My passion for community involvement started when I experienced the difficulties of being a gender minority in the Computer Science major and in the game development community in the South during college, which I responded to by founding a student organization called Women in Computer Science. To this day, mentoring underrepresented communities in the game industry remains one of my top career priorities. I especially love working with college students, and frequently guest lecture at local universities, volunteer for game jams and events, and mentor individuals personally.

If you’re looking for a volunteer for a mentorship program, speaker or guest lecturer, or need a mentor yourself, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

mentorship & COMMUNITY

  • Judge, 2024 Independent Games Festival

    • Selected as a judge for the 2024 IGFs, an awards show held at the yearly Game Developer’s Conference.

    • Rated dozens of games in every award category, left notes and participated in discussions on the game’s ratings.

  • Mentor, UC Irvine Capstone Game Project Course

    • Select quarters during 2019, 2020, & 2021

    • Volunteered through Blizzard and independently as a mentor for UCI’s final project-based course for game development students. Guided student teams in building a game, including providing mentorship in project organization, game feedback, game engineering & architecture, and pursuing careers in games.

  • Tutorial writer, game development blog

    • Wrote 36 different tutorials on game development- mainly in shader programming, procedural mesh generation, and game industry careers- for personal, not-for-profit blog lindenreidblog.com. As of Dec. 2023, the blog has over 300k hits, with popular posts like the simple water shader tutorial garnering over 46k views each.

  • Mentor, Code Coven Elevate

    • November- December 2020

    • Was selected by Code Coven to mentor for their inaugural incubator-like Elevate program. Met with a game development team to give feedback on the game the team was building and provide resources for skill improvement and career development.

  • General Chair, Blizzard LGBTQ Network Leadership Team

    • 2019-2020

    • As a Blizzard employee, was selected to serve on the LGBTQ Network Leadership team. My biggest project was organizing and running a volunteer event for the Orange County LGBTQ Center in February 2020, in which Blizzard employees painted a new mural on the Center’s building. Also consulted on LGBTQ-related topics for Blizzard teams, including game design and narrative content.

  • Guild Leader, Glitch Power Leveling Program

    • GDC 2019

    • Was selected by Glitch as a mentor for their mentorship program at GDC in 2019. Designed an itinerary for and attended the conference with a college student studying game development to help her get the most out of the conference, including connecting her with industry members, helping her find relevant talks and events, and coordinating a local studio tour.

  • President & Founder, LSU Women in Computer Science

    • 2015-2016

    • Founded and ran student organization Women in Computer Science. We held a 48-hour game jam in November 2015 that had over 100 volunteers and participants and raised over $4000 in funding. WICS also held events throughout the school year, including workshops, panels, socials, and group study sessions.

Speaking & LECTURING

  • Speaker, Computer Simulation & Gaming Conference, April 2023

  • Guest Lecturer, UC Santa Cruz Game Design Studio II class, March 2023

  • Speaker, Cal Women In Gaming Game Jam at UC Berkley, March 2022

  • Guest Lecturer, Drury University Game Design class, Nov 2020

  • Panelist, UC Irvine Queer Games Industry Panel, Feb 2020

  • Panelist, UCLA Society of Women Engineers Diversity Panel, May 2020

  • Guest Lecturer, UCI Capstone Game Project class, April 2020

  • Opening Speaker, Global Game Jam at UC Irvine, Jan 2020

  • Guest Lecturer, UCI Capstone Game Project class, Feb 2019

  • Mentor, LSU Women in Computer Science Game Jam, 2017