Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month with Take-Two's Asians In Gaming community
AAPI Heritage Month is a celebration of the many diverse cultures and traditions across Asian and Pacific Islanders communities. It's also an opportunity to celebrate the contributions that generations of Asian and Pacific Islander leaders have made to our industry. This year's theme, "Advancing Leaders Through Collaboration," reminds us of the importance of leadership and allyship as keys to continual progress. We're honored to introduce you to these everyday leaders who are shaping the present and future of gaming.
Amanda Lui (2K)
Tell us about your current role and responsibilities!
I'm the Senior Director leading Product Live Services & Insights for the 2K Core Games portfolio. My team is responsible for providing trends, information, and insights to our development teams to shape game features and engagement strategies. Our goal is to ensure that our games deliver authentic content that excites our fans, and enable the best possible experiences for our players.
How do you bring your whole self to work at 2K?
First off, it's important that companies create a respectful and inclusive environment, which enables individuals to feel safe and supported to bring their authentic selves to work. At 2K, I feel I'm able to bring my authentic self to work, having open discussions (including my random pop culture hot takes) and offering direct and candid feedback without ever feeling pressured to conceal my perspective. I deeply appreciate the culture and support that 2K offers!
What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to you, and why is it important to celebrate?
As a first-generation Chinese American born to immigrant parents, I find that my Chinese and American identities are often fluid. My family speaks English and Chinese interchangeably, using whichever language feels more comfortable. I had a Western wedding ceremony which also incorporated a Chinese tea ceremony to thank my parents and elders. AAPI Heritage Month is important to me as it provides a formal moment for the AAPI community to honor our cultural heritage, celebrate its successes, and recognize our historical and ongoing challenges. It also serves as an occasion for non-AAPI individuals to learn from our community and identify ways to support and uplift us.
What career advice do you have for aspiring professionals who want to break into this industry?
Making games requires all types of skills, perspectives, and experiences—from artists and engineers to product managers, marketers, and more! You can start by exploring career sites and researching the skills that gaming companies typically seek. Reaching out to professionals in the industry (we're often found on platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and BlueSky) to learn more about their path and experiences. You may be surprised by how many people in the gaming industry are deeply interested, open to helping others, and are willing to have a chat. Share your story about why you're interested in gaming, the skills you bring, and what you're looking for. I'm excited to see the impact you all will have on the future of the games industry!
Ashley Pias (31st Union)
Tell us about your current role and responsibilities!
I am an Associate HR Generalist with 31st Union, part of the global HR team that supports the development efforts across our North American and European teams. In my role, I have the honor of helping our People Operation efforts across every aspect that impacts the wellbeing of team including onboarding, employee relations, benefits, growth management, payroll, and many more.
How do you bring your whole self to work at 31st Union?
Our studio culture and values have created a safe space for me to feel like I can come as I am. I'm a naturally inquisitive person, and working at 31st Union is my first stint in the gaming industry. I'm thankful that 31U encourages learning and development, because I can ask questions if something isn't clear or if I'm interested in learning more about a specific topic.
Setting aside time outside of work to take care of myself is also imperative. Working out regularly and journaling are all good for my mental health, and give me time to reflect and refresh so that I can be the best version of myself both at home and at work.
What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to you, and why is it important to celebrate?
The first thing that comes to mind when I think about AAPI Heritage Month is food and togetherness. Growing up in Hawaii, so many important events and conversations happened over meals. At 31U, we celebrate and learn about different cultures by featuring Asian or Pacific Island cuisine each week during the month of May through our Tasty Tuesday lunches. Through these meals I can connect with my teammates, share stories, and learn more about the people I work with.
It's important to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month because it gives us a chance to honor and amplify current and past AAPI leaders and their contributions to the world we live in today. It's also a time to build awareness around pressing issues the AAPI community still faces, like protecting sacred Hawaiian lands and [attacks] against the Asian community.
What career advice do you have for aspiring professionals who want to break into this industry?
Here are three pieces of advice that I've found helpful in my career:
- If you find yourself unsure of how to handle a specific problem, never say to your boss "Tell me what to do." Take the time to think about the problem at hand and come to the table with a proposed solution that they can react to. They will appreciate the extra effort of your recommendation.
- No job is too small. There is something to learn in every task, no matter how big or small it might be. When you're assigned a task, do it well and take pride in your work.
- If something is unclear, don't be afraid to ask questions to get clarity.
Jake Schnackenberg (Private Division)
Tell us about your current role and responsibilities!
I'm responsible for supporting the Private Division label and our studios with HR initiatives and services that help our people and culture thrive, so that we can deliver the best games possible to our players.
How do you bring your whole self to work at Private Division?
I love getting to know more about the people I work with, because I know each individual has a unique story that brings so much more depth and flavor to our organization and culture. As a soon-to-be dad, it's been a great experience getting to know other dads better by sharing our hopes, challenges, sadnesses, and joys.
What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to you, and why is it important to celebrate?
