PODCAST · business
The Community Lounge
by Steve McLeod
The Community Lounge is a place where community managers from video games studios and publishers tell their story of how they got into the role, talk about the challenges they face, and share tips to help other community managers.
Episodes
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“We've just got a lawyer to be our Community Manager!” ft Community Manager Julia Rozwens
This week I'm joined by a familiar face: Julia Rozwens, Content Marketing Manager here at Feature Upvote, my own company and the team behind this very podcast. Julia joined us four months ago, bringing around ten years of community management experience from an unlikely path: a law degree, a…
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“Have really strong boundaries for yourself” ft Community Manager Faye V
Today's guest is Faye V, Community Lead Advisor at Chaos Manufacturing, returning for part two of our conversation. If you haven't heard part one, we recommend starting there. It covers Faye's unusual path into games through a psychology degree and years as a professional circus performer, and…
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"Online communities are societies" ft. Community Manager Faye V
Today's guest is Faye V, Community Lead Advisor at Chaos Manufacturing. Faye got a psychology degree, taught English in Japan, and spent years as a professional circus performer. From there she moved through the Pokémon Company, Singularity 6 (Palia), and Fantastic Pixel Castle, finally landing…
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“Don’t compete with your community for fandom” ft Community Manager Chandler Wood
Today's guest is Chandler Wood, currently working with Skilltree Marketing. Chandler started his community management career truly in the deep end. He left games journalism, where he'd spent about a decade, to join Avalanche Software in his hometown of Salt Lake City working on Hogwarts Legacy.…
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“Do the Job Before You Have the Job“ ft. Community Manager Greg Castle
Today's guest is Greg Castle, Community Growth Manager for Essential Mod at Spark Universe. Greg started out as an archaeologist before finding his way into the games industry, and it turns out the two careers have more in common than you'd think. We chat about what a "community growth manager"...
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“Every Community Manager has a different way of doing things” ft. Community Manager Danreb Victorio
Today's guest is Danreb Victorio, Community Coordinator at Gamers Outreach — a nonprofit that brings video game entertainment to children in hospitals through their signature GO Kart kiosks. Danreb has over ten years in community management, starting as a volunteer moderator on GameSpot at just...
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"We work with real people, with real emotions" ft. Community Manager Kristoph Zandecki
Today's guest is Kristoph Zandecki, a passionate community manager and marketer in gaming based in Poland. Kristoph was seconds away from becoming an English teacher before a Junior CM offer came in at the last moment. He's spent the majority of his career in the VR space, working with studios...
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"Get people engaged and get them curious" ft. Community Manager Orchid
Today's guest is Orchid, Community Manager at THOMIC, where she works on the cozy-but-brain-twisting rabbit breeding game Rare Rabbits. Orchid's path into games is one of the most unexpected on the show. She came from a family of journalists, worked in TV news in Ukraine, and only stumbled into…
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"It’s a full time job - and then some!" ft. Community Manager Ray Willmott
Today’s guest is Ray Willmott, Social Media and Community Lead at Curveball Games and founder of Ready Mix Consult. Ray’s path into games began after a decade working in local government before transitioning into games journalism and eventually community management through volunteer writing and...
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"We're all really creators in some way" ft. Community Manager Milissa Maxin
Today’s guest is Milissa Maxin, Senior Community Manager at Singularity 6, makers of Palia. Milissa’s path into games is anything but conventional. She began her career studying tuba performance at Berklee College of Music before discovering her passion for community building through online...
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"Community is a major part of everything we do" ft. Community Manager Joshua Callaghan
Today’s guest is Joshua Callaghan, ex-Community Manager, and now an Account Manager at Raptor PR. Joshua began his journey in the games industry as a teenage Reddit moderator, building hands-on experience in community management before transitioning into PR through a degree apprenticeship. His…
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"We raised $50K for charity with a video game" ft. Community Manager Greg Cummings
Today's guest is Greg Cummings, Community and Content Manager at Far From Home, a Polish indie studio behind the survival game Forever Skies. Greg's journey into community management began while working full-time in retail and being a dad; he built experience through unpaid work as a content...
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Introducing the Community Lounge Guides for Community Managers (solo episode)
Welcome to a solo episode of the Community Lounge Podcast! I'm launching the brand new Community Lounge Guides: A series of practical resources designed specifically for community managers: The first one is now available: "Becoming a Community Manager: Real Life Stories" This guide explores the...
