USC Games Celebrates Women in Games NOW

Gaming Staff • March 1, 2024

In honor of Women's History Month, USC Games, the leading collegiate game design program in North America, is hosting an in-person event called Women in Games NOW. The event will take place on March 8th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm PST at the Ray Stark Family Theatre on the USC campus. The panel will feature games industry experts from Activision Blizzard, Google, and Microsoft, who will discuss the significant milestones and contributions of women in the industry and their continued influence on the next generation of industry professionals.

The panel will be moderated by TreaAndrea M. Russworm, Ph.D., a professor of cinematic arts and endowed Microsoft chair at the University of Southern California. The panelists include Moonlit Beshimov, Head of Gaming, Americas Partnerships and Global Industry Strategy at Google, Kara Bilkiss, Vice President of Mobile Commerce at Activision, and Jill Braff, Vice President and Head of Bethesda/ZeniMax & Casual Suite Studios at Microsoft.

TreaAndrea M. Russworm is an interdisciplinary media scholar with a focus on video games and digital media, African American popular culture, film and media studies, and post 1950s American popular fictions. She is the Series Editor of the book series Power Play: Games, Politics, Culture and the author or editor of three other published books.

Moonlit Beshimov has been in the gaming industry for almost 15 years and currently leads cross Google Gaming partnerships in Americas and global strategic initiatives. Before Google, she led strategic partnerships at Google Play, monetization at Scopely, and performance marketing at Zynga.

Kara Bilkiss is a proven and results-driven gaming executive with a career spanning more than 20 years. She currently leads the mobile commercial strategy at Activision Blizzard for franchises such as Call of Duty Mobile, Diablo Immortal, Warcarft Rumble, and Candy Crush Saga.

Jill Braff is the head of Bethesda and ZeniMax Studios, the creators of enduring franchises such as DOOM, The Elder Scrolls, Starfield, and more. She also oversees Microsoft’s Casual Games division, which includes Solitaire

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