NZXT PODCAST - #204 - 5x CS Winner, Big Brother Champion, FlyQuest Chief Culture Officer, and THERE'S MORE?! (Ft. MISSHARVEY)

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

On this week's episode of the #NZXT Podcast... 5X World CS Champion, winner of season 2 Big Brother and Canada's Smartest Person, former Ubisoft game designer, author, teacher, and FlyQuest Chief Culture Officer and much more... MISSHARVEY joins us to talk about her journey through esports and how years of passion and hard work turned into a legacy filled with titles, awards, and impact. Follow missharvey on her socials: linktr.ee/missharvey

Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 204 of the NCC podcast, the official podcast at the NCC community. This podcast recorded live on Fridays at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on the official NZC Twitch is available to stream on demand on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud. My name is Mike, and with me as always is Ivan. How are you doing, Ivan? How I do, baby boo? Happy Friday. Happy episode 204. It's going to be a good one. We have a very special guest today. But before we introduce them, I want to make. one quick announcement to those of you who are tuned in live right now on twitch.tv.tv slash nzxte. You're in for a treat. Type exclamation giveaway in the chat or click the link that is pinned at the top of the chat. You will head over to the giveaway page where you can win a $100 gift card to the fly quest shop. They just dropped a bunch of new hot merge. I'm very jealous of the hockey jersey.

Whoever gets that is probably going to steal it from you. I'm going to, I'm going to steal it from you. I gotta get me one of those. Also, if you're in the NZXT Club and you are tuned in live, you're in for another treat because you're gonna get some free poochie points. That's right. Poochoo points just by tuning in live. If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about or what a poochie point is, hit on over to nzxte.co slash club.

You get all the details there. And those poochie points, they're actually useful. you can use them to increase your chances at winning other giveaways. And right now we're giving away a free PC with Intel. So you don't want to miss out. Get those poochie points. Stack those coins. But without further ado, Mike,

please introduce our special guest for today. All right, everyone. I want everyone here to put their hands together. Introducing five times Counterstrike World Champion, former Ubisoft game designer, named one of BBC's 100 women, founder of Miss Clicks, Canada's smartest person and currently FlyQuest Chief Culture Officer and an advocate for equality and mental health.

Give it up for the one woman highlight reel, Ms. Harvey. Ms. Harvey, can you say hello and introduce yourself to our audience? Yeah, hi, I'm Steph. I am French-Canadian, so I was not born in the US, but I'm currently living in L.A. for FlyQuest. that's why my apartment is completely empty, as you can see. I have like nothing about like the basics. But yeah, and so I've, you mentioned a lot of my bio, but what I can also add is, you know,

I was a professional player for a long time, about 16 years, but I've been in e-sports since 03, so it's been like 22 years now, which makes me, I would say pretty OG, like double OG. does that you know double OG going into my terpology and I have

studies too so for those who are a bit younger I do have a bachelor in architecture and a master in game design so I made sure to do a dual professional like kind of study paths because you know back in the days

e-sports was not a word and we just gameed and we were weird and so we needed to have a traditional pat. I don't know about you guys, but I picked my, I wanted to be an architect and I picked it in a book, you know? It was like, yeah, you went to school and high school and they gave you a book of all the jobs. Can you imagine this? Like, this feels like surreal.

It was a thick, thick book and like written really really small. It was all the jobs that you could do and like the roles and what you need. to do to study to do that job. Like I can see that you're flabbergasted. Um, my, if you didn't know a book is something that it's a paper and it's like people open it and they have work on the paper. You mean like a Kind of? Uh, no, I don't know.

Sometimes they have they're a little bit hard if you knock on them. Other times they have they're soft. Yeah. Oh, like an iPad. Yes, essentially. Mm. Yeah, Miss Harvey, uh, I don't know. I know Mike rattled off like a million things on your resume.

And I was telling Mike, when Mike was putting together the podcast, Alan, for today, my exact words were, were, good Lord, this woman has done a lot of things. But I do think it all starts with video games, right? So I'm curious, how did you get into video games when you were young? So I was born in the 80s. So I'm trying to like, you know, I got to set the tongue for Mike, you know. But I was born in the 80s. And so back then there was clearly marketing was aimed at, you know,

video games and the Nintendo is for little boys. We were starting, we were like right in the era of like Barbies are for girls and boys are video games are for boys but my parents I guess they didn't get the memo and my family didn't get the memo because um we had I was a lonely child and I had video games and Barbies and you know there's pictures of me wearing the clothes of my Barbies at like five years old with a gay boy in my end you know like it's just um it's just never been something that I was raised to understand. I think I only understood that girls

in the 890s don't play games way later. Like when I was in high school and then people like, what the hell you're playing games? And so it was always part of everything I did and it was not the only thing I did like it was in everything like arts, sports.

I did lots of dancing. Like, you know, I did just pretty much everything you can think of. And my parents just put me hey you want to do this class? All right, let's give it a shot and then I would just do it. The gaming was part of it.

What were some of your favorite childhood video games? So one really funny thing is my parents bought me a console and then two games and that's it. Like, they didn't, I don't know, it feels like it was a Kindle with one book, you know,

another mic reference. But it was legit. Like, I got the super, I got the Ness with, Mario with Mario Bros. And then I got like maybe one other game on the Ness.

And then I got the Super Ness with Super Mario and Mario Kart. And then that was kind of it. And so it's very interesting. So I guess it has to be Mario because until I got a PC around like 10 or 11 years old, it was only Game Boy and Tetris and Pokemon. Oh yeah, only Game Boy. I had Tetris and Pokemon. That was my two, my two games.

And then question for me on the, sorry, on the sports side of stuff, was there anything you found yourself to be exceptionally gifted at on the touching grass aspect? I was decent at everything. So my dad is actually a pro athlete in hockey, which is so cliche as a Canadian. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But he was a pro in hockey. and so I got definitely gifted his gene, like from his bone structure to his competitiveness. And he would bring me everywhere.

But I think one thing I didn't like was wasn't that much of a fan of team sports, which is ironic because I love team video games. So I preferred like swimming, tennis, anything that was more like, solo because I could grind it on my own. But there's always a part of me that wished that my dad thought me hockey, obviously. I did figure skating instead. And I think that my body style was so much more suited for hockey. But there was literally no one, no girls playing hockey when I was a kid.

And I guess that's where my dad still to this day regrets it. We think we think I would have been at the Olympics. So we think I want that Canadian goal, you know, even though we'll never know. I know you talked about it real quick. You said that you got your PC in your 10 or 11. Do you know or remember the specs of that first PC? Yeah. It was, okay.

So I got the first, like one of the first old IBM first, and it was DOS only. And my dad didn't know how to use it. So we just had C, two dots, and then dash. And then I would just like ride shit, press enter, and it would like not do anything. So I was just like loving using the computer to like write things. And then a couple years later, like we didn't do anything with the PC. It was just like literally just DOS that I was writing things. I made a cardboard PC, which is so silly,

and I would change the screen with what I wanted it to be with paper. So I would draw like paint. I would put it on the screen. I would use my fake mouse. And then my parents got pity of me. She's on the verge of going insane. So they found a Pentium 3. And I think it was a 66 something and then you could boost it.

You would press on it and you could boost it. There's a boost button, which I still don't understand to this day why the PCs were just not automatically boosted. Yeah, what the heck? And it had Windows 95. I think, I'm trying to think. It was not, no, Windows 3 was out of my neighbors. So it was Windows 95

And I started Like intensely playing the pinball game In a Minesweeper Because those came with the computer Looky, those games were a dick name Yeah, they were the pinball one My cousin and I would go on the phone Before multiplayer

We'd go on the phone, they would just play pinball And then tell us I tell each other the I scores So eventually with this PC you basically got into kind of Counterstrike in general So like what got you interested in CS? So in high school again It was prom time in Canada and I really wanted to go with this boy And his best friend told me that all he did is play Connestrike

And I should He told me actually he plays Soldier of Fortune. And then he was like, but there's this new game called Connestrike. And it's kind of popping up. So I don't think you should, I don't think you should watch. You should start playing Soldier of Fortune. I recommend Conno Shrek. And so I was like, sure, but I didn't have a graphic card.

My PC was kind of mid. So he was like, let's go across the street to a land center. which again, Mike, those were somewhere. There was a bunch of computers. And you went there because your computers is not good enough. And you can play online, which the internet was not good enough then. And there was a deal. It was five bucks for 45 minutes of Connestrike and a Poutine.

