36. Just Keep Swimming
Joining me this week is Holly Gray, the Human Resources Manager at Generation Esports. In addition to talking about esports and the importance of HR, Holly and I have a bit of a heart to heart about how to keep going when life is difficult, and also talk all about what Generation Esports is doing for students, veterans, and amateur players. Holly teaches me about the positivity of having kids play games in schools: higher engagement in school, better attendance, better grades because kids are getting to do things that make them happy! Hopefully that means the acceptance and normalization of it is coming.
Episode Resources:
https://generationesports.com/
https://edgeup.asus.com/2022/asus-gives-esports-programs-a-head-start//
Transcript
Welcome to the meadow woman podcast, we address the
Unknown:issues, opportunities and challenges facing women in the
Unknown:development of the metaverse the biggest revolution since the
Unknown:internet itself. Every week, we bring you conversations with top
Unknown:female talent and business executives operating in the
Unknown:gaming and crypto industries. Here's your host Lindsey, the
Unknown:boss POS, the meta woman podcast starts now.
Lindsay Poss:Hello, and welcome to the meta woman podcast part
Lindsay Poss:of the holodeck media Podcast Network. I'm your host, Lindsay
Lindsay Poss:The Boss Boss. And from struggle to success. We're covering it
Lindsay Poss:all. To our returning listeners. Thank you so much for supporting
Lindsay Poss:the show. I love hearing what you think about it. I love the
Lindsay Poss:reviews and ratings you leave. And for all the new listeners
Lindsay Poss:out there, I certainly hope you'll join me for a lot more
Lindsay Poss:episodes. I love bringing fresh perspectives to the show. And
Lindsay Poss:this is a I'm excited to introduce this person because
Lindsay Poss:this is kind of an area I haven't covered so much yet.
Lindsay Poss:Holly gray is a human resources manager at generation esports.
Lindsay Poss:So she is the HR lead at generation esports. And I think
Lindsay Poss:HR has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different
Lindsay Poss:people. So I'm very fair talking about what it means in the
Lindsay Poss:context of esports. So Holly, welcome to the show. Hi,
Unknown:it's really great to be on. So excited
Lindsay Poss:that you're here. Please introduce yourself, give
Lindsay Poss:the audience your backstory and tell us you know, kind of what
Lindsay Poss:you do in broad strokes
Unknown:at generation esports Yeah, so um, I kind of got a non
Unknown:traditional start into HR. And most people, I did the whole
Unknown:traditional route growing up, I went to college, got my degree.
Unknown:However, I didn't get my degree in HR, I got my degree in
Unknown:apparel, textile marketing, which is essentially fashion
Unknown:merchandising, I, for a very long time thought I was going to
Unknown:be a buyer, like Rachel Green from friends, like I was I was
Unknown:just gonna rule the world entered the job force in Kansas
Unknown:City. And unfortunately for me, most of those companies that
Unknown:were here in Kansas City kind of moved to coastal cities moved
Unknown:out of state, or they just didn't do very well. So during
Unknown:January of 2020, I was pregnant with my now two year old son,
Unknown:and was unfortunately laid off and kind of had to return to
Unknown:that. Yeah, no, super fun. When I tell people that I was laid
Unknown:off, they're like, Oh, the pandemic, I'm like, oh, no, no,
Unknown:something completely separate, much, much more fun. Yeah, so I
Unknown:had my son, who's now to June of 2020. And I was very fortunate
Unknown:to get to spend eight months of his life with him. During that
Unknown:time, I kind of had to look at where I was going from a career
Unknown:standpoint and took a career pivot. And you're probably
Unknown:wondering, was that HR, it was it was marketing. I then pivoted
Unknown:from Merchandising into marketing, I got the opportunity
Unknown:to work at a small printing company in the Kansas City area,
Unknown:and was unfortunately then laid off due to COVID.
Lindsay Poss:Wow, a lot, just a string of good luck as well.
Unknown:It was so fun. What What a time to be alive. I'm
Unknown:telling you. I'm very great for my ego very humbly. And let me
Unknown:tell you, as a quick interlude here, I
Lindsay Poss:have spoken to several people who have felt
Lindsay Poss:really down and out about their careers lately. And so this is a
Lindsay Poss:good, this is a good origin story of like, just keep going.
Lindsay Poss:Don't give up. Keep trying. So okay, now,
Unknown:dark side notes. I know that does bring a good point.
Unknown:Always keep going. Always keep trying. Because really, it's
Unknown:it's a lot of hard work. And some of it's just luck. You
Unknown:know, it just takes a lot of grinding a lot of networking and
Unknown:just meeting and connecting with the right people kind of like
Unknown:what we're doing today to find new opportunities. But yeah,
Unknown:there's there's my spiel on that little motivational speaking for
Unknown:you. But I was applying for jobs. My son is probably six
Unknown:months old at this time. And I'm just applying for everything in
Unknown:anything that comes my way. Right? And I see this job across
Unknown:my LinkedIn feed and it says Marketing Associate generation.
Unknown:Now in my mind, I'm thinking that this is either the coolest
Unknown:job on the face of the planet or the biggest scam of all time,
Unknown:but I think I have nothing to lose. So I'll apply. So I
Unknown:interview I go down to this rinky dinky little office and
Unknown:river marketing can study which we like to take new people by to
Unknown:show them kind of where we started. It was a old department
Unknown:office building that was converted into an office. I
Unknown:interviewed and two weeks later I got the job I'm neither of my
Unknown:bosses were in office. They're both virtual. They're both
Unknown:really great people to learn from. And I started working in
Unknown:December of 2020. Get those dates, right? I want to paint
Unknown:you a picture to truly show you guys like word names. I'm a
Unknown:picture painter, so bear with me here. I want you to imagine this
Unknown:rundown brick, two storey apartment building with IKEA
Unknown:black dusts. A smorgasbord of different chairs, and just
Unknown:esports prising esports metals and random assortments of people
Unknown:everywhere. And that's what our office was, I was brought in, I
Unknown:said, I guess you could sit here, and we got to work.
