So, this interview is with Elizabeth from Cloud9. She manages Cloud9's social accounts and is sort of the team mom along with just a vast array of responsibilities (seriously it's mind boggling the amount she juggles in my opinion).
I've kind of been following Elizabeth for a while now. She always seems so bright and interesting and just this central part of Cloud9 for me. I was really drawn in more and more by her wit and an intangible magnetism. In any case, I knew it might have been an odd thing but I had casually tweeted at her that I would like to interview her sometime. To my surprise, she said yes and then when I was disbelieving she DM'd me. This is one of the toughest interviews for me to prepare for. I wanted to be find the best way to make sure that it was clear that it was honestly me wanting an insight into who she is and her life. I was worried about a lot of things (none the least that I am a giant fan of the boys she is constantly around and I didn't want that to bleed into our conversation) and that made getting started really hard.
I decided to just jump right in and it became very easy to converse with her and I stopped worrying so much. To every question she gave such an insightful answer and generally it felt very natural to move forward to the next. It was my first text interview and I was really unsure but it just happened really easily. I think that's more to do with who Elizabeth is as a person rather than my skills as an interviewer!
It was an interview conducted through DMs on twitter and no edits have been made so forgive us both if there is any typos.
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Kit: What got you into the esports scene originally and what were your first impressions of it?
Elizabeth: We’re going way back in the archives for this one. As cliché as it may sound, a boy got me into the esports scene. When I was growing up I wasn’t really around much in the way of technology, we had one TV and one PC. The main game I played as a child was a Mario typing game on Windows 95. Skipping ahead to my college years, I met my, now, fiancé Danan. He was super into World of Warcraft when we first met and then when League came out his focus switched. He started playing with friends, then he attended a few LANs (I sometimes accompanied him), and then one of his friends asked him to start managing his team. I’m not going to lie, I thought it was kind of silly at first. Like, professional video gaming? That’ll never be a thing.
Not too long afterwards, Riot started up the LCS. We would sit together and watch the games and it hit me that this could actually be a viable career path for him. As he went through school he managed challenger teams on and off. I think the most notable ones would be the Dignitas Challenger team (which had Sneaky on it) and the original Cloud9 Tempest roster. I mostly stayed out of it, I finished college and began working at an early education center. The extent of my involvement usually was driving him to the airport for Relegation or other events and providing moral support.
After Cloud9 Tempest failed to qualify, compLexity offered him a job managing their team. He accepted with the condition that I be allowed to live the house performing basic housekeeping tasks (and the title of Team Mom was born). Moving into the house was probably the first time I actually interacted with the scene directly. Alas, all good things come to an end, compLexity was relegated, and Danan and I returned back home to consider future options. While we were back home Danan got a call from Jack asking if he’d be interested in managing the main team, Danan agreed, and we were off to California once again. The rest is history.
Initially, I wasn’t very impressed with the scene. I thought it was scattered and disorganized. Instead of being able to request a specific day off work I had to tell my boss that, “at some point during this week I will need a few hours off to drive Danan to the airport.” For someone who’s very set in scheduling and organization it was moderately infuriating. Looking at it now though, the contrast is pretty stark, it’s certainly come a long way in a relatively short amount of time.
K: Wow. That's a really amazing story though. I knew that in some way Danan had been the catalyst for pulling you into the world but understanding the development of it is really awesome to me. How did you transition into the role that you do now? Was it a natural progression? How did you feel about it?
E: I don’t know if I would go so far as to say it was natural progression but I do feel like it was due to my natural abilities. Some of it was boredom; cleaning, cooking, etc for a large group can get pretty tedious. I was going a little stir crazy to be completely honest. Danan asked Jack if there was another area I could help with to help alleviate the repetitiveness of my day to day schedule and Jack suggested I give social a try.
I started running the Cloud9 twitter and facebook, as a result of doing that I started tracking all upcoming events our teams could potentially participate in, and it’s just kind of blossomed from there. I’ve started playing a role in our video production, I’ve started doing light photography for the teams, and tracking a whole mess of other stuff. Basically, a large portion of my day is spent staring at spreadsheets, it’s not super glamorous, but it’s super necessary. Like I said before, I’m really into organization so doing what I’m doing now caters to my innate capabilities and I also feel like the insight provided by my degree has been really helpful.
