Arianna Rudawski is a Software Engineer with over 6 years of experience in the games industry, currently working on gameplay and features for Zynga’s Game of Thrones Slots. Before a career pivot into video game development, she studied biology and worked as a veterinary technician at animal hospitals. After learning to code on a whim at the age of 23, she went on to earn a MS in Software Engineering at DePaul University with an focus on game engine development and video graphics. Arianna is committed to fostering inclusion in game development and engineering, and she serves on the Women at Zynga board of directors to oversee STEAM outreach.

"Melissa Finley (Head of Marketing, Co-Creator)

Melissa Finley is part of the core team at Mografi, creators of the critically-acclaimed adventure game Jenny LeClue - Detectivu. Melissa is head of marketing, guiding social media, partnerships, and brand messaging.

Melissa started her marketing career in New York City as an ad sales, marketing, and event coordinator for Martha Stewart Living. She co-created the educational tool Anatomy in Motion, Mografi's first app and produced the animated short film Fathoms.

In 2014, Melissa led a successful Kickstarter campaign for Jenny LeClue, which was released in 2019 as an Apple Arcade global launch title. Jenny LeClue has made its way to Steam, Nintendo Switch, and in partnership with Girls Make Games - Google Play!

Melissa is also a Licensed Massage Therapist. She is learning to play the piano and loves curating adorable video game gardens."

I lead the development of core gameplay systems and environments on an unannounced title at Riot Games. Previously, I was the Lead Gameplay Producer on Legends of Runeterra, where I managed a 40+ person cross-disciplinary team—spanning design, engineering, and more—to deliver high-quality expansions for a global player base.

Harleigh is a technical narrative designer at Santa Monica Studio. She worked on God of War Ragnarok and its DLC, Valhalla. She was the primary narrative designer for the level “Sindri’s House,” and is passionate about creating living worlds in games.

Kait Baird is a former GMG Camp Counselor and she is excited to come back to share her wisdom after 5 exciting years in the game industry.

She is currently working as a Technical Animator at Valkyrie Entertainment (A Sony PlayStation Studio). Her love for bringing characters to life led her to animation for games! In her daily work, she combines art and coding by creating tools for animators.

Her favorite games are Animal Crossing, and Overcooked!

Cynthia Ibarra is a QA Lead at Naughty Dog with over 12 years of experience in the gaming industry. Cynthia started her journey with the QA team by helping to launch ""The Last of Us"" on PS3.

This showcased her dedication to excellence, strong attention to detail, and enthusiasm for supporting QA colleagues in their growth, enabling them to reach their full potential and career aspirations.

Since joining Naughty Dog, she has had the privilege of working with some of the industry’s most talented professionals, contributing to the development and success of several award-winning titles.

Narrative Animator at Santa Monica Studio

Sabrina Li is a Producer at Sledgehammer Games in Toronto, Canada. She's worked on games such as Watch Dogs: Legion, Far Cry 6, Call of Duty Warzone, and COD Modern Warfare III. Sabrina is a passionate gamer with a love of storytelling and world building. Some of her favorites include Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and newly Baldur’s Gat

As an 11-year-old, John spent much of his free time drawing dragons and mechs, watching Jurassic Park and Star Wars, and playing around with game editors on the computer. After graduating high school, he went to art college to study animation and video game art. And for the last 20 years he has worked in the games industry as a QA tester, cell phone artist, prop artist, and finally an environment artist. Some of his favorite games are ones that he can play with any of his 14 nieces and nephews, like Mario Kart and Overcooked.

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Jackie has had a steady and robust journey throughout the creative world. While studying for her BDes at York University & Sheridan college, she worked at Henry’s and the Art Gallery of Ontario, building upon her appreciation and knowledge for photography and fine arts respectively. Jackie got a chance to work on the more app development side with Clearbridge Mobile, whose diverse clients meant exposure to a vast range of industries such as media on demand, philanthropy, and B2B & B2C. Longing for, and drawn back to the fulfillment of storybuilding and game development, she joined Zynga! First as a Senior Experience Designer on one of our longest running games, Zynga Poker, then growing to a XD Lead on Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, to now Principal XD on the CSR3 (Custom Street Racing) team! When not thinking about edge cases and interfaces, Jackie spends her days with her pet rabbit, Truffle, cosplaying, or taking dance and singing lessons. 

Jordana is the Director of Brand Strategy for Zynga's Trinity Studios, where she leads a team focused on  developing holistic marketing strategies for live and new game launches. She has been at Zynga for 7 years, having previously worked in marketing, sales, and account management at companies such as MTV and DISH Network. Her path to gaming was far from a straight line, starting her professional career running after-school tutoring centers then finding herself writing scripts for a film festival gala before moving into media and entertainment marketing. Jordana received her BA from Washington University in St. Louis and her MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Julie Wang is a Sr. Data Scientist at Zynga who works on the Harry Potter team. She has worked in the gaming industry for the past 4.5 years at various companies like Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, and Big Fish Games. Her work helps game teams turn player data into insights that can improve the game experience!  In her spare time, she likes to crochet, run, and play her favorite games, League of Legends and

Kristen Yu is a senior data scientist on the Take 2 Applied AI team. She has been working for Take 2 since January, and primarily works with other games teams within the Take 2 Family. Kristen’s main role is to build AI tools to enable other teams to develop games. Previously, she was getting her PhD in Computer Science with a focus on Video Games at the University of Alberta in Canada. She also spent 3 years working as a narrative designer at Inflexion Games on Nightingale.

I was born in Arizona and moved to Los Angeles about 12 years ago to pursue a career in audio post. Since then, I’ve been very grateful and fortunate to have worked on many titles in film, television, and now video games with Formosa Interactive. Foley has been my main focus throughout the years, but I love every aspect of storytelling and enjoy learning new ways to tell them.

Nisha is a QA Analyst at SledgeHammer Games in Toronto, Canada. Over the last 8 years, she has worked on Watch Dogs Legion, XDeviant and Modern Warfare 3. Her favourite games include Skyrim, Last of Us and Overwatch. Nisha loves Bob's Burgers and actual burgers.

Maria is a Senior Environment Artist at Valkyrie Entertainment, where she brings virtual worlds to life. With a background in art and a decade of experience in gamedev, including indie and AAA, she specializes in creating believable, immersive spaces. In addition to her game development work, Maria is a passionate mentor and community leader. Her favorite part of game development is the intersection between artistic  imagination and technical craft - and she loves helping others discover their unique voice within that space.

Principal Artist - Senior Technical Artist - Janitor