Keisha Howard

Keisha has been a video game enthusiast since childhood. Growing up "geeky" resulted in her developing interests that were very different from her peers on Chicago's South Side. She studied psychology and communications at DePaul University, where she acquired an understanding of consumer motivations that ultimately led to real estate. Over her decade long career, Keisha has worked on a variety of commercial and private real estate projects, including a relationship with one of the original Chicago Spire Developers and industry innovator Christopher Carley of the Fordham Company. Keisha's communications background and passion for business innovation led her to the Information Technology Industry, specifically social media, the video game industry and geek culture. After discovering that a considerable part of the industry's consumer and professional demographics were not being represented, Keisha created Sugar Gamers. It began as a women's advocacy and networking group for consumers and professionals, but eventually blossomed into an organization that advocated for all demographics who were under served or not being represented (such as minorities, and people from the LBGTQ+ community.) Through Sugar Gamers, Keisha been able to monetize her interests in technology and connect people in the IT Community with other like-minded individuals, raise awareness of the under-representation of women in the Gaming Industry, and lobby to make sure corporations factor the needs of female consumers in their new offerings. Keisha's work with Sugar Gamers has made her a minor celebrity in pop culture, affording her national television appearances on show's like SyFy Channel's Robot Combat League and allowing her to meet pop culture icons like George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, and Stan Lee, the chief architect of Marvel Comics. While her work with Sugar Gamers has taken her all over the country, Keisha has never lost sight of home. A native Chicagoan, Keisha uses the skills and the contacts she's made through Sugar Gamers to empower the women and teens of Chicago as an event organizer, mentor and speaker, as well as operating a digital branding agency entitled The BlazeBreakers.