A geek of all trades, our guest, Keisha Howard, has been a video game enthusiast since childhood. Growing up "geeky" resulted in her developing interests that were very different from her peers on Chicago's South Side.

With a degree in psychology and communications at DePaul University, Keisha acquired an understanding of consumer motivations that ultimately led her to real estate.

After a successful decade long career, Keisha's communications background and passion for business innovation led her to the Information Technology Industry, specifically social media, the video game industry and geek culture.

She quickly discovered that a considerable part of the industry's consumer and professional demographics were not being represented, so Keisha created Sugar Gamers – the new face of geek culture.

It began as a women's advocacy and networking group for consumers and professionals, but eventually blossomed into an organization that advocates for all demographics who are under served or not being represented at all.

Through Sugar Gamers, Keisha was able to monetize her interests in technology and connect people in the IT Community with other like-minded individuals, raising awareness of the under-representation of women in the Gaming Industry, and lobby to make sure corporations factor the needs of female consumers in their new offerings.

I found Keisha on Instagram and immediately vibed with her deep advocacy for women and minorities in tech and the gaming industries. She is the ultimate She-ro role model for geek goddesses.

Keisha shares:
•How the recession pushed her into entrepreneurship
•Her response when the SyFy channel told her “you’re not good enough.”
•Why she launched SugarGamers (it began with a post on Craig’s List!)
•Her advice for introverts to manage social media engagement
•The complex demographics found in the gaming industry
•Her deep knowledge of Virtual and Augmented Reality and how this medium is ideal for businesses to tell their story
•A new co-ed game called Tachyon – the first hybrid live-and-augmented arena sport
•Project VIOLACEA, a cyberpunk game where we all can imagine ourselves in a future where we can solve problems.
•Why tech and the gaming industry need to represent more women and minorities
•The BEST advice for managing the entrepreneurship roller coaster ride

Here are some of my favorite quotes from our delicious conversation:

"It's astounding to me that it's 2019, but I've met young women who come up to me and have said, "I never knew that there were black women in gaming." It's shocking."

"With visibility comes responsibility to people who are watching you because you're inspiring people. There's not that many of me in the video game industry. I realized that I really have to see this through and I can't give up because it gets hard sometimes."

"Even though Sugar Gamers started off as the all-female organization advocating for our representation in video games, it since evolved for everyone who has the mission to see diversity and inclusion and accessibility in the industry. So now, our team is comprised of all types of people from all walks of life who understand that this is a space and opportunity for all of us."

"That has been such a gratifying experience for me because I've always wanted to work in the video game industry and not only was I able to start my own company, but now I'm working with people on actual products. So it's not just me advocating, but it's me creating things or helping to create things as well. That's really exciting."

"One of the interesting things I've learned especially being immersed and engaged actively with gamers of all walks of life is that kids will find me, and they are so happy when I can validate their interest and their passion in gaming as an adult because back in the day when I was younger, adults would play Chutes and Ladders or Monopoly or play outside or go to the park or throw some balls, something a little bit more tacked out and tangible, but video games, what they mean to people has evolved so rapidly that it kind of missed the parents of today's gamers. So a lot of young kids don't have parents to game with and their parents aren't necessarily aware of how important video games can be as far as development goes, so they're more inclined to tell their child to not play than to sort of foster a conversation that would lend itself to that child being motivated to learn more about how that might be a career choice for them."

"It's fascinating times and it's something that we kind of -- I believe all of us really need to be paying attention to this space because the changes that are occurring are just so rapid and they're affecting Generation Z like no other because they live in the information age. They have grown up within the connectivity like being online. That is part of how they learn how to communicate, to connect now, and gaming is a huge part of how we learn. So to not pay more attention to what the video game industry is doing to our society both positive and negative is not in our best interest right now, which is why again, I'm so passionate about this space and I'm even more passionate about VR and AR because that's them to be the next evolution of how we engage with content. There's just so much here. There's so much to do and no matter what you're interested in whether it's music or storytelling or character design or fashion or whatever it is that you're interested in has a place in the tech industry and nowhere is that more apparent than video games."

"AR and VR are tools that could potentially solve huge problems in training, in healthcare, in learning. There's so much there and there's so much to discuss and that makes me excited because in a world where you know that you're going to have to deal with the challenge of what it means to navigate business as a woman or a person of color or from whatever marginalized demographic you might come from, if you're sitting on something good, you have a chance. Not all industries, in my opinion, give people that opportunity."

"Being an entrepreneur is also understanding teamwork and understanding how to ask for help because you don't know everything and sometimes you need that extra push for other people to see and value what you're doing."

"What social media did was offer a tool I could afford, and it allowed me access to all these people that had common interests. With a little bit of time and effort on a daily basis, I would reach out to people, and I would have little heartfelt notes about what I may have observed on their profile. It's astounding how much people appreciate when you're genuinely interested in their lives. It's not just shallow or superficial like, "I noticed that you like this. I think that's cool. I like this too," and building these authentic relationships using a digital medium."

"It's really compelling to me as a person from the demographic that is usually not represented. I can see the voids. I can see the gaps in what video game companies are missing, so it's like if this featured a woman or used different language or had this particular play option or came in this color, whatever, that would appeal to so many more people. How do I know this? Because I'm constantly talking to people about what they like in the video game industry."

"A lot of the developers and the creators in this space are brilliant, but it's sort of still a homogenous space. However, I see an opportunity in AR and VR as a medium to tell stories. Right now, more than ever as a society, we're interested in stories. We're interested in engaging in this deeper level. That leaves an opportunity for all of us, any of us that has a really good idea to think about how we can tell a story in a different way. It really allows a person to be empathetic to another because now, you're literally able to view the world through the lens of someone else's views."

Please follow Keisha everywhere she glows:
Twitter (Keisha): https://twitter.com/sugargamer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SugarGamers
A Geek of All Trades: http://www.gokeisha.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sugargamer/
Sugar Gamers: https://sugargamers.com/
BlazeBreakers (digital marketing agency: http://www.theblazebreakers.com/
LiveCGI: https://livecgi.com/
TachyonLeague: https://tachyonleague.com/

Here’s a link to the WBENC Certificate information I mentioned:
https://andelyons.com/work-with-ande/women-business-owners-get-wbenc-certified-now/

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Ande ♥