Sam Kulikov & Mark Josey are Co-Founders of the esports organization, Kansas City Pioneers. Sam is the Director of Marketing & Mark is their Managing Director. The Kansas City Pioneers are a premier esports org comprised of individuals, teams, & content creators who compete internationally in multiple games. Founded in July of 2019, the KCP are striving to become pioneers in gaming/esports in Kansas City. Sam & Mark chat with us about the origin story, how they’ve found the right players & staff, how they’ve created their branding, their mission & goals as well as many other topics around being a grassroots organization.

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Keisha Howard is the Founder of Sugar Gamers, Marketing Lead for LiveCGI, a 2x TEDx speaker & previously featured in VentureBeat. Her company, Sugar Gamers, is a passionate organization of trendsetters who are on a mission to make the worlds of tech, geek culture and gaming accessible to like-minded underrepresented communities. Keisha walks us through how she started her company & how they’ve made an impact in the gaming industry for the last 10+ years. This year, they played a key role in helping produce the Adidas gaming event during NBA All-Star weekend. The event brought in underprivileged youth from Chicago to have a field day learning about careers in gaming, tech, broadcasting, filmmaking & more. Additionally, Keisha shares about her role as Marketing Lead for LiveCGI. You may recognize some of LiveCGI’s tech if you’ve tuned in to the NBA 2K League. They produce the virtual studio where all the recent NBA 2K League events have been hosted from.

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• Follow Keisha on LinkedIn

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• Sugar Gamers Website

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Landon Gorbenko is a Mental Performance Consultant working with professional esports players. He specializes in training of mental skills, team dynamics & preparation. This includes anxiety/anger management, managing mental fatigue, optimal training zones & more! During this episode we specifically dive deeper into anxiety management & team communication. Landon talks about how players emotionally feel when competing in their first large LAN tournament. He shares how he works with them to prepare for pre-game & in-game. We also jump into the conversation of player/career longevity in esports. He answers the questions – Why are players careers so short & how can players careers be extended? We round out our conversation talking about career opportunities available in gaming/esports, including those in health & wellness.

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Nicolas Sabet is an Associate Attorney at K&L Gates law firm. He is playing a key role in developing the esports practice within the firm. Aside from his concentrated practice, Nic now advises owners, agents, players & others on applicable legal matters in the gaming & esports world. This recording is a previous Instagram Live episode Nic & Juan did together about the subject of “Young Professionals in Gaming”. Essentially, the two wanted to come together & have an honest conversation about how they’ve navigated gaming/esports as young professionals. Additionally, the two come from a professional services background (legal & accounting) & have experienced some symmetry in their individual path’s. This episode was specially created for any young/new business professionals who are looking to become a part of the esports industry!

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Dr. Drew Schwartz is a licensed Chiropractor in Cleveland, Ohio where he’s ran his Chiropractic clinic for seven years. Drew is the Founder of “For the Wellness Blog”, which is dedicated to improving the lives of esports athletes, casual gamers/streamers & day to day office workers. Specializing in ergonomics, he’s had the opportunity to work with area colleges, esports organizations/teams & corporate offices. Some of his clients/partners include Cavs LegionGC, Haworth & eFuse. You can check out www.forthewellnessblog.com where he writes informative articles & produces videos that can help you better your productivity & improve your “office” lifestyle.

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Luis Montejo is the Digital Media Coordinator at JAG Insurance Group in Miami, FL. Luis leads the content creation team at JAG where they create informative & creative content around the insurance industry. He also records & produces podcast episodes for “The Transition Podcast”, which highlights the transitions former college & professional athletes face from the field/court to the business world. Additionally, Luis works as a freelancer in gaming/esports. He’s done videography/photography work for ROK Esports, a large local tournament organizer in the Miami area. He’s also done occasional banner work for streamers & amateur players.

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Jordan Rodriguez is a multi-sport college athlete having competed in both basketball & football. During his senior year of high school basketball, he was a part of the all-city & all-area team in Huntsville, Alabama. Early in his senior year he was recruited by & signed with the University of Montevallo, where he was offered a full-ride athletic scholarship. After spending a year & a half at the University of Montevallo he decided to take a risk & pivot into college football. He departed UM and arrived in Dodge City, KS to play juco football for Dodge City Community College. Later, he received an opportunity to play Division 1 football for the University of Tulsa, where he was also offered a full athletic scholarship.

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Ivan Curtiss is the GM & Heach Coach of the Brooklyn NetsGC, the affiliate NBA 2K team of the Brooklyn Nets. Previously, Ivan played 2K competitively before the official NBA 2K League was launched. In 2016, he Co-Founded MPBA2K, which became & remains one of the most popular NBA 2K Pro-Am leagues. His first official role with the NBA 2K League was with BucksGG where he served as a Draft Analyst. Because he was so involved in the Pro-Am scene prior to working with BucksGG, this provided him an upper hand in scouting players. Curt later had an opportunity open up with the Brooklyn NetsGC as a consultant. But, he very quickly worked his way up to becoming the GM & Head Coach of the team.

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During this special episode we host the winning team from the Lodgz Gaming Against COVID-19 Tournament! On March 27th the podcast hosted a charity tournament, specifically for professionals working in gaming & esports. We had 72 business professionals square off in Call of Duty Warzone. Collectively, we raised $1,188 & donated it to the Tampa General Hospital COVID-19 fund! To recognize the winning team, we had them join us on the podcast to chat a bit about who they are, what they do & their experiences in gaming & esports!

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• Follow Joshua Garr on LinkedIn

• Follow Joshua Keener on LinkedIn

• Follow Joshua Price on LinkedIn

• Follow LVLUP Arena on Twitter

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During part two of the Roger Caneda story, we dive into his time as General Manager of the Dallas Mavericks NBA 2K team. While in Dallas, Roger created & launched the Mavs 20,000 square foot gaming facility, which made him a trailblazer in the league for others to follow. He led the Mavs social media campaigns & live activation's for fans & the organization. He managed partnerships with well known brands including HyperX, Alienware, ZipChair & others. All in all, he was a key executive member of the Dallas Mavericks NBA 2K team that laid the foundation for where the organization is today.

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• Follow Roger on Twitter

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The official sponsor of today’s episode is Stream Elements! SE recently launched their newest initiative “SEMerch”. SEMerch is a new feature that allows streamers & creators to sell their own merchandise 100% free! You can create shirts, hoodies, mugs & more! To learn more & open your free merch store, click this link.