Jess Destramp

Jess Destramp is a freelance saxophone player and music teacher in the Boston area. She's a staff member at vgleadsheets.com; an assistant director of The Saxyderms, an all-saxophone ensemble; and the music director of The SheBop Swing Orchestra, an all-female and non-binary big band. She performs often in the Boston area, but has also performed before at MAGFest with SmoochyFace and DiscoCactus. Jess is a frequent panelist, educator, and facilitator of jams at MAGFest and VGMCon. She's probably in Jam Clinic RIGHT NOW -- come jam!

Shihori Nakane

SHIHORI is an international J-pop singer/songwriter based in LA who composes and performs solo work, as well as music for film, TV, anime, and games. She’s best known for the theme songs for popular games such as League of Legends, Omega Strikers and dozens of PC games, and some of the internal songs for the famous franchises for PUBG, beatmania ⅡDX.

She’s also known for being one of the first singers in the Doujin music industry for Touhou Project as a former member of “SOUND HOLIC” and “A-One.” She has written and composed over 130 songs for J-pop artists such as Nana Mizuki and Momoiro Clover Z, and for such famed shows as Fairy Tail, My Little Pony, Ultraman R/B, Tomodachi Game, Macross Frontier and The Irregular at Magic High School besides her original works. After many of her releases have made the Oricon Chart in Japan with 13 of her hits having attained Gold Disc Certification, in 2018 she moved to the U.S.

Mason Lieberman

Mason Lieberman is an award-winning composer, audio director, and producer known for his contributions to the gaming and anime zeitgeist. He prides himself on being a problem-solver whose biggest passion is always to connect people through music. Mason has contributed to soundtracks like Stars Wars: Visions, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. franchise, Riot Games' League of Legends, Guild Wars 2 and many others! In 2020, He was thrilled to present the official Cowboy Bebop charity single, ‘The Real Folk Blues’, in collaboration with Funimation, Sunrise, featuring special guest artists like Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts, Steve Blum, and many, many more. This original arrangement hit #6 on Billboard global Digital song sales chart, as well as #1 on rock charts in Japan.

Yousef Mousavi

Yousef Mousavi is an award winning guitarist, arranger, and composer working in the world of VGM and anime music. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, Yousef co-founded ANIMYZE, a panelist group and Youtube channel dedicated to uncovering the secrets behind the music in Japanese animation. His efforts as part of VGM band Tournament Arc have resulted in streams in the millions and a 2019 “Best Jazz Remix” award at the G.A.N.G Remix Awards. He is also a member of the Iranian jazz-rock outfit Open Borders, who have toured extensively throughout Canada, as well as the post-hardcore band NEW RUINS. In 2020, he was selected by anime composer Yoko Kanno to be a musician in her Session Starducks performance, which included a collaboration with her band Seatbelts. He's worked with virtual instrument software and plug-in companies like Impact Soundworks and Klevgrand, where he has created engaging content to help showcase their products to consumers. He's also the composer for an upcoming RPG  by Canadian indie-developers Sprite Knights.

Next year, Yousef will be pursuing a master’s degree in Tokyo with a focus on JPOP and anison. He is also on a mission to find the world's greatest curry. He is currently accepting recommendations.

Casey Lee Williams

Casey Lee Williams is a 24-year-old multimedia artist from Boston, MA, who specializes in session vocal recording, performance, and songwriting. She graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2021 with a degree in Professional Music. She is most known for her work on the soundtracks of Rooster Teeth’s animated online series RWBY, which she has been the featured vocalist on since the early age of 13. Casey is also the front-person and vocalist of the progressive rock band Ok Goodnight, which she formed with some of her peers at Berklee in 2019. Ok Goodnight released their second full length album The Fox and the Bird in the summer of 2023. During the same summer, Casey also released RWBY's ninth soundtrack which she is co-wrote and produced with fellow collaborator Martin Gonzalez. Casey is expected to release a solo EP in 2024.


