LOU JONES Senior Campaign Manager at YRS TRULY
INDIA CROOKE Animator at Dlala Studios
With almost four years in games marketing under their belt, Lou has worked on campaigns for some of the biggest companies around, including Wizards of the Coast, Private Division and Bandai Namco. They regularly make a positive mark on games through their enthusiastic and hands on ‘jack-of-all-trades’ approach, a genuine love for the industry, and remembering that people are at the core of everything the games industry does.
India was described by one of her supporters as a ‘one in a million talent’, and we can see why. After joining Dlala as a university graduate, she was soon producing animation for Battletoads (2020), and was given ownership over one of the three main characters of the game. Her work stands up alongside that of animation veterans, and as such she was also the hand-drawn cutscene lead on this year’s Disney Illusion Island, for which she made cartoons starring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy that looked like they had been done by Disney itself.
RAFIF KALANTAN Game Designer and Narrative Lead at Starvania Studios
MJ LEWIS
Head of Production at Firestoke Games
It’s been a busy year for Rafif, who completed a master’s degree in games design and development this year at the National Film and Television School that won her a student BAFTA. Kalantan’s win was several firsts - she was the first female director, the first non- European winner, and the first Arab winner in the games category. She puts her experiences and stories at the forefront of her work, and is currently also doing volunteer work that will help to build the industry in the MENA/SWANA region.
MJ Lewis is a driven, ambitious, working class woman that joined the games industry while studying a masters at Cambridge, which itself followed studies at Oxford writing about games like Breath of the Wild. MJ started out as a marketing assistant, but was soon head of production at PQube after only eight months in the industry. This is a role she has continued in at Firestoke Games, where she has set up a new production team and revised and expanded on the studio’s mental health policies. In short, she has done a lot, incredibly quickly!
HILARY LOK Co-founder at Dot Dot Fire
Hilary is the youngest co-founder at Dot Dot Fire, a developer working in the games for good space that uses the The Money Wise Game to teach children in schools and at larger events about financial literacy and responsible spending. She champions both the industry and the medium to those outside of game development that might not necessarily understand its potential for more than just throw away entertainment, helps children to learn, and stands tall as a role model for girls and people of colour that may one day want to work in video games too.
MUHAMMED ESAT Associate Senior Concept Artist at Huey Games
Mo has not only used his artistic talents and creativity to garner Huey Games’ clockwork action adventure game Mechinus an assortment of critical acclaim at various festivals around the world, but has grown to be an exceptional leader at the same time. He nurtures and mentors junior artists, contractors, and interns, and leads by an example of empathy, passion and dedication that brings the best out of the entire team.
Honourable Mentions Tom Edwards, Account Manager at Bastion
Jack Jewell-Mills, Head of Talent Acquisition at Sumo Group
Ellie Greenfield, Junior PR and Comms Manager at Sumo Group
Leon Y. Xiao, PhD Fellow at IT University of Copenhagen and University of York
Michelle Gimsing, Studio Manager at Warp Digital
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