Meet HappyBearCares (she/her), a BroadcastHER Grant winner.

What is your dream in gaming, esports, and/or content creation?

My dream is to create a big, thriving Twitch community that looks out for one another, sticks up for the underdog, and loves a good yap!

I love using my Twitch channel to discover retro classics that I missed when they were new! I really love centering my stream on games that helped people feel brave, heroic, or just plain happy when they played them the first time.

Please share how winning support from 1,000 Dreams Fund is important to your dream and what impact it will have on your career?

I am SO GRATEFUL for this grant! I’ve always wanted to attend TwitchCon and, thanks to this generous gift, now I can. I will be meeting up with so many Twitch friends for the first time at TwitchCon. My stream is all about making connections and forming friendships, so getting to do that with other creators IRL is super-important to me!

I’ve also learned that networking by meeting new friends and showing up to support them is a great way to build my community, and TwitchCon is the perfect place to do that! I’m very hopeful that TwitchCon will be an important waypoint on my journey to Twitch Partner!

What advice do you have for women & femmes who want to work in gaming, esports, and/or content creation?

I’ve noticed that many women have natural strengths in forming genuine friendships and supporting each other’s content creation endeavors. Developing and maintaining these skills is the best thing that an aspiring femme creator can do for their online career! People naturally gravitate to streamers who unselfishly connect with and celebrate others instead of constantly self-promoting.

Also, joining organizations like the Twitch Unity Guilds or Frame Fatales is a great way to meet like-minded people (especially other femme folks!) I met my best friend in the Unity Guilds and have formed several other friendships that have given me a lot of personal joy and a boost to my creation efforts. You don’t have to constantly be trying to make new friends, either. Just meet other creators at YOUR pace and soon you’ll have a large network of friends and fellow creators! Yay us!