Welcome to the Evolving Folks Project’s “Evolved Woman of the Week” profile. Each week, we will highlight an individual who embodies what it means to be an evolved person, famous and non-famous alike. The world needs to know their stories and deeds. This week’s honor goes to the American journalist, activist, and streamer Tanya DePass.
DePass had humble beginnings, growing up in a poor Chicago family. From a young age, she’s been an enthusiastic player of tabletop and video games. DePass’s writings on diversity, feminism, and race have appeared in publications such as Polygon and Vice, alongside their diversity consulting work for game developers and other organizations.
She created the nonprofit I Need Diverse Games to promote marginalized game developers’ work and research. She serves as the organization’s founder and director. The organization also encourages positive and intersectional representations of identity and culture in video games. Besides being a lifelong Chicagoan, she’s the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Fresh Out of Tokens podcast, the Creative Director of CypherCo, LLC, and the Diversity Liaison for GaymerX.
In her own words, DePass details how gaming fostered her imagination and provided an escape during her childhood.
“games were another way to flex my imagination. I loved reading, and I treated it as an extension of being able to read and go to these different places – in games you can literally visit another world… It was an escape, it was relaxing, it was formative… ”
You can find DePass on Twitter, LinkedIn, Blue Sky, and Tumblr. She often streams videos on Twitch and uploads them to YouTube.
Tanya DePass is dismantling barriers in the gaming industry, which desperately needs more diverse perspectives from women, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC creators. She is among the few Black people working in the gaming industry. The Evolving Folks Project wishes her continued success as she and others like her shatter barriers. Today, we honor Tanya DePass as our Evolved Woman of the Week.
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