One in five game developers is a woman. In the name of making the industry more diverse, game engine maker Unity Technologies is launching a series of global talks about women in gaming.
The idea is to promote and invest in the success of women leaders and executives on the best practices for business topics such as strategic thinking, influencing, and career navigation. The talks are part of a corporate initiative to support women in the gaming industry. The subject of supporting women in gaming has come into the limelight as major corporations such as Intel have made the topic into a higher priority in recent years.
Unity will hold five talks aimed at promoting important conversations around diversity and the development of women’s careers in gaming.
“As we begin to look at more ways to develop our employees internally, we realized it made sense to broaden our efforts industry wide,” said Elizabeth Brown, chief people officer at Unity Technologies, in a statement. “These events are an important platform for women to come together in a collaborative setting and learn from each other, which is key to ensuring their ongoing success in the gaming and tech communities.”
The five events taking place in 2016 will be held in the following cities:
— June 1, 2016: Amsterdam (as part of Unite Europe) with Fiona Sperry, founder of Three Fields Entertainment
— June 20, 2016: San Francisco, with Dana Carney, associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley
— July 28, 2016: Shanghai, with Amy Huang, assistant vice president at NetEase Capital; Evelyn Liu, CTO at Firevale; and Yanyan Xiong, Founder of Shenzenware
— September 22, 2016: San Francisco, with Nanea Reeves, president and chief operating officer at TextPlus
— Early November, 2016: Los Angeles, (as part of Unite LA), with Tracy Fullerton, chair of the Interactive Media & Games Division at the University of Southern California.
All events will be open to public but will have limited seating.