Lindsay Poss:That's a very arrogance. Yeah,
Unknown:it was. But you know, what, a few months later, we
Unknown:were fortunate enough that after, oh, geez, I would say
Unknown:years of the founders, our four founders just grinding and
Unknown:working and talking and, and networking, we were fortunate
Unknown:enough to raise our first round of funding. And that's kind of
Unknown:when things started to kick into gear. And I first started to
Unknown:realize that I was really good at working with people. And I
Unknown:loved a lot of the people I've interviewed, I talk about how,
Unknown:you know, sometimes your career path isn't necessarily the most
Unknown:obvious choice. And sometimes it is, sometimes it's staring you
Unknown:right in the face. And my whole life, I've loved talking to
Unknown:people, I've loved working with people. And it was always just
Unknown:kind of this obvious choice. But in my mind, and in society, I
Unknown:feel like there's a stigma around HR that they're mean, or,
Unknown:you know, they're kind of like the rule enforcers, but it
Unknown:doesn't necessarily have to be that hardcore. Right? You know,
Unknown:obviously, I'm here to uphold policy, and make sure that
Unknown:people are safe, and the company is within compliance. But
Unknown:ultimately, the thing that I like to focus on the most in my
Unknown:job is the human aspect, the people, because in my mind, the
Unknown:people are what makes a company great. It's what makes the
Unknown:culture so special. And for me, I genuinely have never been at a
Unknown:place before, where I was so excited to go into work the next
Unknown:day, not only because of the mission, that is generation
Unknown:esports, but also my coworkers, I was laughing so hard the other
Unknown:day that I'm pretty sure I laughed off all my makeup over
Unknown:just the silliest conversation about a birthday bot that I had
Unknown:put into Slack. And it's like that on a daily basis. The
Unknown:people here are kind and they're hardworking, and they're smart,
Unknown:and they're determined, and it's so inspiring to see people who
Unknown:you've helped bring into a company, just go forward and
Unknown:just thrive. It is the most rewarding feeling. So not the
Unknown:most traditional start. But that's how I got my start was
Unknown:after series I, I was given the opportunity to be an office
Unknown:manager slash people experience associate. And I took it.
Lindsay Poss:Gotcha. And that makes sense. Can you talk about
Lindsay Poss:because last time we spoke, we talked a lot about getting into
Lindsay Poss:HR and what human resources is. So I would love for you to talk
Lindsay Poss:about. Well, okay, I guess we should back up a little. If you
Lindsay Poss:could give like a two sentence description of what generation
Lindsay Poss:esports does.
Unknown:What would it be? Yeah. Yeah, so generation esports is a
Unknown:tournament based platform that also caters to Scholastic
Unknown:esports. So predominantly, the high school arena, we run and
Unknown:host a lot of tournaments and communities. But also, we are a
Unknown:tournament based platform that enables communities to come
Unknown:together and find that sense of belonging and find that sense of
Unknown:community that a lot of kids, frankly, don't necessarily get
Unknown:in high school, but are now getting because of the virtual
Unknown:world we're moving towards.
Lindsay Poss:Okay, so now let's talk about the role of HR at a
Lindsay Poss:company that does competitive play experiences. So what is
Lindsay Poss:your role in HR?
Unknown:What do you Yeah, so that's an interesting question.
Unknown:It's not as cut and dry as you think, because we are a startup.
Unknown:So the term wearing multiple hats gets thrown around a lot
Unknown:and that is true to its fullest extent. So my primary
Unknown:responsibilities, I would think, are one employee engagement. So
Unknown:that deals with the internal culture, how people are
Unknown:developing how people are in terms of satisfaction, both Job
Unknown:wise, and you know what they're getting out of the company, but
Unknown:also hiring, onboarding. I'm in charge of policy implementation.
Unknown:I assisted with the development of our handbook, I have hired or
Unknown:assisted hiring over half the staff. So it's a lot of
Unknown:groundwork that I've been so fortunate to be a part of. But
Unknown:it's not just the simple onboarding, hiring termination.
Unknown:It's so much more than that. It's running Office events to
Unknown:bring kiddos into the office to run lay on events, you know,
Unknown:it's kind of everything and anything to do.
Lindsay Poss:That's what I was going to ask is, would you say
Lindsay Poss:that the bulk of your time is spent on internal operations? Or
Lindsay Poss:is like, what's the ratio? I guess, better question is,
Lindsay Poss:what's the ratio of internal operations versus external
Lindsay Poss:engagements of community? Again, I know you're a startup
Lindsay Poss:tournament provider in the esports. Industry. So it's kind
Lindsay Poss:of niche, but just wondering what that looks like.
Unknown:Yeah, so I would say in this situation, most of my time
Unknown:is spent in internal operations, I would even kind of consider
Unknown:hiring internal, because I'm hiring for a job in the company.
Unknown:So I'd probably say it's about 8020. Split. Because I'm also
Unknown:the office manager full time as well. I do assist with company
Unknown:outings, but also assist with bringing high schools in to kind
Unknown:of learn about what we do here to learn about potential career
Unknown:paths. I would like to get more into recruiting. Unfortunately,
Unknown:I just don't have the bandwidth right now. But that's something
Unknown:we're looking towards in the
Lindsay Poss:gotcha. And one of the things that we talked about
Lindsay Poss:before was that you were involved in getting a
Lindsay Poss:certification specifically for HR. And I just would love to
Lindsay Poss:hear from people who are looking. And I think that I can
Lindsay Poss:kind of safely say that there's an HR crisis across the gaming
Lindsay Poss:industry, whether we're talking about competitive play to game
Lindsay Poss:development, like, everyone needs to be hiring HR folks. But
Lindsay Poss:I want to know, for people who may be entry level, may not be
Lindsay Poss:interested in getting a degree or may have a degree like
Lindsay Poss:yourself, that is not an HR, what are the educational
Lindsay Poss:opportunities or certifications or things that you might
Lindsay Poss:recommend to someone who's looking to fill in where this is
Lindsay Poss:desperately needed? But doesn't have the needs to start?
