This International Women’s Day, Wooga is celebrating the brilliant women who have found success in the games industry.
Despite gaming being entertainment for everyone, women continue to be underrepresented in the industry.
The Game Developers Conference’s State of the Game Industry report 2024 found that men remain the majority in the industry (69%), with women making up 23% of people in the industry.
Wooga is proud to say we are committed to improving gender representation among our employees and, today, we are proud to have 41% female employee share within all leadership roles. We asked our very own female Woogas whether a female role model in gaming contributed to them joining the industry, and found that only 7% said ‘yes’ with the vast majority responding ‘no’. One of the reasons cited being that there was little coverage of the women making strides in the industry at that time when they were making their career decisions.
So, we asked prominent women in the industry — in a variety of roles — to nominate their heroes, to shine a spotlight on the titans of gaming who inspired them in their careers. Nine prominent women in the industry and rising stars shared their nominations, and the stories behind how these women inspired them or influenced them in their professional ambitions.
Kate Killick, Creative Lead at Glowfrog Games nominates: Siobhan Reddy, Studio Director at Media Molecule
Kate is a BAFTA-winning designer who worked on award-winning MUSH and was one of GamesIndustry.biz’s rising stars.
Kate says: “Siobhan is an inspiring role model for women in the games industry. I admire her not just for her fantastic leadership, but also for her willingness to support and lift up others — she’s never too busy to help those around her, despite all the demands of running a studio. Her presence truly makes our industry a better place.”
Rayla Heide, Franchise Narrative Director at Scopely nominates: Chanel Dawnée, Editorial Lead at Night School
Rayla previously worked as a Senior Narrative Designer for Blizzard. She is known for creating the character Yuumi, the magical cat in League of Legends, which became a fan favourite, especially with female gamers.
Rayla says: “My game dev hero is Chanel Dawnée. I’ve been lucky enough to get to collaborate with her across multiple projects and companies for nearly a decade. From leading the creative direction of a new project to giving advice to those breaking into the industry to holding leadership accountable, she is the first to speak up against injustices and advocate for others, especially those who don’t yet feel they have a voice. She always brings a deep empathy and joy despite the industry’s many obstacles, and her bravery is contagious.”
Sitara Shefta, Head of Studio at No Brakes Games nominates: Laura Dodds, Associate Art Director at The Chinese Room
Sitara is studio head with a background in games production. She was included in GamesIndustry.Biz’s 100 most influential women working in the UK games industry in 2019.
Sitara says, “Laura is an incredible game developer who inspires people around her. She has a special ability to bring an idea to life and execute it with such great vision and determination. She’s fearless when it comes to experimenting with new tech and platforms, and I’ve always been in awe of both her beautiful traditional and technical art skills. She’s an amazing Art Director whose work I continue to admire!”
Carolin Krenzer, CEO and Co-Founder at Trailmix nominates: Emily Greer, co-Founder of Kongregate and Founder and CEO of Double Loop Games
Carolin is the CEO and Co-Founder of Trailmix, creator of Love & Pies which won best puzzle game at the TIGA Games Industry Awards 2023.
Carolin says: “I met her many years ago through a mutual friend, and I am incredibly grateful for this connection as she has become one of the individuals I admire the most in the games industry. As the CEO of Kongregate, she built a lasting company that has positively impacted many developers worldwide; and she has inspired a generation of female founders and CEOs, including myself. Emily is not only driven and intelligent, but she is also empathetic, inclusive, and supportive. She has built incredible teams at Kongregate and Double Loop, managing both good and challenging times with the utmost integrity. Emily is always there to help and share her knowledge and I have learned so much from her as a leader, game maker, marketer and person.”
Lauran Carter, Communications Director at Liquid Crimson and Founding Member of Guildford.Games Ltd also nominates: Siobhan Reddy, Studio Director at Media Molecule
Lauran is a founding member of Guildford.Games, a community initiative from a team of people actively involved in the Guildford games industry.
