North American esports organisation Spacestation Gaming has named gaming personality Mari ‘AtomicMari’ Takahashi as Co-owner of the company.
Takahashi will work alongside her business partner, Peter Kitch, current founder Shaun ‘Shonduras’ McBride, and Spacestation Integrations Co-founder Sean Holladay.
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Streamy Award winner and CBS Survivor alumni Takahashi was the co-founder of SMOSH Games and was named one of the ‘Top Influencers in Gaming’ by Forbes in 2017. Her 10+ years of experience has included hosting and acting across various entertainment and gaming content as well as commercial work for Ericsson, Microsoft, Samsung, and Verizon.
In her new role, Takahashi will work alongside the team to continue Spacestation Gaming growth and development. She will collaborate with McBride to expand the creator and community aspects of Spacestation Gaming, as well as pursue further esports championships across multiple video game titles.
McBride commented: “Mari’s incomparable experience and ‘know-how’ in this space made her an obvious choice as our new co-owner. Having worked with her in the past and experienced first-hand what she brings to the table, I can’t wait to once again work alongside her and continue to build one of the best esports organizations in the business.”
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Takahashi says she is very focused on making a ‘meaningful impact on the gaming and STEM industry’, having worked with the Ad Council and ESA for Women in STEM programs and lobbying Congress on behalf of Bill Nye’s non-profit organization, The Planetary Society, to secure funding for NASA.
Takahashi said: “As a longtime fan and avid participant of the esports industry, I’ve had my eye on Spacestation Gaming for a while. “I deeply respect everything Shonduras and the team have created, so with my love of all things esports, passion for space travel, and shift into the business side of the industry, when the opportunity to join them as co-owner presented itself, there was no way I could pass it up.”
Esports Insider says: Mari Takahashi brings a wealth of gaming entertainment experience to Spacestation Gaming which is heavily focused on streaming and entertainment in addition to winning tournaments. The company has made a number of interesting partnerships including Hot Wheels, NASCAR driver Will Rodgers, and SteelSeries — there is no doubt that Takahashi will help lead many branded collaborations to come.
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