While I always knew I would end up in a creative field one day (my earliest memories include illustrating my own picture books and drawing comics about my original character, Super-Duck), it wasn’t until adulthood that I realized that calling would be answered in game development. Growing up homeschooled with immigrant parents, the only video games I’d played were edutainment stuff and Virtua Tennis 3… until I finally got my hands on Dragon Age: Origins and fell in love with the Dalish. So I joined the University of the Arts’ new Game Art program and got my BFA there.

Thanks to UArts’ strong ties with the local indie dev scene, I joined plenty of game jams, IGDA events, and Philly Game Mechanics meetings. There, I found out about production. The more I heard about it, the more it seemed like the perfect role for me—creative, organized, supportive. So I applied to SMU Guildhall’s Production program and got my MIT there. After graduating, I worked at Deck Nine Games as a junior art producer. Since then, I’ve freelanced on different projects, joined the Tech Arts Meetup & Unreal Engine Community, and volunteered annually at GDC as a Conference Associate.

Growing up homeschooled with immigrant parents, I was fortunate enough to see over 30 different countries and hundreds of museums before graduating high school—an experience that inspired a deep love of art history in me. Because of that, I want to explore how video games can share immaterial heritage with players. Real-world cultures aren’t my only interest, though—I’ve always been fascinated with world building and con-langing, and I probably know more about Westerosi history than about the USA at this point.

When I’m not planning my dream vacation, playing video games, or reading fantasy novels, I’m usually trying something new in the kitchen. I love to cook different foods from around the world, and have recently started taking part in cooking competitions. You can find me at local fairs doing my best to win that purple ribbon or pressuring friends to taste-test my would-be submissions.