Katya Sabirova, Head of PR at SayGames, Co-founder at InGame Job
I joined the games industry in 2018, straight out of maternity leave — a very conscious choice. My husband was already working in games, and I could see the kind of people around him: passionate, curious, deeply invested. I wanted to work with people like that too.
I started as a producer of online educational courses for games industry professionals. Then I worked on career media, joined InGame Job to help build a job platform and make hiring in the industry more transparent and ethical, and worked in PR at Values Value. For the past year, I've also been leading communications at SayGames, one of the world's largest mobile game publishers.
The roles changed, but the reason I stayed never did — I genuinely love the people who make games. Eight years later, I still think there is something special about this community.
A lot of what matters to me professionally comes down to the same things: respect, ethics and human relationships. I like to start from the assumption that the people I work with — colleagues, partners, journalists, developers — are great professionals with good intentions. It makes for better relationships, but I also think it makes for better work.
▫️ Career and Family, Not Career or Family
I've never wanted to choose between career and family. I've been a working mother of two throughout this journey — through Covid, relocation, and rebuilding our life from scratch without grandparents nearby. So I really value being part of teams and communities that see me not only as a professional, but as a whole person — including being a mother. Juggling all these roles doesn't make me less focused on my career. If anything, it makes me feel more alive and more like myself.
▫️ Which game character best describes you on your career journey?
I'll cheat: it's the entire cast of The Sims 2. My adult life feels like an advanced version of that childhood game — keeping every bar from dropping too low: career, creativity, relationships, family, energy. I'm a generalist who moves between strategy, writing, and hands-on problem-solving, keeping everything in balance. Add raising two kids abroad while their dad also works full-time, and the Sims analogy becomes almost painfully accurate.
It's actually quite nice to discover that I never really stopped playing The Sims. The graphics just got much better.
▫️ What is your superpower?
Communication — in the broadest sense. A conversation, an article, a pitch, or turning chaotic information into a clear narrative — these are all forms of the same thing.
Communication isn't only about delivering a message; it's about relationships. Studying psychology alongside my games career showed me the overlap: both require listening, finding meaning, building connections. I realized this during a serious professional identity crisis, which is why it means so much now.
If I get to choose a superpower, I hope it's this: making things clearer and helping people understand each other a little better.
✔️ Found something in the story that resonates? Connect with Katya: @katya_sabirova | Linkedin.
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