Celebrating the Women at Stonemaier Games

Tuesday was International Women’s Day, but I post blogs on Mondays and Thursdays, and it’s never too late to celebrate the people who have made–and continue to make–an amazing impact on Stonemaier Games.

Among the people who regularly contribute directly to our company (or have made a singular impact for a product that we regularly sell) are nearly 50 women: employees, independent contractors, artists, game designers, lead playtesters, proofreaders, consultants, and shareholders. I’m extremely grateful for the significant positive impact these women have on Stonemaier Games (and me personally).

You can already see many of them on our staff and contributors page, and today I’ll highlight their contributions (including some teasers of future releases in which they’re involved). I’ll only include photos of some of those who provided photos for our staff & contributors page; full names are provided only for those with public websites or names on our games (though I will promptly remove any information by request to jamey@stonemaiergames.com).

Employees

Susannah Eisenbraun recently joined Stonemaier Games as our retailer relationship manager. She handles direct communications with retailers–whether they buy our products from distributors or directly from us–on multiple levels (email, newsletters, direct outreach, invoicing, and backend Shopify management). Just a few months in, we’re already seeing Susannah’s impact, and it’s also been great to play games with her at local game nights. You can contact Susannah at susannah@stonemaier.com, and she will be at the upcoming GAMA trade show.

Independent Contractors

Christine Santana has been Stonemaier Games’ graphic designer almost since Day 1, and we really wouldn’t be anywhere close to where we are without her. She excels at layout and printer file preparation, and you can see her visual touches in all of our games. Christine remains an independent contractor by choice–we keep her very busy, but she occasionally likes to take work from others too. Here’s her website.

Leigh Reiter is our primary accountant at Anders CPA, and she has been integral to the process of sorting through our ever-increasing web of financials.

Stephanie Bennett of Timely Totals became our bookkeeper last year, a service we hadn’t used up until that point…and now I wish I had done it years ago. Stephanie has made the monthly process of bookkeeping and paying designer royalties so much easier.

Helen C volunteered to be our replacement parts helper in Australia many years ago, and she has provided such an incredible service to our customers in Australia and New Zealand since then. She also set up our current replacement parts system, which uses Jira.

Megan Selke is the voiceover artist for the Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest and Rolling Realms teaser trailers. She’s great to work with, and I like that she provides a few different options for each project (different speeds, styles, and accents).

Artists

The visual aspect of our games is incredibly important, and I’m fortunate that our games feature the following artists (whose names you can see on the corresponding game boxes). Many of them have worked on beautiful games for other publishers as well.

• 

  Natalia Rojas and Ana Maria Martinez: Wingspan (all bird illustrations) and a future project; you can buy their prints here.

• Jacqui Davis: Euphoria, Red Rising, and a touch of Viticulture
• Beth Sobel: Viticulture, Between Two Cities, and a touch of Wingspan
• Katie Khau: My Little Scythe
• Laura Bevon: Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig
• Agnieszka Dabrowiecka: Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig
• Lina Cossette (aka Mr Cuddington): Charterstone and a touch of Libertalia
• Clementine Campardou: a future project
• Valentina Filic: a future project

Game Designers

I’m continually amazed by the talents of these incredible game designers (as well as their communication, devotion to playtesting, and drive to bring as much joy as possible to those who play their games). Several of these designers have games with other publishers too; I’ll just list the Stonemaier projects here.

• 

  Elizabeth Hargrave: Wingspan

• Vienna Chou: My Little Scythe
• Connie Vogelmann: two future projects
• Min Myska: a future project
• Juliana Moreno Patel and Ariel Rubin (The Wild Optimists): a future project

Lead Playtesters

Our lead playtesters have a huge impact on the balance, fun, and intuitiveness of our games. Many of these playtesters have worked on up to as many as 10 of our games, and you’ll find their names on the sides of our game boxes.

• 

  Jennifer Graham-Macht

• Sarah Stacy
• Phoebe Wild
• Ludwika Majchrzak
• Jeannette Specht
• Jamie Specht
• Crystal Nevin
• Kim Kieffer
• Allie Feiner
• Jennifer Sterns
• Amy Niggel
• Stephanie Mellott
• Kate Shelton
• Amber Yanyo

Proofreaders

Our proofreading and oversight team provides a significant service to ensure our rules, cards, and other components are as clear and comprehensive as possible. Among them are:

• Dana Rickle
• Inga Keutmann
• Crystal Nevin

Consultants

Lydia Wehmeyer is our diversity, equity, and inclusivity consultant. I’ve really appreciated Lydia’s perspective, insights, and contributions, many of which you can see on this page of our website.

Shareholders

Stonemaier Games is steered by an amazing group of shareholders (and employees, who also own shares), including:

• Julia Kimmerly
• Megan B.
• Zongxiu Y.
• Jen G.
• Cynthia L.
• Erika R.

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There are also many, many women ambassadors for Stonemaier Games whose time and talent contribute to the company all the time. And while reviewers and content creators don’t work at/for Stonemaier Games, I really appreciate the value they add to the industry every day.

I’m so grateful, fortunate, and honored to work with these amazing women and to showcase their work among the gaming community. Who are you celebrating this week for International Women’s Day?

Also read The Box Matters: How Publishers Can Prioritize Diversity

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