Latinx Games Festival 2019

Tina started playing video games at four years old, and has never stopped. She got her start in the industry working in Sales & Marketing for a Japanese game company called Koei. Soon, she was off to work with the U.S. gaming magazine, EGM and its sister site, 1UP. She quickly became the shooter expert among her peers, since it’s the genre she plays every night. This kick-started her goal of working in game development, and she got her break as the Senior Community Manager of Infinity Ward in 2012. Shortly after joining IW, she found her footing with the Production team and worked on Ghosts, Infinite Warfare and WWII. She joined Respawn in 2017 at the start of production on Apex Legends and continues to lead production for Characters and various game features.

Elaine Gomez is a game designer at E-Line Media, independent Unity developer and games educator. Elaine earned an MFA in Interactive Media and Games from University of Southern California in 2016. She is co-founder and community director of Latinx in Gaming. Elaine is interested in using games to preserve culture and foster relationships and communities across boundaries.

Since 2001, Danny Peña’ has been at the forefront of Internet video game community building. Known for his unmistakable voice and interview skills. Inducted to Inaugural Podcasters Hall Of Fame and Keynote Speaker for Podfest Multimedia Expo 2016 & 2017.

Today Gamertag Radio, which earns millions of lifetime downloads and listens, is a well-respected and sought-after outlet for fans, experts and companies in the gaming community who routinely provide the podcast first samples of products to be reviewed on the show.

Hailing from the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, Coraly’s adventure started over 12 years ago when she first took an interest in graphic design and teaching. Later, her innate interests naturally evolved into a love affair with UI/UX in games, working with companies like Beyond Games (Brink of War), Fingerprint Play (Samsung Kids), and continuing to teach others about user research and experience design in the games industry. She is currently the Senior UX Designer on the Wheel of Fortune team at Scopely.

Currently designing and creating exciting multiplayer experiences for the upcoming Halo Infinite. Born and raised in Mexico City, he graduated with a CS degree from Tecnologico de Monterrey. As one of the leads of Xbox’s Latinx in Gaming, Fernando organizes social and professional events that allow members of the Latinx community to break into the game industry and succeed. He believes in the true democratization of Gaming, where everyone has a game that talks to them and everyone is empowered to create their own games.

Gaby Ponce is a producer at Turn 10 Studios working on internal tools for the artists, animators, and developers of the Forza Motorsport team. Before that she was a program manager at Xbox, building social experiences for gamers to make meaningful connections with other players. Originally from Southern California she graduated with a degree in Computer Science from UC San Diego and decided to pursue game development to combine her passions for culture, art, and technology. As a leader of the Team Xbox Latinx community, she hopes to help others navigate and succeed within the gaming industry.

Once upon a time there was a creative who, due to the unfortunate circumstances of society, suppressed her creative gene to learn how to maneuver up the corporate ladder. Fast forward 10 years – she has discovered how to embrace both the creative gene and corporate lessons to benefit this generation. Trinidad Hermida is the Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Niantic, Inc., an AR technology company that produces mobile games, including Pokémon GO, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Ingress, which have jointly had over 800 million downloads.Trinidad Hermida has the drive and ambition to champion positive change. Since joining Niantic in December 2018 she has brought expertise and passion in championing burgeoning diversity initiatives. She is here for each and every person. Trinidad believes that by “setting a standard of incorporating everyone’s genius, we can change the game”. Trinidad is excited to learn about and from our journeys and partner together on what we as a cohesive team can do to make the world a more diverse and inclusive home for all of us. On any given day you might catch Trinidad traveling the world to visit friends or volunteering her time to educate the next generation through life coaching.