Lauran says: “There are many women I could put forward for International Women’s Day — Nicola Head, for example, People Manager at Stellar Entertainment who is making strides as far as DEI and always seeking new ways to empower her team. Or Kirsten Stewart — Office Manager at Media Tonic/Epic who has embedded herself in the Guildford Community and has been rallying around to help those unfortunate enough to be hit by recent industry layoffs… I could go on.
I have decided that my pick for International Women’s Day 2024 is Siobhan Reddy — Studio Director at Guildford’s Media Molecule. Siobhan is a powerhouse — and this is far from her first accolade rodeo, from winning one of the first ever Microsoft Women in Games awards in 2009 to being awarded Australian Woman of the Year in 2013, to her BAFTA fellowship in 2021. Not only was she instrumental in founding the studio that made one of my all-time favourite games — Little Big Planet — but equally for her dedication to ensuring both Media Molecule and the games industry as a whole strive to be more inclusive and supportive for developers from all walks of life, Siobhan is an inspirational human — let alone woman.”
Alevtina Usmanova, Senior Game Designer at Wooga nominates: Marya Yartseva, Art Director at Nexters
Alevtina is a Senior Game Designer at Wooga, where she works on June’s Journey, which last year reached $1bn revenue.
Alevtina says: “There have been several examples in my family of women engineers who have gone on to leadership positions. I grew up in an environment where a female technical expert was the norm rather than the exception, so I had no qualms in choosing a technical profession. But when I got my first job in the game industry — I was the second woman in the whole company. This was not a pleasant surprise for me and I decided that I would help my female colleagues to the best of my ability.
Later on in my work, I crossed paths with strong women who showed that the glass ceiling was not an obstacle for them. Marya Yartseva is a cool artist I met when she was working on marketing creatives but wanted more. She is now an art director at Nexters. The persistence with which she pursued her goal, how she found the strength not only to lead people, but also to share her knowledge at conferences despite the lack of time was very supportive for me in the same situations.”
Rebekka Muntola, Art Producer at Metacore nominates: Diana Kalenova, Senior Director of Product Unity Gaming Services at Unity
Rebekka works as an art producer at Metacore, working on the global hit game Merge Mansion.
Rebekka says, “I met Diana at the right time in my career when I was still at the beginning and trying to make sense of it all. I was wondering if there was a place for me in this industry, considering my values and beliefs about what it takes to create something that people resonate with — the work culture, leadership, teamwork, and production. Just spending time sitting down with her or reading her book recommendations has had an impact on my career, and I’m grateful for that. She is a great mentor whom I regard highly.”
Anna Belenkiy, 2D Artist at Playtika nominates: Bosmat Agayoff, Visual Development Artist at Moon Active
Anna is an illustrator, known for her reimaginings of Disney Princesses as relatable parents.
Anna says: “Bosmat Agayoff is a concept artist at Moon Active. Her style of how she breaks down the colour palettes is just outstanding. She creates the illustrations from shapes and colour blocking and it is really brilliant.”
Mara McGreal, Environment Artist at Radical Forge nominates: Rebb Ford, Creative Director at Digital Extremes
Mara hosts meet-ups for people working in the games industry, and was quoted in the FT on the topic of sexist attitudes in gaming.
Mara says: “My nomination is Rebb Ford from Digital Extremes! She’s the Creative Director on Warframe and has been a personal inspiration for me for years. She’s had a successful and interesting job path, starting off as an intern at DE, and working through community management/live ops, all the way to creative director. She’s super down to earth on social media, and has always been someone really fun to listen to during their livestreams and live events, and very clearly knows what she’s talking about. She helped create, in my opinion, one of the best gaming communities out there and has shown confidence in everything she’s done while still being fun and silly whenever possible. I’ve always looked up to her, the Warframe live ops/community management team and the game’s community as a whole as a major inspiration for any kind of community based things I do, or how I present myself in the industry.”
