Press Start: Building Careers at the Intersection of Games, Tech, and Storytelling at San Diego Comic-Con 2026

San Diego Comic-Con is right around the corner, and I am thrilled to return this year to moderate another educational panel featuring an incredible group of creatives working across games, technology, media, costume design, and storytelling. This conversation is for students, career-switchers, fans, creators, and anyone curious about how people build meaningful careers in the industries that shape the worlds we love.

A huge thank you to Eddie, Tommy, Laura, Adam, Michelle, Amy, and the entire Educational Team at Comic-Con for continuing to curate such thoughtful, inspiring programming. And always, thank you and much love to Clydene Nee, whose memory remains a blessing, and to dear friend Edmund Cronin for bringing me into this wonderful community years ago.

If you are attending San Diego Comic-Con 2026, please let me know. I would love to see you there, say hello, and have you join us for this conversation.

Panel Details

Press Start: Building Careers at the Intersection of Games, Tech, and Storytelling
Sunday, July 26, 10:00–11:00 AM
Room: Grand 12 & 13, Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina

Link to panel in the SCHED tool.

Games, technology, and storytelling are more connected than ever. From narrative design and developer media to costume, visual effects, creative production, and community-building, today’s creative careers often live at the intersection of many disciplines. This panel brings together professionals who have built careers across those intersections and are ready to share real stories, practical advice, and honest insight into how they got from there to here.

What We’ll Talk About

We will talk about the many ways people enter and grow within creative industries, especially when their work crosses games, tech, film, television, costume design, education, media, and story. The panelists will share career origin stories, lessons learned, and the kind of practical advice that helps people imagine new possibilities for their own paths.

We will explore how storytelling shows up in different forms, how technology is changing creative work, how collaboration shapes productions and products, and what it takes to keep building a sustainable career in fast-moving fields. Whether you are just getting started, thinking about a career pivot, or looking for inspiration from working professionals, this session is designed to give you both encouragement and useful takeaways.

Panelists

Andrew Auseon
Author and Video Game Designer, Bethesda Games
Andrew Auseon is writer, designer, and producer of video games. His work has been featured in notable franchises such as Life is Strange, The Expanse, The Elder Scrolls, Age of Empires, Kingdoms of Amalur, and many other series and standalone titles. He has been nominated for numerous game-writing awards including the NYGA Hemingway Award, GLAAD Award, VGA awards, and the BAFTA longlist. 

In addition to his game writing, he is also the author of acclaimed books for children and young adults, including Freak Magnet, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, Alienated, written with Academy Award-winning director David O. Russell, and the Spellbinders illustrated fantasy series. He holds a MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the prestigious Vermont College. He lives in Washington, D.C. 

His work can be found at andrewauseon.com and spellbindersbooks.com. 

Connect on LinkedIn.

Dr. iAsia J. Brown, Ph.D.
Founder, TechPicasso; Guest Lecturer, USC
Dr. iAsia J. Brown, also known as “Tech Picasso,” brings together gaming, film, art, education, and visionary storytelling. Her work centers authenticity, empowerment, and the elevation of diverse voices across creative and technology industries. As a scholar, educator, artist, and community leader, she continues to create pathways for people to see themselves, their stories, and their futures in the worlds of games, technology, and media.

Mark AJ Nazal
Emmy Award-Winning Creative, Filmmaker, VFX Executive/Supervisor, Publisher
Mark A.J. Nazal is an Emmy Award-winning creative whose work spans visual effects supervision, producing, independent filmmaking, and comics publishing. His credits include Gotham, Lucifer, Westworld, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, and many morefor networks and platforms including FOX, HBO, Netflix, CBS, Paramount+, and Amazon. He is Founder and Executive Producer of SurrealArts, a global creative collective, and co-founder and Chief Creative of its comics imprint, Diwata Komiks, championing diverse, creator-owned stories. He serves on the Visual Effects Society's Texas Board of Managers and the Television Academy's Special Visual Effects Peer Group Executive Committee, and regularly speaks at San Diego Comic-Con on independent storytelling, visual world-building, and cross-media creation.

Marianne Parker
Costume Designer; Owner, Costume Doodles
Marianne Parker is a Los Angeles-based costume designer and pattern maker whose work spans film, television, theater, dance, music, and live events. Her credits include major productions across science fiction, fantasy, superhero, and live performance worlds. With a career built across many corners of costume design, Marianne brings deep insight into how characters, worlds, and stories come to life through clothing, construction, collaboration, and craft.

Maria Ramos
Head of Developer Media Studios, Google
Maria Ramos is a creative executive with over 15 years of experience in film, commercials, and award shows. She is currently the Head of Studio at Google, where she oversees the development and production of original content for Google's video platforms.

Ramos began her career as a production assistant on feature films and commercials. She quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a production manager and then a producer. In 2008, she was hired by Google to help launch Google Cloud Developer YouTube's content program.

In her role as Head of Studio, Ramos is responsible for overseeing the development and production of original content for Google's video platforms. She works with a team of creative professionals to develop ideas, produce content, and distribute it to audiences around the world.

Ramos is passionate about creating content that is both entertaining and educational. She believes that video can be a powerful tool for learning and for making a positive impact on the world. She is also a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in the media industry.

Erica D. Schwartz
Assistant Designer/Key Costumer
Erica D. Schwartz has created many costume visions and had them come to life using technology, from digital embroidery to custom fabric prints to 3D prints. Her designs have been featured on red carpets, Page 6, Entertainment Weekly, film, television shows, and music videos. The entertainment industry is constantly evolving and her work has evolved to use technology in ways that enhance her creative visions. 

Moderated by Heather Cook
Speaker, community builder, and Microsoft storyteller
Heather Cook is a speaker, writer, community builder, and technology leader who loves bringing people together for conversations that connect creativity, career paths, technology, and community. She has spent more than two decades in and around Microsoft, building programs, stories, and spaces that help people learn from one another and see new possibilities for their work and lives. Follow me on LinkedIn and @heddamaven across all social media. 

Why This Conversation Matters

Creative careers rarely follow a straight line. Sometimes the path starts in games and leads to film. Sometimes costume design opens the door to world-building. Sometimes technology becomes the bridge between an idea and an audience. Sometimes storytelling is the thread that connects it all.

That is why I love these conversations. They remind us that there is no single way to build a creative career. There are skills, relationships, experiments, risks, pivots, mentors, communities, and moments where someone says yes to an opportunity that changes everything. I hope this panel gives attendees a clearer sense of what is possible and the confidence to press start on whatever comes next.

Join Us at San Diego Comic-Con

If you are attending San Diego Comic-Con 2026, come join us for Press Start: Building Careers at the Intersection of Games, Tech, and Storytelling. Bring your questions, your curiosity, and your love of the creative worlds that games, technology, costumes, media, and stories make possible.

See you in San Diego!