. Read more about Kristen here:

Hi Kristen! Throughout your career, you’ve worked on a variety of high-profile projects across different platforms and genres. What are some of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned about the creative process in game audio, and how do you stay inspired?

It doesn’t have to be cutting edge to be good. At different points in my career there have been different focuses. Sometimes it was about innovation and cutting edge systems and other times it was about being lean and efficient but just focusing on making it good. The more games I’ve worked on the more I’ve come to think of audio just needing to be good at every stage. Audio for games is the sum of it’s parts. It can fall down at any stage. I think its’ about staying in service of what you are trying to achieve. Maybe sometimes that is cutting edge innovation, but sometimes its’ just thinking about the story or experience you are trying to provide players. That’s how I think about sound and how to craft immersion. There are so may different ways to break this down. Who’s perspective are you trying to share? What feelings are you trying to sell? I might craft a scene completely different based on the answers to these questions. I might focus on new systems or I might use the tools I have come to use time and time again through out the years. I think at the end of the day it just needs to be what’s right for the project and players.

I keep myself inspired by experiencing other people’s work, by working on projects that matter to me, and with people who matter to me. I believe in community and sharing, and also find being in a community that does this very inspiring. I try and go to conferences when I’m able to be around the game audio community. I get inspired by seeing others succeed. I’ve made it a big part of my career to focus on trying to clear paths for others to do their best work with the least amount of friction and in a sustainable way.

I love recording. I try as much as I am able to participate in a Field Recording Slack group that does crowd sourced sound libraries. I take Udemy classes in my spare time to learn more about game engines that I’m excited to work in and to learn more about game development outside of my discipline.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Vera Velichko, CEO of Owl Studio. She speaks about her journey of founding “Owl Studio,” the challenges of balancing her creative work with business responsibilities, and emphasizes the importance of passion, happiness, and effective management in achieving success.Read more about Vera here:

Hi Vera! Founding “Owl Studio”, a game studio as well as publisher, without any investments is truly remarkable. Could you share the hurdles you encountered during the initial phases and the tactics you used to expand the studio to its current size (more than 50 team members)?

There were five of us in the beginning, all friends who was interested in trying to do something together. I believe first and most important power is the power of will. If you’d like to do something – you just do, and in process you’ll find all opportunities you need. In four months, after starting the studio, we have found our strategical partner, very experienced in business, who helped us to establish all the processes. It was my teacher and guide in business world.

I guess there are three parts of success: courage, fortune and experience. Money doesn’t have any significant meaning in this equation, it’s just the field you would play in. There are types of business you can’t open without investments, and other types you can just start with your own hands, and IT industry gives us plenty of opportunities for free start.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition, we collaborated with ESBD – eSport-Bund Deutschland e.V. and talked to Clara Dietrich, Team Lead Marketing & Communication at esports player foundation. She speaks about her role in marketing and communications, her transition from performance marketing to esports, and her passion for creating equal opportunities in the esports industry through initiatives like the Equal eSports Initiative. Read more about Clara in this interview:

Hi Clara! What’s a typical day like for you in your role as Team Lead Marketing & Communication, and how do you balance the different aspects of marketing, communication, and team leadership?

A typical day is fast-paced and varied. It usually starts with a team sync by checking all upcoming tasks for the day and distributing them to all team members. I also look at partner activations and see where improvements can be made. Simultaneously, I try to fulfil the needs of each partner by sending out regular updates. Managing relationships with our partners, and stakeholders is key, as well as driving the creative direction for content marketing. Balancing leadership with hands-on work means allocating time for strategic planning, mentoring team members, and ensuring open lines of communication. It’s about knowing when to delegate versus when to step in directly to ensure smooth execution.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Melanie Hauser, Game Developer at Aesir Interactive GmbH. She speaks about how persistence, continuous learning, and authentic communication helped her overcome early career rejections and thrive in game development, while her work has deepened her appreciation for games. Read more about Melanie here:

Hi Melanie! You mentioned that after graduating from your Master of Science (M.S.) in Media Informatics, you faced multiple rejections from game development studios before landing your current position at Aesir Interactive. Can you share how you stayed motivated during this challenging period and what personal or professional growth you experienced as a result of these early setbacks? Additionally, if you could give one piece of advice to yourself at the beginning of your career, what would it be?