Lindsay Poss:Basically? Yeah,
Unknown:no, that's a great question. And, you know, I'm
Unknown:never, I'm definitely not an expert on all things education
Unknown:wise, I just know what I know, based off of my own research,
Unknown:when I first got into this, I knew that I was going to need
Unknown:more training, right, because I can't sit here and say that I am
Unknown:the best of the best if I don't try to be. And so I sought out
Unknown:ways to get higher education without necessarily signing up
Unknown:for the full four year course, because I've already done that
Unknown:before I have a two year old at home, I don't have time, I would
Unknown:say especially for the working person, or somebody who might
Unknown:have children or just don't have time, a great route take would
Unknown:be a professional certificate from an accredited college, I
Unknown:got mine from Michigan State University. And it was a very in
Unknown:depth look of what talent management kind of looks like,
Unknown:both from a corporate perspective and what you should
Unknown:be doing on a day to day basis. I will say that in a more
Unknown:nationally recognized saving setting. The SH RM or Sherm is a
Unknown:nationally recognized organization for HR. It is kind
Unknown:of like a subscription in a sense where you pay for a
Unknown:membership, but it gives you access to all of these
Unknown:documents, training, templates, basically anything and
Unknown:everything you need, in terms of HR, one to learn from, and also
Unknown:to kind of bounce new ideas off of and through Sherm, you can
Unknown:take a accredited course. So I will be testing for my sh, RM
Unknown:CPE, which is the lower level form this upcoming spring, but
Unknown:in order to take that you have to be involved in the industry
Unknown:for at least two years. So I will have to test sport this
Unknown:spring, because that will be my two year mark. But I would say a
Unknown:good starting point is definitely that professional
Unknown:certificate.
Lindsay Poss:That makes sense. And would you say that, again,
Lindsay Poss:just asking for folks out there who may not be interested in
Lindsay Poss:four year degrees. I'm also interested in highlighting
Lindsay Poss:things that are alternatives to four year degrees. But would you
Lindsay Poss:say that you feel that a degree was necessary to getting your
Lindsay Poss:current role or do you think that certifications entry level
Lindsay Poss:experience can kind of I mean Also it's Right Place Right
Lindsay Poss:Time. But would it? Do you think it would be reasonable to
Unknown:not have one as well? Yeah, I, in any other field that
Unknown:I've been in marketing, merchandising, I would have
Unknown:100%. Yes, you need a degree. HR is different though. I feel like
Unknown:just like teaching and like service industry, people, human
Unknown:resources takes a special kind of person, it almost takes this
Unknown:sort of finesse and adaptability to be able to work with them. So
Unknown:I wouldn't say necessarily that companies are looking for that
Unknown:degree. Definitely a bonus. And I think what they're looking for
Unknown:is good energy. I think they're looking for time. So a good
Unknown:place to start is having a job out of college and maybe a more
Unknown:corporate setting where you can take those skills, from
Unknown:marketing and merchandising, from analytics, and then apply
Unknown:them to an HR perspective. So they're looking for real life
Unknown:experience. I would say a degree of some sort is always helpful,
Unknown:but it's not necessary. And I definitely think with the way
Unknown:that the US is moving, especially in regards to
Unknown:education, I feel like it's becoming more and more not
Unknown:necessarily outdated, but people are becoming more adaptable and
Unknown:more versatile.
Lindsay Poss:Definitely. I think it's a good thing, because
Lindsay Poss:four year degrees definitely are not for everyone. And that's
Lindsay Poss:okay, too. And yeah, I did six years I did undergrad and
Lindsay Poss:Master's. And I did love it. I really love school. But it's not
Lindsay Poss:something that I think is worth putting on everyone. And within
Lindsay Poss:all of this. And we've been talking about a bunch of
Lindsay Poss:different things. But one of the things that you noted is that
Lindsay Poss:you're working on hiring and being involved in the hiring
Lindsay Poss:process. And I know that you said that you want to get more
Lindsay Poss:involved with recruiting down the line. But obviously, you're
Lindsay Poss:still kind of in that hiring portion of things. So you get to
Lindsay Poss:see what it's like to bring in candidates and all that. And one
Lindsay Poss:of the recurring themes that's come up on this show is the
Lindsay Poss:great resignation. And I've had several guests talk about
Lindsay Poss:deciding when it's time to try to find a new job or trying to
Lindsay Poss:start a business and I myself was part of the great
Lindsay Poss:resignation. So from your perspective, what has it been
Lindsay Poss:like hiring for an esports organization? And finding those
Lindsay Poss:folks who may even be part of the great resignation or like
Lindsay Poss:yourself have been let go from a job? And now they're kind of
Lindsay Poss:looking for their next opportunity? How are you able to
Lindsay Poss:find those people that are willing to work in the startup
Lindsay Poss:atmosphere, stay competitive with other companies and make
Lindsay Poss:sure that your hiring pool is kind of big and diverse?
Unknown:Yeah, no, um, you know, that's an excellent question. I
Unknown:would say that the answer is kind of a couple fold. I think,
Unknown:for one, it's very helpful for us that we work in an industry
Unknown:that is seen as kind of like the string trick, right, I get a ton
Unknown:of people that will run across my desk, that will say, I've
Unknown:always wanted to work in video games Was that a dream of mine,
Unknown:and I think that resonates with a lot of people, especially when
Unknown:our company in particular is working towards something that a
Unknown:lot of people recognize and relate to being that they were
Unknown:seen as maybe not the cool kid in high school, or, you know,
Unknown:maybe they didn't necessarily fit in. And that's something
Unknown:that a lot of us can resonate with. So for us, in terms of
Unknown:being a startup, it's not hard to sell. Because what we are
Unknown:trying to attain, and who we are trying to help is almost
Unknown:inspirational in a way that I feel like it makes up for the
Unknown:fact that it is a startup, I won't lie to you being a startup
Unknown:means that we can't necessarily compete with the bigger
Unknown:corporations in terms of salary. So a lot of times, what I try to
Unknown:tell people is I try to talk about our benefits, right? I
Unknown:implemented a paternity leave policy that both includes women
Unknown:and men in this policy or birthing people. So what that
Unknown:looks like is for women, it is a full three months of full pay,
Unknown:which is not common in the industry right now. But it's
Unknown:also among the full pay for men, as well, because, for me,
Unknown:diversity is something that I don't like to just talk about
Unknown:openly, I like to actually do something about. So I wanted to
Unknown:make sure that 80% of our company is male, I want to make
Unknown:sure that we're catering to those people too, because they
Unknown:deserve to spend time with their families just as much as than
Unknown:the rest of it. Additionally, you know, we've tried to stay
Unknown:competitive with unlimited PTO. And that is, in its truest form.
