We catch up with Sound for Games & Apps graduate Virginia Leo to celebrate her scholarship with Akash Thakkar and discuss what the future holds.
From scoring the music for Team Terrible's hit game 'The Baby in Yellow' and short documentary 'Amplexus: Amphibians After Dark', to helping craft new and exciting worlds at Game Jam 2022 and Ludum Dare, Virginia Leo has certainly been busy since graduating in 2021.
Alongside a growing list of credited work, she is now poised to enrol on Akash Thakkar's course, 'The Game Industry Professional'; an initiative that has seen its students work on projects including Destiny, League of Legends, Valorant, Minecraft, Star Wars: Jedi, Horizon Forbidden West, Halo: Infinite and more.
We spoke with Virginia to find out how it all came to pass.
Congratulations on the scholarship! What was the motivation to apply for this opportunity?
"I first heard Akash's name when I started my degree with dBs and he is just a force of nature in the games industry. I've been following him for about 5 years now and I've watched his talks, listen to his podcast, etc.
"I've been signed up to his newsletter for a while and recently he mentioned there was an open space for a scholarship to participate in his paid course. I've already done his free courses since they were recommended to me by dBs.
"The other reason why I applied specifically to that course is because I still feel new to this career. Despite being offered the opportunity to compose for 'The Baby in Yellow' rather than apply for it, there's still a way for me to go. Recently, Tugkan sent me a job application for a full-time composition job for a life simulator game, which I felt was perfect for me since that's basically my favourite game genre. Out of 294 applicants I made it to the top 30, but sadly didn't get shortlisted.
"I think doing this course with Akash will absolutely help guide me in the right direction because I need a few more nudges!"
How many scholarships were available?
"Just five! The course costs almost $1,000, so there's a lot of competition. I had to submit an application, answer several questions and submit my portfolio and social media. This was one of many reasons why I believe you should always keep social media clean because people will look at it!"
What are you most excited about?
"I'm honestly just excited to be in the class with other likeminded people that are driven by motivation and hard work. I think it's going to be a really wholesome and passionate environment, which I've really been missing."
FIND OUT MORE
Taking the plunge into the world of composing - Virginia Leo
https://www.virginia-leo.com/
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