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David Gibson McLean

David Gibson McLean is an accomplished session recording artist and composer for video games and anime. He has recorded for iconic franchises such as “Spider-Man”, “Beyblade”, “Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising”, “PUBG Mobile”, and Sony’s EVO Championship Series in 2022 and 2023. In 2020 he was a part of the charity vinyl release of “The Real Folk Blues”, which featured original series composer Yoko Kanno and many other industry veterans, which helped it reach #1 on the rock charts in Japan! Most recently he produced and self released “Lux In Tenebris”, his first solo album comprised of his own arrangements of iconic “Final Fantasy” music. He also plays a lot of Destiny 2. Like probably too much…?

Trevor Alan Gomes

Trevor Alan Gomes is a pianist and composer who's stumbled his way into working in the wacky world of video games and video game music. He made the official piano albums for *Celeste, Ori and the Will of the Wisps,* and *Chicory*. As of recently, he's a top-shelf amateur game designer, making interactive games for his Twitch channel and recently one for Netflix for a live streaming event (which I guess makes him a professional?). He has a master's degree in Music Composition that he doesn't use for anything, but it was fun getting it.

Marcy Edwards

Marcy Edwards has been a professional artist in Los Angeles for over a decade. She went to RISD for animation and is an accomplished graphic artist. In the acting world, Marcy has a resume both on-screen and behind the mic.She's an avid grower, having built her own hydroponics garden. Marcy also mains M. Bison and would likely defeat you in a round of Street Fighter.

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THEE upNup

THEE upNup started as a video game podcast starring comedian GorkyRomano (Chris) and artist SkimmilK (Ty). That morphed into a twitch channel and video podcast. AND THAT turned into a community of friends who stream multiplayer games together 3 days a week, a video podcast, and a yearly award show, "The Yaldys". What we are most proud of, though, is that our inclusive community continues to grow!

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Super Art Fight

Super Art Fight is the Greatest Live Art Competition in the Known Universe. See artists collide on a giant canvas where YOU pick the winner! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll buy their t-shirts.

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Kishonna Grey

Dr. Kishonna Gray is an Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, & Digital Studies and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky. She is also a faculty associate at the Berkman-Klein Center at Harvard University.

Dr Gray is the author of Intersectional Tech: Black Users in Digital Gaming.

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Man At Arms: Reforged

Welcome back to our friends of the forge, Baltimore Knife and Sword Co! By day they put their craftsmanship to the test, creating the finest arsenal spanning countless universes of fantasy... By night they're on your screens, showing their masterpieces via Man at Arms: Reforged! Sound familiar? From Elden Ring to Genshin, or Jojo to NGE; They've probably brought your favorite hero or villain's weapon to life. Come see their wondrous creations in person this year at MAGFest Prime!

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Yaya Han

Yaya Han is a cosplayer, designer and author with more than 20 years of activity in the fandom world. Yaya has made over 400 costumes, been featured in two US Network TV Shows and countless magazines, books, newspapers and online media outlets, and she appears as a guest and speaker at hundreds of events all over the globe. Over the years, Yaya’s work has impacted cosplay profoundly and has helped shape it into a commercial industry. Yaya is the first cosplayer to bring branded cosplay-focused sewing and crafting products such as fabrics, trims and a Yaya Han sewing machine to the mass retail market. She is also the first to chronicle a cosplayer’s life story and the evolution of modern cosplay culture in the book, “Yaya Han’s World of Cosplay”.

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Caddicarus

Caddy has been doing YouTube stuff for over 12 years. Take the absurdist comedy of Monty Python, Reeves and Mortimer and Arthur Matthews, then mix in a bit mid mid-80's UK alternative anarchy comedy, then mix in video games, and you get Caddicarus. Sounds like it doesn't work? You're right, it doesn't.

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Cynthia Harrell

Cynthia Harrell’s incredible singing talent has taken her voice all over the world, appearing in memorable commercials and iconic video games. She began singing commercial jingles at the age of 10 before moving on to singing background vocals for Curtis Mayfield with her mother and sisters in the R&B singing group Kitty and The Haywoods.

