At the Chicago Gaming Coalition in March 2018, I was asked to enter, then run, then commentate a Windjammers tournament. I fell in love with the game and joined the Windjammers community. I contributed by streaming their reoccuring online Fightcade tournaments to my Twitch channel.

I am currently by hosting “Windjammers Wednesday” on my Twitch channel. I have played and worked at multiple Windjammers tournaments, including Frosty Faustings, Combo Breaker, Dreamhack Dallas, and EVO.

• Windjammers on Fightcade Videos
• Commentating at EVO 2019

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When MassVR moved to their Old Orchard location in February 2019, I became a regular player.

Enter the arena for a whole-body, fully immersive experience – VR Champions. Up to 8 of your friends and family can get physically inside the action in this team-versus-team battle. Move quickly, communicate and strategize to lead your team to victory. --massvr.com

I introduced CEO Chris Lai to the Twitch platform with the idea of showcasing VR Champions online, allowing players to replay their matches for friends anywhere in the world. Together we launched the stream, and have continued to add new features such as a side-by-side physical/virtual camera angles and professional commentators.

• MassVR Twitch Channel
• MassVR’s Site

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Gamer’s Headquarters (or GHQ for short) is an internet cafe/gaming center that ran a weekly Hearthstone tournament. In February 2019. they wanted to find a way to increase their attendance, and I offered to build a tournament stream. Without meaning to, I became engrossed with the production values of this project, scoping out equipment to bring the overall budget to under a grand. Players began to tell their friends about the tournaments because the top 8 players would be on camera. The number of attendees doubled within weeks.

This particular project made me realize how much I enjoyed producing. I found that I had a knack for building and running the whole show - I managed the scoreboard, camera angles, and voice talent. I improved the stream in pieces, starting with simple player camera shots, then adding commentators and brackets to fill out the overall audience experience. This project directly inspired me to pursue a production career in esports.

• Collection of GHQTV Videos
• GHQ’s Site

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Personal Stream

Broadcast

When I was in college, I knew about Twitch, but never thought much about it. Then, while playing with a group of friends during September 2014, I was introduced to a “Twitch Streamer” in our voice call. After checking out his profile (Thanks FleeRancer!), I wondered if I could go live with my own channel. So I tried it; I did not expect to thoroughly enjoy streaming, but here we are.

I still worked full time, but I would come home and go live on Twitch with the intention to just tinker and experiment. I would play different games to test my hardware, or to gauge the audience reaction, or to see if I could split my focus between the game and the chat. While I watched other streamers perform full time and monetize their content, I simply continued to develop my show, and practice good streaming habits. I always focused on my positive persona, my musical background, and my audience interactions.

Currently I stream Windjammers Wednesdays, and occasionally a Windjammers Fightcade tournament.

• The Twitch Channel Itself
• Collection of Past Broadcasts
• The best example of … what this channel is about

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DJ

Branding

Blame my dad for my DJ passion - he was mixing tunes for nightclubs before I was born. I had to sneak on his computer and make my first mix behind his back in 2002 before he would start to show me the ropes. High school nights were spent making hourlong mix CD’s for friends and family, but I didn’t perform on stage until college. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t there for the DJ courses.

At Columbia College Chicago, I was in the heart of the city learning from working house and techno artists. They taught me how to perform on analog equipment, but also how to promote myself with the latest social media platforms, how to get gigs, and how to brand myself for recognition. I played for a few years, ending up in a contest that flew me out to Los Angeles.

• Los Angeles Hype Video

After I finished, I knew that I wanted to produce my own music and shows. The idea of being just another DJ cramped my sense of creativity. I put DJing aside to focus on my other projects, and will revisit that performance art when I’m ready.

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Corporate Experience

IT Analysis

I’ve been playing with computers ever since I was born, but started a professional career in 2007 with Shodor as an apprentice and intern.

Established in Durham, NC in 1994, Shodor is a nonprofit organization serving students and educators by providing materials and instruction relating to computational science (scientific, interactive computing). With an Internet presence producing 3 to 4 million page views per month, Shodor has an international impact. Its award-winning , free online education tools such as Interactivate are popular with students and educators alike. --shodor.org

For college, I went to Columbia College Chicago for a bachelors in video game programming. Ever since then, I have worked in IT analyst roles full time, focusing on root-cause troubleshooting and team communication.

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I become involved with a project in 2017 by producing audio recordings of poet recitals. The Teen Writers and Artists Program (or TWAAP for short) is a group focused on exposing high school students to writing and performing spoken word poetry. They work closely with public schools in Illinois to bring more exposure to the world's largest youth poetry slam, Louder Than A Bomb.

TWAAP coaxed me into writing, then performing spoken word poetry. For years I had always doubted my writing abilities, but these amazing artists accepted me as one of them. Occasionally I still put thoughts to paper in poetry form, if only to keep up with everything going on.

• TWAAP’s website
• You can find TWAAP’s poetry performances here

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Stilts

Fitness

At my IT analyst position in 2019, I had a neat job benefit; every year, employees were given a budget for fitness expenses. Rather than join a gym and pay a membership fee over time, I used the budget to acquire these jumping stilts. I find them fun to use, and the workout I get from running in them is entirely satisfying.

In Waldorf private schooling, I was taught basic circus arts. I can ride a unicycle and juggle, but walking on stilts was easy for me to learn. On a field trip, I was given the opportunity to try on jumping stilts from a salesman, and surprised us both when I began running with them on during the demonstration. I was hooked.

No, I can’t do backflips in them yet. I can run short distances with them on - the true goal is to play Ultimate Frisbee with them on!

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