Interested in interviewing me about  gaming, diversity, feminism, fandom or related subjects? Awesome! normally, you can contact me via my form. However, I am full up on projects for the next few months. Please reach out to another consultant or sensitivity reader. I’ll update this page when I have space to take on new work again, thank you. 

Upcoming conventions I plan to attend:

  • PAX West, September 1-4,2023 Seattle, WA
  • PAX Unplugged, dates TBA, Philadelphia, PA

 Recent media appearances:

Articles and Interviews

Crystal Dynamics – Black Figures In Gaming Who Inspire Us

BuzzFeed – Gaming Doesn’t Have to Be Toxic, And these Black Women are Making Sure of It – William Barrios

Nerdist – 10 Black Innovators Who Changed the Gaming Industry Joshua Mackey

Polygon – Mother Lands is a tabletop Roleplaying game free of Slavery & Colonialism – Charlie Hall

Forbes – How Afrofuturism Can Help us Tell Better Stories – Goldie Chan

Nerdist A New Series will Take You Into the Mother Lands! – Kelly Knox

Comic Book Resource – Into the Mother Lands: A Sci-Fi RPG Odyssey from an All Black & POC Team; Explained – E.L Meszaros

Polygon One of Tabletop gaming’s Biggest Awards celebrates Black Creators

Smithsonian American Art Museum Blog (Eye Level) SAAM Arcade: Breaking Barriers

D&D Beyond @ D&D Live 2019 – The Artificer: Archivist at D&D Live (with Jeremy Crawford)

D&D Beyond: Todd Talks – Tanya DePass Talks D&D Tips, Race and Representation (video)

Ozy – Black Female Gamers are Reclaiming Their Space at Last

The Mary Sue – D&D Streamers and Creators Discuss the Game’s Evolution of Representation

Sugar Gamers Blog – Fighting for A Forward Moving Game Industry

Patreon Blog – 10 Creators that Inspire Us Daily with #BlackGirlMagic

Forbes – Six Storytelling Lessons we Can Learn from D&D  

Paste Magazine – Learning The Shape Of Dungeons & Dragons in 2019 at A Livestream Event

Geek and Sundry – There’s No Better Time to Catch up on Rivals of Waterdeep

Public Talks and Lectures (Videos):

My Articles: 

Interviews:

Black SciFi – Interviewed March 2018, Published March 2018

Facebook Women in Gaming #SheTalks interview – (see interviews already posted here: https://www.facebook.com/business/m/women-in-gaming/stories) 

 TWITCH GAMERS HOPE NEW COMMUNITY GUIDELINES WILL COMBAT ONLINE HARASSMENT – Medill Reports Chicago

Popculture Coven – Recorded, air date TBA

Black Streamers are Here to Save the Gaming Community – Andray Domise, FanBros

9 Black Twitch Streamers You Should Be Following – Andray Domise, FanBros

Chicago Tribune Interview w/ Michi Trota – Progress for some women doesn’t mean progress for all in TV

Autostraddle – 11 Women Gamers Who Let you Watch Along on YouTube and Twitch 

Chicago Tribune Interview –  I Need Diverse Games works to give minorities and women a louder voice in gaming

First Person Scholar – Interview with Tanya DePass 

A Fresh Narrative in Gaming – NYT, Justin Porter

Being Black While Gaming and Developing – Raine Scott

Black Girl Magic Magazine – Interview by Denny Upkins

Jetspace Magazine – Eric Starker interviewed me

 Black Women are Already Super Heroes; Sidney Fussell, Offworld

GX Australia Panels & my BOH Talk:

HARDER. BETTER. FASTER. STRONGER. — SELF-CARE TIPS FOR DIVERSE PEEPS

Emilie Poissenot Wren Brier Snow McNally Tanya DePass Dameyon Bonson

As part of an underrepresented group in the games industry, our careers are harder than the norm. Our actions and words may be used as a blanket representation of our whole group. The knowledge of biases against us can lead to increased self-doubt and distrust of our coworkers. All these experiences take their toll on our well-being. How can we get better at recognizing these side-effects and alleviating them faster? The panelists discuss experiences and tips that have helped them get stronger to broaden your own set of tools for similar situations.

BUILDING BETTER GAMERS

Ashton McAllan, Tanya DePass, Dr. Jennifer Hazel, Alayna Cole, Adam Koebel & Mavis Chan

Can games be used to build better gamers? Can game design improve the outlooks and behaviours of the people that play them? Can we utilise this power to make our gaming spaces and communities safer and more inclusive? Come along and see our panelists discuss who is already doing this in their games, what they are actually doing, and how we can work this kind of magic in our own games.

DIVERSITY 404: WHAT NEXT? (PRESENTED BY THE IGDA FOUNDATION)  

Tanya DePass,Felix Kramer, Katherine Cross & Rami Ismail

Diversity and inclusion is at a crossroads, with lots of performative diversity and well-intentioned-yet-ineffective strategies being touted as the Big Thing. But where are we, really? And what’s next?

My Boss of Honor talk! ❤  WHY A CUSTOMISABLE CHARACTER ISN’T DIVERSITY (PRESENTED BY THE IGDA FOUNDATION)

Tanya DePass

One of the responses that calls for better representation is often, you can customize your character in GAME! Well that’s not actually diversity, nor inclusion or an acceptable response to not thinking about inclusion in the first place. Through examples, and discussion let’s dispel this notion that customization characters = diversity.