Unknown:We haven't had any issues with people using that. And I have
Unknown:found that a lot of our employees, you know, really
Unknown:appreciate that they appreciate not having to worry when a
Unknown:family crisis comes up or maybe they're just feeling a little
Unknown:burnt out and they need a break. So it's benefits like that, that
Unknown:are more appealing and kind of offset that startup Maybe issues
Unknown:that some people may face.
Lindsay Poss:That definitely makes sense. I think you also I
Lindsay Poss:know that you're not as involved in recruitment as you want to
Lindsay Poss:be. But I believe we talked about some of the recruitment
Lindsay Poss:strategies that you were putting in place to try to make sure
Lindsay Poss:that the hiring pool was was quite large. And I was wondering
Lindsay Poss:if you could mention some of those as well.
Unknown:Yeah, absolutely. And I, I'll be completely honest
Unknown:with you these policies necessarily, but these movements
Unknown:that I'd like to go towards haven't necessarily happened
Unknown:yet, we're still working our way towards them, what I'm looking
Unknown:at is pulling directly from HBCUs, which we have done in the
Unknown:past, in order to pull in more of a diverse pool of candidates,
Unknown:because I'm a firm believer that when you get different types of
Unknown:people in an organization, the ideas that blossom from that are
Unknown:so incredibly unique, and so valuable. So we're looking at
Unknown:pulling from specific HBCUs, we're looking at going to job
Unknown:fairs, to kind of cater towards more of those minority groups.
Unknown:But also just making sure that we're looking thoroughly through
Unknown:their backgrounds, we're looking at their experience, we're
Unknown:looking not necessarily even at a college degree, but what
Unknown:they've done in the past who they work for the kind of skills
Unknown:they've attained. I personally, dig through every single
Unknown:application that goes through my desk, I looked them over, I
Unknown:sourced them as I go. It's not done through a formula. It's not
Unknown:done through a machine. It's all done via personal touch. And I
Unknown:don't know if I'll always be able to do that. But until then,
Unknown:I just feel like everybody deserves a fair shake.
Lindsay Poss:Looking through every resume is quite a tall
Lindsay Poss:order. So I commend you for that. If you get a flood of
Lindsay Poss:people applying from the show, I apologize.
Unknown:No, I you know what I hope we do because we need
Unknown:engineers. There's a plug. Oh, good. Okay.
Lindsay Poss:Yeah. Yeah. So, engineers out there looking. Um,
Lindsay Poss:so speaking of let's actually talk about what you do
Lindsay Poss:generation esports. I know, you've given us a short
Lindsay Poss:overview. One word that comes up over and over on generation
Lindsay Poss:esports. Website is community, which is just a hot word in the
Lindsay Poss:gaming industry in general. Yeah, sure. Part of your
Lindsay Poss:platform is reaching local communities engaging with the
Lindsay Poss:gamer population there, especially high school students.
Lindsay Poss:So what is different about you what you do iGeneration esports
Lindsay Poss:that actually brings the community together and
Lindsay Poss:encourages not just one off events, but leagues. Yeah,
Unknown:the thing that I'm super excited about in regards
Unknown:to our company is the curriculum. Right. So we work
Unknown:with schools, school districts, by implementing our curriculum
Unknown:that we've actually developed in house by two of our employees,
Unknown:Christy and Mike. They're amazing. They developed the
Unknown:curriculum, I believe, a year or two ago. And what this is, is it
Unknown:offers a step by step walkthrough for teachers to then
Unknown:learn how to teach courses around esports in the classroom,
Unknown:which then allows for students to one be able to learn
Unknown:firsthand what it means to be an esports. What it means career
Unknown:wise, what it means, from a competitive standpoint, it
Unknown:teaches them about teamwork, collaboration, critical
Unknown:thinking, and it applies it in a real life sense, which then
Unknown:allows parents to kind of be a little bit more open to the
Unknown:experience, because I feel like in the past, a lot of a lot of
Unknown:hair, parents, or maybe people of the older generation, were
Unknown:maybe not as open to the idea, because, you know, we've all
Unknown:heard it before. It's just kids playing video games, you know,
Unknown:go outside and get the fresh air. But it's not just about
Unknown:that, right? In my mind. Gaming esports is one of the most
Unknown:inclusive activities that you can participate in, if done
Unknown:correctly, right. Because it doesn't discriminate by
Unknown:hypothetically it doesn't discriminate by gender, or race
Unknown:or sex, any of that. It is an all inclusive atmosphere where
Unknown:these kids can come together, and truly one enjoy each other's
Unknown:company but also compete in a very level playing field. And I
Unknown:feel like by establishing that curriculum in the schools, it's
Unknown:also going to allow for more kids to learn about esports
Unknown:opportunities, as well. So I think that's kind of what makes
Unknown:us different from some of our other editors.
Lindsay Poss:Yeah, they've curriculum is definitely kind of
Lindsay Poss:new. What has the response been like for you?
Unknown:From schools? Yeah, so I I don't have hardcore numbers,
Unknown:but from what I've been told and, and experienced, it's been
Unknown:very openly accepted. And people are excited about it. I mean,
Unknown:honestly, we've even had educators that have come to work
Unknown:for us because they want to be a part of. Yeah, we've, we have a
Unknown:lot of teachers on staff, which I think also makes us kind of
Unknown:unique, because we get that teacher perspective, firsthand
Unknown:what it's like to be in the classroom, what it's like to be
Unknown:teaching and coaching these kids and what they need from us to be
Unknown:one successful that for them, but also successful community
Unknown:and what they truly want.
Lindsay Poss:Gosh, Oh, wow. Okay, that's pretty cool. And
Lindsay Poss:can you tell me more about because I know, so you have the
Lindsay Poss:curriculum where you get into school. So what does it look
Lindsay Poss:like? Like if I were in a school, and I called and said,
Lindsay Poss:like, hey, I want to bring you in? What happens? What's the
Lindsay Poss:process?
Unknown:What sorry? What do you mean by that question?
