( ENSPIRE She Did That ) A Black Latin Woman Changing the Course of Esports
ENSPIRE Contributor: Hamna Khan
Erin Ashley Simon is an Influential Black Woman in Esports. She is a 29-year-old multi-media personality, co-founder and co-owner of XSET, podcaster, host, producer, and consultant. She had an interest in sports since an early age. She was a soccer player. During her travel for her tournaments, she spent her free time in playing video games. The first game she ever played was Sonic the Hedgehog.
At 16 years old, she started her own sports blog “Box of Mess” about sports, music, and entertainment to pursue her passion for sports and gaming. She promotes Hip Hop music in her streaming videos. She earned million of followers because of her blog which paved her way into sports journalism as a host. She has been a part of Esports Broadcasting World for a while now. She did streaming for NBA 2K for twitch and red bull and a co-hosting on Cheddar Esports. In 2021, she launched RKDO gaming apparel with PUMA.
Typically, women are not welcomed and expected to have a successful career in the Esports Industry. Simon wanted to break these barriers as a female. Her urge to push the culturally set boundaries and the belief that there is always room to get better made her the woman she is today. After making her own name, she is making sure other students get the same opportunity. Therefore, she expanded the University of Kentucky Esports internship funds to $5000. She started this fund in 2021 to make the career paths easy for students by providing them with multi-year internship and mentoring program. The idea is to motivate them to follow their passion in the gaming industry.
Her vast knowledge and creative mindset have led her to be tapped by well-known brands and organizations such as Turtle Beach, Bacardi, Bleacher Report, AT&T, General Motors, Nike, Columbia Records, eMLS, Forbes, Gen.G, Evil Geniuses, Cloud 9, 300 Ent, Interscope, VENN, The Wall Street Journal, University of Kentucky, REVOLT TV, and more.
It does seem like a lot for a 29-year-old woman to achieve but for Simon this is just the beginning of diversifying the Esports industry. She has stood out from the crowd with her hard work and mission driven personality. She will continue her journey by achieving her goals in the future. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter account.
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