​The past few years have been tough. Layoffs, studio closures, and industry uncertainty have left many of us with critically low mental health bars.

​Diversity in Games invites you to Restore Your Health Bar: Healing After Layoffs in Games, a roundtable for game developers navigating change, seeking support, or rebuilding their careers.

​Hear from those who’ve faced layoffs, struggled to break in, and get actionable guidance from a career counselor. This is a space to recharge, share, and remember: your well-being matters, and recovery is possible. Together, we can restore our “Health Bar” and move forward in games stronger than ever.

​Speakers:

​Jean Leggett, Career Strategist and Startup Founder

​Jean is a career joy strategist helping people craft their career highlights, celebrate their impact, and find alignment with their values and life purpose. She’s coached and mentored over 800 career and business development clients in video games, tech, and entertainment at world-class companies. Formerly a co-founder and CEO of an award-winning edtech and video game development studio, Jean has also taught narrative design at Sheridan College and reached over 50,000 audience members as an international speaker. She’s also a recovering stand-up comedian.

​Myke Synnett, Support Specialist

​Myke is a seasoned IT professional with nearly a decade of experience in the game development industry of Vancouver, BC. Myke has a background in innovative problem-solving and technical development, his work has facilitated the creation of several critically acclaimed games, ranging from mobile games to AAA titles.

Myke began his career as a test engineer. Quickly discovering his love for hardware, systems, and managing technical processes, he decided to pivot to an IT focus. His career journey would lead him through a plethora of successes and failures, accompanied by a mental health journey of epic proportions.

With a welcoming and approachable attitude Myke promotes collaboration between all levels, from developers to artists, and executives to clerks, fostering an environment where individuals can thrive. His behind the scenes IT puppet-mastery ensures others can perform their duties at the highest level. As a mentor, he is dedicated to helping others navigate the joys and struggles of managing personal and professional mental health. Speaking to committees and employee groups, as well as hosting one-on-one mental health check ins for colleague and peers, Myke want’s everyone to know that “it’s okay to not be okay”. More recently Myke has moved into the public banking sector, where he continues to fulfil his passion for supporting others.

Currently, Myke works as a Support Specialist for a renowned national Banking firm in Canada. Outside of work, he enjoys playing video games (of course!), running, going to Pilates classes, reading comics, and hanging out with his wife, Meagan.

​Georgia Beswick, Freelance with Design, Production, and Community Management

​Georgia Beswick is a lighting designer working towards transferring her skills into the video game industry. She has been a huge gamer for most of her life, including being a big achievement hunter. With a history being classically trained in lighting design, as well as experience in events management and production assistant work - her skills range from design, management, and even organization.

​Being an advocate for diversity in the gaming industry, she also involved herself in a women-primary group called Level Her Up in Australia. This group sponsored free workshop and game jams for women to join, network, and learn. This group helped open her community and inspirations for the industry, which is the reason she sought out DIG in the first place.

​In travelling from Australia to Vancouver for the gaming industry, she's helping as a moderator and to run events to build up DIG in the community. She's currently looking for game work, but continues to adapt her skills every day to become more helpful for her teams.

​Her personal time includes mostly gaming, alongside snacking, listening to music, and learning new things

​
Ashley Andron, Test Lead

​Originally from Connecticut, I started my career working for Activision launching titles such as Call of Duty Vanguard, Warzone, MW2 remake. Currently working for Blizzard on Diablo 4 which I grew up playing with my dad.

​I have the most wonderful cat named Mishka who is a celebrity around the office. (She is in D4 special thank you credits! along with my dad) I play guitar and garden in my free time.

​I am a very big video game fan outside of work. Currently playing SHF for the third time. Recently very into split fiction with my dad!