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"The industry is smaller than you think" ft. Community Manager Vicki Fieldhouse
Today's guest is Vicki Fieldhouse, Senior Community Manager at Secret Mode. Vicki took an unconventional path into games, entering community management in her mid-30s after years of trying to break into the industry. Her journey involved customer service from running her own business, social…
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"Players like to feel listened to" ft. Community Manager Joshua Mathews
Today’s guest is Joshua Mathews, Marketing and Social Media Manager at Doborog. Josh has spent years in community and marketing roles across the indie games scene, working on projects ranging from Calvino Noir to Clone Drone in the Danger Zone and its VR successor Clone Drone in the Hyperdome....
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“That's my name! I'm in a game!” ft. Community Manager Charis Reid
Today’s guest is Charis Reid, founder of Cut Teeth, an ad-hoc community management agency. After unexpectedly being made redundant earlier this year, Charis turned a setback into an opportunity—launching her own business that lets her collaborate with multiple studios and projects at once. We…
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When players take it too far ft. Community Manager John Lloyd
Today’s guest is John Lloyd, Community Lead at The Path, a UK-based games marketing agency. John’s journey into community management began long before his first professional role—he spent years building and nurturing player communities in games like Age of Empires II, RuneScape, and Guild Wars 2....
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"This job changed my life" with Dale Stiffell and Kallum Hoy
Today’s guests are Dale Stiffell and Kallum Hoy, the dynamic community duo behind Transformers: Earth Wars at Yodo1 Games. The two met while working together at Space Ape Games and have since become inseparable collaborators—often joking that they’re a “package deal.” Between them, they bring…
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Turning Player Anger into Advocacy with Jarvs Tasker
Today’s guest is Jarvs Tasker, Head of Communications at Happy Volcano. Jarvs has held several community and communications roles across the games industry, including at Raw Fury, where she worked on Dome Keeper and Blue Prince. She’s also an award-winning accessibility advocate, recently...
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"It's all about just being really curious" with Victoria Tran
Today’s guest is Victoria Tran, Games Communications Director at InnerSloth, the studio behind Among Us. She’s also the creator of the Community Dev Newsletter, an organizer of the Wholesome Games Initiative, and the author of the upcoming book Mastering Community Management. In this episode,...
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Why I started this podcast
Today’s guest is… me, Steve McLeod! In this special solo episode, I share why I created The Community Lounge podcast and how it connects to my product, Feature Upvote. I tell the story of how the podcast become a way for me to connect with community managers, learn how they work, and provide a...
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"Finding your voice is a trial and error process" with Sofia Pettersson
Today’s guest is Sofia Pettersson, Community manager at Apog Labs in Malmö, Sweden. Sofia’s journey into the games industry is both personal and inspiring—after a major life upheaval, she found her way into community management, combining her passion for creativity with a growing interest in…
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“Is this going to be my life for the next 30 years?” with Henri Bazire
Today’s guest is Henri Bazire, who leads community work as Social Media Editor at ARTE, the French-German TV network with a dedicated video games division. Henri’s path into community management is far from traditional—he started in molecular biology before pivoting into marketing and eventually...
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Artist, CEO, and first-time Community Manager with Nora Mattsson
Today’s guest is Nora Mattsson, a first-time community manager, 2D artist, and CEO at Studio Downstairs, a small indie game studio based in Sweden. Nora and her team are currently developing Find or Be Found, an asymmetric co-op horror game inspired by titles like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes...
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Career Switches, Showcase Pitches, and Finding Your Voice with Dennis Abe
Today’s guest is Dennis Abe, a community manager at King in Sweden. Dennis has held various roles in the video game industry, including time in Japan as a game designer and esports commentator. His unconventional journey—from awkward introvert and indie game studio intern in Tokyo to respected...
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A Veteran’s Take on Being a Community Manager with Nicolas Nottin
Today’s guest is Nicolas Nottin, a seasoned community developer with over 15 years of experience in the video game industry. Nico is currently the Lead Community Developer at Tribo Games in Germany. His career spans major studios including Square Enix, Creative Assembly, and InnoGames, where he’s...
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Jack of All Trades: Life as a Community Marketing Manager with Hichem Taleb
Today’s guest is Hichem Taleb, a seasoned community professional experienced in managing communities for notable games like Lego Builder’s Journey, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Ghost Recon Wildlands. Currently, Hichem provides mentorship and consulting to indie studios and solo developers. In...