K: What is the biggest challenge about what you do now?
E: I feel like each facet of what I do comes with its own specific challenges. I’ve had days where I lose track of what I’m doing because I have so many spreadsheets open at once and living with 8+ guys isn’t necessarily a picnic. lol. Overall though, I think finding time for myself is probably the most difficult thing to accomplish. When I was working with my two year olds a really common theme was that as a caregiver, in order to prevent burnout, you need to take care of yourself before you’re able to take care of anyone else. I feel like that statement rings true even more so now than it did back then. Then, my work hours were relatively static, when I went home it was just Danan and I, finding time to relax wasn’t particularly difficult. Now, as anyone in esports can attest, there is no set schedule. You work as things happen and, depending on your role, there can be a lot of things happening. In my case it’s mostly juggling things on the computer with the Team Mom duties and finding time to maintain my relationships; after dealing with all of that there’s not a whole lot of time leftover for me to just chill. Recently I’ve started putting more effort into finding time to step away from everything else and re-charge. I'm hoping that taking time away will result in increased productivity during the time I am working and will allow me to get a cycle of work and relaxation set up. I guess we’ll see how that goes.
K: Yeah, I think where you can never really leave "work" would be a hard thing to learn how to balance how to turn work timeoff and take care of yourself. I get to leave work but I end up taking the stress of it with me so that's definitely something I can relate to too in a way.
What is the most rewarding part of your career and lifestyle?
E: Um, unlimited Red Bull? lol. In all seriousness, interacting with the fans is probably the most rewarding part for me. I’ve gotten messages in the Cloud9 facebook inbox just saying little things like “Go C9” or “Notice me senpai”, I responded with something simple like, “Thanks for the support”, and then got a response saying that I made their year just by acknowledging them.
For me, knowing that I made someone else happy is incredibly gratifying. I also firmly believe that without fans, none of us would have jobs, Cloud9 just wouldn’t exist. Our fans play a huge part in everything we do and I feel very fortunate that I’m in a role where I can express our gratitude to them directly.
K: Send me some of that redbull! haha. For me, I feel like Cloud9 is a little unique. I'm a casual fan of a lot of different teams in a lot of different regions but I'm really loyal to C9 and it's the first time I've ever had any "team spirit". I think it's because of the people in the org like you who really make us feel like we are a part of it all? Like in showing support for C9 it's just part of something bigger and I feel like in some silly small way it matters. And I really like that feeling and it's been a pretty unique and empowering experience for me. Gosh, I hope that doesn't make me sound crazy!
What are your hopes for the direction that you want to go in the future?
E: You don’t sound crazy at all. That’s what I want. The best comparison I
can do is concerts. When I was in college I went to a lot of rock
concerts, and I always loved the bands who came out afterwards to hang
out with their fans. I want us to be approachable rather than aloof. I
want our fans to know that they are part of it all and they do matter to
us.
I’m not sure what the future holds at this point. I used to have the
majority of my life planned out but esports has altered that course
dramatically. When you work in a field that is relatively day to day it
can be hard to plan too far ahead. My time with compLexity definitely
taught me how quickly things can change. I think my future depends
largely on how the industry continues to develop. If what I hope
happens, it continues to grow and stabilize, I could see myself doing
this for years to come however, if the opposite were to happen, I would
start to explore other avenues.
K: Is it hard for you to now not feel like you can plan out with certainty where you are going? It seems kind of scary.
E: Oh, it’s definitely scary. The uncertainty terrified me the first time
we moved to California. I had been at my part time job for about six
years, my full time job for about two and a half, and I was leaving all
of that for experimental position. Thankfully I had very supportive,
albeit slightly confused, parents. When my sister and I left for college
my mother opted to purchase a condo for us to live in rather than
putting us in the dorms; it came with the stipulation that we put the
amount we would’ve paid in rent into our savings accounts each month. I
still have a bedroom there which I use whenever I go home to visit.
