SapphiRe on the future of women in esports: “Step one of getting women on that big stage is to grow the pool of competitive players.”

The Milk Cup was a women-take-all tournament series that featured a $250,000 USD prize pool, a significant number of players flying out to their first LAN ever, and a circuit dedicated to leveling the playing field in Fortnite esports. Raidiant founder Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo was one of the key people involved in making The Milk Cup happen, and esports.gg sat down with her for an interview!

In her interview with esports.gg, sapphiRe shared that Raidiant was founded to create more opportunities for women in esports. The company was also inspired by her own experience in competitive CS:GO. Given this background, she chose to provide top-tier production quality for The Milk Cup.

"Another thing is just making sure all the standards are not just good enough, but top quality," sapphiRe said. "We should have the best broadcast talent. We don't want them to come in and feel like they're in a sideshow or a warm-up for the guys. We want them to feel like they're the main event. So by giving them all the bells and whistles of a big esports production, they're gonna really feel that."

She then explained that doing this would inspire women to pursue more than just the competitive side of things. For example, many onlookers might see the women running an event and think about careers in broadcast production, marketing, or advertising. According to sapphiRe, it's really about building the future of esports.

Building this future isn't achieved through inspirational words — sapphiRe has a game plan. To increase the number of competitive women players now and into the future, Raidiant creates accessible events that have a low barrier to entry.

"I'm a big fan of increasing that percentage of competitive players because being a pro gamer playing in the FNCS is incredibly difficult," she said. "Only a fraction of a percent of people that play Fortnite are playing in the FNCS, and so if you take a fraction of a percent of a much smaller pool, which is the women competitive players, it's going to be hard for those players to stand out."

"Step one of getting women on that big stage is to grow the pool of competitive players," sapphiRe continued. "That's through events that are a low barrier to entry. You feel welcomed, someone's walking you through the process, you're gonna be inspired, and you're gonna start to compete more."

She then noted how events like The Milk Cup create opportunities for girls and women to find teammates in a supportive environment — no matter if they're in middle school, high schools, or college.

SapphiRe talked about her experience as the only woman at events years ago as well. Additionally, to her, it's exciting to see a significant increase in the number of women in esports — especially when compared to the slow progress of women in traditional sports.

"When people try to use the present as a negative and say, 'Oh, there's so few women, blah, blah, blah,' I'm like, 'Actually, we're doing so well compared to years ago,'" she said. "I would walk into an event like the size of LA Comic Con and I would stand out like a sore thumb because I'm the only woman in the room. When I'm trying to meet people from online, I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm the girl that's there,' and then they know who to find. That's changed."

She also pointed out that the industry is gaining significant recognition among young people and professional athletes alike.

"The number of women has drastically increased, marginalized gender representation — everything has gone up in esports," sapphiRe added. "And that's so exciting. And I think if you look at how hot women's traditional sports are right now, think of how long it took us to get there. Women's sports have probably been around for 100 years or something, and it's only now getting really exciting. But esports has only been around for about 20 years, and in the last five or so years is when women's esports [has significantly progressed]. The trajectory is going really well for us."

As for parting words, sapphiRe encouraged women in gaming to not shy away from entering events like The Milk Cup because there's no harm in giving them a try.

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more interviews, news, and updates!