Lindsay Poss:So I know that you have to curriculum, if I was,
Lindsay Poss:say, a principal, and I called and I said, okay, like I want
Lindsay Poss:generation esports at my school,
Unknown:what would happen? Yeah, so first and foremost, we
Unknown:have to be approved, I believe, by the district. And that may or
Unknown:may not be necessarily correct, but I think that there are some
Unknown:guardrails that go into place. But I think genuinely, generally
Unknown:speaking, what happens is they contact us or one of our sales
Unknown:reps, because they're kind of have each their own each
Unknown:individual territories. From there, they kind of talked to
Unknown:him about what it means to get that set up. And then they are
Unknown:then diverted to our success team, which is a amazing group
Unknown:of people who work with educators and parents on a daily
Unknown:basis on onboarding them onto our platform and what that
Unknown:means, and what that would look like, from a competitive
Unknown:standpoint, but also from a curriculum.
Lindsay Poss:And can you just go into more of what the
Lindsay Poss:competitive landscape is like? Because I believe, like, I've
Lindsay Poss:read an article by generation esports partners at Asus
Lindsay Poss:hardware. But I don't know that I fully grasp like, I Are you
Lindsay Poss:creating leagues for students to compete in? Is it like, are you
Lindsay Poss:doing teams at schools? Like, what is the competitive play?
Lindsay Poss:Actually, like we talked about the education part like now tell
Lindsay Poss:me about the play part?
Unknown:Yeah, so it kind of is separated into I would say, a
Unknown:couple major categories. So we have the high school esports
Unknown:League, which encompasses all high school students, from
Unknown:public to private high schools. So those are going to be your
Unknown:teams, your esports teams in the high school arena, we have the
Unknown:mid Middle School, esports League, we have collegiate. And
Unknown:then we also have the military gaming League, and we have
Unknown:amateur. So kind of how those titles are named, that's kind of
Unknown:the communities that they belong to. But essentially, what it is,
Unknown:is they're divided up into routines. And they can
Unknown:participate in tournaments within those communities. But
Unknown:also, if they wanted to, they can also enter into amateur
Unknown:communities as well. So we do offer amateur tournaments, like
Unknown:the Triton cup that we host, and that's kind of an ongoing
Unknown:tournament. Then we have also the bigger tournaments like high
Unknown:school esports League, all major spring major and the national
Unknown:championship as well. Okay, gotcha. So
Lindsay Poss:that, okay, that makes a lot more sense. So
Lindsay Poss:people within generation esports can then compete in their groups
Lindsay Poss:as well. Um, how did you get involved in creating? Or do you
Lindsay Poss:know, the origin story for the military League?
Unknown:That's fascinating? Yeah, actually, that one's
Unknown:relatively new. To be honest, I think it was just a lot of I
Unknown:know, this person, this is what they're looking for. There was a
Unknown:hole in what they needed and wanted in terms of esports and
Unknown:competitiveness, and a lot of military, a lot of our military.
Unknown:That's how they spend a good majority of their free time.
Unknown:They like to play video games, relax, connect with people that
Unknown:they may not see on a daily basis. So there was kind of this
Unknown:hole in the environment. And we kind of went in and said, hey,
Unknown:you know, we'll help you out with this. And we'll provide
Unknown:that community for you guys so that you guys can connect,
Unknown:interact, and just, you know, do what you love to do. Gotcha. Are
Lindsay Poss:people competing generally within folks from
Lindsay Poss:their area and in person events or is it mostly online
Unknown:games? Now? Yeah, for now, it's mostly online.
Lindsay Poss:Okay. I will say that most of the high school
Lindsay Poss:teams usually have their own lab or sometimes they have like a
Lindsay Poss:gaming area that they go to and together, but for the most part,
Lindsay Poss:it is still remaining virtual Gotcha. That does make it well
Lindsay Poss:that also makes it kind of easier to grow like a bigger
Lindsay Poss:league to so you can get tournaments happening. Zooming
Lindsay Poss:out a little bit. The way we're talking about this is obviously
Lindsay Poss:so reminiscent of like little league Bay Small and all the
Lindsay Poss:other. I mean, even Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts or all those other
Lindsay Poss:kinds of activities that you sign kids up for when they're
Lindsay Poss:younger? Um, how like, when do you think as someone who's been
Lindsay Poss:here for been in esports for a little bit now, when do you
Lindsay Poss:think that esports in gaming as a form of competitive player
Lindsay Poss:activity that you sign your kids up for when they're younger, is
Lindsay Poss:going to become the norm rather than it's still it's still a
Lindsay Poss:little bit on the fringes to me. And I could be I could be wrong
Lindsay Poss:in that assessment to feel free to prove me wrong on that. But I
Lindsay Poss:still feel like I hear a lot of the like, you need to go outside
Lindsay Poss:folks. So yeah, when do you think that that kind of tipping
Lindsay Poss:point is going to happen?
Unknown:So are you talking about timeline? Are you talking
Unknown:about how old do you think these kids will be when they start
Unknown:signing up?
Lindsay Poss:Oh, I was talking about timeline. But I like this
Lindsay Poss:angle of how old do you think you should sign kids up for?
Lindsay Poss:Because that's, that's interesting.
Unknown:So yeah, you
Lindsay Poss:can answer both questions.
