The Lodgz Podcast

Richard Huggan is the Managing Director of Hitmarker Jobs. Hitmarker is the industry’s leading job board for gaming & esports opportunities. They assist both hiring companies & candidates looking to break into the space. Richard shares about some of the roles he carries on a day-to-day basis, how the platform has grown as a resource for new hires & some tips he suggests to get into the industry. We also tackle the hot topic of volunteering/free work & what he believes is the best way to approach it.

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• Follow Richard on Twitter

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Bryan Reedy is the Founder of Gamer Advantage. Gamer Advantage creates blue light gaming glasses designed for gaming & everyday wear. Bryan shares how & why the company got started, what sets their blue light glasses apart from competitors, why blue light glasses should become a new “norm” for esports players & much more. He also provides great educational content around the impact of blue light & some of the negative effects it causes.

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• Follow Bryan on Twitter

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Jadd Schmeltzer is the Director of Esports at CEI (The Center for Educational Innovation) in New York City. In 2018 Jadd approached CEI with the idea of creating an esports division. Since then, they’ve created programs in under-served middle schools & high schools that combine education & esports together. Their programs revolve around the game, NBA 2K. They’ve previously partnered with the NBA 2K League and Nets GC (NBA 2K League team). Jadd views their program as an opportunity to teach students about the careers available in gaming & esports, as well as create a “pipeline” of talent for the NBA 2K League.

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• Follow Jadd on LinkedIn

• Follow CEI Esports on Twitter

• Follow CEI Esports on Instagram

• Follow Juan on Twitter

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Justin Varghese is the North American Marketing Manager for DreamHack, an esports broadcaster & podcast co-host of the DreamHack Download. Justin entered the gaming world back in 2014 when he began to broadcast esports events. He has worked events with Activision Blizzard, MLG & The Pokemon Company International. He shares about his journey from initially entering into the industry to eventually landing his role for DreamHack five years later. He also discusses what it’s like to market such an iconic event as DreamHack, how his team & him go about their strategy, how coronavirus has impacted the live event space & more!

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• Follow Justin on Twitter

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Ghost Wacke is a streamer & content creator for Ghost Gaming! We chat with him about his progress as a streamer over the years including this year, which has been his biggest yet. In 2020 he’s landed a partnership with G Fuel & been signed by Ghost Gaming. He shares how important Tik Tok has been in his growth & how he’s utilized it as a platform to help grow his stream & other socials. We also talk about some of the hurdles he’s faced as he’s grown over the years & what has kept him going.

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• Follow Wacke on Twitch

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Alex Gonzalez is the Sponsorship & Promotional Lead at RESPAWN Products. RESPAWN is a gaming furniture brand that produces gaming chairs, gaming desks, recliners & rockers. Alex handles incoming sponsorship & partnership opportunities with teams, brands, events, influencers & organizations. He also manages the company’s growth via social media activations & promotions. Previously, Alex was the COO for Red Reserve.

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• Follow Alex on Twitter

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We'd like to thank RESPAWN Products for sponsoring this episode! RESPAWN aims to offer the gaming community the highest quality of ergonomic gaming furniture products at affordable prices whether you're a content creator, professional player or casual player. Visit their website here to check out their products.

During episode 50 we unveil what's new & in store for the Lodgz brand. This includes The Lodgz Podcast, as well as Lodgz Financial. You'll also hear from the only other member of our Lodgz team, Tre Tipton. Tre has served has the head of creative/graphic design for all of our brand images.

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• Follow Tre on Twitter

• Follow Tre on Instagram

• Follow The Lodgz Podcast on Twitter

• Follow Lodgz Financial on Twitter

Darren Traub is an Attorney & Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in New York City. He serves clients in the entertainment, esports, fashion & lifestyle industries. In esports he represents all segments of the industry including leagues, teams, content creators, investors, promotions & more. Due to his extensive experience representing clients in the music industry, Darren plays a key role in finding music artists who are looking to enter the gaming industry. One way he facilitates is by pairing esports organizations & artists who make sense to come together to create an investment or partnership. Another way is by finding artists who are the right fit to perform during live in-game events. An example being Fortnite, where we’ve seen past in-game concerts from Marshmello & Travis Scott. Darren is an entertainment guru who has a heartbeat on the gaming industry. You won’t want to miss this conversation!

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• Follow Darren on LinkedIn

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• Follow Juan on LinkedIn

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• Follow Juan on Instagram

Sara Machado is a recruiter in the gaming industry for Studiotypes - based out of London, UK. She specializes in recruiting for programming, art, production & design roles. She shares how her recruiting process works, provides some tips for those who are interested in these opportunities & how recruiters truly play a pivotal role for professionals in the space. Sara is also an ambassador for Women in Games. Women in Games is a not-for-profit that seeks to provide full equality of opportunity & conditions that empower all women to achieve their full potential. She talks more about the organization & how she was selected to be an ambassador. Sara also does some freelance writing about mental health & diversity/inclusion in the workplace.

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• Follow Sara on Twitter

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• Follow Sara on Medium

• Follow Juan on LinkedIn

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This episode is a recording of the EsportsBizz Latam roundtable discussion of “Future Esports Jobs”, that took place on May 21st. Juan served as the host of the panel which featured Matthew Benson (Founder of eFuse), Nathan Clauss (Managing Partner of New Level Recruiting) & Marcio Teixeira (Founder of Vaggas BR). The conversation surrounded topics & questions about the current job market within gaming & esports, future jobs, how to break into the industry & more!

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• Follow The Lodgz Podcast on Twitter

• Follow Juan on Twitter

• Follow Juan on LinkedIn

• Follow Juan on Instagram