Sara Ventura - Ad Producer at Zynga

Sara has experience in many roles in the games industry including being a Producer, Writer, Narrative Designer, Teacher, and Marketer. Some of the companies she’s worked at include Xbox, Nintendo, Ubisoft and more. I reached out to her to ask her about her experience, how she came into the industry, and her favorite role to date.

How did you come to be in the games industry?
In my 2nd year of college, I started an alternative newspaper which caught the eye of an alumnus. He reached out to me and after talking, he offered me a job at his company. He ran a public relations firm and had various clients, mostly political. One of his clients was a friend's sister, who managed a videogame fashion blog called GG Vogue. Because I was the only person in the office who knew about video games, my boss gave me that account. After that, I started working with her to increase her brand on social media, attended PAX for the first time, and so on. Through that job, I met a ton of people in the games industry, joined the PMS Clan, and started moonlighting for various gaming news websites.


What has been your favorite role in the industry out of all the roles you've worked in?
It was very surreal to work at Nintendo. I can't talk too much about it as I worked in the Treehouse but I can tell you a little bit about what my job was like. I was a writer/editor on mobile games and worked on every kind of user-facing text from character dialogue to user interface to tutorials and marketing videos. After every game update, I'd rush to download it so I could see everything in the wild. I felt like a little kid because of how excited I was. Another aspect of that Nintendo magic is that once you work there, you have friends for life. I still hang out with my old coworkers despite my contract ending 2 1/2 years ago.

Did you ever anticipate entering the games industry when you were growing up?
I didn't have many aspirations as a child because I went to a very strict religious school that often deflated my sails. I was one of those kids who found sanctuary in the art room with my art teacher because a lot of the teachers were very harsh to my neurodivergent kid self. As a kid, my mom was a medical transcriptionist and my dad removed asbestos so most media jobs seemed like they were in another dimension. I came from a small town in New York and my career goal was to become a mail delivery person. Someday I want to make a game about delivering mail!


Do you see yourself working in anything other than games?
I love the games industry a lot and it would be very difficult for me to completely leave. However, I've been dabbling in voice acting for about a year now and I could see myself eventually working for a non-profit in the future. At my current job, I'm involved in 3 employee resource groups (ERGs). I lead Neurodiversity at Zynga, co-lead the Learning & Development Committee for zPride (LGBTQIA2S+ ERG), and serve as an in-person event coordinator for ZAPI (AAPI ERG). I'm passionate about spreading knowledge, uplifting diverse voices, and prioritizing accessibility. My erg work allows me to spearhead initiatives highlighting all of three of those.


Here are some links to reach Sara if you would like to reach out with any questions or follow her on social media. She more commonly open to respond to students, volunteer initiatives, and folks impacted by layoffs whenever she can.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/saraventura/
https://twitter.com/SvennaCirclet 
SaraVenturaWrites@gmail.com