Take This is pleased to announce two new board members, Dr. Samantha Blackmon and Dr. Harpreet Malla.
Dr. Samantha Blackmon is an Associate Professor at Purdue University, where her research focuses on games as cultural critique and the intersections of race, gender, and technology in and around the games industry. She is also co-founder and host of the award-winning feminist game studies blog and podcast Not Your Mama’s Gamer. Dr. Blackmon is a five time winner of Microsoft’s MVP Award, and the winner of the SIGDOC Rigo Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the field of communication design in game design. Samantha, who streams as Saffista, is building the Black Games Archive in partnership with Dr. TreaAndrea Russworm. Tanya DePass, Take This’ board Chair, serves on the board of the archive.
Dr. Harpreet Malla is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in the Los Angeles area. She has a passion for working with identity development as it pertains to LGBTQ and bicultural or immigrant populations. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Malla is pioneering research on the evolution of arranged marriages in the South Asian diaspora and has authored a chapter on this topic. She has served as the former Diversity Chair for the Los Angeles County Psychological Association, and is now the Chair-Elect for Division VII at the state level with the California Psychological Association where she advocates for marginalized groups and seeks to promote understanding through education. Dr. Malla has also presented at pop culture events to bring psychology to the masses in fun ways at Wonder-Con and San Diego Comic-Con, and moderated Take This’ South and Southeast Asian Identity and Gaming Mental Health Panel, part of the organization’s Gaming and Mental Health Identity Series.