Ooh, that's a good deal. And it is an amazing deal. And so I went there, I still remember to this day, it was February 14, like, St. Valentine's Day of 03. And I was so bad. But the atmosphere at that land center was, it was like I found, I instantly found my tribe. It's like I didn't care about the guy anymore. I cared about, like, everybody else in the land center and like playing Conno Strike and trying to get good. And that's how it started.

Well, you definitely got good because you ended up becoming a professional player at the game. So how did you actually segue from this game is pretty fun? I like it. I want to go to this land center

and eat putteen all day with my homies and all that to I'm actually going to take Counterstrike super serious and I'm going to play competitively. So I started by being like the mascot of the local land center because it became like our youth

center I would say we would like go there after school or before going out to like anywhere like the movies whatever we'd always go there and they oh what are we doing tonight and then we would do something and and they had a semi-professional team representing the land that would compete against other lands in the province and so I started being like their mascot their six player or whatever and I would show up and then at At some, at one of the event that I should have to, there was two other girls who came to me and they were like, you know, why don't we, why don't you join our team? Let's make a team. And I was like, I've never competed. I've never like, I'm only playing in public servers for fun. Like I've never even played a matchmaking game because there was no matchmaking and everything. Like, you know. And they were like, we'll show you, we'll show you. And that's how it started. So it started by two other women. or girls who locally physically told me to join their team.

And then after that, we started competing in the circuit. We were awful. We were always losing every single game. But it was so fun to go to the events and just like hang out with the people and learn. And then all of a sudden we discovered there was a woman circuit. There was a World Cup for women. And it started being my dream to be not only going to. the World Cup for women and represent Canada,

but also a little bit later win it. Yeah, you won, I think you won two World Championships, correct? I won five, but two in, I'm trying to think, one, two, three, three, and one point six, which is Connestrike, the version that in between 2003 to 2012 was very popular. I'm looking at the timeline here, the Canadian divas in 2004, the Czech six divas in 2005,

plays fifth in the in the Electronic Sports World Cup, and the SK ladies. You played with them four years, went to a World Championship. That's a lot going on. What was the, and I know you were on the, you said that you were on the women's circuit,

but what was the esports scene like back then for women competed at such, competing at this level? The interesting thing about e-sports, back then is there wasn't like an event every month. There was like two or three major events in one World Cup. And so all the games were at this World Cup and everyone met each other. So I've like there was the the Dota World Cup was at the same time, like all the other games at

the same time. But CS was always like the king of the games, right? It was always the last game. It was always the biggest game. most money, more people watching, or watching, because no one really watched the games. There was no Twitch. And so because of that,

the women circuit got headed into the World Cup for CS only. So there's only a women division for CS. There was like a couple offs like each year there was like maybe one other women division for another game. But mainly it was always only CS. And so you practiced all year long for one tournament, one weekend, one shot. And you were not paid or anything.

Like that was just out of your passion. It was passion projects. And so you still had to have school. You still have to have to have work because you didn't make any money out of it. The World Cup, I think we, one of the highest price we won is like either 20K or 25,000. for like five people. But I think usually it was like a 10K price per year. And so that was like pocket change.

And sometimes that paid for the trip. So we really didn't count on the money then. It was really, hey, we want to be the best in the world. And I think there was something pure about it. Because even with the players that I work with, that I work with, now, you know, especially in some of the newer circuit. Like if there's no salary, the players retire. And that's not something that we did.

We didn't have any salary and we played, I would say even sometimes more than pro players now. So I think this circuit was, there was no women gamers anywhere outside of Conn of Strike and the World Cup. Like, everywhere else I went. I went to a local land. It was 500 men, one of the ones.

and I was the one woman. Um, so that was the landscape. There was no woman. Uh, you kind of, so you, you, you won a couple championships when you first began. What one do you think was like more significant or means more to you? Was it winning, uh, the two world champions at the beginning of your career? Or when you founded, um, the UB you denied it? Yeah.

That's a good question. Um, so. this might be difficult to understand, but each milestone that I've done, I think as shaped a part of my life, but also sometimes even the competitive landscape of women in gaming, right? And so, in women in e-sports.

And so sometimes it's really hard for me to say, this was my biggest milestone, because they all did and accomplished different things, but definitely I think when we created UB United that was a very special one

because I really felt like I was kind of over getting tokenized by men in the industry and so I wanted us to start our own path without being the girls team

or the woman's team and so we made our own esports team back in 2010 and 11 and my boss at the time I was working at Ubisoft. They didn't have any sports program.

They're just like, okay, we'll pay for you to go to the World Cup to play Connestrike, which is not their game. Which is such a bizarre. Like, if you think about it, it's so bizarre. But I was an employee they really liked and they wanted me to represent Ubisoft at the World Cup in Paris

and play in Counterstrike and win it all. So we won twice as a Ubisoft team in Connoissex which I think is kind of mind-blowing. Like, this is not something that would happen nowadays, I feel. Yeah, and you mentioned Ubisoft, and you were just working there. I mean, you were working there as a game designer, which is pretty crazy when you think about it. How did you pivot from, you know, you're dominating in this game called CounterStrike, winning world championships to now I'm going to work at Ubisoft and design video games?

How did that happen? So with my bachelor's degree, I finished it in France. And so I played for Team France in Conno Strike for a year. And I was an imposter, not French. But while I was doing that, there was like, when you study abroad, it feels like something clicked in my head where I was just like, I just want to live and not follow a path. And when I came back, well, when I was there, I applied for design school with my architecture degree.

And I got in. When I landed in Montreal, I decided if I wanted to go to architecture school, master, or design school. And I just kind of like almost flipped a coin. And I said, oh, I'm going to go check out gaming school. look and see what it's about. And the whole time I felt like an imposter because I had just won World Cups, but no one cared about

e-sports and gaming and Connestrike back in the early 2000. Like, absolutely no one. Everyone didn't understand why I was in the gaming program. Like, it was just really weird. But in my mind, it just made sense, but there was still like, I know I don't belong, but I want to be here.

And Ubisoft made, at the end, they made like speed dating interviews with every employee. And with every students. And then I got the internship. I remember we were all like, all the students were hanging out after the speed dating interviews. And everyone was like, I'm so confident. It went so well. And all I thought was like, I thought it was fucking hard. And I don't think I'm going to get it.

And then I ended up getting it. So, and so that's how my EBSOF journey started. But even at EBSOF, no one cared for the longest time. I was like, I would have to take two weeks off not paid to go do the World Cups and stuff like that. And I would come back, gold medalist, no one cared. Like it was not talked about. No one cared. And it was only like 10 years later at EByself when we did the UBNite thing and eSports

starting getting big and Twitch exploded that like, Oh, we have an employee who's like at the top of Twitch, one of the biggest women on Twitch. What the fuck? Yeah. So, yeah, it was way after. Yeah, that reminds me of like when Rudy and Mike tell me about their video game accomplishments. I simply don't care either. Yeah, it was kind of like this, exactly like that.

It's the constant battle of new generation trying to convince the old folks. Like listen, listen old man. We got here's because a lot of times it's like we kind of like we're in the trenches of the games and things like that. And for us like it means what means something to us, it's we have to make sense of it to a lot of other people because the way that they evaluate things and the value of things. As I'm getting older, you know, we sort of realize that right. We have to kind of meet them where they're at because ultimately it's them that we have to convince. So it means the world to us. It means the world to me that I might get Diamond in League of Legends this season.

But to Ivan's like, what does that mean? Do you think being a pro player influence your video game designs? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I think I was, I think it still influences my day to day. I'm someone that is super attention to detail. I'm someone that loves to iterate and get better and like get feedback and like work on the feedback and improve. And like, and I think that's like my career because like every day you do Vod reviews or demo reviews or like game reviews and you review with your team and they're critical.

They're like they're going to be like, what the hell are you doing here? like this was so bad and you're just like you're like I kind of have to fight back I did this because of that and then at some point you have to give in or the other person has to say okay I get it but like there's a lot of that kind of stuff and so for me when I designed I wouldn't let go

of things like I'm like hey this little thing the polish part or like what I'm moving it's clunky there's something wrong like you know and I was very very feeling but also detailed focus to that for me the gameplay was

everything and I know that you know it doesn't make me necessarily a good or bad designer but like I was really about gameplay first and then everybody else working on the game made the game

like it's old like you know like the I don't know like the nourishment like the the music that the way that the player feels when they're playing the game that was like everybody else

in the game making that happen. So for me, if you stripped all of that and just like played, that was my part and I freaking love doing that part, you know? What would you say was the hardest part of game design? Artist part of game design is understanding that the game is not yours. It's the players.

