Xbox is pleased to announce the official launch of the Xbox Mentoring Program The goal is to connect women in gaming careers with emerging talent across Xbox’s diverse studios and products.
First launched on International Women’s Day, the Xbox Mentoring Program offers you the opportunity to access valuable 1:1 coaching sessions with key business leaders in select markets such as the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria and the access Switzerland, Japan and Korea, other markets will follow.
If you are interested in a gaming career and live in the above regions, register below for the Xbox mentor in your country and get the chance to attend their coaching session. Submissions will be accepted from now until April 6, 2022.
Meet your Xbox mentors
Hailey Geller (you)
Xbox Social Marketing Manager
Region: United States
Hailey is a strategic creative marketer specializing in developing impactful and meaningful campaigns for your favorite games and products.
Register here: xbox.com/mentoring
Louise O’Connor (you)
Executive Producer of Everwild
Region: Great Britain
Louise has been in the games industry for over 20 years and loves making games that players will remember. Starting out as an animator, she has had the privilege of working on some of the incredible rare IPs enjoyed by gamers around the world. Now she oversees the team responsible for creating the studio’s new exciting IP: Everwild.
Register here: xbox.com/mentoring
Venessa Nyarko (you)
Producer at The Coalition
Region: Canada
Venessa’s role on The Coalition is to bring teams together to develop cohesive storytelling between gameplay, cinematics, and the sequences in between to create a unified experience for players. She develops the framework for making the best plays, putting the right people in the right conversations, and bringing all the pieces together for an epic end result.
Register here: xbox.com/mentoring
Tanya Chee (you)
Xbox Business Lead, Australia and New Zealand
Region: Australia & New Zealand
As Xbox Business Lead for Australia and New Zealand, Tania is responsible for driving the gaming platform’s business growth across Tasmania. Tania’s career has spanned over 20 years in various roles in Australia and the UK, ranging from IT start-ups to managing Microsoft’s gaming, consumer software and office businesses through the retail channel.
Tania joined Team Xbox in the UK in 2008 and moved to the Australian business in 2011 where she is driving Xbox’s subscription business, focusing on subscriber growth and rolling out key app partners to the platform. Tania has also been instrumental in the success of multiple console generations and launches, and was announced as lead for Xbox ANZ in 2018 after a decade with the brand.
Register here: xbox.com/mentoring
Ina Gelbert (you)
Director of Xbox France
Region: France
As the first woman to lead the Xbox team in France, Ina’s main motivation is to make gaming a diverse, safe and inclusive environment. With professional experience in both the FMCG and gaming industries, she brings multicultural views and perspectives from different backgrounds to any discussion.
Register here: xbox.com/mentoring
Melek Balgun (you)
Sports | Web | TV | event host
Region: Germany, Austria & Switzerland
Melek is a former professional gamer who started her career at ESL. Hosting and moderating is a matter of course for her, both online and on the big stage. Your web magazine “Art of Gaming” for the TV channel arte was nominated for the Grimme Prize in 2018.
Register here: xbox.com/mentoring
Mie Koshimizu (you)
Xbox category manager
Region: Japan
Originally from Japan, Mie is the Xbox Category Manager supporting the Asian Xbox team based in Singapore. She is known for her friendliness and enthusiasm for her work. Mie is passionate about women in gaming – especially across Asia – and encourages all gamers, including people in the industry, to share her passion. Since earning her Master’s degree in Business Analysis, Mie has expanded her knowledge and skills in consumer, market analysis/research and user experience and stories that identify customer requirements and needs. Always looking for a new challenge, she enjoys working in a demanding environment and is ready to learn something new every day.
Register here: xbox.com/mentoring
Young Kim (you)
Communication Manager Xbox
Region: Korea
Boyoun is communications manager at Xbox and leads market communications in Korea and Japan. She is experienced in communications with extensive regional experience in corporate reputation management, issues and crisis communications. Having received her Masters in Social Policy from the London School of Economics, Boyoun has developed a strong understanding of communication campaign planning and implementation as well as regional marketing strategies for digital and social media. She has over 10 years of experience having worked for hardware manufacturer Lenovo, Google and a Germany-based start-up.
Register here: xbox.com/mentoring
With the Xbox Mentorship Program, Xbox is opening its world to inspire and empower the next generation of female gaming leaders. We are very excited to share our knowledge and hope the program will generate meaningful engagement with concrete and targeted actions to boost career development in the games industry. visit the Xbox Mentoring Program website to learn more about the program.
