Lydia Winters
Real name |
Lydia Winters |
---|---|
Date of birth | |
Occupation |
Chief Storyteller |
Nationality |
American |
Languages |
English |
Spouse | |
Known for |
Conducting Minecraft Live/Minecon |
Website | |
X (Twitter) username | |
YouTube channel |
MinecraftChick & LydiaAndVu |
Minecraft names |
MinecraftChick |
{ "title": "Lydia Winters", "rows": [ { "field": "Lydia Winters", "label": "Real name" }, { "field": "April 22, 1987 <span data-isodate=\"1987-04-22\">(age 37)</span><br>(link to wikipedia:Florida article, displayed as Florida), (link to wikipedia:United States article, displayed as U.S.)", "label": "Date of birth" }, { "field": "Chief Storyteller", "label": "Occupation" }, { "field": "American", "label": "Nationality" }, { "field": "English", "label": "Languages" }, { "field": "(link to Vu Bui article, displayed as Vu Bui)", "label": "Spouse" }, { "field": "Conducting Minecraft Live/Minecon", "label": "Known for" }, { "field": "https://www.lydiawinters.com/", "label": "Website" }, { "field": "[https://twitter.com/MinecraftChick @MinecraftChick]<br>[https://twitter.com/LydiaWinters @LydiaWinters]", "label": "X (Twitter) username" }, { "field": "MinecraftChick & LydiaAndVu", "label": "YouTube channel" }, { "field": "MinecraftChick<br> LydiaWinters", "label": "Minecraft names" } ], "invimages": [], "images": [ "mcchick.png" ] }
Lydia Winters is Mojang Studios' former Chief Storyteller. Prior to 2020, she was the Brand Director, and before that the Director of Fun. She was best known as the host of the MINECON and Minecraft Live livestreams, and was also a special advisor at Block by Block, a charity dedicated to using Minecraft to improve public spaces worldwide.
She was the first woman to be hired by Mojang, in June 2011.[1][2] She announced her departure from Mojang in October 2024, after over 13 years at the company.[3]
She shares a YouTube channel with Vu Bui, where they post videos about photography.[4]
Early life[edit | edit source]
Winters graduated in 2008 from Florida Atlantic University with a bachelor's degree in "Elementary Education and Teaching".[5] She then taught fourth grade for a year before delving into photography, often shooting local weddings.[1] Later, she discovered video blogging after attending a photography workshop, and began making daily videos about random topics. Despite her style becoming popular, which also led to her raising $10,000 for breast cancer research, she then decided to focus her videos on videogames after consulting with friends.[1] Although Winters had played only one video game by then, The Oregon Trail, she decided to play Minecraft as her friends thought it would be hilarious. On November 15, 2010, she uploaded her first video to YouTube under the name "MinecraftChick" as "Minecraftgirl" was already taken.[1][6]
Career[edit | edit source]
By June of 2011, Winters sent an email to Mojang asking if she could interview the creators of Minecraft at that year’s E3. Carl Manneh, the CEO of Mojang at the time, replied, asking her if she could host a portion of their booth dedicated to Minecraft on the Xperia Play.[1] She accepted, and was soon at the booth in Los Angeles. Manneh was so impressed with how she acted that he had told the rest of the staff that Winters would be hired. She was then hired on June 28, 2011, and flew to Stockholm that December.[1][7]
Over time, Winters' job evolved from being a community builder to a more senior role toward merchandising, licensing, and events. Winters said that she also had an instrumental role in adding Alex, the predominantly female character, to Minecraft.[1] As with licensing, Winters would tend to avoid using gendered typecasting as a way of making Minecraft accessible to everyone, saying that she wouldn’t approve descriptions of Steve and Alex if they weren’t gender neutral.[1]
Winters announced on October 4, 2024 that it would be her final day with Mojang Studios.[3]
Filmography[edit | edit source]
Year | Work | Role | Reference |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Minecraft: Story Mode | Herself | In-game credits |
2017–2018 | Minecraft Mini-Series | CommuniKate | [8] |
2023 | Minecraft | Tiny Lydia |
Gallery[edit | edit source]
-
Winters' official Mojang avatar. She is seen holding her pet spider.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h The Incredible True Story of How a Florida Teacher Became Head of 1 of the Biggest Brands on Earth - PopSugar; November 17, 2017
- ↑ https://clios.com/clio_juror/nojs/2007
- ↑ Jump up to: a b "After 13 incredible years, it's my last day at @Mojang. @Minecraft has truly changed my life – moving to Sweden, speaking on world stages, and using the game to build a better world." – @LydiaWinters (Lydia Winters) on X (formerly Twitter), October 4, 2024
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/@LydiaAndVu
- ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiawinters/
- ↑ "The Misadventures of MinecraftChick - Learning Minecraft Episode 1" – MinecraftChick on YouTube, November 15, 2010
- ↑ "As of today, @MinecraftChick has joined Mojang as the official Director of Fun!" – @notch (Markus Persson) on X (formerly Twitter), June 28, 2011
- ↑ "The First Night - Minecraft Mini Series - Episode 1" – Mattel Action on YouTube, October 26, 2017
[edit | edit source]
[hide] | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
|
[hide] | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Development | |||||||||||
Seasons | |||||||||||
Gameplay | |||||||||||
Narrative devices | |||||||||||
Downloadable content | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
|
[hide] | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||