And when you start game design, you get so consumed by like, this is what I want, this game is going to be perfect and then you get constraints like like oh we're cutting this part or we don't have time to do this or this sucks a playtest really hated this and then you're like working on this for months years sometimes and you're like half of it is getting ripped off your art and you're like I don't care about the game that I'm making anymore because it doesn't look like the game that I want to play anymore you know and so like conciliating your your I would say baby it's not your baby

it's everyone's baby and understanding how to make the best game in the end with these variables is very, very challenging at the beginning and now that that's something I really liked at the end I was just like I love that

I love that it's not my baby, it's everyone's baby and I would think oh this idea is way better than mine let's implement it and you know but when I started I was I remember the first project that got killed that I worked on I I took like two months off. I was just like, I can't do this.

Like, I've been working on this for four years. You killed my project. Like, I'm out. And so I think that was the biggest challenge. You talked a little bit about it. And I do want to, like, I know, like you said, that it's for the players. Gaming these game designs is four to players.

Do you think the industry does a good job about including player feedback into it? Or do you think they take it and then they kind of go on their own? kind of spit. You know, I don't think they do. But at the same time, um,

sometimes it's okay. Like, one thing that I've learned is like, players complain, but they don't necessarily know why they want. They know what they don't like. And so sometimes a player will complain and they will say,

I want this in the game because XYZ. And then you realize that because XYZ shouldn't lead to what they want. Like, actually, the problem is something else. So let's fix that. So I think player feedback is super important, but not necessarily implementing what they suggest, if that makes any sense.

And, like, focusing more on what the irritants and, like, how to improve, but not necessarily straight up listening to them. I think if you straight up listen to the player base too much, you lose your, maybe your Nord Star when you make a game. And so that's something that I think, is kind of important. And I also think that game design, still to this day,

like I used to say that 15 years ago, I still say that. I think that game design and deaf companies are not agile enough. They're very rigid when it comes to trying things and making it perfect and like just not going to the flow. I'm used with Counter Strike who would release like things that are like sometimes or trash updates. And, you know, that's fine

because they would fix it like the week after. But I feel that in, in, there was like an error at e-sports. End of 2010's, early 2020s, where people are so scared to release the wrong patch that they don't take any risks. And so like I feel that some of the esports games right now

are pretty stagnant. I'm not going to name too many too many game companies because I love them but like give the game back to the players is something that I think is super important

whatever like don't control the game give it to the player allow the player to be creative you know whether it's map creation or mods or like UI like all that kind of stuff give it back to the players

because you don't have time as a company to try everything so if you give it back to the players they'll figure it up. You hear that Nintendo? She's talking about you. Talking about Nintendo, but I'm talking about closer, closer from home as well, companies.

I wish Riot gave back the player, the game and controlled it less. Blizzard, like, you know, these companies, just kidding. Well, actually, if you're in WOW, they give some part of it, which I really like, but, you know, not all. I think the community always knows best. I mean, they're probably the best to fix stuff and make things better. So I think you're right. So you've done a lot in gaming, you know, not just a player, but also designing.

And all of that stuff you did actually got you a bunch of awards. So Mike and I want to go down this list here. There's a lot of them, but you want to highlight a few. So the first one I want to highlight is you are on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. So what did that feel like when you heard that you're going to be on that list? That list was special because also it was, I think it was in 2014, if I'm not mistaken, but I don't know how I got on it, which is now I can submit people and I know that you can apply to be on the list.

Like, you know, there's like a process. But I feel that back then it was like really a committee. I don't, I don't know how I got on the list. That for me is like very special because I'm like, what the hell? Like you can play the game award, like the game, like you can play the game as and like submit your name for awards. But that one was like completely, completely unknown to me. I thought it was really, really cool.

I don't know what much to say, but I think every award that has nothing to do with me competing, it's like, hey, we love what you're doing in your career. Here's an award is like, wow, every time it's so special because I can't do anything about it, right? It's not like, I'm working and I'm like, I really wish I'm going to win a Forbes 30 under 30 while I'm working right now. You know, like it's just kind of, you do.

your thing and then boom like it shows up and those feel very very special because you can't control it well i can control if i win or not a world cup i can't control these these other awards yeah i didn't even know you can vote for people i'm gonna i'm gonna submit my vote for mike to be on the one million under 18 uh there hopefully you get oh come up so uh the other award i want to highlight you were on the bbc's top 100 women's list. Yeah. Another interesting award. How did that one feel?

Because the 30 under 30 is one thing, but to be like you're one of the top 100 women, like that's, that must have felt interesting, right? That was really freaking cool. I think that meant I've been one of my favorite like non-competitive awards because it was like, it was people from all different fields. You know, I had nothing to do. It's like what with gaming. I think I might have.

been the only gamer. I'm not sure in the list. But it was like this initiative from BBC to find people from all parts of the world, women that made a difference in their space or in the world, right? And also they would create a Wikipedia page about them. There's also initiatives that push women on Wikipedia because apparently like, I don't want to say the wrong percentage, but there's like a drastically high percentage of Wikipedia pages are men. And so they wanted to like help change that narrative with like a hundred women. And they made like an article for each of these women, like a video. So it felt very unique.

But I don't think it had the ripple effect in gaming at all. Like I think no one cared in gaming. But for me, it was really cool. That's awesome. I mean, we talked about force 30 on the 30. and the BBC's 100 women. We have a whole section just based on her reward. So just strap in.

Later that same exactly year you got on the BBC's list. You also won Canada's smartest person. So first of all, how did you get onto this game show? And it's like, what preparation did you go through, you know, throughout this game show? Yeah. They scattered me. you know these kind of TV shows you can apply but they also scout

like specific profile right and I guess I don't know I feel maybe a bucket that they thought they didn't have on the show they wanted to they see and so they scouted me so I started being I think I went straight to top 100 or top 50

of the casting and then I did I would say I did like 10 to 20 cast like that in my career where it's just like it's king of the nerds or whatever and they just like do the casting and

we'll see if I get picked but that one so I just did the casting I didn't I lived in LA at the time was full time pro gaming and I made the cut weird because there was like a there was an intelligence test there was like a bunch of tests and this one

I made the cut but the I had well I always had a very busy schedule and so Every show recording, I had to fly to Toronto on the red eye. So for those who don't know what the red eye is, it's in the middle of the night. They landed in Toronto at 8 a.m. And then go straight to set and compete in the show at like nine. And they always had a backup candidate for me in case I was sick or my flight was delayed and stuff like that.

Every show. And I ended up winning all of my shows on these red eyes. And I even won the final on this red eye. And the shows are really, really hard. They were like 14 hours shooting days. They were not like small shoots. And they were, I thought they were extremely professional with the shoots. They would go to replay to make sure that every little thing that we did about the intelligence, like, was fine.

And, like, you know, they were, like, pretty intense about it. I've done a couple other game shows where, honestly, they did not care at all, to be fair. They just wanted like entertainment. But this one was really fair and I I really enjoyed it and I can't believe I won, especially because there's a there is a category called linguistic and

I was English in Canada and I'm French. And so that one was really difficult for me and I completely bombed the social category because apparently I trust everyone and I'm very gullible. So every time like someone was lying and you

like to decipher that they're lying and these kind of things like your social thing. Oh my God, I bombed it. It looks like they're telling the truth. And then everyone is like, oh, they're lying. They're lying. And I feel like, what? And then I was always wrong. I picked always the wrong people for the social category. Yeah, that was my worst. You're very humble because I think if I would have won an award where I was like the smartest person in that country, I would not live that down. Like, I would be wearing, like my, I would be wearing hats like Canada's smartest man or, uh, that'll be like in my Twitter bio, you know, or my email signature. So, but the people competing were like, it was really wild. There was like the first woman helicopter pilot to, to fly in combat. Uh, there was like

cancer researcher. This is that were like, it was pretty wild. But I think the context was very specific. It's a game show to under pressure. There's like specific category. So yes, there was like logic and mats and all the kind of stuff. But there was also like music and body. I told you guys I'm like pretty good physically. So, you know, there was like a bunch of different things like that. And I excelled in all of those ones and I was decent in the mats and stuff. And so in the end, like I think like maybe book smart people.

