Samantha Wright
Sam “Tech Girl” Wright is a South African woman making a global impact in a male dominated industry. She holds a BA Journalism Degree majoring in Politics from the University of Johannesburg as well as a BA Honours Degree in Media Studies from UNISA. She started her career as a sub-editor in the News Room at YFM before transitioning into esports – online competitive video games. Where she became one of the leading shoutcasters globally for Counter-Strike, PUBG and FIFA.
Sam “Tech Girl” Wright is a leading esports shoutcaster and host globally. 5 years ago, in South Africa, esports (competitive online video games) was not even an industry. Yet she began to do video content around South African esports and soon started hosting and commentating local esports events. Esports is a multi-billion dollar industry globally and she was soon spotted by international esports commentators who suggested her to global companies. For the last five years she has travelled around the world commentating on some of the biggest tournaments and events. She is one of only a few South Africans to do this. It is also further impressive because she is a woman in an extremely male dominated environment.
Not only is she now a leading broadcaster in esports but she has also used her network to further improve competitive gaming for women in South Africa, introducing a host of local events which she funded and ran her self to promote women in the developing scene. These include the ASUS Valkyrie Challenge – a Counter-Strike event for women teams as well as Play FIFA Like a Girl. A FIFA event aimed at creating a safe space for women to learn to compete in FIFA. After the first Play FIFA Like A Girl event, one of the ladies who attended went on to compete and win a spot at an international bootcamp in Zurich.
Tech Girl is not only a global esports broadcaster but also an esports social media influencer, contributing to a host of global publications and featured on main stream media.
Sam “Tech Girl” Wright has worked on three global events for the biggest titles in the world. These include:
The last ever CS:GO Major in May 2023 – she was the desk host for the Blast.TV Paris Major
She was an interviewer and reporter for the FIFAe World Cup in 2022.
She was the host for the PUBG Global Championship in 2022.
Some of her other events include:
– 2021 Red Bull MEO World Finals PUBG Mobile Desk Host
– 2021 Free Fire Europe Pro League Season 2 Desk Host
– 2021 Dreamhack Open Fortnite European Championships – Desk Host
– 2020 ESL Mobile European Championships desk host
– 2020 Red Bull Hit the Streets host: Tekken and Street Fighter
– 2020 Red Bull MEO South African finals shoutcaster: PUBG Mobile
– 2020 ESL Mobile Open European Finals Desk Host: Autochess, Asphalt 9, Clash of Clans, PUBG Mobile
– 2020 Toyota Esports Challenge shoutcaster: FIFA, WRC9 and ecycling
– 2019 PUBG Europe League Phase 3 stage host.
– 2019 PUBG Europe League Desk Host for Phase 2 and Phase 3 Promotions Week.
– 2019 Nintendo Smash Ball Cup Europe and Splatoon 2 European Championship Host
– 2018 Overwatch Contenders Europe desk host: Season 1 and Season 2.
– Stage host for the 2017 Crossfire All Stars International Event in China.
– Hosted two Esports events on the ESL Alternative Stage at Gamescom 2017.
Not only is she now a leading broadcaster in esports but she has also used her network to further improve competitive gaming for women in South Africa, introducing a host of local events which she funded and ran herherself to promote women in the developing scene. These include the ASUS Valkyrie Challenge – a Counter-Strike event for women teams as well as Play FIFA Like a Girl. A FIFA event aimed at creating a safe space for women to learn to compete in FIFA. After the first Play FIFA Like A Girl event, one of the ladies who attended went on to compete and win a spot at an international bootcamp in Zurich.
She also uses her voice to raise awareness about organ donation and rare diseases.