We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Kaye a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lauren, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.
The She Plays Games Podcast and community was born out of a frustrating realisation that women and young girls still have the wool pulled over their eyes when it comes to career options. There wasn’t enough content to highlight women in a variety of roles particularly in the games industry.
Before I started by journey I could maybe name 10 who I knew working in games and a majority of them were in either in community and/or marketing roles. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but that only scratches the surface of what’s possible. In over 100 episodes I’ve spoken to programmers, artists, QA leads, localisation leads, people developing their own games, talent specialists, People Managers, Leaders of Diversity Programs including Limit Break Mentorship and Code Coven and so on. I’ve talked to women who have transferred into games from more corporate roles and those who managed to transition from retail. She Plays Games has created an influx of women who are aware of the choices they have when deciding on their career and the places that can go to make their ideal career a reality.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I have been working as a content creator for the last 12 years. All of this has been primarily focused on games related content and in a variety of formats; podcasts, written, and video. I’ve used all of the experience I’ve had in creating content to put together a polished women’s focused podcast which has been well received by the gaming community and is even now award winning. We’ve hosted live panels and photoshoots for underrepresented people in games to get high quality photos taken for their professional profiles. She Plays Games has inspired a real movement in how we share knowledge about the options available for those hoping to find their place in the games industry and it’s so exciting to see so many people sharing their stories.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
The biggest thing I needed to learn when starting my podcast was how to network. It’s such a hard skill to navigate particularly for those of us not fans of small talk, but if I’m not meeting more women in games I have no guests for the podcast. It’s simple, but meeting people and just generally being a pleasant person can really help you. I’ve also kept a look out for potential events put on by other diversity leaders to support their message as well. The BIGGEST way to limit yourself is by closing yourself off through being competitive. You can have competitors to inspire you to take your brand to the next level but if you close off a possible collaboration because you’re in “competition” with them you may close yourself off from a great opportunity to collaborate.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My career has been a really winding road. I started through working at a local company while also creating content on YouTube. When I gave birth to my first daughter, I had a choice – send my daughter to nursery full time so I could work and essentially pay for her nursery bill or stay at home and move into creating content full time. It was a really difficult decision, one I couldn’t have made if it weren’t for the amazing support from my husband and I couldn’t be happier now with everything I have accomplished. Being stuck in dead end jobs where they’re consistently under valuing your skills and not compromising on old fashioned beliefs (i.e. against WFH) it can be extremely demoralising and particularly in this climate the risk to not have a job to fall back on can be just too great, so if you’re toying with the idea of breaking free, look into yourself for what you are passionate about and what skills you have now or could easily build into a side hustle. Even if you’re starting at square one – it is not impossible to start over at any age and there is more than enough time in the day if you plan enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: sheplaysgames.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leveluplauren/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-kaye-88192925/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/leveluplauren
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/57J1d92a0HH5Sq4QnL5Og8?si=cd678efea4974452
- iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/she-plays-games-podcast/id1475531920
Image Credits
Headshot – Gary Dooton @GaryDooton Photoshoot – Chris Wilson @crwilso Me with the Award: Jazeena @JazeenaPlays