There was a couple people who are better than me. But like the overall, you know, I got lucky. I know you talked a little bit about this you said that out of like you know a lot of people don't care like a lot of people in the game you say and care that you won like the BBC's 100 and stuff like that but you did win something in gaming

you'd won the Lifetime Eastports Achievement Award East Sports Award so one can you tell us a little bit about that and two do you have advice for anyone that like is starting out in Eastport because I know there's some people in the audience that are interested and joining the industry.

Do you have any advice for them of, you know, those are dreaming of leaving a legacy like you did? Yeah, that was the first, I was the first women inducted, and I thought that was so cool. We, I don't know, that one, it was in the pandemic and I cried. That one, I was really, I did not see coming.

I think my advice is, my whole career people were telling me, I was breaking glass ceilings, but I didn't know that there were glass ceilings to break. I just didn't care. I wanted to do the things I wanted to do, and I pushed forward. And then looking back,

oh, yeah, I was the first person to do this or first woman to do that or like, you know. But I didn't, I didn't see it that way. I wasn't like, I'm going to be the first woman to do this. Like, I was just like, I want to do this. And then I'll figure it out. And my best advice that I would say is when you have that kind of mindset,

it, the only thing that can stop you is a no, right? But you only need one yes to move forward. And so if you don't try and try and try and try and try and try, you'll never going to get that yes. You might, like everyone gets told no all the time. But then when you have a yes, hold on to it. And then like, go, you know? So I would knock at the door of hundreds of companies to get money to go to

to sponsor our travel to go to the World Cup when I was 17. And I was getting nose, nose, nose, nose, nose, nose, until I got one who said, all right, what can you give me in return? And that was before social media. And I'm like, I can make the front page of my local newspaper. And then they're like, all right, if you can make that happen, we'll sponsor you to go to this little thing or this little thing.

and then, you know, so only took away. It only took one yes for me to attend my first World Cup. Mike, newspaper is kind of like a book. Oh, my God. I don't get my news on Twitter and TikTok. That's the only way I get my news. Out of all these different things you won, I must say, the one that stood out to me the most is you won

Big Brother Canada in 2022 What the heck made you even want to go on that show in the first place? That I'm crazy because I would say that's probably the hardest thing that I did. Winning Big Brother was so difficult. I always jump. Hopefully you guys are starting to realize that

when I get a project of like, all right, why not? you know and then I got contacted to do Big Bro and I'm part of the I would say the celebrity ecosystem in Quebec so like if I go in the street and go to a coffee shop the people will recognize me and so they have a we have a division of Big Brother in Quebec called Big Brother Celebrity and it's pretty much like

people who are known in the ecosystem can get on the show. And so even though at the time, I wasn't mainstream known as much as like, you know, a comedian and actor or whatever, a singer, they still thought my pedigree was international enough to make the show. And so they casted me.

They actually just invited me straight up. I didn't have to do any casting or anything. They were just like, do you want to be on the show? And I was like, this sounds insane, but yes. and for context the French Canadian version of Big Brother I was in the house 92 days with no contact

outside of the world and just like only my big brother co-cast co-cast and the reason why I thought it was the hardest is like whenever you compete whenever you're down whenever you have something

you have a lot of tools in your toolkit to close the day and start the new day, right? And so, like, let's just say, Mike, you're struggling today. You can call your mom or you can, like, you can Google. Don't ask chat GPT. I'm struggling today.

Or go to Starbucks. Or you, like, I don't really know. Like, you have opportunities or, like, your loved ones will tell you, like, don't give up, blah, blah, blah. Or, you know, you can watch enough to still change your mind. And Big Brother, this does not happen. It is a social experiment. You are a rat in a lab. and they keep injecting things to mess up the house

because they want entertainments. And so when you think everything is chill, that's when you're probably going to get fucked. The moment you get comfortable for sure. Exactly. And so I honestly think, you know how there's like these studies, these social experiments and studies are illegal now

when they mess up too much with the brain like for example like the prison and the prisoners like you know all of that is illegal well big is that but you sign a waiver and you're like you're like

yeah you can do it whatever you want with me and you can also film it but you're so it's okay that's basically what they're saying yeah that's what I'm saying and like I love my big brother staff

like the people that made the show I think they're credible I can't believe that they do something like that. But it's kind of wild that it's legal. Because I'm not going to lie. They are, yeah, I don't know. It's very, the brain. And I think one of the reason why I also want is the stamina

and like the resilience of like being a pro player. I never quit. And you know, until the last round, until it's the last round and kind of strike, you can always come back and over time. And that's how I did my big brother. I think I have the third longest. I think I was on the block, if you guys know Big Brother, in danger.

I have the third longest in the world of the amount of time that I was on the block and in danger. It's funny you say that because I was actually thinking that your experience gaming probably helped you a lot in this because you said, you know, you had to just be indoors and isolate yourself from the world. world, which I feel like not, I mean, I know it's like a meme, right, that the, the gamer trope is that they're in their basement, like not talking to humans for, you know, days on end, but do you think that your gaming experience actually helped you on that?

Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. I think decision making definitely helped me. understanding the rules sometimes like the the contest is pretty complex

and you have they like you go in the room they tell you the rules of the contest and then you get like two minutes to ask questions and if you don't think about the questions or an angle or something there that's it like that's your only chance to think about it

so I would always try to find the loopholes or like, okay, like, I mean, like, how can I prepare for this game now, even though it doesn't start until X, like, you know, I were always going on a strategy. And I think that really was because I was a gamer. And I want to say, I caught COVID in the house, because I went a Big Brother twice. I went to the All-Star season this year, actually, in January, which was fun, but also I won. So I got really targeted instantly. So anyway. That's another story for another time. But the, in the first, I got COVID. And I don't know if you guys remember in 2020, in 2021 and 22, the COVID era. It was wild because I had to be isolated in isolation. So I was stuck in the room by myself for 10 days in Big Brother.

while the contestant were like doing their things in the house I couldn't even interact with the contestant so imagine playing a social game where you can't even interact with the contestant it was like it was a bit alienating but at the same time like I didn't go outside for 22 days because we have like a tiny balcony and I was fine it's the production that forced me to go out there like you haven't seen the side in 22 days you gotta go and I'm like honestly I'm fine you're like no you gotta go

I'm in my habitat. You can't make me go out. No, I feel like there's so many advantages to being a gamer too, because, you know, from a tactical perspective, you're always sort of looking at the angle of things. And your level of awareness, I think it's much more heightened, right? Because when you're in a match like that, you're almost kind of in a match in game, I guess you could kind of parallel that too. Right? You're always looking for the new angles. What's going to come next?

How do you approach it? How do you attack it? How do you defend? How do you go on the offensive? Whatever it might be, your alert and, like, senses are always up. And I feel like that's a huge and core benefit that people don't talk enough about, about being a gamer. And also, you've run through simulations of things that could happen so many times that you just, like, it's second nature for you to be able to predict, like, your environment and things that could happen around you. So I think you also kind of referenced this earlier today where you're like, you know, I think I'm just like the, I think I was like the, the only gamer here.

It seems like being a gamer is pretty on brand. Obviously, you consider yourself a gamer. People see you as a gamer. You know, I would imagine first and foremost, because that's how you're branded everywhere you go for the most part. But looking back at your experience with Big Brother, do you feel like during that time you sort of ascended beyond just being a gamer? And people saw you as more than that.

Yeah, I think so. I think the fact that was on a block, like in danger so much, I became like the resilience story for all the seasons after that. Like every time someone is on the block too long, they'll reference me in the show. They'll be like, I don't know how Steph did it. Like,

I've been on the block twice and I just don't understand how she did it like that many times. I think I was on the block nine times or ten times. Dang. That's another medal right there. Yeah. And so, honestly, I forgot.

But, and so I became, like this symptom of resilience and also the first week they feel me a lot crying I'm someone I'm someone that cry like this okay and it's getting worse as I age it wasn't that bad when I was young but right now like if I get a little emotional of someone like or if I see something beautiful on TV like dogs animal I don't I'll cry instantly oh my god this is so cute honestly they're like you know it's animal so yeah and like I just cry really easily and um and so On the show and in the house, I was kind of crying all the time,

but for whatever reason, Big Brother took this narrative with me, but I was crying a lot. And I became like someone that cries. And so for weeks, apparently in the media, it was like, there's no way she's going to win this. She cries all the fucking time. One thing that I'm really proud to you is that, like, I became extremely relatable.

