Kael Barend

Kael Barend has worked in a variety of roles in the gaming industry since 2013. From 2013-2018, they worked as a Manager at Free Range Provisions and Eats, where they managed between 1-3 employees, marketed the business, and developed and executed several events and outreach programs. In 2018, they were the Director of BGB Con, where they directed the first gaming convention in Berkeley, led teams and brainstorming sessions, and organized partnerships with game stores, developers, and publishers. Kael also worked as a Game Reviewer at Gaming Cypher, where they analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of games, and crafted reviews with their creative writing skills. In 2019, Kael worked as a Senior Game Evaluator at Modus Games, where they managed the evaluation pipeline of new game submissions, evaluated game builds, and attended trade shows and communicated with external partners. Kael also worked as a Game Designer at Floodgate Games, where they spearheaded the development of two physical board games currently in production, created rulesets and playtested titles, and drafted constructive feedback for upcoming titles. Lastly, they worked as a Game Design Intern at Fantasy Flight Games, where they assisted in the release process of several shipped titles, produced an entire expansion for Arkham Horror, and contributed to team-based projects using Unity and the Google and Adobe Suites.

Kael Barend's education history includes a Bachelor's degree in Theirtory from the University of California, Berkeley from 2016 to 2018, and a Theirtory for Transfer degree from Santa Rosa Junior College from 2013 to 2016. In addition, Kael has obtained various certifications from LinkedIn in 2018, including Advanced Grammar, Careers in the Game Industry, Event Planning Foundations, Game Design Foundations, Producing Professional Podcasts, Project Management Foundations, Social Media Marketing with Facebook and Twitter, and a 2nd Degree Black Belt from the ATA American Taekwondo Association.