I had just graduated and only had very little to show off, so I expected my application process to be rather tough. And it was. I can’t remember how many applications I sent out. Most of the time I was happy if I actually received an answer, even if it was a rejection, because more often than not I didn’t even get any response at all. After a while I gave up and started working as a programmer in a different industry. Not due to a lack of motivation, rather for pragmatic reasons. But every now and then I was still sending out applications when I found new vacancies at game studios – and finally was granted a chance to prove myself.

For me, the wish to make games evolved to be something I just knew I really really wanted in life. I felt that it will be my thing. A bit like when you fall in love with someone – you’ll just know that they are the right one. And if you feel this way, you won’t need any other motivation.

During all this time I tried to familiarize myself with tools and practices that are common for game development. That’s the most important advice I could give to myself back then – and it’s just as important when you have a job in the industry. Learning more, trying out the newest tech developments or finding those gems that were always there but which most people don’t know of – all of this can be very beneficial when making games. Even if the tools you try out are not what your future employer uses, gaining an understanding for core concepts and principles will help in any kind of project.

What I would also do differently if I got the chance: I would change the style and wording of my early applications. I had the impression that they would need to be rather formalized and overly polite, that it otherwise would look like I don’t take the job offer seriously. But eventually my applications became less formal, less strict, more playful – just more me. Of course you shouldn’t start off with “Yo duuude” but authenticity is so important. Especially when you don’t have a lot of hard facts to speak for themselves yet.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition, we talked to Rongfang Zhao, Lead Game Designer at Kolibri Games. She speaks about balancing her role as Lead Game Designer with her personal life, the importance of cultural diversity in game design, and key skills like collaboration, creativity, and self-reflection for aspiring game designers. Read more about Rongfang here:

Hi Rongfang! Can you describe what a typical day looks like for you as Lead Game Designer at Kolibri Games, especially as you navigate your return from maternity leave and balance the demands of leadership with your personal commitments?

Usually I start my work at 7 a.m. and have 2 hours of precious focus time before daily meetings. I use this time to do my own design tasks or think about next topics on the roadmap.

Before lunch, most of the time I’m in meetings, checking release status and current sprint progress, reviewing my team’s work, giving them directions or feedback, and having 1 on 1s.

After lunch break, I may need to support other departments, have workshops with other designers for big tasks, or test new features.

At 4pm, I finish work as Lead Game Designer and start my other job … parent! Finding a good work-life balance has been very manageable for me at Kolibri Games: I can work from home most of the time, which spares time from commuting. Additionally, my colleagues are very accommodating and understanding of why I need to leave work early. Finally, my manager is a great help with answering urgent questions when I am already out for the day.

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Audrey Gravier,  Co-Founder at Outsiders. She speaks about how her varied education and volunteer work have shaped her game development and leadership skills, her approach to incorporating Cairo’s culture into “Lost in Cairo,” and offers advice for young women entering the gaming industry. Read more about Audrey here: 

Hi Audrey! Your educational journey has taken you from HEC Montréal to NEOMA Business School and even fashion studies at ESMOD. How has this diverse educational background contributed to your unique perspective and skills in game development?

I’ve always known that one day I would want to start my own business, and these various experiences have allowed me to develop my artistic mindset without neglecting the financial and commercial management skills that I would need to build my studio. I believe that as a woman stepping into entrepreneurship, it’s important to be independent and have a 360-degree understanding of the challenges a business must face on a daily basis.

A game isn’t just about art and technique; to run a studio, you have to be comfortable with managing a business. Business school pushed me out of my comfort zone. I was a girl from the countryside, not used to meeting new people every day, but it made me more comfortable with networking, which has proven very useful to me today. After studying at HEC Montreal, I completed my financial degree with a communication/marketing degree at NEOMA, because viral communication is central to my strategy for getting noticed as an indie studio.