Be patient. Be kind. Be brave. As a queer woman growing up in Singapore, Euphoria Ng has balanced her identity with the world around her. While navigating a complex world through school and her career, she focused on those three tenets to help her move forward without compromising who she is at her core.
“It only recently became officially legal to be a gay person in Singapore,” Euphoria said. “I struggled a lot as a kid but in time my parents came around and now they are hardcore advocates for me and the LGBTQIA+ community. With the support of my family, it helped me be even more brave about how I presented myself, I tried not to hide it at any of the companies I worked at.”
Over a decade-long career, she’s worked at a variety of companies, some empowering and inspiring, and some that still had a ways to go. In 2022, she joined Riot as the Channel Strategist for Action Titles in Asia-Pacific (APAC). Now, she oversees influencers, social media, PR, Comms, and other channels for our action titles which include VALORANT and 2XKO across the entire APAC region. In addition to her work as Channel Strategist, she’s also a founding member of Rainbow Rioters, our Rioter Inclusion Group (RIG) for LGBTQIA+ Rioters, which recently launched a new chapter in APAC.
“This is my dream job, I’m so happy to be here,” Euphoria said. “All my friends and family knew I was trying to get into Riot for the longest time. When VALORANT came out at the height of the Covid pandemic, I’d play the game eight hours a day every day as we weren’t allowed to leave our houses at that time in Singapore. So VALORANT was where my community of friends and family got together.”
While the people in her life certainly enjoyed clicking heads and throwing knives with the rest of us, it was Euphoria leading the charge, queueing up the games and bringing new people into the world of tac shooters.
“What I really love to do is help build communities and bring people together,” she said. “I learned that was what I loved when I worked at Gameloft, a French company that builds mobile games. I saw the power that games have to bring people together and I fell in love with the industry. I want to care about players and how they feel about a game. Before I joined Riot, I saw the gaming community in Singapore come together around VALORANT. I found community there and I’m so thankful that now I get to work directly with that community I’m already a part of.”
Finding community via games is a common thread for players of all types of games around the world. It’s a big part of what makes games special. For LGBTQIA+ people, finding community can be difficult but it can also be incredibly impactful. Like-minded folks who share your experiences often provide support and understanding to help navigate the world, especially around the social issues unique to members of LGBTQIA+ communities. The internet, and games in particular, have long been a way for LGBTQIA+ people to connect but they also come with the insensitive interactions that are all too common in anonymous online spaces.
“As a woman in gaming, it's hard. As a queer woman, it's even harder,” Euphoria said. “I’ve experienced plenty of toxic comments in game. But I’m also determined to create space for us in the gaming community, both in-game and out. When I was working at Facebook (Meta) I worked with my manager to produce a game show during Pride, with LGBTQIA+ people coming to talk and play games together in Thailand. Asia can be really conservative but we did this for the Thai players and people had a great time. I’d say this was one of the highlights of my career.”
Now at Riot, her goals haven’t changed.
“One reason why I wanted to work here was because Riot was building inclusive communities,” she said. “At every company I’ve worked at, I would always try to advocate for minorities like LGBTQIA+ folks. Being part of the community myself, I know what it’s like to be a minority and it was at Riot where I felt like I could do real work for those groups.”
Rainbow Rioters has grown with the company. As Riot’s first RIG, they have helped foster inclusive spaces, build community, and provide support to any LGBTQIA+ Rioter or ally no matter what office they work out of. Recently the group has gone global, spinning up unique chapters in EMEA and APAC. As each part of the world comes with its own cultural norms and the challenges those pose, these chapters are designed to provide resources, community, and support closer to home for Rioters in those regions. As a founding member of Rainbow Rioters APAC, Euphoria is already doing what she does best: building community.
“My advice to a young LGBTQIA+ person starting their career is be patient, be kind, and be brave,” Euphoria said. “A younger me would try to be more aggressive and shove my way through. Some people are ignorant but many people are actually listening if you give them a shot. When you get questions, answer them but don’t ever feel like you should hide yourself. It took a while for me to get to where I am today but you might find surprisingly that people feel like you feel and do like you do in your company. If you take the first step, you’ll see other people stepping up alongside you. Be patient. Be brave. Be kind.”
This article is part of our ongoing commitment to spotlight Rioters around the world and share their personal journeys across career, community, and life. Hear from some of our other Rainbow Rioter members Maria Pentinen, Patrick Ryan, and Kat Wong in the other articles in this series.