My First Panel!

This past Friday, I got to attend my first conference as a panelist! The Global Sports Business Forum is an event hosted by the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, featuring a wide array of talks and lectures on the state of the traditional sports world and how it intersects with entertainment, advertisements, gaming, and everything in between. I was there to speak about diversity in the gaming industry, with several other wonderful speakers including Anne Toole, Darion Lowenstein, and NathanLive. The panel was moderated by Kevin Winston from DigitalLA.

It was a great chance to check in with other areas of the entertainment field about where we are when it comes to representation, both real and perceived. The games industry in particular is a historically white male dominated field which can really limit the range of stories we tell, who tells those stories, and from whose perspectives. Things are objectively better than they were when I was a kid, but it’s only within the past 5 or so years that I’ve noticed a realistic range of ethnic hairstyles when it comes to character creation in MMOs, games where you can be anything from humans to dwarves to anthropomorphic animals and more!

Overall, this was an eye opening experience, especially hearing from people outside of gaming that are very aware of its earning potential. Businesses and brands everywhere want a piece of that pie, and they’re willing to tap into the latest tech to do it. The excitement surrounding generative AI technology was sobering to witness as an actor, and I’ll probably dive deeper into unpacking that in another post, but it’s important to be aware of how industries adjacent to your own are moving so you can stay relevant in an ever-evolving career!