Kiesha Richardson is the founder of Ge’NeL Magazine, a woman-centric video game and geek culture website that cares deeply about normalizing minority groups in geek and gaming spaces. In this episode, she sits down with Kyle to talk about what it was like starting an online mag and why it’s important to carve spaces especially for Black women in nerd culture. She gushes about how she first fell in love with story in games with World of Warcraft and how there’s still hope for single-player campaigns and more great stories in video games—it’s not all just about Fortnite (phew!).

Gaming has been her saving grace, and so was writing. She reminisces about how her grandmom was her biggest cheerleader before segueing into powerful anecdotes of her time serving as an army contractor in Kuwait and Iraq. The time there helped define her relationship with her mother who was also deployed in 2003, how gaming built community for her in Iraq, and how brushes with death shifted her life forever.

She also crafts a crazy-enlightening metaphor around Magneto from X-Men, racism, and personal growth.

Follow Kiesha on Twitter and Instagram @onefildflowerz. Catch up on Ge’NeL Magazine at genelmag.com, Twitter, and Instagram @genelmag.

Shout-outs to Black Girl Gamers, too!

Content Warnings: Depression, wartime experiences, drugs, some use of the N-word.