Women in Gaming: Nova Scotia Edition

Women of ISNS

 

We are celebrating International Women’s Day with a feature on the Women of the Interactive Society of Nova Scotia.

The Interactive Society of Nova Scotia (ISNS) aims to further the interactive media and video game industry and foster collaboration and growth within Nova Scotia.

Women in gaming matter:

• The number of female gamers is on the rise. In 2018, 50% of Canadian video gamers were female (ESAC, November 2019).
• More than one billion women are active gamers. Women account for 46% of all game enthusiasts: (NewZoo, May 2019)
• Atlantic Canada has the highest percentage of women directly working in games (ESAC, November 2019) of all of Canadian Regions.

These amazing leaders in Nova Scotia’s game industry bring experience and drive to the community and to ISNS.

Selena Landon, Vice President

Selena specializes in Human Resources managing game talent recruitment, international mobility, immigration processes, and deploys strategies for organizational and talent development for Ubisoft Halifax.

As Vice President of ISNS, Selena brings her 20+ years of experience in the Nova Scotia Arts Community with a career ranging from Theatre, TV, Film, Animation and Video Games to the ISNS Board where she advocates for game development in Nova Scotia. Selena pushes for inclusion and diversity strategies in the industry.

A Commissioner of Oaths appointed by The Minister of Justice, Selena is a passionate leader who truly cares about the people within the organization, as much as she cares for the organization itself.

Marina Vidal, Outreach & Membership

Marina is ISNS’s Membership & Outreach Director, who focuses on expansion, engagement and retention of ISNS members, and encourages a strong sense of community in the game industry. Focusing on women in technology, Marina is a proponent of women in games.

Marina brings her experience as an Internationalization Specialist and Transmedia Educator with a particular interest in digital technologies to ISNS. She works to improve the Nova Scotia game industry through cluster competitiveness strategies.

An amazing experience around the globe, supporting family in game development, Marina has lived and worked in multicultural environments for more than 15 years. She brings fluency in Spanish, Catalan, French, English, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese to ISNS.

 

Lori Shepherd, Director

Lori is Chief Executive Officer, Creative Director, and Civil-Military Liaison of Cold Furnace Studios. An Executive Director of ISNS, who also runs the Atlantic Canada Game Devs community, Lori advocates for the game industry in Atlantic Canada.

Lori works to promote Nova Scotia’s game studios, developers, and events to increase the awareness of the game industry in Atlantic Canada. Accessibility in games is important to Lori, working with military veterans who suffer physical and brain injuries she champions accessibility in the industry.

Before joining the game industry in 2007, Lori was employed by the Government of Canada, and responsible for system design and security architecture. International law enforcement and security organizations have worked with her in understanding and preparing for virtual world culture and threats to games associated with crime in online gaming. Lori has contributed to the INTERPOL Working Party on Information Technology Crime, regarding Gaming and Virtual Worlds.

 

 

 

 

ISNS Discord: https://discord.gg/RZkGks4
ISNS IG: @isns_hfx
ISNS Twitter: @isns_hfx
ISNS FB: @InteractiveNS
ISNS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/interactive-society-of-nova-scotia