In the 90s, she was introduced to the world of video games. She sang “I Am The Wind,” the theme song for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – which, since its launch in 1997, has gone on to become one of the most popular video games ever made. Ironically, Cynthia would have the opportunity to work on yet another of the industry’s most important and beloved games, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, producing one of the most iconic songs in video game history, “Snake Eater.”

Cynthia’s voice has been featured in commercials for American Airlines, Coca-Cola, McDonald’, and Gatorade. For the sports drink’s “Be Like Mike” campaign, Cynthia’s distinctive voice stands out amidst the medley of singers. She’s also worked on the production side of the music industry working with artists like Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, Ramsey Lewis, Patty Austin, and many others.

Cynthia’s contributions to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater make them the celebrated games that they are, in turn making Cynthia’s voice an indelible part of video game history.

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Marty O'Donnell

Marty O'Donnell earned his Masters of Music Degree in Composition with honors from USC in 1981. He then founded the Chicago-based commercial music and sound production company, TotalAudio, writing and producing numerous film scores and jingles such as Flintstones Kids and Mr. Clean. In 1997 he created sound design for Cyan’s Riven, the Sequel to Myst, and created all of the audio for Bungie’s award-winning Myth series.

In the spring of 2000, ten days after Marty accepted a position as Bungie’s Audio Director and Composer, Microsoft purchased the studio and moved them to Redmond so they could focus their efforts on developing Halo for the launch of the Xbox. The highly acclaimed Halo series became extremely successful, with Halo 3 shattering entertainment records for both single day and first week sales. The total number of Halo games played now tallied in the billions and unit sales in excess of eighty-one million.

The audio and music for the Halo series has received numerous honors and awards, including the Game Developers Choice Award, the Edge Award, Rolling Stone Magazine’s Best Game Soundtrack, and Best Sound/Music from the AIAS, IGDA, GANG, TEC, and Spike TV. The critically acclaimed soundtracks, produced in partnership with Nile Rodgers, are also best sellers.

In July of 2007, Marty helped to lead Bungie in regaining its independence. His final project with them, Destiny, featured music in collaboration with Sir Paul McCartney. The stand-alone soundtrack, Music of the Spheres, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. In addition to creating and overseeing sound design, music, and implementation, Marty also did the casting and directing of all the voice acting for Bungie’s games. The music and audio from Destiny have won several awards including Best Audio and Best Music from the AIAS. He was awarded GANG’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

Marty is also co-founder and co-owner of Highwire Games in Seattle. Their first title, Golem, an exclusive title for PlayStation VR was released in 2019. He also composed and produced Echoes of the First Dreamer, the musical prequel to Golem. Now living in Las Vegas since 2021, he has been happily married since 1977, has 2 daughters, and 2 grandsons.

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Erika Ishii

Erika Ishii (all pronouns) is known for their voiceover work in games and animation. They star as Valkyrie in Apex Legends, Ana Bray in Destiny 2, Lumu in Halo Infinite, Kitsune in Call of Duty: Warzone, with featured roles in Cyberpunk 2077, Young Justice, and more. They’re a regular on Dimension 20 and its comedy channel Dropout, appeared with Critical Role, The McElroy Family, and even hosting Marvel red carpets. Erika is the proud co-creator of the record-breaking narrative play and storytelling collective Worlds Beyond Number along with Aabria Iyengar, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Lou Wilson.

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Video Game History Foundation

The Video Game History Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games. VGHF advocates for a better future for game preservation and is building an archive of rare video game research materials to help improve the study of game history.

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Zoe Marshall

A Dallas native and graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Zoe Marshall's writing career began in 2014 when her short film "Passing" was featured at the Cannes International Film Festival that year. Since writing on seasons 1 & 2 of "Charmed" on The CW, Zoe has sold pilots to HBO and Warner Bros, as well as an original feature to Netflix. Her sports family comedy film, "Fantasy Football" (produced by Lebron James) is now streaming on Amazon.

Zoe’s most recent television credits include Peacock’s "The Best Man: The Final Chapter", NBC’s "Found", and "Elsbeth" on CBS. She’s currently serving her third term on the Board of Directors for the Writers Guild of America, West.

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