Unknown:Well, I've got answers for both. So in terms of
Unknown:timeline, I think we're kind of already heading towards that
Unknown:path of it becoming more normalized. I grew up in a time
Unknown:where watching anime or playing video games was sometimes seen
Unknown:as taboo. I mean, I remember watching, you know, cartoons and
Unknown:anime secretly at night without my parents knowing on a laptop
Unknown:turned sideways, because I thought I was gonna get judged
Unknown:or bullied. But now, it's so amazing that, you know, things
Unknown:like anime, J, pop, kpop, gaming, all of that is becoming
Unknown:more socially accepted. And I feel like we're heading more
Unknown:towards this path of understanding and inclusivity. I
Unknown:know that's kind of a buzzword that gets thrown around a lot in
Unknown:the industry. But I genuinely do feel like these kids and young
Unknown:adults are getting this opportunity that some of us
Unknown:growing up maybe didn't have. And that's why this mission is
Unknown:so important to us. So to answer your question, I feel like it's
Unknown:in the near future, I definitely know that there are still going
Unknown:to be barriers to entry. But the great thing about what we do is,
Unknown:we've done studies around what it means to be involved in
Unknown:activities like this. And we've seen an increase in overall GPA,
Unknown:we've seen increases in general happiness among the student
Unknown:body, we've seen, you know, increases of attendance at
Unknown:school, because kids want to do this, they want to be a part of
Unknown:it. And I think when parents see firsthand what that means to
Unknown:their kid, it is the most valuable thing as a parent that
Unknown:you can get as you're seeing your child firsthand. Find this
Unknown:community and find happiness and something that maybe you didn't
Unknown:think about firsthand. And I think because of that, the
Unknown:acceptance and you know, the normalization of it is fastly
Unknown:approaching us, especially with, and I know we're going to talk
Unknown:about this more later. But the metaverse and with NF T's kind
Unknown:of becoming this virtual baseball card kind of idea. I
Unknown:think we're heading towards that path. Now. In regards to how
Unknown:early to introduce your children, that's a question I
Unknown:don't necessarily have a hard opinion on. Because you know, as
Unknown:a parent, I would like to think that I have full control of what
Unknown:my child see and season does on the internet. But I'm also one
Unknown:of those people who's fully believes that he shouldn't get a
Unknown:cell phone until he's in high school, because why does he need
Unknown:to be on social media? I still think there are a lot of issues
Unknown:with cyberbullying. And honestly, discrimination within
Unknown:the gaming industry. I know I talked a lot about how it is
Unknown:something that everybody can do. And that's true. But
Unknown:unfortunately, the fact of the matter is, is that there are
Unknown:still people out there who will judge you based off of your
Unknown:gender or your race, and they'll say nasty things because it's
Unknown:done virtually. So I think I would love to see it in an
Unknown:elementary standpoint, I would love to see kids learning about
Unknown:cyber safety and how to appropriately handle themselves
Unknown:on the internet. Kind of like going all the way back to
Unknown:kindergarten, you know, sharing is caring. Respect is mutual. I
Unknown:think these are things that can be taught. I think that's
Unknown:probably a little farther down the line, but I do think it
Unknown:would be beneficial and I think it is possible.
Lindsay Poss:I just had on Eve crochet a couple episodes ago
Lindsay Poss:and she was she was telling me how her her child who was 11 or
Lindsay Poss:12, I believe was heavily involved in online gaming and
Lindsay Poss:and really loved it but didn't have a cell phone yet either.
Lindsay Poss:And I wish I could remember the exact term she used. But she was
Lindsay Poss:basically like no gaming is good. Gaming is beautiful.
Lindsay Poss:Gaming is great. And it was something about like, healthy
Lindsay Poss:online time. And she had a really like nifty term for
Lindsay Poss:deciding like, what was healthy and what wasn't. And so yeah, I
Lindsay Poss:think that you you and her and very much agreement on that and
Lindsay Poss:I agree with both of you as well. And as you kind of alluded
Lindsay Poss:to with discussion on the metaverse and a tease, and you
Lindsay Poss:know, kids are already in it, because they're on Roblox, and
Lindsay Poss:they know how to trade all this kind of virtual money and all
Lindsay Poss:these kinds of virtual goods. And really, it's just us adults
Lindsay Poss:that are like way behind whatever, eight year old. I
Lindsay Poss:mean, my eight year old guys, like, understand economies
Lindsay Poss:better. Why? No, I'm so cool, though. And I remember having
Lindsay Poss:similar experiences. But like, Runescape, when I was younger,
Lindsay Poss:and all kinds of stuff where I got to do the same thing that
Lindsay Poss:I've now just stopped doing as I got older, unfortunately. Yeah.
Lindsay Poss:But with this discussion on the metaverse and teason digital
Lindsay Poss:assets, and also, one of the things that we've been talking
Lindsay Poss:about on the show is how gaming is a way to get people more
Lindsay Poss:comfortable with it. I think a lot of people get caught up in
Lindsay Poss:trying to understand, like the architecture of the blockchain,
Lindsay Poss:and when it comes down to it, like none of us understand the
Lindsay Poss:architecture of the Internet, or any magical Wi Fi signal that
Lindsay Poss:leads me to online worlds, do I know how that Wi Fi signal gets
Lindsay Poss:broadcast to my device and makes it work? Like, no, not even
Lindsay Poss:close? I'm gonna need to so but what I have understood, and what
Lindsay Poss:I think really gaming has done is like, gotten people so much
Lindsay Poss:more control, right? Even when we think about early cell
Lindsay Poss:phones, like people were playing Snake on their phones before.
Lindsay Poss:Before we had like phones, I could do like all of these
Lindsay Poss:things now. So yeah, I'm just wondering, so you as you work in
Lindsay Poss:a competitive esports organization that has programs
Lindsay Poss:for kids, teens and adults. What do you think the role is of
Lindsay Poss:esports in gaming and getting people more comfortable with
Lindsay Poss:online worlds with digital assets and ownership? Like, do
Lindsay Poss:you first see that something that a place like generation
Lindsay Poss:esports is going to play a role in that transition?
Unknown:Yeah, I mean, honestly, I can't really speak necessarily
Unknown:on what I think the company is going towards. I would like to
Unknown:think that
Lindsay Poss:that could be costing your company strategy in
Lindsay Poss:the next 10 years, I think that you would like, probably be head
Lindsay Poss:of it or something. So definitely not to predict the
Lindsay Poss:future just Marsa. Like, as someone who works in this, what
Lindsay Poss:do you think is going to be that role?
Unknown:Yeah, I think this role is more of a more of an
Unknown:education. Right? So I don't know if you remember this, I
Unknown:surely do. When I was growing up, they used to sell these
Unknown:educational textbooks, right. And they had these little CD rom
Unknown:this gates inside of them. And I look forward to doing it every
Unknown:single year, because they were so fun. And it was educational.
Unknown:And it taught me, you know, basic math and reading. But it
Unknown:was also fun in a video game format. And I think that's kind
Unknown:of what we're moving towards in terms of esports. And gaming is
Unknown:that this can be seen as an educational tool for parents.
Unknown:And for the older generation, like, Hey, here's the benefits
Unknown:of, let's say, NF T's for this organization. And you can
Unknown:collect cards, and it's going to be valuable. But it's also
Unknown:really fun for these kids to kind of like play through. And
Unknown:it's exciting when you open a virtual pack, and you look
Unknown:through what you got, and oh my gosh, I got a super rare, shiny,
Unknown:whatever, whatever you have. And it kind of makes it an idea
Unknown:that's easy to understand for parents, because I know for me,
Unknown:I still collect Pokemon cards. It's a physical thing. I love
Unknown:it. There's a thrill, a rush that I get when I open it up,
Unknown:and I find a hollow and it's a hyper rare and I put it in my
Unknown:binder and then I show it off to all my friends. It's the same
Unknown:thing. It's just a digital format. And it's something that
Unknown:all these brands are jumping on board with doing. So we're
Unknown:seeing major corporations we're seeing. I mean, I think the NFL
Unknown:just launched something similar. Yeah, I think you're right. So
Unknown:it's, it's something that is going to be more universal, but
Unknown:also something that people across the world participate.
