As part of a series of conversations with professionals and scholars in the field of media, in this episode I sit down with Tamir Nadav, Head of Creative at Kokku in Brazil, Latin America's leading external development studio.

Tamir is an outspoken advocate for tackling health and well-being issues in game development. Key issues in our conversation include the significant role industry events and social support play in mitigating work stressors such as poor management, crunch, and toxicity in teams and online; differences between individual and group mentalities in North American versus LatAm game studios, the risk of turning well-being interventions into 'performative practices' if such policies are not aligned with the culture of the team, and the dark side of working in an industry that all too often sees people as dollar signs.

For more information about Tamir: https://tamirnadav.com/

These interviews in part support the publication of my book (titled: Well-Being and Creative Careers: What Makes You Happy Can Also Make You Sick, out late 2025 with Intellect) on health, well-being and happiness in media work, and to showcase and celebrate the work so many people around the world are doing to advocate and promote these issues in media workplaces.

More info on the book:https://www.intellectbooks.com/well-being-and-creative-careers

For the US publication:https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/W/bo257335467.html

For the video version of this vlog, please check my Deuzevlog on YouTube.

Please follow, leave a comment, and check more updates on my Substack (markdeuze.substack.com).