When I came out, everyone was like, it feels like you're one of my best friend and I've never talked to you before. I was extremely real. Like, I'm the same in real life and in the game. I made decisions for my friends. I was extremely loyal. Like, all these kind of things,

I think, resonated with the French-Canadian public a lot. And one thing that is super interesting is most of my big brother colleagues are now in the star system. They'll do, like, the magazines. And, like, you know, they'll be on, on the Parasilton, whatever, French Canada. But I don't do gossip columns.

I'm not in the gossip columns, which I find very special still. And I don't know what is it, what it is about me in the star system in Quebec, where I get invited to be on talk show, but I'm not got to do the gossip column. It's so weird. And so for whatever reason,

I'm dodging all the drama, and I can still be myself and not be, like the best way to, I can explain it for you three is when someone sees me in the street, they know, they know me, but they don't always know why. And so sometimes they're like, oh, did I go to school? And then they're like, and then half of them will be like,

oh shit, it's Stephanie the gamer or Big Brother, whatever. And then the other half of like, yeah, I know her, but I don't know why, you know? And so that's like my favorite kind of celebrity status because I get to do everything normal. but sometimes there's a couple people who'll come to me and I'll be like hey I know you can we take a picture kind of thing

like I went to Three Days Grace a show last week in Quebec City and a like half of the people that were walking or like saying hi or recognize me and then the other half is just like staring or you know like I feel like I know something it happens a lot that people will introduce me to other people

thinking I'm their friend I want to introduce you to blah blah blah like it's and I haven't seen you in a bit and I'm like I'm blanking out I'm like I don't know this person and then throughout the conversation they're like oh shit we don't know each other you know so I have that kind of celebrity status which is like I'm like their friend which I'm okay wait I'm okay wait no drama so you are I mean we literally went through gosh, how are many awards and achievements you've done and competitions you've done? But on top of this, you're also a big advocate for equality and everything like that. So you kind of want to go into a section about this. So the first one, you co-founded misclicks to fight sexism in gaming. So why was that mission so important to you?

Because I've always been part of Conestrike teams and like women's, teams. In the early 2010, I realized, like, there's lots of women in gaming who are alone. They're, like, talent, or they play solo games, whatever. And it felt like one of my best friends felt like she didn't belong anywhere, and she

didn't have, like, the sisterhood. And so, I think we launched Miss Clicks in 2012, if I'm a second. But I wanted to create a place where we could empower, women could empower other women and not pitch each other. against each other because it traditionally, like if you think about it, women are always like there can only be one women.

You know, there's like a beauty pageant or there's like, you know, there's always she's prettier or she's not as funny. Like you don't really hear these kind of things for men. You don't hear like, this comedian is so funny, but he's not as funny at this guy, right? That's not really a thing. But it happens in women all the time, right? It's be like, oh, she's really talented, but she's not as hot as this girl. Like, who the, who the, who that, like, you know. So I wanted to create a sisterhood where this didn't really matter and we can all, like, be together.

And, um, uh, it, it kind of, it worked, I think. Actually, it worked too much because we, the reason we had to, to honestly shut it down is because it was so big. And back then, we, we didn't have any. business savvy or like gaming was different and we couldn't make money out of it. And so this was like a side project where we were four women working in the industry, doing it on the side. And I think it like got too big for our time.

And we decided to take a pause on it. So it lasted like six years, five years, six years. But throughout the six years, we were able to, I would say launch multiple amazing women's career. We had daily shows on Twitch. We were incubators for women. We did mixers at gaming events where we did a bunch of networkings. We really were one of the first, I would say, big eye profile women gaming community

that was both competing but also talent. We had a website where we showcased every woman streaming. That was really important for me to like, hey, you're a woman. let's hide you to the list of our streamers. So, like, people could go on our website and get news about women and gaming. See, oh, I really like StarCraft. Oh, these three women are streaming StarCraft right now. And then we click it, you know, stuff like that.

And I think, yeah, I think it was, it was amazing. And it made me realize there was a need for it at the time, absolutely. And then nowadays, those kind of communities are everywhere, right? Women in Gaming and, like, you know, the gamers and wigs and international women. I mean like there's there's stuff like that everywhere but back then I think it was something that was needed much needed for sure and you also worked with the international Olympic committee yeah esports inclusion how did that whole thing come about so I got invited as I think we were only two players around the world to be part of the esports committee uh forum at the IOC in Luzan and so this

started, I think, in 2018, and we started advising the Olympics about esports. And I think when we started, so I don't have my tongue in my, like I will challenge authority. Like I didn't care. It was the international Olympic committee of the president who just stepped down, I think last week actually. But what I cared about is representing my people, which was gaming and right. And so the first time I went I remember we were in the room and there was like high people at every game company and like and

the Olympic people they were just talking to us as if like we needed them and like they did really understand why we what we were doing but like they were kind of looking at us as if we were not good enough for them kind of

and I remember the first time I like kind of challenge that and I was just like look like we don't need you guys you guys you guys don't need us

but we also don't need you like this is not about like what you guys want to do with us this is like this has to be a partnership this has to be like collaborative

and I remember being very intense but for the first couple of years we were meeting every, I would say, a couple of months. And then the pandemic hit. We did a couple online. And then they started kind of restricting the people in these committees to be more Olympic people. But I think that within the first two years that I was in, I saw drastic changes from the way they were approaching things.

And recently, I did like a couple more. maybe like I did like maybe five or six meetings in the last year with the Olympic committee about women in gaming and how to integrate women

in their new projects which is like the East sports Olympic stuff and I think they're really trying and they're really on their stand now and they have some of the right people or better people involved and I would say like

my time there one thing that's really awesome is I got to be really close with a professional athlete. Her name is Sarah Walker. She's a New Zealand BMX competitor and she's part of the Olympic committee, the athletes.

I think there's like six or eight. I forgot. And like she always DMs me for advice and stuff about women in gaming. And I, that's like my favorite thing about this whole ordeal is meeting her and still being like friends with her. Wow.

So did your experience with misclicks and the IOC help with making your book? Yeah, I mean, the misclicks is kind of like part of my life. So making my book has definitely been about that. But I think when it clicked for me to make a book was I was thinking about during the pandemic,

I was invited to do a conference at Game. for change. So I don't know if you guys know what game for change is, but when I was a game designer like 20 years ago, it was one of my dream to speak at games for change because it's about game design that changed the world and how to like game game design can affect the world positively. So it's less related to like Watermorecraft, but it's more like the Darfur game than like, you know, like these kind of things. And so that's, that was like my dream. Like Jane gun and goal with the Bonobos, like spoke there and stuff like that. So I was really excited when they offered that.

And I thought, like, what can I bring to the world that I would be, like, one of the most knowledgeable person about, but that hasn't been talked about, right? And so I was trying to think about the concept of toxicity and how and why toxicity in game is such a big deal. And then it got me to think that, like, you know, unfortunately, I, I think. think that gaming is is a victim of its medium, which is being online. And then like I kind of zoomed out and zoomed out and zoomed down and realized like for me, it's all about cyber citizenship and how we're not trained and raised and taught how to be

good cyber citizen. But our old society still explains to us how to be good citizen. But we live almost all online now. And so we haven't. adapted our society to teach even like young people, but older people and everyone to become good cyber citizens. And then like I build my conference on that. And then I started exploring that world, like the cyber citizenship and gaming and pro gaming and all the kind of stuff. And my book is the story is like a bit about my life and my gaming life,

but related to cyber citizenship. and the things that I wish that we would really push in our world. I call it like the four seas of Ms. Arvys for cyber citizenship. And it's cyber etiquette, cyber balance, cyber wellness, and cybersecurity. So these four cybers for me are like the most important things about cyber citizenship. And then when I started talking about that five years ago, I think like most people have no idea what the world cyber citizenship meant. And I think right now it's becoming more common.

And I didn't coin the word, honestly. But yeah, and so my book and also my class that I give at university is all about, like, ethnic wellness and health in gaming. And it all starts back to cyber citizenship for me. Well, now I feel horrible for cyberbullying Mike on this podcast. But I do it out of love, Mike. You know, I love you. I'm actually not just looking for the book.

I'm like, what? Let me get a copy of that. Because that was an interesting concept that you mentioned. It is in French. So I. Never mind. Yeah. It's in French.

