Ep.78 The Fight for Women’s Voice in the Gaming Industry

This is the first episode of the Apptivate mini-series celebrating women in mobile marketing for International Women’s Day. Maria Lannon, Remerge’s Director of Account Management for the Americas, interviews notable marketers on their experiences and approaches in marketing, as well as advice on navigating the industry as a woman.

Our first guest is Jen Donahoe, the Marketing and Growth Lead for Teamfight Tactics at Riot Games. Jen has also held marketing roles at Disney, Hasbro, EA Sports, and Mattel. She shares her thoughts on connecting with male peers, the need for women to support other women, calling out unconscious bias, work-life balance, and more.

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• How did you get started in marketing, specifically in gaming? And how have you been able to grow at some of the most influential companies in our industry?
• How have you seen the role of women changing in the gaming industry?
• What could we be doing more of to allow more opportunities for women in the workplace?
• What’s your perspective on the diversity and inclusion issues that were brought to light at Riot Games?
• How do you navigate your work-life balance?

• 1:50 How Jen got into a marketing career in gaming
• 8:30 Authentic connection in a male-dominated industry
• 12:35 Women supporters, not saboteurs
• 15:40 Calling out unconscious bias in work meetings
• 18:24 Getting peer feedback on your approach
• 20:55 Paying it forward and asking for help
• 26:34 How Riot Games has taken accountability for sexism criticism
• 35:40 Going beyond the superficial in coworker relationships
• 40:35 Managing work-life balance and your career
• 44:36 Jen’s 4 “Ps”

(8:59-9:28) “I think because I had such a connection to sports and to these hobbies that many men actually enjoyed, I was really able to connect with them. And so, I call it ‘authentic connections.’ You have to realize that whether we’re women, we’re human beings and we have to find ways of connecting with other human beings, and I was just really good at figuring out that hey, the authentic way I can connect with these mentors or these people that I need to know was to find a thing that connected us.”

(15:53-16:18) “For us, in today’s day and age, nothing is really that overt anymore. I think that it’s more of the unconscious bias that sometimes happens from our male peers. And one of the things is when you have an idea and you say something in the meeting, it gets glossed over and then a few minutes later a man will repeat the same question and everyone’s like ‘Oh my god, it’s an amazing idea.’”