Happy International Women’s Day! This year The Lodgge is celebrating with a look back on some of the incredible conversations we’ve featured with some of the women who are making huge strides in Ontario’s video game and XR industry.

“Today, as we celebrate the outstanding achievements of women from around the world, we are reminded of the remarkable impact of women leaders and innovators in Ontario’s video game and XR sector who continue to drive our industry forward,” said Lucie Lalumière, President & CEO of Interactive Ontario. “Their ingenuity, passion, and determination serve as beacons of inspiration, enriching our community and inspiring the next generation of trailblazers. Stay tuned for even more coverage of the outstanding women in our industry on The Lodgge over the next year!”

Vanessa Chia

Studio: Cococucumber

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Vanessa Chia is a Producer, Director & Co-Founder of Toronto’s Cococucumber. With Ravenlock reaching an audience of over half a million players on Xbox’s Game Pass, Chia and her team have paved the way for other small Ontario indie studios to make a splash on the Xbox scene. In this featured story, The Lodgge spoke with Chia about their impressive journey leading Cococucumber’s success for just over a decade.

Ericka Evans

Studio: Phantom Compass

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Erica Evans is a Studio Partner and Head of Production at Toronto’s Phantom Compass. Evans is a Gemini Award Winning Producer with over 20 years of experience working in Television and Game Development. Check out The Lodgge Podcast Episode 3 to hear more about her experience in video game production, her team’s success with Rollers of the Realm, the impact of women in the gaming industry, and more.

Kaitlin Tremblay, Meagan Byrne, Tanya Kan

Studios: Soft Rains, Achimostawinan Games, Vivid Foundry

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Kaitlin Tremblay is a Narrative Director and Co-Founder at Soft Rains, Meagan Byrne is the Narrative Mechanics Designer and founder of Achimostawinan Games, and Tanya Kan is the Founder and Game Designer at Vivid Foundry. In this special 3-guest edition of The Lodgge Podcast, we sat down with the Collaborative Worldbuilding Indie Superboost panelists to discuss their tips and tricks for how they each facilitate worldbuilding with the teams at their respective studios.

Abby Howard

Studio: Black Tabby Games

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Abby Howard is an Artist and Co-Founder of Toronto’s Black Tabby Games. Did you know that before the success of Scarlet Hollow and Slay the Princess, Abby started off as a graphic novelist? Read on about her initial move to Toronto, her love of the horror genre, and her unexpected games industry journey in this featured article.

Indigo Doyle

Studio: Pushing Vertices

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Indigo Doyle is a 3D Artist and Founder of Mississauga’s Pushing Vertices’, as well as founder of The Indie Mixer, a networking event for Indie Game Developers. In Episode 12 of The Lodgge Podcast, Doyle discusses the importance of networking in the indie scene and the development of her game “Roller Girl”. Doyle has since become one of the co-hosts of Bonus Stage – a free networking event for creatives in the gaming industry.

Renee Wong

Studio: Gameloft Toronto

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Renee Wong is a Communications Specialist at Gameloft Toronto. Kicking off the second season of The Lodgge Podcast, Episode 9 brought discussions from Wong about her past experience being a brand ambassador, how her career goal of being at a game studio lead to her pursuing studies in Public Relations and Communications, and what it’s like working with renowned IP for Gameloft’s fleet of mobile games.

Megan Everett, Heidi Flynn, Danielle Sokolowski, Beth Bryson

Studio: Digital Extremes

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Megan Everett, Heidi Flynn, Danielle Sokolowski, Beth Bryson are respectively the Director of Community, Director of Human Resources, Senior Community Manager, and Senior Events Manager at London’s Digital Extremes. Last year’s TennoCon, an annual showcase and celebration of everything Digital Extremes, was also a commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of Warframe. As part of a retrospective featured story, Everett, Flynn, and Bryson all spoke with The Lodgge about the success of the event and what the Warframe community means to the studio.

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We also spoke with Sokolowski about community management and more in the very first episode of The Lodgge podcast.

Steph Sandercock

Studios: Secret Location, 13 AM Games

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Steph Sandercock is the Finance Director at Toronto’s Secret Location Immersive. While in her former role as the Producer and Audio Director at Toronto’s 13 AM Games, Sandercock was featured on Episode 10 of The Lodgge Podcast, where she discussed becoming self-taught in unity for audio direction, the process of game localization, being a tea sommelier, and how her past career in television prepared her for the chaotic world of game development.

Agusia Krzywinska

Studio: Adjective Noun Studios

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Agusia Krzywinska is the Co-Founder and Technical Director of St.Catherine’s Adjective Noun Studios, as well as a part-time instructor of introductory programming at Brock University. As Co-Founder of Adjective Noun Studios, Krzywinska discusses why it was so important to make “no ads and no microtransactions” a cornerstone of their studio, what it feels like to be nominated for the Canadian Game Awards, and making connections with studios across the Niagara region – all on Episode 8 of The Lodgge Podcast.

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Here at The Lodgge we’re proud to have a committed role in sharing the stories of the women of the Ontario gaming and XR industry, and we look forward to spotlighting all the amazing work that women in the industry will continue to do.