Marie Pierre Thiam – Womenize! – Inspiring Stories
Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Marie Pierre Thiam, Founder of Linguère Gaming & Ashita. She speaks about her journey from a passion for games and African culture to creating training programs and communities that empower young people to gain digital skills, tell their own stories, and help build a more inclusive, sustainable, and globally competitive African gaming industry. Read more about Marie here:
Hi Marie! What inspired you to pursue a career in gaming, and how has your journey shaped your vision for the future of the African gaming industry?
I’ve always been passionate about video games. Growing up, they were not just entertainment for me, they were spaces of imagination, storytelling, and exploration. At the same time, I developed a deep love for African art and culture, which I see as incredibly rich and diverse, yet still largely underrepresented and underexplored in digital and interactive media.
My journey into gaming really took shape around a simple but powerful motivation: wanting to create meaningful digital experiences that truly reflect our realities and our stories. Gaming felt like the most natural medium for that, because it brings together storytelling, technology, culture, and education in a unique and impactful way.
Founding Ashita allowed me to work closely with young people, especially those who always just have access to traditional training pathways. Seeing how creative digital skills can transform confidence and open real opportunities was a turning point for me. Organizing initiatives like the Unreal Engine Developer Community Festival, and connecting with developers across the ecosystem, further revealed just how much talent exists here when people are given the right tools, visibility, and a supportive community.
All of these experiences have shaped a very clear vision of what I want the African gaming industry to become: an industry that is confident, well-structured, inclusive, and globally competitive. An industry that tells its own stories, creates real jobs, and places African creators where they belong not just as consumers, but as leaders and innovators shaping the future.
What inspires your commitment to empowering women and advancing the African gaming industry, and what lasting impact do you hope to create?
My commitment comes from lived experience. As a woman navigating a male-dominated industry, I’ve encountered barriers related to access, representation, and legitimacy. Rather than accepting those limitations, I chose to transform them into a mission.
Through Linguère Gaming, I focus on creating safe and supportive spaces where young women can discover gaming as a real career path, build confidence, and develop skills without fear of judgment or exclusion. Beyond gender, my broader work within the ecosystem is centered on inclusion, capacity building, and long-term sustainability—because an industry cannot truly grow if it continues to leave talent behind.
The impact I hope to create is lasting: a generation of women and young people who see themselves reflected in the industry, who have the skills to participate meaningfully, and who will go on to build studios, communities, and opportunities of their own. For me, success is not about individual visibility, but about collective progress.
How do you nurture local talent and promote innovation today, and what excites you most at this stage of your journey?
Today, I focus on nurturing talent through mentorship, training programs, ecosystem building, and hands-on, project-based learning. I strongly believe that innovation thrives when people are encouraged to experiment, fail safely, collaborate, and connect their creativity to real-world contexts.
Drawing from my experience as a game designer and educator, I support emerging creators not only in learning how to make games, but also in developing a critical understanding of design, impact, sustainability, and audience. I’m particularly passionate about initiatives that sit at the intersection of education, culture, and technology, and that intentionally open doors for underrepresented voices.
What excites me most at this stage of my journey is building long-term structures platforms, programs, and networks that can go beyond individual projects. I’m driven by the idea of contributing to an ecosystem where African creators can learn, create, earn, and be recognized on their own terms.