But I have thought about doing like a 2025 version in English. But right now, it hasn't happened, but I've thought about, because, you know, as I gave my class, I'm working on it every day or every year. And then AI happens since I wrote the brook. And I think like this is going to change the way that we are, cyber citizens too. Yeah.

So that's very interesting. Can you talk a little bit about, I think it's called, it has an accent mark, so excuse me if I'm not pronouncing it correctly. A levy. Eleveewe. Eleve. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah, so I know that focuses on digital wellness and cyber citizenship, but what inspired you to create that? And what is it exactly? Yeah. And so elevate means elevate in French, obviously, but it's a twist on my name too, Harvey. So instead of, you know, the regular R for elevate at the end, I put the Y. So, you know, you can Google it. Copyright. It's the very true.

It's fun. It's fun. But pretty much when I was doing at the same time, my cyber citizenship research and development and stuff, I realized that maybe creating L of A, which could be a digital citizenship company, which helps you teach about these things, but also, for example, like, I released one merch line a couple years ago. And every piece is like a conversation piece that has to do with cyber citizenship. So like hidden message. or things like that. So for me, I just wanted to start the conversation. And a bit like misclicks, it got bigger than me.

And now I'm like, I should work more on L.O.A. But I'm like giving a class about it and stuff like that. So I need to rethink out of to update L.O. But yeah, it's still alive. It's just like, I still sell sometimes some of the clothing. And every time I'm like impressed, like, oh, my God, I sold a hoodie this month. And I haven't done any promotion for it in three years. So I'm currently paying for storage for all of my clothes, but it's okay.

It's not my main business. It looks really cool. And you mentioned teaching a couple times. You know, you're teaching e-sports, ethic, health, and wellness at a university. How did you end up becoming a teacher? They wanted to do, that university wanted to start an ESports degree, that like any other esports degree in the world, that kind of bullshit, I think.

But, well, not bullshit, but a lot of it are like teaching it to be a pro gamer, which is not a thing. So that class was more about how to how to develop esports and learn about sports and make a difference in e-sports kind of thing. And they contacted me to one of the class. And they kind of tell me, like,

what class would you do? but we kind of, what you want to do, but I kind of feel, they kind of felt that the health, wellness, and ethic one was going to be like, the perfect class for me. And they were not wrong,

because it's by far, it was by far extremely motivating. And I'm going to say difficult to build that class, because I'm not a teacher by trade. And so it took me, like, each class, I give like 14 classes of three hours per year. And each class is about,

it was about like, 20 to 30 hours of work on the first year to build. And then so like, it was an insane first year when I build the course. But I think it pushed my reflection about cyber citizenship even better. And the way that I frame my class is we'll talk about a topic about being a citizen and a cyber citizen. And then we'll like zoom in on e-sports at the end of the class and like see how this affects gaming and esports and things that we can change in the space. And so I have lots of students who have nothing to do with gaming.

They're taking it as a side course because they're working in event planning or there, excuse me, they're like going in psychology at school and stuff like that. And they take my class as a side class because it's not, like, you don't have to be an esports nerd to take it. I really, also, this is another challenge. How do you make a class for like people who know everything about esports? and people who know nothing about Eastwards without being like

boring so that's also something that I had to like think and I think that's why the Sabber citizenship angle is really how I built it because that way I could, it's relevant for everyone even if you know everything about e-sports. Love that. Okay, well I guess kind of going off of that

from being a teacher to joining FlyQuest I believe you joined in 2021 as chief culture officer. So, you know, you were... 23. Roger. We got the date on here. Very good. A little off.

But it's okay. So you joined as the chief culture officer, meaning you were leading brand identity, including in community initiatives. So we wanted to ask you, what does culture mean to you in the context of an esports organization? And how is that different than just branding? Hmm.

So I think... One thing that I really like about our position at Flight Quest is that obviously there's no other chief culture officer in any sports world in any esports Oregon in the world. Okay, that's like a first time thing. And so even defining what that role is has been challenging throughout the last two years because it's a new role even on traditional company. It's not a needed role. It's more like a encompassing like a lot of things. And I think for me, one thing that I realized throughout my e-sports journey is

I always thought that pro gamers were treated like we were treated like differently depending on our salary, depending on the game we're playing and also if we were not on business staff, it was like, oh, they're the pros, we don't like you know, it was kind of like we were in a cage, but the cage, like, it's okay,

we don't have to ask the pros. They don't do, they don't do that. They're pros, right? And so, and so I was, I was like, I don't want pros to be treated that way. I want pros to have a chance to learn about the business side and the business to hang out with the pros if it makes sense for them. Like, I don't want to force it,

but I want to encourage that relationship. And, um, but I started doing that at CLG. a lot where I just came out of my pro career and I was like, these are the things that I really hate or these are the things I would like to, I would have liked to have when I was a pro. And this is kind of how I build this role at Fleckwest for better or worse sometimes, but it's like I want to give as much as possible back to staff and players and everybody at Fleckless about the things that I wish I had

or, you know, I'm all about fairness, I'm all about growth, I'm all about super righteous, like I'm a Gryphonor by far, like super, super, super, super Gryphonder. And so I have that in my blood and I thought I would be a good person to do it at a beautiful org like FlyQuest. Because also like,

you know, I didn't feel, tokenized when the CEO and the president wanted me to join they were not like okay so this is just going to be your thing and then like you're on your own I felt like I mattered

and I couldn't make a difference there and I think that was super important what's been like the what's like been like the biggest I guess or the hardest challenge because esports

they have their own goals they want their their competitive teams to win. How hard is it to like align that competitiveness with like the larger cultural and social mission? That has been interesting because as I'm building for example or as I was building values for FlyQuests and like like thinking about what kind of company we wanted to be inside and outside all these kind of things. I realized that there's actually not much difference.

between the competitiveness side and the business side when it comes to the values of the people who are in charge or not in charge but a part of it for example like one of our values is this one is my favorite by the way and I'm like leaking some flag a secret right here on the NZXT

podcast but we have like five values and like one of them was don't be an NPC all right and and it yeah it always brings a chuckle and it's my CEO's favorite value, but it's pretty much

like we are a small company, but think about it from both the business and the competitive side. It's about like you know, if you're an NPC, you can't win competition. Like you have to think up inside the box. You have to like you have to

if someone is struggling, you have to help them out. Like you have to be a team player. You have to go outside of your job description to like make it work. And it just works both on on the competitive and on the business side. And we realized that being part of a team, being part of an organization and being part of a group of people

who are trying to achieve the same things, it doesn't matter if you're on the business, the competitive side. It makes sense. And I think breaking that gap for me, allowing the players to see what our business goals are and how they can help us reach these business goals by like interacting with partners like in ZXT

and like being excited about the product and knowing the product is making them less like I got to do this thing and more like this matters for the company for my team and for for everyone and on top of it it's a good product so let's freaking do it it changes everything right

when they can see the people behind when they can see the effort that's being done they're less diva And on the other side, when the staff is seeing that our players are going out of their way to support the org, it makes them feel like, you know, the players are here for the right reasons. And that connection is, that connection is making full sense. And for FlyQuest, it's just like, is what makes the most sense, because FlyQuest is all about that experience and the positivity and then, you know, in inclusion. And maybe it doesn't make sense for other org, but for us, it was like super important. Yeah.

And we definitely feel it as your partners, too. I don't think anything we've ever brought up to FlyQuest that we wanted to do has been met with, no, we're not going to do that or we're not going to consider that. It's always, sure, let's do it or we'll figure out how to get it done. So even like, you know, something simple, you would think, right, like, can Ms. Hart be on the podcast? There's been other people we've asked, but they're just like, there's no way in hell

you're ever going to get Ms. Harvey on a podcast or whatever it is, right? But, yeah, I'm glad that you're there and you're building that culture because I agree with you. I think it's super important, too, to be excited and care about your work and want to contribute to not just, you know,

meet the business goals, but to really lift up those around you, right? And I think you're doing a really good job, so keep it up. Showing up matters. and something that I try to do every day. What is your proudest moment at FlyQuest? Oh, that's a good one.

No one has ever asked me that before. What is my proudest moment at FlyQuest? Mike! It's hard to say because I still, I'm still in it, right? And I'm still trying to improve and grind and feel that I'm not doing enough and I'm not good enough. And, you know, so it's, there's not a lot of, I'm currently actually thinking about reflecting. And I see that my camera lights are like blasting me in white.