I was born in Taiwan and spent more than half of my life living there. AAPI Heritage Month is a wonderful opportunity to share the history, culture, and my favorite—the food—of Taiwan with my colleagues who may have never experienced it. I still remember when I first moved to Oregon in the fourth grade; bringing dried roasted seaweed to school was a shock to my classmates. Now seaweed can be bought in most grocery stores. It really is amazing how much Asian culture has influenced and continues to shape the American experience—making it richer for our children. There's a lot to celebrate and be grateful for!
What career advice do you have for aspiring professionals who want to break into this industry?
I would encourage young professionals to stay curious, keep an open mind, and take risks. Looking back on my career so far, the biggest times of growth have come from observing and learning from the behaviors of others more experienced than me, including my family who all have something to teach me. Learning goes hand-in-hand with taking risks by applying what you've learned in new and uncomfortable situations. That includes the valuable lessons learned from mistakes and failures.
Kyle Gault (2K Vegas)
Tell us about your current role and responsibilities!
I'm a Senior QA Tester who has been with 2K since 2018. I'm assigned to the Gearbox team specifically, taking on projects like Borderlands 3, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, and New Tales from the Borderlands. Being in a senior position, I'm typically tasked with finding and writing up bugs throughout the title, but also do my best to help those around me succeed.
How do you bring your whole self to work at 2K?
I love what I do. If I was tasked with writing bugs all day, that's a happy day for me. I like to have a competition with myself to write as many bugs as I possibly can. I have a lot of pride in what I do and how well I can do it. So not only do I push myself to write the most bugs, but to also ensure that they're all quality bugs. I try to maintain a positive attitude both for myself and so others around me can be positive. I also love seeing those around me succeed, so I try my best to help everyone I can.
What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to you, and why is it important to celebrate?
Being both Asian (Filipino) and Micronesian (Chamorro), AAPI Heritage Month means a lot to me. Being able to celebrate and represent not one but two of my races is an honor and a joy. It really makes me want to dive deep and learn more about my culture and history. As a Pacific Islander, I'm delighted that we can get recognition that the beautiful culture from the islands deserve, despite my hope that one day Islanders will stop getting grouped together with Asians.
What career advice do you have for aspiring professionals who want to break into this industry?
Don't be afraid to ask questions and learn from the answer. There's a lot of information that comes with the job, and a lot of people that will have answers or know someone who does.
Stanley Rao (2K)
Tell us about your current role and responsibilities!
I'm a Senior Manager and the global strategy lead for the NBA 2K franchise. I'm currently focused on finding opportunities to grow the game through new monetization models, game launch planning, and forecasting commercial performance over the short- and long-term.
How do you bring your whole self to work at 2K?
Every day that I work at 2K, I'm reminded just how freely authentic I can be with my own values, beliefs, and preferences. I can just as easily talk to my colleagues about the potential of a new partnership opportunity or less discipline-focused topics like boba, video games, and sports drama.
What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to you, and why is it important to celebrate?
To me it's a chance to reflect on the amazing contributions AAPIs have brought to the US and globally. It's also a time to renew the dialogue on a lot of issues that the AAPI community faces, which we as a nation need to work on solving together.
What career advice do you have for aspiring professionals who want to break into this industry?
Don't be afraid to venture and learn, especially while you're young and inexperienced. Bringing your authentic passions and hobbies to your resume and job interviews means you'll be more likely to find a career that's intrinsically fulfilling. Know the stereotypes and prejudices people might have towards you given your background, experience, or ethnicity, and find ways to recontextualize them as strengths.
Daniel Park (Take-Two Interactive)
Tell us about your current role and responsibilities!
I'm a Senior Platform Engineer on T2's workplace engineering team. I write bots and automation programs to support our teams and vendors across our collaboration tools such as Slack. My work helps our labels get their job done faster and more securely, so they can focus on making great games.
How do you bring your whole self to work at Take-Two?
I bring my whole self to work by being open with my coworkers about my thoughts and passions. In doing so, work becomes a medium through which I can express emotions, memories, and camaraderie with my coworkers.
What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to you, and why is it important to celebrate?
Growing up as an American-born Korean, I didn't feel like I fit in with a lot of my classmates. Other Koreans that were born in Korea didn't accept me either. I felt alienated because even in pop culture I didn't see representation of Asians or people that look like me. Now with globalization and the rise of Asian people achieving worldwide success, there's a lot more acceptance and interest in my identity.
What career advice do you have for aspiring professionals who want to break into this industry?
My advice would be to make things. I learned more making small projects at hackathons than I did in my projects for school. I would encourage people to go out and apply their knowledge to create things; repeating that cycle of creation is what will hone your skills.
We are always interested in hearing more about our 2K employees. We are constantly striving to create safe spaces where everyone feels seen, welcomed, and appreciated. 2K puts the "Come As You Are" value into practice each and every day thanks to the courage and confidence of our employees, as we’re always looking to grow our community in the most inclusive ways possible. Employees who are interested in sharing their story can reach out to 2kemployeecomms@2k.com.