Today we’d like to introduce you to Ikea Turner.
Hi Ikea, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m originally from the south side of Chicago, Illinois. I was raised in a low-middle-class upbringing, my parents were married, and I am the fourth oldest out of five children (middle child). Being the first-born daughter, I would say my parents spoiled me. Both of my parents normally worked two jobs to provide for the household and I learned fairly young that you had to work extremely hard to have a certain type of lifestyle. During my adolescence years the family decided to move to central Illinois (Bloomington/Normal) for better work, home, and educational opportunities. My environment shifted from the projects (“hood”) to farmland which quickly changed my perspective on how I saw the world. I went from attending predominantly African American (black) schools to Caucasian (white) at some point. My hobbies during this period of my life did not change which I am very thankful for because my career now is gaming and LIVE streaming. Playing video games has always been a huge part of my upbringing due to the fact that my entire family played them. This is why I will always appreciate video games even though I made a career out of it. Schools that I attuned even had gaming rooms on campus where student could socialize during breaks. Unfortunately, we are still faced with the stigma that women can’t play video games for leisure nor professionally for that matter. Regardless I continue to represent with my content to showcase that women and people of color can have a successful career within the gaming industry. I want to say thank you to my parents for allowing me to experience different people, cultures, and environments. Now at 29 and a mother myself (Ameya; 8 years old), I continue to encourage my daughter to always try new things. It’s alright if something is different from what you’re accustomed to and live your life to the fullest.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
When I first started LIVE streaming in 2017 this was merely a hobby. I was a new mother, full-time waitress, and college student obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology. In 2018 I signed my first contract with Mixer which was a platform formerly known as Beam and owned by Microsoft. Sadly, the platform closed operations in July 2020, so I was “out of a job.” I sent my channel analytics from Mixer to Twitch to apply for a partnership contract, and later that July I was accepted. My first year as a Twitch partner was traumatizing and extremely stressful. My daughter (Ameya; 8 years old), my community, and I were targeted every single day for an entire year on the Twitch platform. We were threatened, harassed, view botted, DDOSed, private information was publicized (address, phone number, daughter’s school address), and swatting attempts. Swatting is an extremely dangerous and sometimes life-endangering prank. Gamers, hackers, and other malicious actors find targets and make emergency calls that trick heavily armed authorities and first responder services into responding to false threats at their location. I made a YouTube video going into to full detail about my experience as a Twitch partner during 2020, and it can be found at youtube.com/msfunsiz3. Nothing could have prepared me for any of the obstacles I’ve faced in the six years of being a gaming creator. I’ve experienced hate on platforms such as Mixer, Facebook Gaming, TikTok, and even YouTube. As a black woman unfortunately it’s something that not only myself but many other women of color in this space dealt with. We are unrecognized, underpaid, and targeted on numerous occasions. Even though we fell on many hard times within the community none of it was in vain because we’re still here playing video games regardless the platform.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’ve been creating video gaming content on numerous platforms since 2017. I’m predominately known for playing first-person shooters (FPS) style games, but I enjoy all genres (story, survival, RPG, simulation, etc.). I use my platform and content to advocate for women of color and parents within the gaming space. I am very unapologetic about my blackness and motherhood while I create my content which sets me apart from other creators. I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with companies such as; DIFF eyewear, Advanced GG, Secretlab, Wingstop, PUBG, Facebook Gaming (BGCP), Former Mixer & Twitch Partner, Dawn of Hope (charity), Color of Change with Tiltify (charity), $100k charity Apex Kill race for St. Jude (3rd place) and more! I’m very proud that throughout the six years of being a video gaming creator, I continued to push through all the obstacles and challenges I faced along the way.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
As far as gaming content, I really want to produce more virtual reality content. Meta gave me an oculus quest 2 and I’ve been really enjoying gaming & productivity on the headset. Outside of gaming I recently announced at the beginning of 2023 that I was going to peruse a career in UX design. A UX designer, or user experience designer, is someone who optimizes the interaction between users and products through user-friendly design. Most often, UX designers work on websites and apps. I’m hoping in the next 5-10 years virtual reality, and UX design will merge and I can assist with the development and experience for future gamers.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msfunsiz3/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gaming/msfunsiz3
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/msfunsiz3/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_MsFUNSiZ3
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/MsFUNSiZ3
- Other: https://linktr.ee/msfunsiz3
