By Tatiana Martins, journalist at G&M News.
You’ve held leadership roles across continents and founded movements that drive inclusion. What personal or professional experiences most shaped your mission to make the gaming industry more diverse and equitable?
Over the course of my career, I’ve been fortunate to hold leadership roles across continents, which exposed me to the global gaming industry’s strengths, and its blind spots. In 2017, I co-founded the All-in Diversity Project. At the time, there were plenty of conversations around diversity, but not enough data, tools, or accountability to make DEI a serious boardroom topic. Our goal was simple: to give businesses the resources to take action and to derisk leadership for women and underrepresented groups. We did just that. Today, DEI is no longer a fringe initiative in gaming; it’s part of how many leading organizations define success. Now, I’m focused on bringing that same momentum to entrepreneurship alongside my co-founders and industry legends, Sue Schneider and Paris Smith. If we want to see better ideas, better products, and a stronger industry overall, we have to broaden who gets to build, lead, and invest. This isn’t about calling the current system broken; it’s about making the pie bigger for everyone. When we tap into diverse perspectives, we create space for innovation that benefits the entire ecosystem.
Defy the Odds is described as more than a network, a movement. What are the main gaps in the gaming industry that the group is addressing, and how are you measuring its impact?
Entrepreneurship is often seen as empowering, but the truth is it’s also a privilege. In the gaming industry, we tend to romanticize the founder journey, yet starting a business involves real financial, reputational, and emotional risk. Just ten years ago, inviting a woman into a C-suite role still felt like a bold move. At Defy the Odds, we helped make that leap feel less risky by building a strong business case for inclusion and bringing the industry along with us. Now, we’re applying that same mindset to entrepreneurship. We believe the gaming industry doesn’t lack talent or leadership; it lacks access. The people who usually become founders tend to have time, capital, and a strong network to lean on. But many others are left out of that conversation. We’re here to change that by giving underrepresented founders the support, knowledge, and connections they need to build sustainable businesses in gaming. We’re tackling this challenge in three main ways. First, through advisory work, we support early-stage startups in finding product-market fit, building go-to-market strategies, and identifying where they can thrive within the gaming ecosystem. We also connect them with experienced mentors and a trusted network, so they don’t have to navigate the journey alone. Second, we’ve created a community, a dedicated space where founders, investors, and industry experts can come together to share knowledge and accelerate success. This includes curated resources like investor lists, pitch templates, and accessible courses on leadership and gaming-specific business models. Third, we focus on investor access. We help new investors, especially those entering gaming for the first time, understand the sector, meet credible founders, and feel more confident aligning their capital with promising opportunities. For us, impact is all about access and outcomes: seeing more diverse founders getting funded, launching products, and staying in the game long enough to succeed. That’s what this movement is all about.
Startups led by women and minority founders often face structural barriers to funding and visibility. How is DTO helping to change this narrative within gaming?
Startups led by women and minority founders still face major barriers, especially when it comes to access to capital and visibility. At Defy the Odds, we’re working to change that narrative in the gaming industry. The data is clear: most funding still goes to all-male founding teams, even though diverse teams often deliver better results and higher returns per dollar invested. That’s why we’re focused on creating real access, through tailored support, visibility, and strong investor connections. We support founders from the ground up with hands-on advisory, business model guidance specific to gaming, and a community where entrepreneurs, experts, and investors can connect. We also engage directly with investors to help them see the untapped potential in backing diverse teams. For us, impact isn’t just about who gets funding; it’s about helping these founders launch products, grow their businesses, and stay in the game long enough to succeed. When that happens, everyone benefits. The entire ecosystem becomes more innovative, resilient, and reflective of the world we live in.
You’ve been recognized as a leader and advocate in the sector. How do you see the role of mentorship evolving in an increasingly digital and globalized gaming landscape?
Mentorship has always played a vital role in career development, but in today’s digital and globalized gaming industry, it needs to evolve. For too long, women and underrepresented talent have been over-mentored and under-sponsored. Advice is helpful, but what moves the needle is real investment, whether that’s in capital, opportunity, or advocacy. As we focus on inclusion at the founder level, I see this shifting. Investors and corporates that are backing startups will increasingly recognize the need to sponsor the right people, not just the right ideas. That’s a mindset change, and it’s long overdue. At the same time, the pace of technological change means we also need to rethink who mentors whom. Younger founders and technologists often have the clearest sense of where the industry is going, whether it’s AI, Web3, or new creator-led models. In the future, mentorship will need to flow in both directions. We’ll need to value insight and lived experience equally, and foster environments where learning is mutual, not hierarchical. The opportunity in front of us is to make mentorship more action-oriented, cross-generational, and tied to tangible outcomes like funding, partnerships, and growth. That’s how we build an industry that doesn’t just talk about inclusion, but benefits from it.
Looking ahead, what shifts do you believe are necessary, from investors, operators, and industry leaders, to ensure long-term equity and innovation in gaming?
Looking ahead, the shifts we need aren’t about fixing women or minority founders; they’re about fixing the system that hasn’t invited them in. The issue isn’t a lack of leadership or talent; it’s that we haven’t created the conditions for that talent to thrive. If we want long-term equity and innovation in gaming, we need to be intentional about changing that. That means building visible role models so new founders can see what’s possible. It means providing trusted networks and advisors, not just for inspiration, but for the real, day-to-day decisions that build businesses. We need to educate founders on things as basic but vital as revenue models, industry-specific strategies, and the vocabulary of investment. These are learnable things, but only if someone opens the door. Equally, we need to bring in more investors who believe in true innovation, those willing to fund at the earliest stages, before there’s traction, before there’s a polished pitch deck. Because that’s where the real change happens. If we want a gaming industry that reflects the world we’re building games for, we need to get serious about inclusion, not as a moral obligation, but as a strategic one. That’s how we unlock new markets, better ideas, and more sustainable growth.