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Building a Community From Scratch with Thomas Schramm
Today’s guest is Thomas Schramm, Community Manager at Sky E Red in Germany, where he’s helping shape the launch of their debut game, Battle Frontier. Thomas’s path into the games industry is anything but typical—what began as a childhood hobby in online Halo communities eventually turned into a...
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From Passion to Profession with Erik Jakobsson
Today’s guest is Erik Jakobsson, a community manager at Paradox Interactive in Sweden, where he leads a team of ambassadors. Erik's journey into the gaming industry is unique—he started by running a fan Discord server that was eventually acquired by Paradox, leading to his first role in community...
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“You cannot teach this in a college class” with Kayla Goullaud
Today’s guest is Kayla Goullaud, an experienced community manager who has worked on EverQuest 2, Forza Motorsport, and the Forza Horizon franchise. She also spent years with the Xbox Live Policy and Enforcement team, tackling everything from player bans to community safety. We chat about the...
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Season 1 wrap up
This is a very short episode to announce that we've reached the end of season one. SEASON TWO IS COMING SOON! Thank you to everybody involved. Thank you to the eight guests who gave very freely and generously of their time to be on the show. Thank you for listening and thank you to anybody who...
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“This job is way more important than it's often given credit for” with Carolin Wendt
Today’s guest is Carolin Wendt, author of The Pocket Mentor for Game Community Management, and currently Lead International Community at CD PROJEKT RED. We chat about why and how Carolin wrote her book on community management. And Carolin gives some great tips for people wanting to break into...
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“Shielding our colleagues from unnecessary toxicity” with Florian Rohde
Today I chat with Florian Rohde, currently Community & Player Support Lead at YAGER. We talk about how as a community manager, you can support your colleagues to do their job in the best way possible while shielding them from all the unnecessary noise. Games mentioned in this episode: The Cycle,...
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“Realising that you make a difference in someone's life” with Ellinor Bergman
Today I chat with Ellinor Bergman, CEO & Co-Founder of Speldosa Interactive. Ellinor tells us her journey into community management - and how a crisis situation at her previous job led her - somewhat unexpectedly - into her current role as CEO. Games mentioned in this episode: MonsterWash…
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“We want players to love our games and play for years to come” with Christian Jürgensen
Today I chat with Christian Jürgensen, currently working as a community management specialist at InnoGames. Christian's story into community management is unique. Christian was working as a film producer in LA, he moved to Brazil, and then he was brave enough to jump at an opportunity that let…
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“Always keep them engaged” with Lyn Dang
In today's chat, Lyn Dang and I talk about the danger of burnout for community managers, about streaming with authenticity, and about appearing at physical events. And Lyn tells us her 3 rules for community management. Games mentioned in this episode: Summoner's War, Palia, Emberward Find Lyn on...
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“If a community doesn’t exist and I want it to exist, I will make it” with Gabriel Sanchewski
Today Gabriel Sanchewski tells us about his journey from avid gamer to community manager. Gabriel and I talk about how he even before he was officially a community manager, he would just roll up his sleeves and create the community resources he noticed were missing. And we hear about how Gabriel...
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"I'm doing this because I love doing it" with Jeremy Fielding
Today's guest is Jeremy Fielding, currently working at Stunlock Studios on V Rising, a vampire survival action RPG. Jeremy and I chat about how community management took him from Florida to a small city in Sweden, how you learn to be a community manager, and what the upward career path for...
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"You're young - can you do The Facebook?" with James Croucher
Today my guest is James Croucher, currently working at tinyBuild on games such as DUCKSIDE, Sand, and the Hello Neighbor series. James talks about running a community where everyone is a subject matter expert, what he looks for when hiring a community manager, and why he prefers serving the...
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Season 1 Trailer
The trailer for season 1 of The Community Lounge. The Community Lounge is a podcast where community managers from video games studios and publishers tell their story of how they got into the role, talk about the challenges they face, and share tips to help other community managers.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Community Lounge is a place where community managers from video games studios and publishers tell their story of how they got into the role, talk about the challenges they face, and share tips to help other community managers.
HOSTED BY
Steve McLeod
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Community Lounge have?
The Community Lounge currently has 40 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Community Lounge about?
The Community Lounge is a place where community managers from video games studios and publishers tell their story of how they got into the role, talk about the challenges they face, and share tips to help other community managers.
How often does The Community Lounge release new episodes?
The Community Lounge has 40 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Community Lounge?
You can listen to The Community Lounge on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Community Lounge?
The Community Lounge is created and hosted by Steve McLeod.
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