Black Excellence in Gaming Presents: TiffanyWitcher

“I do this for her. Like I do this for like, people that suffer that, you know, go through things and wanna see something positive. And I just wanna do this, and like, make her proud, wherever she is, whether she’s in heaven, she’s a spirit looking around, or…wherever she is right now, watching, I just want her to know that I do this for her. And basically, that’s my motivation: it’s my mother.”

TiffanyWitcher

Our Black Excellence in Gaming series continues with yet another exciting addition to our lineup. If you’re familiar with charity streams, then we have no doubt that the name of TiffanyWitcher has been heard along with them.

Most known for her work as a charity live streamer, voice actress, and amateur game designer, Tiffany got her start on Twitch through her best friend Puck, who recommended that she give live streaming a try when looking for something new to do. After going live for the very first time the day after her birthday with some Stardew Valley, she looks forward to celebrating her three year anniversary this upcoming March. Her legacy thus far has been one of dedicated charity efforts, regularly working with the Lupus Foundation for fundraisers, and advocating for more accessibility in gaming. She hopes to push for Twitch Partner this year and make a charity stream team called The Purple Coven after hitting said goal.

Tiffany spoke with us about how her own experience with Lupus has affected her and her live streams. Her usually 12-hour long streams will sometimes have to be postponed or canceled when she isn’t feeling well enough to go live. However, this doesn’t stop her from planning charity events or having open and honest conversations about the disease on her channel. 

“It’s a disease that doesn’t get talked about a lot, especially for women of color, because it affects women of color, especially Black women. So, like…just to talk about it with people, and people come to my stream and say, ‘Thank you for talking about lupus,” or “Thank you for raising money about lupus,” or “I love your design is wrapped around lupus,” it really makes me feel better as a person with lupus to be kind of like a good example for others.”

Her efforts to raise awareness and fundraise have not gone unnoticed; through her live streams and the support of those tuning in, Tiffany has raised over a total $20,000 ever since that first Stardew Valley stream. She says that hitting this milestone was an experience that was as equally emotional as it was amazing, as her main motivation for continuing to fundraise and advocate is to honor the memory of her mother who sadly passed away from lupus complications in 2017. Her mother, Myra Witcher, is described as being very charitable and worked closely with her sorority of Zeta Phi Beta. It is our sincerest hope that we may honor and support her memory as well for as long as TiffanyWitcher continues her charity streams and well after.

While live streaming can be a fun and rewarding experience, Tiffany acknowledges that image can be an important part of that. Due to the chemotherapy treatments she has received in the past for her lupus, she describes putting on heavy layers of makeup in the past to cover her face. This became a tiring experience, until a friend suggested that she look into VTubing and offered to help her learn more about this. For those who may be unaware of what this is, a “Vtuber” is an online entertainer who uses a virtual avatar made by computer graphics for their live or recorded content. This trend originated in Japan back in the mid-2010s and has since seen growing popularity in the states. 

Tiffany originally started using a Vtuber as a temporary measure until her chemotherapy treatments were over, but has since stuck with it once she realized how much she enjoyed using one. What used to be a simple 2D figure has since evolved into a personalized 3D digital figure you see above with a full range of expressions and movements. The design of the figure very much reflects Tiffany’s personal brand; the witch aesthetic comes directly from her last name while the colors of purple are also those of lupus and lupus awareness, while the butterfly and purple ribbon are also representations of lupus. Other added details are more personal, such as elf ears to reflect her love of fantasy and glasses to be similar to the pair that she wears. The Vtuber does get updates and upgrades over time, but Tiffany expresses that she is very happy with the model that she has today. 

In addition to her live streaming endeavors, TiffanyWitcher also works as a voice actress as her full time profession. She first got involved in voice acting due to her background with traditional acting. After earning her degree in theater and music, she performed in a few stage plays before the progression of her disease prevented her from pursuing stage acting any further. It wasn’t until another friend told her that she had a nice voice and should consider voice acting that she began to try her hand at it. Originally making fan dubs for Overwatch and League of Legends as a hobby, Tiffany got her first official paid gig from a coworker by voicing a character in a game they were developing. From there, she has worked on various games and projects (you can find her full resume here), with her most recent role being the character of Devanese in the upcoming indie video game “Rush Attack”. Her dream role would be a champion in the multiplayer online battle arena game “League of Legends” or a fighting game like “Mortal Kombat”.

When it comes to Black History Month, Tiffany confided that her experience with this time of the year can be a complicated one as a content creator. What should be a time of the year to celebrate and uplift Black creators can be a source of anxiety for some, and she admits that she often feels terrified when February rolls around. As a former cosplayer, she remembers the racism and negativity that creators would experience, and still does experience, during the “28 Days of Cosplay” event that the Black cosplay community will curate each year. 

Tiffany has also been the recipient of racist harassment in the past, most notably the six month period when she would be hate raided by the same individual on her channel. Each time she would take the steps that people tell Black creators to take all the time, report and try to move forward, but this hateful individual would always come back with a brand new account to continue their harassment and even threats of violence. Hundreds of bots would sometimes come in to spam slurs and racism in her chat, and it wasn’t until someone on the official Twitch team stepped in that the harassment finally seemed to stop. While Tiffany is glad that she can put this experience behind her, she does wish that Twitch will take the necessary steps to improve their system in a way that can better protect their Black creators going forward. 

As a true testament to TiffanyWitcher’s dedication to her charity streams, she hasn’t let this experience or the occasional wayward, dusty troll slow her down. She plans to continue her charity streams throughout 2021, with her most recent collaboration being with the community and stream team Sistas of the Fog to fundraise for the organization Black Girls Code. She expressed excitement towards this upcoming event (which you can catch this Friday, February 19th) and looks forward to helping other girls get into gaming through an opportunity she wishes had been available to her when she was young. 

“And as someone who grew up poor, like, I really want to help more of the future generation especially trans kids, Black kids, Indigenous and…basically, places close to my personal heart. And I just wanna do some good! That’s really what I wanna do.”

We have no doubt that TiffanyWitcher will continue to do good just like she expressed, and we also believe that each and every one of her goals that she has for herself and others will be met this year and beyond. A charity streamer and voice actress with a big heart, Tiffany is one to keep your eye on and support this month and for the rest of 2021. May we all follow her example of giving back to make gaming more inclusive and accessible for everyone.

On behalf of the Off Colour team, we thank her for taking the time to chat with us and share more about her path as a creator!

You can be sure to support TiffanyWitcher by visiting their Twitch channel and other socials as well. Be sure to check back soon for when we share our full interview on the Off Colour site!

Thank you so much for reading, and we hope you enjoy the rest of our series!