Knowing that I can always go back if I need to gives me peace of mind to
an extent. My time with Cloud9 has also helped me settle in more but I
don’t think anything, other than time, will ever completely alleviate
the apprehension that comes with working in a more fluid field.
K: I think it takes a lot of courage to make that kind of jump. Sometimes I
can be really daring but it is usually when I have nothing left to
lose. It takes a lot more courage and fortitude I think to leave
something stable for something more fluid. I really find you
inspirational.
What is the best and worst things about living with so many people?
E: Well thank you. To be fair, I had (and still have) a place to go back to if I absolutely need it. I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like to move out here and not have a backup plan in place.
The best thing would be the people. All of the guys are pretty awesome. Hai is probably the closest friend I have out here, excluding Danan of course. I routinely invade his room for board games and chill, or watch as he and Bunny play CoD Zombies. The worst thing, aside from petty housekeeping grievances, would also be the people. I’m very much an introvert so being around this amount of people can be kind of draining for me even if there’s no direct interaction. Usually if I’m feeling overwhelmed or crowded, for some bizarre reason, I go to Target and look at frivolous things like nail polish. I guess everyone copes in their own way and, at the moment, that’s mine. lol.
K: I can understand that. It's like you can't live with them can't live without them at times. lol I think that's not too bizarre actually. My best friend does that sort of thing too. I usually hide in books myself. To me, even at a store there are too many people!
Do you have any funny or embarrassing stories you can share?
E: The people at the store, pending that it’s not packed, don’t usually bother me. I feel a sense of anonymity. I’m just another person shopping with no risk of being bothered by anyone.
Funny or embarrassing stories. I don’t even know. After living with these guys for so long it all kind of blends together in a continuous loop of hilarity. I think one of my personal favorites stems from a board games and chill night in Hai’s room. We were playing Code Names and it was Jensen and Bunny’s turn to be the spymasters (clue givers). First, they couldn’t keep a straight face while giving clues; they weren’t just smiling, they were red in the face, rolling around, laughing, being semi-coherent. Then they mutually agreed to troll their separate teams in an attempt to get us to pick the card that would make us automatically lose the game. So ridiculous. XD
K: Jesus, they're all so crazy. I always really like it when I'm watching Hai's stream and it's like a parade of random people around and it just is always really fun to hear the background and I almost like that more than the stream itself. LOL
I'm kind of running out of questions now, sadly but I think my last one is... What do you hope for yourself and for the team in the future? Not just game wise but generally too with life.
E: This is probably the most difficult one to put into words. In a simple cliché quip, nothing but the best. Obviously in-game the never-ending dream is to win Worlds; to prove that they are in fact the number one team in the world and I would love for that to come true. ()
Out of game, in short, I hope they learn how to adult. lol. Their jobs come with so many life experiences like traveling, living abroad, meeting new people, etc. but it also prevents basic life experiences like genuinely living on your own and being responsible for your own survival. I occasionally have moments where I find myself staring at them slack-jawed wondering, “How do you not know how to do this?”
With my two year olds, the most rewarding thing was watching the developmental boom; that’s how I feel towards the players. I want them to continue to grow. I want them to be able to live on their own (without me worrying). I want them to have the ability to move forward to a career outside of esports should they ever want to. I want them to have the brightest future they can. Basically, as generic as it may sound, I want everyone to be happy and to really thrive.
K: I think it doesn't sound generic so much as genuine. I think having the right influences in their lives will definitely help them develop and I imagine it has to be really amazing to be a part of that. And I totally 100% believe in the worlds dream. This has been a really amazing experience for me and I hope that this interview does you at least a bit of justice. I really wanted to show you and not just "that pretty girl with long hair who's always in Hai's room and around with C9".
Ah that came out weirdly.
E: Totally fine. It's been a fun experience being someone other than, "That annoying bitch who argued with Hai about getting a cat." lol.
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Thank you so much for this opportunity. I am so grateful. Elizabeth is an amazing person and I tried to do her justice with my questions but I feel like I fell short so maybe you just have to take my word for it. I will continue to try and improve my interviewing skills so I can do a better job giving people the shine they deserve.