Unknown:And I think that's pretty exciting. And in terms of the
Unknown:metaverse I think this is just another way for us to connect
Unknown:with each other as human beings. I saw that I'm not trying to
Unknown:plug Roblox or anything but I I was on Tik Tok the other night
Unknown:and I was just going through my videos and Charlie FCX was
Unknown:having a live concert. And that's that's a cool idea that
Unknown:me some random person can join some other random person across
Unknown:the world to go experience this artist live together that I
Unknown:would have never met. You know, Suzy Joe from wherever and she
Unknown:would have never met me but now we're here together appreciating
Unknown:an artists together and that's a really cool collaborative idea.
Unknown:And I think it's so broad right now that a lot of people that's
Unknown:why they're having a hard time wrapping their minds around it.
Unknown:But as we continue to shape it and develop it, I think we're
Unknown:going to start realizing how valuable that kind of connection
Unknown:is.
Lindsay Poss:Yeah, I like that. I always think about Paris
Lindsay Poss:Hilton had like a whole experience within Roblox. I was
Lindsay Poss:like, if anything gets me on to the robots platform, it will
Lindsay Poss:absolutely be Paris Hilton experience Island. I am all the
Lindsay Poss:way in. I'm doing that. Right. Before we get into our last
Lindsay Poss:segment, I'm going to kind of summarize what we've talked
Lindsay Poss:about so far, which has been so much fun, and we've covered a
Lindsay Poss:lot. So we start off with a very inspirational story, actually,
Lindsay Poss:about all the job transitions you've had, and how a lot of
Lindsay Poss:finding opportunities is hard work. And a portion of it is
Lindsay Poss:luck. But you just got to keep going because you never know
Lindsay Poss:what might happen. And we talked about HR and what it's like at a
Lindsay Poss:competitive tournament provider. It's a lot of your work is spent
Lindsay Poss:on internal operations, making sure employees are engaged,
Lindsay Poss:being involved in the hiring process, creating the employee
Lindsay Poss:handbook. So making sure that the day to day stuff is really
Lindsay Poss:smooth. For folks that want to get involved into that
Lindsay Poss:professional certificate opportunities and universities
Lindsay Poss:offer an in depth look at talent management, and can provide the
Lindsay Poss:tools to be successful in that role. Sherm is one thing that
Lindsay Poss:you mentioned, it's a nationally recognized test for standards
Lindsay Poss:and HR. And I know that you mentioned that that's a bit more
Lindsay Poss:of a process. But if you're truly interested in that role,
Lindsay Poss:it's something to consider. I asked you how you're able to
Lindsay Poss:kind of go through the hiring process and find folks that are
Lindsay Poss:interested in generation esports. And you mentioned that
Lindsay Poss:you can really sell the mission of it. And that good benefits
Lindsay Poss:are a way that you've been able to remain competitive with
Lindsay Poss:generous pay from larger companies. So things like really
Lindsay Poss:good family leave policies, unlimited leave mental health
Lindsay Poss:days, all that kind of stuff. We talked a bit about recruitment
Lindsay Poss:strategies. It's just something that you mentioned that you
Lindsay Poss:wanted to get more into one thing that you mentioned that
Lindsay Poss:you've been trying to implement, or re implement, or do more of
Lindsay Poss:as well directly from HBCUs. And one thing that you do that I
Lindsay Poss:love is that you read every resume, which is time consuming.
Lindsay Poss:But as someone who has gone through many sad hiring
Lindsay Poss:processes, I appreciate knowing that there's a human on the
Lindsay Poss:other end who might actually think about me for an incident.
Lindsay Poss:When it comes to working with education, and what you do a
Lindsay Poss:generation esports you have a fully developed curriculum that
Lindsay Poss:offers step by step walkthroughs for teachers to learn how to
Lindsay Poss:teach courses, around esports in the classroom, so for any of you
Lindsay Poss:that are in the education industry, let's go check out
Lindsay Poss:generation esports. Students can learn what esports careers
Lindsay Poss:actually are, as well as learning teamwork,
Lindsay Poss:collaboration, critical thinking and all kinds of other kinds of
Lindsay Poss:skills that you will learn in the classroom. You also have
Lindsay Poss:leagues for middle school, high school, military and amateur
Lindsay Poss:people who are interested in competing participants in each
Lindsay Poss:of these can participate in tournaments within those
Lindsay Poss:communities for can also join into tournaments in the amateur
Lindsay Poss:league, which is kind of a good way of creating digital
Lindsay Poss:experiences with lots of people in lots of places, and still
Lindsay Poss:allowing for flexibility to move up if you are so inclined. We
Lindsay Poss:talked we ended with kind of a discussion on the metaverse
Lindsay Poss:future tech, what is going on with all of that, and you
Lindsay Poss:noticed that we are heading more towards inclusivity kids are
Lindsay Poss:getting an opportunity to join communities that might have been
Lindsay Poss:found out a few years ago or just know frowned on
Lindsay Poss:misunderstood. People felt apprehensive about things like
Lindsay Poss:anime and gaming. And there's still quite a few people who
Lindsay Poss:feel apprehension. But as you noted, that's finally starting
Lindsay Poss:to turn the other way. And we will hopefully very soon see the
Lindsay Poss:normalization of all these activities in terms of local
Lindsay Poss:leagues, community leagues the same way we see a lot of sports
Lindsay Poss:or outdoor clubs or all kinds of other things. And doing this has
Lindsay Poss:positive results, you've noticed that you all have seen higher
Lindsay Poss:engagement in school, better attendance, better grades. And
Lindsay Poss:that comes because kids are doing stuff that makes them
Lindsay Poss:happy. So it keeps them engaged in what they're doing. And we
Lindsay Poss:entered talking about how we can use gaming to kind of get into
Lindsay Poss:the metaverse. competitive gaming and or just gaming play
Lindsay Poss:in general is going to be an educational experience for folks
Lindsay Poss:in order to get them comfortable with online worlds with things
Lindsay Poss:like digital assets and ownership, which are such murky
Lindsay Poss:ideas right now. And as you noted, it's sort of reminiscent
Lindsay Poss:of the CDs that used to come in the back of textbooks esports
Lindsay Poss:and gaming can show people what's fun about interacting
Lindsay Poss:with Blockchain tech like NF T's. So now that I've done all
Lindsay Poss:of that, we're gonna get into the very last question. This is
Lindsay Poss:a section I like to do at the end of every show because
Lindsay Poss:there's a chance for you to kind of look back and offer words of
Lindsay Poss:wisdom, which you also did at the top of the show. So this is
Lindsay Poss:a very nice book and the question I'd like to ask each
Lindsay Poss:guest that comes on is what is one thing you would like to tell
Lindsay Poss:your younger self about getting into the gaming industry and
Lindsay Poss:being successful.
