We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cath Hebert a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Cath, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Since middle school, my life was spent preparing for one thing; Broadway. Every musical and play at school, every voice lesson, dance class, summer workshop, and acting elective, was done to enhance my chances of going to college for Musical Theatre. As tiring and frustrating many of these things can be, I truly loved it. From Veronica in Heathers to the Newsies Ensemble, and all the way to Madame Thenardier in Les Mis. It was my whole life.
As a senior in high school during COVID, I was auditioning for schools virtually. I had done around 20 auditions and I genuinely loved the process of getting to meet faculty and perform. It was some of the only human interaction I was able to get through this time. During this time, my younger brother introduced me to his gaming friends online, some of which happened to be around my age. I began socializing with new people during a time when I thought that would never be possible. I quickly became entranced by the world of esports and content creation. I always loved video games growing up but never felt I loved it enough to buy myself a gaming specific computer. There was also this voice in the back of my head that feared being bad at video games and falling into the harmful stereotype that women face. Around September of 2020, I decided to build my own PC and my journey into esports and gaming began.
I was playing video games during zoom class (don’t tell!) and watching Twitch streams everyday. Not only that, but before and after auditions I found myself playing video games with friends I met online. It became my new world. As my acceptances to programs rolled in, I was still looking to go to schools for Musical Theatre, however I began to see which institutions had any sort of esports courses, clubs or teams. When I boiled down my list of schools, I noticed that Emerson College had an esports communications minor and a discord for “Emerson Esports” which I learned was a student organization. I quickly joined the discord and began poking around. At this time I began to lose interest in going to school for Musical Theatre but I had no other idea of what I wanted to do in life and had spent so much time to get to this point, it felt useless to find another path. It took me up until the last minute to chose a school, but ultimately I went with Emerson as I knew that I could dabble in esports to some capacity.
Upon getting to Emerson, my drive for Musical Theatre was low, but my passion for esports was high. I immediately got myself involved with Emerson Esports as a player on their first ever VALORANT team and held the Executive Assistant position for their Executive Board. Long-story short, I spent the next year and a half trying to re-light a flame that was burning out. I was terrified to accept that I no longer wanted to pursue Musical Theatre as a major. To many, changing majors was normal as most people did not even go to college with a specific study. For me however, that was not what I learned through my years of theatre preparation and practice. It was all supposed to lead me to a program I would spend 4 years in.
By my second semester sophomore year, I became Co-President of Emerson Esports. It was a dream come true! I cared so deeply for the organization and the industry, but I was still putting myself through hours of courses that I didn’t feel gave me any skills to enter the esports/gaming space. I had people telling me to transfer to a different school or go into sports communications because it was close enough to esports, but none of it felt right. I also was not going to leave Emerson Esports. I slowly learned about the Business of Creative Enterprises program (BCE), a cross-departmental major that teaches business, aesthetics, economics, and finance, to develop students skillsets as creatives and become leaders across industries. It felt like the perfect fit for me to continue my studies at Emerson, so I spent the first half of the semester continuing the back and forth debate in my mind of whether or not I made a change. To me, it felt like I would be throwing away years of training for a world that I had no idea how to be part of. I did not know how to apply to internships or to build a non-theatre specific resume. It was a risk that I knew would change the trajectory of my life.
I finally decided to take the risk and apply to the BCE program and within a month, I was accepted. It was the biggest weight lifted off of my shoulders. What I didn’t know then but know now is that I was never “throwing away” anything. I would not be where I am today or who I am today without everything theatre taught me.
Cath, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m Cath, but many know me by my gamertag Friday or username omgfriday. I am currently a senior at Emerson College studying the Business of Creative Enterprises with a minor in Esports Communications. Esports is an emerging industry where many find themselves wearing multiple hats and exploring different areas of the industry.
Within Collegiate Esports, I am the former Co-President of Emerson Esports and current Communications Manager. Emerson Esports provides students equitable opportunities to develop professional gaming skills and foster connections in the gaming and esports industries. I have also worked with College Esports News as a Project Manager and On-Screen talent to produce news content and highlight collegiate teams, leagues, and programs across the country.
Aside from Collegiate Esports, I am the Podcast Host for the Catching Up with COPE Podcast. COPE is the Coalition of Parents in Esports, a 501c3 nonprofit, that provides programs and scholarships to empower youth, parents, & educators to utilize gaming to build confidence, curiosity, community, and careers. I have worked with the team to design the podcast with the goal of sharing industry professionals’ stories and experiences to inform gamers and their parents about the variety of opportunities in the industry.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
There was not much guidance on approaching the esports industry, and starting out I was one of the few women I knew around me who had interest in the field. I had to pave my own path to find the right information, the opportunities that exist, and the entire community itself. I have always loved helping others and this experience through college as well as my position as President of Emerson Esports, solidified that the mission driving my journey is to help others feel seen and reach their full potential in approaching this industry.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Starting out — experience is everything. There are plenty of times where this experience is unpaid, but you are given a canvas to explore your creativity and build your resume/portfolio. It can be grueling to manage these opportunities alongside non-creative work that most likely pays the bills. A lot of people do not like free work, and many cannot afford to do so. If you can and are able, these positions can help you build connections, try new things and gain experience. There is also the additional caution that comes with certain unpaid roles taking advantage of your creativity and labor so that is always something to be careful about.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: cath.hebert
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-hebert4/
- Twitter: omgfriday
Image Credits
Izzi Shaffer (photo of me on bed in headset with white gamehers shirt), Henry Neiman (photo of me in front of Emerson Esports background and the photo of me looking at a laptop with a black headset on)