Born and raised in a tiny town in Kentucky, Jayde Holbrook is currently an Associate Software Engineer at Sledgehammer Games, where she's spent the last two years working on the Engineering team. She's passionate about storytelling in games, with some of her all-time favorites including The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted, and so many more! Outside of work you can find her deep in a fantasy or sci-fi book, or catching up on anything Marvel-related.

Shelby Carleton

Shelby Carleton is a Senior Narrative Designer at Sledgehammer Games. She's been writing games for over six years, including Call of Duty Vanguard, Modern Warfare 3, and Black Ops 6. She loves to write, figure skate, and play games online with her best friends.

Attilio Carotenuto

Attilio is a Staff Engineer at Unity, and a Game Development expert with over 16 years of experience. He has worked on award-winning games played by millions of people, such as Phasmophobia, Fall Guys, Farm Heroes Saga, and The Cycle Frontier

Kristani Alcantara

Director of Operations at Ramen VR

Nicole Allen

Senior Director, Xbox Next Generation

Chris Zimmerman

Studio Founder Emeritus

Anne van der Zanden

Anne van der Zanden is a Principal Community Manager at Guerrilla, where she leads community engagement efforts for the Horizon franchise. She has been in the industry for over a decade, working at Guerrilla and PlayStation. In her role, she is responsible for the strategy across social media and community management, building strong connections between fans and developers. Anne holds a background in communication and behavioral science and is known for her strategic approach to engaging and fostering inclusive, vibrant, and safe player communities.

Natalie Burke

Senior Principal Technical Artist, Guerrilla Games

My name is Natalie Burke. I am an artist and programmer with over a decade of professional experience as a Technical Artist working across AAA video game studios, start-ups, and software companies. I have worked in tandem with both artists and engineers to produce content for game experiences including Bungie’s Destiny, The Taken King, and Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Forbidden West. I have worked as a lecturer and adjunct professor at both DigiPen and The University of Washington and have spoken at numerous conferences world-wide about techniques for improving real-time visuals and the process of creating art for video games.

Arianna Rudawski

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.

Isabel Ovalles

Isabel Ovalles is an Associate Gameplay Engineer at Sledgehammer Games. Previously, she worked at Mojang Studios, where she programmed minigames for the Bedrock Edition of Minecraft. Her favorite video games include Fire Emblem: Awakening, Genshin Impact, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. When she’s not gaming, Isabel enjoys junk journaling with her extensive stationery stash, collecting cool Pokémon cards, or grabbing boba tea with friends.

Emily Douglas

Emily Douglas is a based in Bay Area California where she currently works as a Producer at Sledgehammer Games. She previously worked in indie games and has a particular fondness for indie game dev and unique narrative experiences. Recently she has been interested in Western movies and Western novels. When she isn't working she enjoys spending time reading, exploring, watching movies, or catching up on her never-ending videogame backlog.

Melissa Finley

"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."

Abby Lemaster

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 Awner

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

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

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.

Kathleen McGovern

Narrative Animator at Santa Monica Studio

Sabrina Li

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

John Germann

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.

Meet the Speakers 🎤