Following announcements made last month, Microsoft’s Xbox team have launched the global Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career program, a mentorship program for those interested in carving out a career in gaming. Interested parties are invited to express their interest via the dedicated information/registration website. There are a range of mentors on offer covering different regions, so you can expect not only an expert in the field, but also one with valuable local knowledge. Those interested in seeing who their local mentor is should scroll down to the bottom of this post.
Registration for this program is free, and anyone 18 years of age or older is welcome to apply. But with limited resources, you should only register if you are genuinely seeking a career in video games. The deadline to register is 17 April 2022, with mentees to be selected later in April. Mentees in Australia and New Zealand will receive a one-on-one virtual coaching session with Xbox Business Lead of Australia & New Zealand Tania Chee who offers 20+ years experience working in the industry across Australia and the United Kingdom – from IT start-ups to managing Microsoft’s gaming, consumer software and office business through retail channels.
One major aim of this program is to close the gap between the women gamers and those who work in the industry. According to a study by the ESA, across all players and ages, 45% of gamers identify as female, while only 24% of those working in the industry are women.
Xbox Mentors
1Hailey Geller, Xbox Social Marketing Manager, US mentor
Hailey Geller is a strategic creative marketer who specializes in dreaming up evocative & meaningful campaigns for your favorite games and products.
She is passionate about telling dynamic, inclusive, and accessible stories that build immersive worlds for fans and potential fans alike.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve received from a mentor or someone you admire in your career?
A: Your path is not going to be the same as someone else’s, and that’s OK. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all.
Q: What do you believe is the most important thing that a mentor can do for or share with their mentee?
A: Be empathetic, encouraging, and reassuring. Help them buckle up, get into the “driver’s seat,” and make decisions they feel good about, confidently.
Q: Why is the Xbox Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career program important, and what do you hope mentees gain from the experience?
A: It’s all about creating a welcoming community and building a platform for everyone. I hope my mentees come away from the experience with a better understanding of the resources, opportunities, and safe spaces available for them to be excited to join the next generation of women in gaming!
2Mie Koshimizu, Xbox Category Manager, Japan mentor
Mie Koshimizu is from Japan and the Xbox Category Manager supporting the Asia Xbox team based out in Singapore. Mie is known for her friendliness and enthusiasm about her work. Her passion is to be an advocate for Woman in Gaming—especially in Asia. Encouraging those in the gaming industry, and those who enjoy playing games to share their passion. Since graduating from a master’s degree in Business Analysis, Mie has extended her knowledge and skills in consumer, market analysis/research, and user experience and stories that identify customer requirements and needs. She enjoys working in a challenging environment and is always looking for a new challenge and willing to learn new things!
Q: What is the best advice you’ve received from a mentor or someone you admire in your career?
A: Be positive. Even though in difficult situation. This sounds really simple…but it is hard to do…
Q: What do you believe is the most important thing that a mentor can do for or share with their mentee?
A:Reflect on and share my own experiences including my failures and provide encouragement.
Q: Why is the Xbox Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career program important, and what do you hope mentees gain from the experience?
A: It can improve diversity in Asia for Women in Gaming and also be helpful for creating a clear vision/goal to improve in career development.
3Melek Balgün, Esports | Web | TV | Event Host, DACH mentor
Melek Balgün covers a wide range of knowledge and interests with her academic background and experience. However, the former professional gamer started her moderation career with her great passion, eSports, to which she has remained true to this day, participating in the Electronic Sports World Cup 2007. Balgün started her career as a moderator at ESL. In her role, she addressed the audience on-site and also online for over 4 years. In addition to events, trade fairs and conferences, the self-employed moderator has also been involved in Deutsche Welle’s eSports project as a sports journalist for over three years. With her web magazine “Art of Gaming” of the German/French channel arte, she and her team were nominated for the Grimme Award 2018. Melek Balgün was also awarded silver for her work in the 2019 Sports Journalist Award and was eligible to receive the 2021 Women in Games ‘Best esports writer or journalist’ award.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve received from a mentor or someone you admire in your career?
A: This, I actually got from my mother. It was no verbal advice, but more how she managed life with 3 kids as a shift working single mother.
From her I learned that many obstacles and challenges in life will budge if you put in steady work.
That your efforts will be recognized eventually, if sometimes not right away. That one should focus on one’s own way, but always help others and that there is no benefit from jealousy.
Q: What do you believe is the most important thing that a mentor can do for or share with their mentee?
A:The valuable lessons that have been learned through mistakes – experience. I always like sharing ideas, approaches or ventures that didn’t work out or go as planned. This is where one really learns.
Q: Why is the Xbox Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career program important, and what do you hope mentees gain from the experience?
A: Back when I decided to focus on my freelance career, I would have been very happy to connect with a person with whom I could have exchanged over situations and challenges they probably already worked through.
How to approach certain situations, e.g. negotiations with clients or what one has to consider when starting a business. I hope mentees will be able to address sorrows and fears, which only block a lot of resources of one’s brain, that are better used for creative output.
4Louise O’Connor, Executive Producer of Everwild, UK mentor
Louise has been working in games for over 20 years, and she loves making games that players remember. Starting as an animator, she has had the privilege of working on some of the incredible Rare IP that players all over the world have enjoyed and is now looking after the team responsible for creating the next new IP; Everwild.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve received from a mentor or someone you admire in your career?
