New Magpies: Kate Bullock & Valerie Vallejos
Magpie Games is proud to welcome two new faces to our team: Kate Bullock and Valerie Vallejos. Kate joins us with over a decade of experience within the gaming industry managing communities and convention spaces, while Valerie brings new business-driven marketing and sales skills to help us grow Magpie Games’ reach in digital spaces!.
Kate Bullock - Community Manager
Kate Bullock is a community organizer and groundbreaking leader within the tabletop community who uses her platforms to create safer and more inclusive spaces. Kate is one of the main organizers of Breakout Gaming Convention and the TTRPG Creative Co-op, and has served as the president of the Indie Game Developer Network for the past two years. She’s also held a role in community organizing for the Gauntlet community and Toronto Area Gamers.
In addition to her work within communities, Kate is also a designer and writer. Her lyrical game Savior recently received a Indie Groundbreaker Award nomination for Best Rules, and she blogs regularly at Blustocking’s Organic Gaming with detailed analyses about inclusion, diversity, and community within the tabletop industry. We worked with Kate on her ashcan for Crossroad’s Carnival in 2018, and we’re thrilled to see what she creates next!
Aside from gaming, she works as a massage therapist, trauma life coach, and spiritual healer and regularly serves as a restorative justice facilitator and a trained conflict mediator. While we’re saddened she won’t be joining us in Albuquerque, we are always excited to hear her stories about raising guineafowl on her property in rural Canada.
As our Community Manager, Kate is in charge of our community spaces—Discord, our forums, the Curated Play Program, Kickstarter comments, and messages, etc—and our convention gaming events. If you’ve played a game in our room at Gen Con, Kate is likely the person who made that possible!
Kate says, "working with Magpie Games has been one of the best experiences I've had during my career in games. I know the team shares my passion for creating healthier and more diverse gaming spaces. I look forward to working with them more closely to help make these goals a reality."
“I’ve worked with Kate across so many different organizations and platforms within gaming,” says Mark Diaz Truman, co-founder of Magpie Games, “I’ve seen her work building community and nurturing creatives firsthand. Kate has an amazing ability to bring people together while establishing norms and practices that give communities life well beyond her leadership. I’m so thrilled to see her taking charge of our spaces.”
Valerie Vallejos - Director of Marketing
Valerie is a self-taught marketing expert who brings a wealth of digital sales experience to online programs. While the gaming industry is new to her, she brings new ideas and a business-driven perspective to Magpie Games to support our ever-growing reach in digital spaces.
For the past few years, Valerie has built her own business, Social District Leads, to help business owners generate new business opportunities and sales, while rapidly scaling their profits using innovative marketing strategies through both paid and organic advertising. Social District Leads has helped more than fifty companies generate over 182,500 new leads each year, totaling over five million dollars in sales.
Through her work at Magpie Games, Valerie has jumped into tabletop gaming with both feet—Root: The RPG is her favorite roleplaying game she’s played so far—and she’s excited to learn more about what the industry has to offer while pushing all of us at Magpie Games to try new ways of reaching customers and partners through digital events and programs.
Outside of work, Valerie enjoys hanging out with friends, family, and her furbaby, Riley. She’s dedicated to a healthy and fit lifestyle, always striving to be better than she was yesterday. Her guilty pleasures include reading business books—learning new strategies that she can incorporate into her business skillset—and traveling the world! Valerie has been to over twenty-one international cities across seven different countries, seeking adventure by experiencing new cultures through their food and history.
As our Marketing Director, Valerie works directly with our convention and sales team to promote our products through subscription email, social media and targeted organic/paid advertising. She’s also working closely with our design teams to organize and launch new Magpie Games Kickstarters, and is developing new digital funnels and sales channels to reach new consumers who haven’t interacted with Magpie Games before.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of the Magpie Games team. I have huge plans to tackle some of the underlying challenges that come with promoting indie rpgs. Joining a team that’s tackling big challenges and breaking boundaries fires me up to find solutions and new ideas. I’m honored that Magpie Games has chosen me to be a part of the team!” says Valerie.
Magpie Games Director of Sales and Events, Sam Siltiel says, “As Magpie Games grows, we are always looking for ways to reach new audiences. We're very excited about the experience and strategy that Valerie brings to the team, and are thrilled to see this position filled by someone whose skills can meet the challenge.”.
Both Kate and Valerie bring new and exciting talents that will allow us to keep growing in the game industry for many more years to come! We’ve excited to bring them on board and can't wait to see what they accomplish.
-Magpie Games HQ