So sorry about that, Mike. I know you don't, you probably don't like that. For a lot of a reason, I'm like so overexposed right now. But I'm currently in that moment where I'm trying to reflect on my role and the things that I've done at FlyQuess and the things I can change. I think I would say my proudest moment is being able to give people that I really respect jobs because we took over the Red Program from CLG. So we hired like at least 15 people for the Red Program.

Then we also were able to build the FGC program that I, really helped kick start and a lot of them and it comes from my love of fighting game but also the desire of the company to be there in the space and all the community initiatives

I can do at Flight Quest from like our Flyfighters series which are our competitive tournaments for fighting game online like stuff like that being at boots and I think this is really important to me

because one thing that I haven't said once in the show is that, you know, once you retire, you lose as a pro gamer or any pro athletes, you lose yourself of what is my purpose? Because for 16 years, I was, I want to be the best player in the world. Okay. So everything that I do on a daily basis is about being the best in the world, right? It means I don't go to the movies tonight because I got to practice. It means, you know, I eat certain things and I do certain things and I wake up at

certain times. And pretty much my old life, gaming was number one. And now that I'm retired and I was in denial for a couple of years, I'm not going to lie, now that I'm retired, what is my purpose? What is my North Star? I don't have that. It's so simple, much simpler to be a professional or trying to be. be a professional on something, then realizing that you're no longer 17 or 16 when you started

this journey. And I'm in my late 30s and what the hell is my purpose in life other than trying to be the best in the world at something. And I think the only thing still to this day that makes sense to me is making a difference. That's my purpose. And so when I think about FlyQuest, I always think about this is bigger than me. It's by far bigger than me. I want to make a difference in the space, but also in this organization. And I think that at FlyQuest, we have the tools and the means to make a difference in a space and also in the org. And I think that's very special in the landscape that we have right now in e-sports and in gaming,

where people think about the winter of e-sports. and they think they fire people and all the kind of things. And at FlyQuest, we feel differently. We're excited about e-sports. We're investing in e-sports. And not stupidly because I think we're all like second-generation employees. So we all come from other e-sports org who like saw everything crumble, who made bad decisions and make sure us.

So we're trying to do the best that we can for that not to happen at Fleckwest. And sometimes that's really difficult. And that's why I can't give you like a perfect answer about what's my favorite thing about flight quest, but I or that I did at flight course, but I think making a difference and giving people's jobs and hopefully that they can be fulfilled in is very, very special. Well, that was a beautiful answer. So kudos to you. Keep up the good work over there at FlyQuess.

You're doing fantastic. Thanks. Well, that brings us to the end of the interview and to my favorite part of the show. which is where Mike is going to ask you a bunch of random questions here. So Mike, take it away, Ms. Harvey, answer as fast as you as fast as you possibly can. All righty. Let's get it's a rapid fire. Number one, if you never got into the gaming industry, where do you think you would end up?

I probably architecture. I really, really liked it. I still, to this day, all my friends are in the space and I love it. What games are you currently playing right now? I'm playing really slow-paced games. Peglin is one of my favorite game at the moment. I'm playing shop titans all the time. Like, they're not competitive games.

If you take a look at them, you'll be like, what the hell is she playing? I just downloaded last night, Word Datro. And it's like a word role game. Just like games like that, I really, really enjoy. And I think my favorite game in 20205 is probably still satisfactory. I've been like really in love with satisfactory for the last couple of years. Great game. I love satisfactory.

Such a good game. You talked about favorite game of 2025, which favorite game of all time? Well, Conno Strike. But if we don't take Conn of Strike, it's probably The Witcher 2. Yeah. I love story-driven games and I love worlds.

like world building and like learning about a world races all the kind of stuff i fucking love it and i think the witcher two really was at the perfect time in my life in the perfect world building and the perfect game at the moment at that time too i thought was like oh okay this i just came off of mass effect and then i found witcher and i was like this is it uh in the first season of Netflix was also so good and then and then it crushed and burn but the first season is so good. Like, I was just, yeah. After Henry Cowell left, yeah.

Yeah. Not good. Actually, a question for the con, I actually was interested as well. What is your favorite architectural style? Huh. So I really like restoration, so, but not restoration, but like, you take an old building and you change the purpose of the building to make a new place. So, for example, I love like old churches in Quebec that are being repurposed to be in condos or like apartments and stuff.

Or old malls in the world where they're repurposing the second floor to be like apartment and then they give back the place for locals. But I think like this is where like the concrete meeting would is like what I like the most. And I think it comes from my studies. Like every architect school has a specialty. And I think the Quebec City one is really about preserving the history while reinventing the space. And I think that's something that I really like. Wow, that's awesome. Oh, what is the most expensive item you have in your Steam inventory?

probably a couple thousand dollars i have like lots of knives and special guns and guns that were taken out of the games to uh i used to have i bp i bp oliv stickers for a long time and i sold my inventory three times in what i mean by that is like it gets really high like maybe 50k and i'll sell it and then uh i'll keep a couple skins and then these skins take make like like like increase in price and then I'll sell it. And so this, I'm at my third, like, I kept a couple skins and then they, and I think my inventory is like 45 to 50k right now. And, uh, uh, and it's probably only like 20 items.

And so we'll see, we'll see how much I keep and how much I sell soon. She's 40, 50K. Well done. Uh, oh, AK or M4? AK, even, uh, when M4 is always better. I really like the. Just like the way it it feels. And for a four or the silence?

Uh, I think I really like, I really dislike the non-silence, but I understand. There was like two, three moments in my career where I had to swap because the meta was just too strong. And I really didn't like it, but, um, yeah, so silence. Uh, would you rather have only a flash, a smoke or a Molodov? A smoke. I think that you can use the smoke in the sandbox and in any moment more than the other two. I think the other two are riskier with less rewards, I think.

Smart. And what is your favorite CS map of all time? And why is it those two? I think it's cash. And I always thought it was the perfect map. but I've like on a team

the map that I like to play the most was like complex maps like overpass the old nuke not the new one and then the old train absolutely not the new one the new one is

I don't like at all and so these three maps were my like favorite complicated maps and you would think oh what about Vertigo is a complicated map and I'll be like no Ferdigo has always been trash. Ferdigo's awful.

I hate Fertigo with a passion. Yes. Who's been your favorite teammate? Hmm. I have to say, it's probably Potter, but this is very interesting because Potter is also

was also a very difficult teammate. But I was not an easy teammate to you. It was interesting. I think Potter always pushed me to be better, but in ways that I didn't see at the time, because I was, you know, I cry for no reason. So, and I had, she made me a better human and have amazing grizzalience. But I think I was always a bit emotional or a bit like caught up with the way that she would say things.

But she's still probably my favorite teammate. But I have, like, it's hard to answer. I've had like teammates for decades, you know, so they're all like amazing teammates. It's just because Potter and I, we still talk all the time. I'm going to see, I think tomorrow we're going to a spa, which is like, I've never been to a spa. She's never been to a spa. So we're like, we're just like, we're old.

Let's go to a spa again. We've never done this. What is more intense, a championship final or a Canadian winter? I'm going to say championship final because it's so condensed. but honestly Canadian winter are pretty rough. I think Canadian winters are like one or two months too long. If they were like just December, January and then in February it would like start to melt, that'd be like, that'd be it.

That'd be the gold. But when it's still March or April and there's still snowstorm, you're like, okay, I just can't do this anymore. They're really rough. Like imagine for someone who's been, let's see. to Canada. Imagine every day you want to take your car and go somewhere.

You can't. You have to spend 30 minutes to 45 minutes shoveling the snow and like starting the car and breaking the ice like every day. And then if you go to like Walmart

you go drop your car in the Walmart, you go in, you come out, there's snow everywhere again. And you're like just like everything is difficult. Just like you think about going to school

and having like put all of your when Thursday off and then like it's everything is wet after it's just like it's really not convenient but if you only have to do it for two months that's all bad what is the best tim Hortons order oh that's a good one because i don't drink two returns because i don't drink coffee uh but uh my one of my colleagues mp actually she's in the chat right now just her name mp i archambu told me that timorgans starting doing matcha in specific timorans like more like in town maybe it's a test i don't know and i would say as soon as they do matcha everywhere it's just going to be matcha i just so like right now

my to moronans would be probably a london fogg i think they do london fogs which is a tea um with vanilla but yeah i'll drink coffee i've drank two sips of coffee i don't like coffee taste don't like coffee cakes like Taramisu which is not a coffee person it's very weird I'm with you I don't drink coffee as well great

oh I got a what are your thoughts on Montreal bagels okay so I had one actually like five days ago because on my flight back the in the Air Canada lounge like I thought the breakfast was kind of mid that day

but they had Montreal bagels so I took one Um, so I don't like, I don't think I like the war between Montreal bagels and New York bagels because I kind of both think they're mid. I just like regular bagels. And yeah, but there's a bagel store like everywhere in Montreal, every couple of blocks. Too many seeds, right? They're just like really hard.