A: Invest in rapport. Get to know the people around you, understand them and their personal circumstances. The games industry is small, so it matters to take the time to be curious about the people you work with, on every level. It’s important to recognize every single individual contributor to what makes a game work and remember that everyone moves at a different pace.
Q: What do you believe is the most important thing that a mentor can do for or share with their mentee?
A:I think a good mentor can help guide a mentee to make their own decisions without telling them exactly what to do. A good mentee has a growth mindset and is always looking for ways to grow and learn.
Q: Why is the Xbox Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career program important, and what do you hope mentees gain from the experience?
A: A big part of our industry is about getting to know people. We are a group of people making experiences for other people, so a mentoring program is key to giving opportunities to our future developers and helping secure a diverse industry, to make diverse games for a diverse audience!
5Venessa Nyarko, Producer at The Coalition, Canada mentor
Venessa is a passionate playmaker who brings teams together to develop cohesive storytelling that creates a rich player experience. She develops frameworks to make the best plays, getting the right people in the right conversations and executing on bringing all the pieces together for epic gameplay.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve received from a mentor or someone you admire in your career?
A: My first mentor loved the quote: “Life shrinks or expands in relation to one’s courage.” It inspired her to move from Latin America to Canada without her family for new opportunities. I’ve never forgotten it. When I was weighing entering game development and when I was deciding to move across country to work at Xbox, I held those words close to my heart and made the leap.
Q: What do you believe is the most important thing that a mentor can do for or share with their mentee?
A:I believe the most important thing that a mentor can do for their mentee is listen actively and engage with their lived experiences and questions genuinely. It’s not enough for a mentor to talk solely about themselves, a mentor should be able to provide a differing perspective as well as resources to support their mentee.
Q: Why is the Xbox Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career program important, and what do you hope mentees gain from the experience?
A: This mentoring program is so important because it offers a lens into the world of game development that can help guide and prepare the next generation – our future storytellers – by giving them a glimpse of what to expect as well as key advice to navigate entering the industry. Having this program when I was starting out would have been invaluable experience.
6Ina Gilbert, Director of Xbox France, France mentor
The first woman leading Xbox team in France, Ina’s #1 motivation is making Gaming a diverse, safe and inclusive environment. She brings multicultural and multi background views in all discussions, with both FMCG and Gaming professional experiences.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve received from a mentor or someone you admire in your career?
A: Advice I got from a book actually: “Take a seat at the table, be here, be present, you’re here because you deserve it.”
A simple sentence that every woman with doubt should hear when facing impostor syndrome!
Q: What do you believe is the most important thing that a mentor can do for or share with their mentee?
A:A mentor is a true listener, someone who will help you identify and understand what’s important for you, what you’re aiming for, and then share his experience and story to help you get closer to your goals.
Q: Why is the Xbox Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career program important, and what do you hope mentees gain from the experience?
A: This mentoring program is about creating a positive and welcoming environment for women in gaming in France.
The more connected we are, the more stories we will create together and get more visible to also encourage others to join us in the gaming industry.
7Tania Chee, Xbox Business Lead, Australia and New Zealand, Australia & New Zealand mentor
As Xbox Business Lead for Australia and New Zealand, Tania Chee is responsible for driving the gaming platform’s business growth across the Tasman. Tania’s career spans 20+ years across roles in Australia and the UK from IT start-ups to managing Microsoft’s gaming, consumer software and Office business through the retail channel.
Tania joined Team Xbox in 2008 in the UK and moved to the Australian business in 2011 driving Xbox’s subscription business, focused on subscriber growth and launching key app partners on the platform. Having also been involved in the success of multiple console generations and launches, Tania was announced as the Lead for Xbox ANZ in 2018 after a decade with the brand.
Tania is deeply passionate about diversity & inclusion and supporting Xbox’s efforts around Women in Gaming and the Gaming for Everyone program.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve received from a mentor or someone you admire in your career?
A: One of the best pieces of advice I received early in my career was if you ever need to present a problem in business, present it with an alternative solution. Also the importance to back yourself and your capability, you can’t expect others to back you if you don’t back yourself!
Q: What do you believe is the most important thing that a mentor can do for or share with their mentee?
A:I believe alternative approaches are always refreshing to embrace so hopefully a mentor can share differing knowledge and advice for a mentee through their “lived” experience and career journey to date.
Q: Why is the Xbox Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career program important, and what do you hope mentees gain from the experience?
A: This program is important as is it encourages people who have been looking to pursue a career in gaming an opportunity to speak to someone who they may not ordinarily do so in their day to day. As a female leader who has had a very positive career journey in this industry to date I hope to provide mentees with the insights and confidence to pursue a path they may not have otherwise.
8Boyoun Kim, Communications Manager, Korea and Japan, Korea mentor
Boyoun Kim is a Communications Manager, supporting the Xbox team lead market communications across both Korea and Japan.
She is seasoned in communications with deep regional experience in corporate reputation management, issues, and crisis communications. After receiving her Master’s in Social Policy from London School of Economics, Boyoun has built-up a solid understanding of planning and implementation of communications campaigns and regional Digital and Social marketing strategic plans with over 10 years of experience in hardware manufacturer Lenovo, Google and a German-based start-up.