Unknown:Yeah, so something that my parents always told me was
Unknown:that if you find a job that you enjoy doing, you will never work
Unknown:to date. And that's true. The problem is, is that a lot of us
Unknown:don't necessarily know what would make us happy as adults.
Unknown:And it's tough because as 18 year olds, a lot of us are
Unknown:expected to go into the workforce or college and figure
Unknown:it out. And in my opinion, that's a really young age to
Unknown:figure out like, I didn't have it figured out. And I think
Unknown:that's perfectly normal, I would tell my younger self to just
Unknown:keep my ears and eyes open. And to just really be true to myself
Unknown:as corny as that sounds. If I had figured out that, yeah, I
Unknown:love being with people I love following process and rules. And
Unknown:I love enabling people to find their best selves and help them
Unknown:grow in their careers, I get a lot of satisfaction from service
Unknown:and the service industry, maybe I would have discovered that
Unknown:this was my true path all along. And it's hard to be true to
Unknown:yourself. But I just think that if we stop worrying about what
Unknown:other people think of us all the time, and that's not necessarily
Unknown:to mean that you shouldn't care about what other people think.
Unknown:Because I definitely think you should care about other people's
Unknown:feelings. But really just be true to yourself and what you
Unknown:want what would make you happy regardless of what other people
Unknown:think whether it's nerdy or lame, quote, unquote, or uncool,
Unknown:you know, do what makes you happy. Because ultimately, at
Unknown:the end of the day, I wake up every morning, excited to go to
Unknown:work, excited to see my coworkers, and there's nothing
Unknown:more fulfilling. So I would just say to just as lame and corny as
Unknown:it sounds, just really be true to yourself. Just think about
Unknown:what you want. What about your parents want what society wants,
Unknown:think about what you want? And go for it. You know, the worst
Unknown:case scenario is that somebody says no, and then you've tried
Unknown:to find out,
Lindsay Poss:you know, it's been incredible about doing this
Lindsay Poss:show is that so many people have given that same piece of advice.
Lindsay Poss:And what that says to me is that a lot of folks spend time trying
Lindsay Poss:to kind of fit in or worrying and if austere syndrome is
Lindsay Poss:something that comes up all the time, and it's like, no, just be
Lindsay Poss:you.
Unknown:I mean, I'll be honest, when I, my mom, she tells the
Unknown:story all the time. And it's so funny, I went to college, I
Unknown:said, Mom, I'm going to major in kinesiology. Right, because my
Unknown:mom, she got a doctorate degree. I just wanted to make her proud.
Unknown:That's all I wanted to do. And she said, Why do you want to do
Unknown:that? I said, because, you know, it's, it's a good job. She said,
Unknown:Is that gonna make you happy? And I said, it should I'll make
Unknown:enough money. And she goes, No, no, that's not gonna make you
Unknown:happy. And I said, Would you'd be really proud of me? She's
Unknown:like, I don't care what you do. I just want you to be happy. And
Unknown:I was like, Yeah, I don't want to major in kinesiology. She's
Unknown:not really great at math. I'm like, no or not. I don't know
Unknown:why I thought this was a good idea. And she's like, you just
Unknown:need to make you happy. And I'll be proud of you no matter what.
Unknown:And I needed to hear that. But for the longest time, I was
Unknown:like, I'm gonna do ABC and D, and my parents will be so proud.
Unknown:Because I'm a people pleaser. There was another side, I should
Unknown:have been an HR I love. You know, making other people happy.
Unknown:It's what I thrive on. And so I needed to hear that and I hope
Unknown:that there are people in everybody else's lives, who will
Unknown:keep it real with them and be like, No, I don't think that's a
Unknown:good idea. I think that's
Lindsay Poss:a great story to end on. Holly, where can people
Lindsay Poss:find you follow you find generation esports? Learn more?
Lindsay Poss:Yeah. So
Unknown:for me, you can find me on LinkedIn. My first name is
Unknown:Holly, last name, re gr a why. It's just a blonde girl with a
Unknown:red t shirt on my profile, just add me on LinkedIn. Um, in terms
Unknown:of generation esports, you can follow us on pretty much every
Unknown:social platform. We've got Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn,
Unknown:please go follow us. We're constantly pumping out brand new
Unknown:ideas, collaborations campaigns, and we have a lot of exciting
Unknown:stuff that's gonna be happening in the near future. So I really
Unknown:hope that you guys will come take a look and see what we're
Unknown:all about.
Lindsay Poss:So fun. For all the listeners out there. Don't
Lindsay Poss:forget to leave a five star ratings and reviews. Tell a
Lindsay Poss:friend about the podcast. And check out other holodeck media
Lindsay Poss:podcasts including metal business and business of
Lindsay Poss:esports. I'm on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn at
Lindsay Poss:Lindsey pass. You can catch me Wednesday afternoons on the
Lindsay Poss:business of esports live after show and you can catch this
Lindsay Poss:podcast in your feed every Tuesday. See you next week.
Unknown:Thanks for joining us here on meta woman. Make sure to
Unknown:subscribe to this podcast everywhere you get your
Unknown:podcasts, leave a five star review and tell your friends
Unknown:family and colleagues all about us. Also, make sure to follow
Unknown:meta TV on all socials to get more of the best Metaverse
Unknown:content anywhere. Tune in every week for another episode of