Black Excellence in Gaming Presents: Pizza_Yeti

“…But also just being able to be like, ‘I think it’s really cool that you (friends) are being featured in this space. And so like, here are the ways that we are going to make sure that the focus can be on you and we are celebrating the fact that you are a part of this’.”

Pizza_Yeti

We sincerely hoped that you all enjoyed the kick off to our Black Excellence in Gaming yesterday! Our feature lineup continues with our next amazing community member who has a passion for both gaming and technology and is a talented creator across multiple platforms. 

Pizza_Yeti got her start in live streaming during the summer while attending graduate school after deciding to finally give broadcasting a shot. Armed with nothing more than her capture card and Macbook, Pizza began her streaming journey by going live for the very first time with “Hollow Knight”. Today, her favourite games to play and stream include Indie titles. Recent titles such as “A Little Golf Journey” and “Toodee and Topdee” have been played on her channel. Many of the games she plays will usually result in a review being written for them. Which, she will post onto her website for her community to read and learn more about as well. 

In addition to live streaming and writing reviews, Pizza_Yeti creates a variety of videos for her YouTube channel, including tech videos. Here, she’ll do in-depth reviews of recently released products or popular items that will let her viewers see what the product is really like. When asked about her favourite part about doing tech reviews, Pizza shared that she enjoys being able to gain more knowledge about a particular piece of technology. She then stated that providing others with that same knowledge can help fans or customers of certain items make more informed decisions when purchasing something new.

“…I want to share the things that I’m interested in and that I care about with folks. I want to offer a perspective that maybe I don’t see a lot in the tech world. And I want to encourage people to be responsible when they are buying tech. Because, particularly for content creators, I think it’s really easy for us to get sucked into this, ‘Oh, a new piece of tech came out I have to buy it or else everything I’m doing is irrelevant.’” 

Pizza_Yeti

Outside of her own content, Pizza_Yeti engages in various online communities. Both for her fellow streamers and for communities made specifically for marginalised gamers. She currently serves as Co-Community Manager for BrownGirlGamerCode; a community online focused on creating safe and brave spaces for Black women and women of colour. Additionally, she involves herself in a group called Enlight. They focus on creating educational and networking opportunities for folks who are trying to transition into a career in eSports. She also helps to manage and moderate various streamer’s Twitch channels and online spaces to ensure that they are safe and welcoming communities. 

We chatted about some of Pizza’s goals for 2022, and she shared her priorities for this year are to explore her interests in more games such as tabletop RPGs and live D&D sessions. Reprioritizing her YouTube channel is also something that Pizza_Yeti aims to do this year. Potentially, her focus will be adding game reviews and live streams of games that she’s interested in throughout 2022. She also expressed interest in doing more tech reviews as well. 

When not live streaming or working on her newest review for the latest piece of tech, Pizza very much enjoys writing. She incorporated her creative writing into her Twitch channel’s point redemption system, too. One of the things she loves most about this is being able to explore her own creativity and enjoying the process of seeing what can be made from different prompts and ideas. When looking for new ideas or sparks of inspiration, Pizza will make use of different prompt generators in order to give herself a more broad creative scope and get more experience writing for different worlds and stories. Even when a prompt isn’t used for her writing, she enjoys seeing things from new perspectives and how different approaches can be taken for this creative outlet. 

For Black History Month, Pizza_Yeti focuses on using this time of the year to highlight Black creators across the board. Throughout February, she’ll play games made by Black creators in the gaming scene and support fellow broadcasters and creators in their events and work. Generally, she’ll use this as a time to celebrate Black creativity. She hopes that by focusing on highlighting and appreciating those who are going above and beyond in this space it can help limit the harassment that can often accompany Black creators during BHM. Some efforts, such as Twitch’s Black History Month features, can be a way to share and highlight creators that others may have not known about yet or had the opportunity to be showcased. 

“I think it’s cool to see all the folks that maybe I wasn’t aware of that we’re creating on the platform. And just being able to support and see the different ways that people approach content creation. I think that that’s exciting. I think being able to treat it as a month where we just celebrate stuff is really exciting.”

Pizza_Yeti

Pizza_Yeti has yet to be a part of a larger activation for February. Instead, she prefers to support her friends behind the scenes when opportunities come their way. Whether it’s providing support for those who might have had a negative experience or standing by as a moderator in chat, Pizza is there. Her main goal is to make sure that the focus remains on the creator she is assisting. This is their time to celebrate themselves, and she’ll do whatever she can to make sure it stays that way. For future events, both during BHM and beyond, she hopes to continue being a supportive figure for friends and creators in her circle.

Though behind the scenes and a fixture in many Black live streamer’s chats, we’re honoured to have had the opportunity to put the spotlight on Pizza_Yeti for our second day of our Black Excellence in Gaming series! You can support Pizza by following their socials and checking out their content on Twitch, YouTube, and on their website! 

Thank you again to Pizza_Yeti for taking the time to interview with us! We are excited to see all that 2022 has in store for them! We look forward to sharing more creators with you soon for our Black Excellence in Gaming Feature Series!