Wait, Steph, you're in L.A. now, right? Yeah. I got a recommendation for you after this. it over to you I literally had the best bagels it was like two weeks ago I was I was down in I think your neck of the woods and it's this little unsuspecting shop and it's like it they just it the bread is just different like it's a very fluffy base it's not the hard stuff you got to like you know what I mean use your teeth to get out it's also I'll shoot you the recommendation after there are Montreal shops who don't

do like Montreal bagels styles and I like them like I love bagels honestly if it it wasn't too caloric. If it wasn't as much calerific as it is, I would eat it every day. And speaking of food, what would your last meal be? Man, I'm a foodie. I love every food. So the thing that I don't think should be my last meal, but if you average all the food that I eat would be my last meal,

it'd be like putine with extra cheese and spicy sauce, with a side of rice or Mexican rice or something and maybe like a couple dumplings sparkled in the rice because I eat these are the things that I eat the most like Mexican bowls and rice and protein

and dumplings but I love everything it's really hard to pick that is the weirdest last meal request I've ever heard of my life I'm the weirdest the other day we wait a I went to Vegas and I got Fah, and then we were sitting across a Mexican truck and I got Fah with a side of Mexican rice.

I really love Mexican rice. I love rice in general. Any kind of rice. Half is half. Half is Lombie is Mexican, so we agree with you. Okay, okay, Indian rice or like any kind of rice. I just love rice, which is so weird, so weird. Let's see.

Oh, one Canadian stereotype that is actually true. I would say most stereotypes about Canadians are true. When you speak to someone from Toronto, they do say sorry, like the sore a little bit more. When you hit someone in the hallway or when someone hits you, I'll say sorry. Like I'll be like, oh, sorry. And they hate me and I'll say, like, you know, we do love hockey a ton. You know, just like, most of the stereotypes are true. My biggest stereotype myself, I would say is probably the putteen.

Like, I'm just obsessed with putteen to a point where like, if I go to Canada for a week, I'll eat like four putteens. And like, I still have my craving. And I'm like, after the fourth one, I'm like, okay, I think I think I'm okay for a couple weeks. But like, I'm super, super putteens. and cheese intense, like super cheese and and putteen intense.

I want cheese every day, even in L.A. Even though the cheese is not as good. It's just, I still want it. I still want cheap cheese. Any cheese is good to me. And then the final one, would young Steph believe where you've ended up today?

Hmm. I would say half and half. I would say that there's no reason why young Steph couldn't believe that she would be able to do this. But I know that every time I'm like, oh, I wish I could do this and I got it, I'd be like, what the fuck? I finally accomplished it, right?

And so I would say a little bit about 50-50. Beautiful. I think that is it on the questions. Before I get into my announcement, Steph, do you have anything that you want to say to the audience, have any announcements coming up in you, any events you're going to? We are like on break for a bunch of our divisions because it's like post-major and contract, post-impact, post-valent.

So not a lot of events, but I do want to say to MSI is coming up this weekend for Flequist and we did launch at Ocuky Jersey. Someone mentioned it earlier. And it is the Canadian. jersey, which I think is so cool. And yeah, and then just obviously, we do things at flagwest all the time. And really, really matters when you guys follow and interact and just support. So that's, that's awesome.

No, no, I don't have anything else. I'm just like, kind of overwhelmed the question. I'm like, ah, so many things and nothing at the same time. As a big hockey fan as well, the flight plus hockey jerseys, immaculate. You are an Alki fan. Do you know that FlyQuest is a sister team with the Benders?

Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. They just won and maybe they can go for the three Pete. That'd be crazy. Yeah.

And then the side note, I didn't, I was happy with any of the wins this year. And last year too. Like it's either a Canadian team or or the Panthers. And I'm like, well, it's win-win for me.

So. And I know people say like, oh, you know, US has won the Stanley Cup all this time. Most of the time they're Canadian players. So it doesn't really mean that much. At Four Nation, the team that had the most Canadian was the Panthers.

So I think we had six Canadians in the Four Nation team from the Penters, which is like a lot of players. So I'm really proud of that. I'm excited for next season though. I'm sadly a duck fan. So this is. This is, oh, you've had it rough in the last couple of years that they're Lex. The, this is the worst month for sports, by the way.

Matt, if you're a baseball fan. Yeah, but. I was gonna say. This is the best time for sports if you're a baseball fan. Because there's no, you compete with baseball right now. It's only baseball. And I feel like all the other sports fans have like, they're like, they're on the chair with their eyes open. You know what I mean?

And then like they're being forced to watch only baseball now. Yeah, this is the worst time for sports, honestly. But there's like one week in October, two weeks in October where everything is at the same time and it's like the best two weeks. It's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. So I can't wait for it to be back. But at the same time as a Canadian, I'm like, no, no, take your time.

Summer's great. Very true. I mean, that's why I guess why Canadians love hockey is because you can't leave your house. So you just have to watch them. I think that's why Canadian. are good at video games too. Very true. I'm going to get into a little bit of announcements

and I'll give the code word for the secret to secret code word for the 500 extra entries into the game giveaway. Just real quick, we're giving you an NZXT PC free free NZXC with Intel. You go to our club nzixt.com slash club. You guys can earn

poochie points. You can see in the chat. People are getting their poochie points. You just participate. Thank you, Ivan. You participate. Get free poochie points. And then the more poochy points you get, the more entries you get. So just keep doing stuff into quests, get free stuff. And every month, we also give out a bunch

of free stuff as well. So please join the nz60.co slash club. We're also giving away a SN8-800 NVM-E SSD, too many, too many letters, with Sandisk and WD Black.

So go to nz60.com slash sanddisc. We're also going to give away a NZXT-M-SSTD. motherboard on top of that as well. So go ahead and go to nz60.co slash sand disk. We're also doing an in-person feedback event this summer at the nz-60HQ. If you're in SoCal and want to help shape the future of our products, apply now, you know, you guys give us some great criticisms and those that are selected get some very exclusive gifts

for participating. So you can go to nz60.com slash summer 2025. NZC.com slash summer 2020 file. Oh, not that one. This one. We just launched our new micro ATX case, H3Flow, our newly updated H9 flow, cracklingly 420, and a line of crack and plers, cracket plus coolers. So take a look at NZC.com slash new stuff or excavation point new stuff in chat.

We also have a couple sales going on. We have an independent sale going on, an Amazon sale going on, and a refurb sale going on. So go to n66.com. There's tons of stuff on sale right now. So go take a look, guys. Seriously, like, this is the best discount you get right now. So for the secret code word for 500 actual entries,

I originally, the code word I haven't given yet. Please refresh your gleams because I updated it because as I was talking with staff and just hearing, I have the list here. So it's, C's champion, game design, 430 under 30, BBC 100 women,

Big Brother Champion, Canada's smartest person, advocate of equality and cybersecurity and citizenship, teacher, chief culture officer. There's so many things listed, and there's probably still stuff I haven't even listed as well. NSXT podcast guests.

NZXT podcast, that's the next one. That's the 11th one. Please refresh your gleams because, I decided to make the code word, next stop astronauts, because I don't know what else you can do at this point. I don't know what else you can do. I think you just have to be an astronaut point because I don't know what else you can accomplish. So secret word is astronaut?

Next stop astronaut. Oh, next stop astronaut. I want to try it. I read that as an expert your gleams. Like she was going to eat pasta or something. That's, oh my goodness. It works. Yep, perfect.

That is our secret code word for. fire entry entries into the uh wait refresh your gleams i just i just uh updated it but uh that's our way saying thank you for everyone joining us and thank you miss harvey for joining us on the nc podcast uh and remember tuned in live on fridays at any in pacific center time on the official ncc twitch and don't forget to listen to

the previous episodes on apple podcast spotify and sound cloud if you have any questions for us go to nzxte on social media platforms or podcast at ncxte. com. It says an email and tell us what you think. Thank you, Ms. Harvey again, for joining us on this podcast. Well, well done in all your accomplishments. And see you guys next time.

Bye, everyone.