Special Event
Women in Mobile Apps & Games Panel
The Expat Woman hosted a special panel that offered an insightful look in the mobile game and app industry.
What is it like to work for an apps or mobile game company? This was the focus during Women in Mobile Apps & Games Panel, an insightful look in the industry from six respected professionals.
Women in Mobile Apps & Games Panel was organized by the Expat Woman and held at Pivotal Software office in San Francisco while Yengage help sponsor the event. This was an industry panel with a Q&A session followed by an opportunity for everyone to network.
The Guests
Women in Mobile Apps & Games Panel featured a diverse panel of speakers from across the mobile app and game industry. Each speaker brought their own unique experience to the discussion while taking the time to share their wisdom with the audience.
The panelists for the evening were Ivy Wong, Donata Tortella, Jennifer Kanyamibwa, Angelica McKinley, Amanda Iseri and Tina Tam. The discussion was moderated by Heidi Smith, a Senior Recruiter for Sales at Splunk.
Ivy Wong has been Product Marketing Manager for TinyCo since May 2017 while having worked in a similar role at BlueStacks.
Donata Tortella is the Partner Brand Manager for Google Play. She had previously been the Localization Project Coordinator for Google along with a Content Curator for Apple through Welocalize.
Jennifer Kanyamibwa is the Program Manager for Communication Design at Slack. She has previously worked as a Consulting Project Manager for Wolf & Wilhelmine
Angelica McKinley is the Senior Communications Designer for Slack while having previously worked at The New York Times for over five years.
Amanda Iseri is the Senior Partner Manager for Niantic. She has previously been a Strategic Partner Manager for Google along with the Senior Business Development Manager for TriplePoint.
Tina Tam is the Operations & Customer Experience for Niantic while having also worked in a similar role at Worldreader.
The Panel
The panel began with Tsubomi Natsuki from Yengage about what her company dose and how it helps mobile apps and games. Yengage is a marketing firm that works to bring new mobile apps and games into the Japanese market. Natsuki presentation was focused on how the culture plays an influence in the success of the most popular apps.
Following the presentation, each of the panelists introduced themselves and the work they do. After the introductions, Smith began by asking a series of questions. Among the subjects discussed were what brought them to their current profession, how their upbringing defined who they became, and some of their proudest accomplishments.
While anyone could have done some quick research on LikedIn, this was a more insightful moment to learn about what it took to make it in the mobile game and app industry. Each of the panelists had something unique to share that one would not associate with the industry.
Q&A Plus Networking
The Q&A session gave audience members the chance to ask the panelists their questions their career. Some of the topics discussed were their thoughts on the market, how to promote an app or game, and the importance of marketing.
The panel ended with an opportunity for the audience to have some quick one-on-one with the panelists or to mingle among each other and enjoy some food. The Expat Woman will be hosting another Women in Mobile Apps & Games Panel in September.
Did you attend Women in Mobile Apps & Games Panel? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. Also checkout future career and networking events hosted by The Expat Woman.
Stan Rezaee
Stan Rezaee is the founder and Editor of 8Bit/Digi. He is a journalist and gamer from the Bay Area who has been writing about the medium for over five years.
Even though I missed out thank you Expat for putting on such a event. Women in gaming need to be heard and those who are interested need a role model or a mentor
There needs to be more panels like this outside of GDC or Fanime
I’m surprised nobody asked about #GamerGate or the sexism that women face in the gaming industry?
Seems to be more focused on mobile game than apps but it still was a great panel at the Expat need to do it again. I encourage anyone regardless of gender wanting to break into the gaming industry to attend the next one
I bet if someone hosted a Men in Gaming and only allowed men to attend than all the SJW would get outraged and the ANTIFA would tear up Downtown SF just to stick it to Trump. But no women must always get a free pass to be sexist because “Femanazism”
Looks like we found the butt hurt fedora
Dude did you even read the article or did you just go straight to the comment section?
Dude what have we said about going full retard?
There needs to be a lot more of these and not just at major conventions like comic con or GDC as women are really underpresented in the game industry. These speakers are role modles and i hope many more will follow their example.