DESTROYING TROPES AND STEREOTYPES IN GAMES

Tanya DePass, Lee Flores, Adam Koebel & Ken Wong

A look at the harm that using stereotypes and tropes does to games narratives, and why they need to be stopped.

WRITING THE “OTHER”

Anna Irwin-Schutze, Jody Toomey, Katherine Cross, Tanya DePass

At first glance, it seems obvious; Writers need to write about people and places they haven’t experienced directly for themselves. Most crime writers have not personally killed their victims. This panel is all about discovering how can write diverse and interesting characters while at the same time respecting where they come from. How do we be inclusive without having to save the whole world with every game narrative we design? What can we do to write the other to actually make a positive impact on the world and keep our stories awesome and engaging and inclusive at the same time?

HOW TO BROADCAST SAFELY AS A POC/LGBT/FEMALE ID’D STREAMER

Tanya DePass, Lee Flores, Adam Koebel

Streaming on Twitch can be fun, but it can also be perilous for some of us. This panel will bring you some tips and tricks such as using bots, human mods and other methods to make your experience as stress free as possible.

Thumbstick Mafia profiled me and my streaming! Check out this awesome space for women of color in gaming.

VsThe Universe: Geek Show: I talked up #INeedDiverseGames, did Bioware Tinder and talked up my Diversity Liaison duties with GayxmerX with Aaron Amendola of the Geek Show

Interview with Meggan Scavio on GDC Conference Planning – ReMeshed

I spoke with Dark Matters about #INeedDiverseGames and going forward with doing the work full time!

 Autostraddle Interview by Al Rosenberg: We All Need Diverse Games

Gadgette Interview ~ UK Gaming site Gadgette interviewed me about #INeedDiverseGames 

Diversify Tabletop: Finding Diverse Designers Among the d20s (Interview with Emily Care Boss & I on the #DiversifyTabletop initiative)

10 LGBTQ Let’s Players to Watch – PasteGames by Riley MacLeod

 Why #INeedDiverseGames: Brainstorming about Diversity in the Games Industry ReSpawn 2015 Sabine Han (Video)

These 6 Women are Whipping the Gaming Industry into Shape – Playboy (online only) by Katriel P.

These 5 Podcasts Led by Black Women Keep Me Company…and Give Me Life The lovely Inda Lauryn gave me props in this XOJane piece!

#GamesSoWhite Hashtag attempts conversation about race in games, and goes as well as you’d expect (the above article is mentioned and linked as well as me)

Struggles for Women in the Gaming Industry – [a]List Daily (companion article w/Bianca Anderson)

Why We All Need Diversity in Gaming (and how you can start) – Write up of the #INeedDiverseGames panel at #Capricon by Neal Litherland

University of Minnesota Press Blog: #INeedDiverseGames and why representation in games matters

Seeking Racial Justice in Real Life and in Games

The Call for More Diversity in Video Games (WPR audio)

It’s More Common to see a blue hedgehog than a person of color as a protagonist: Inside the Whitewashed world of video games

Why #INeedDiverseGames is vital to the Future of Gaming | Arsenal for Democracy

I Need Diverse Games and We Need Diverse Books because…anything else is shitty writing

New Hashtag Alert – #INeedDiverseGames ~ The Geek Spot

In Regards to #INeedDiverseGames (vlog by Kellmachine)

Why the hashtag #INeedDiverseGames matters to us (HelloGiggles)

Older Podcast appearances:

Conventions & Events where I’ve spoken:

  • FlameCon – August 20 & 21, 2022 New York, NY
  • PAX West Sept 2-5, 2022 Seattle, WA
  • PAX Unplugged Dec 2-4, 2022 Philadelphia, PA
  • QuakeCon At Home August 7-9, 2020, Remote
  • PAX Online September 12-20, 2020 Remote
  • C2E2 Feb 28 – March 1, 2020, Chicago, IL
  • Emerald City Comi-Con, March 12-15, 2020, Seattle, WA (Postponed until further notice)

#IndieCade15 – I’ll be at the Intel sponsored #GamingForEveryone Diversity Pavilion at #IndieCade15 along with my Fresh Out of Tokens co-host David L. Reeves to rep for the show  and it’s parent org, #INeedDiverseGames

Journalism for Everyone – with Jillian of @FemHype! – October 25th, 2pm PST. Now with video!

GeekGirlCon – Seattle, WA October 10 & 11, 2015 “Stealing White People’s Superheroes” Sunday October 11th, 2pm, Room 301/302

Wizard World Chicago – August 22nd, 2015  “So You Want to be a Nerd Organizer” 3:30 – 4:15 pm

Wizard World Chicago – August 23rd, 2015  “The Most Racist Panel Ever” 1:00 – 1:45 pm 

AlterConf Sessions Chicago – August 8th, 2015 “Why We Need Diverse Games”

Black Girl Nerd Panel  panel at C2E2 2015

#YesAllTrolls What Happens when the Trolling Goes Too Far?  panel at C2E2

Wiscon39 ; various panels on gaming, feminism, etc. 5/22-5/24/2015