When I found out that I was going to have the opportunity to speak at the Inside Asian Gaming Academy Summit in Manila, I will admit that I was pretty nervous. When I saw the list of speakers, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of imposter syndrome, since it seemed like (a) I was the youngest speaker by about 25 years, (b) all of the speakers were C-suite executives, and (c) I am young, but I look even younger than I actually am. But I was in Hawaii when I found out - and when I told my family that I was going to have to cut my trip short and go to Manila, I told them that “I have no choice but to be a Killa in Manila.”
So about two weeks before the day I had to speak, I got my trip pulled together. I would fly from Hawaii to Portland for a wedding, and then from Portland to Manila, and then from Manila back to the Bay Area for another wedding. Talk about whiplash… jet lag is officially ruining my life.
I was so excited when I got to the conference. It reminded me of the beginning days when I started my PhD, before I became so jaded about academia. I was all excited to meet the big players, exchange ideas with some of the industry’s leaders, and learn new things from the sessions. It had been a long while since I felt that way about a conference, and it was a nice feeling.
On the second day of the conference I got to do my panel. I was so nervous that when I picked up the microphone to speak for the first time my voice cracked. But as the panel went on, I started feeling more comfortable and gaining confidence. When it was over, I felt like I still had more to say! I got really good feedback from a lot of the people in the crowd as well as the organizers of the conference. It was so good that IAG wanted to record a mini video interview of me at the conference for their “Trade Talk” bulletin!
The following day ended up being full of meetings - some of them set up by Clay (my boss) and some a result of the thought-provoking panel that I was able to be on! It was a bit of a hectic day Ubering from resort-to-resort, but it was really cool to be able to learn about the different properties and meet the people that are in charge of key initiatives.
The other really positive thing about the trip was that I got to hang out with my team in the Philippines. We hired Era, our project/product manager, about a year ago and she is just such a good human. And I also got to meet our new programmer, Khazel, in person as well. It was really nice to connect with them and I only wish that I could spend more time with them.
We went out to have dinner the three of us and Era and Khazel ordered me a surprise birthday cake at the end of the meal to celebrate my birthday coming up in about a week or so. I was totally oblivious to it, and I was so embarrassed when everyone in the restaurant started singing to me. But it was a really nice gesture and it felt like family time, except very far from home.
