When Geekletes moved its headquarters to DeSoto, it went by another name, and a global pandemic hadn’t shut down its 15,000 square-foot headquarters and esports arena. But the company had already amassed a wealth of knowledge about the industry.
Then, when the pandemic did hit the shores of the U.S., the esports development startup shifted its focus from helping gamers go pro to helping train nearly anyone to break into the industry, changing its name to Esposure. And with its new focus, the company is launching a new nonprofit foundation, whose first project is bringing tech and esports training to incarcerated youth in the area.
“We really just try to expose individuals to all of the opportunities available through esports, using esports as a tool,” Brittney Seals, COO at Esposure and executive director of Esposure4All, told NTX Inno.
The company’s pivot is an extension of its original mission. Working in the esports industry, taking local players pro, since it first launched in 2015, the company had amassed a wealth of knowledge and connections in the esports industry. Then COVID-19 measures made hosting tournaments at its arena. While working remotely, leadership saw a way to use the platform to help solve some of the challenges many were facing tuning into online classes.
“When you look at the education system, and how people learn now, people aren’t really taking to traditional education programs the way that they have in the past,” Seals said. “People actually want to play video games; they want to have a community… that’s how we see this being the perfect vehicle.”
Now, as Esposure, the startup bills itself as an “education-to-entertainment ecosystem.” Focused on experiential learning, the company uses esports to teach students about the tech, production, marketing, management, and, of course, about the competition side of the industry, giving them the skills to work in the world of esports and beyond.
“What we were doing before… we had picked up so much knowledge, so we really wanted to be able to find a way to give so many more opportunities to other individuals,” Seals said. “It’s way more technology-driven, it’s way more education-driven, and we really focus more on the whole ecosphere and the pipeline to getting individuals to their aspirations in whatever that may be, even if it doesn’t end at esports.”
With the expanded focus, the company is launching a charitable foundation, aptly called Esposure4All. For its first initiative, the foundation kicking off a fundraising effort to help create an esports learning center at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s Roanoke facility, McFadden Ranch. Seals said the foundation is hoping to start on the project in the next two months, though she notes that the date is dependent on funding.
“They want to make sure that their re-entry into the public is positive, and… they also enter into the general public with skills that they can take into their careers,” Seals said.
Built from the ground up by the youth at McFadden Ranch, Esposure4All is hoping to give them training in everything from construction to wiring. Once it’s fully built out, the center will have six gaming setups, complete with equipment donated by gaming equipment company HyperX, which sponsors several professional esports teams. Then, with courses provided by Esposure, the youth will have access to training in all aspects of esports.
“They’ll really be running it, and we’re going to take more of a backseat once that training is done because we really want them to learn,” Seals said. “That way, after they leave the center, they’re going to be able to have that skill, and their resume is going to be that much more solidified because they’re not going to be just sitting in a classroom.”
The McFadden Ranch project is just the first in a line of other initiatives the foundation has planned. Overall, Esposure4All is focused on education. Seals said future initiatives would be aimed at school and other community efforts to raise awareness about educational gaps in the school system and get parents on board with seeing esports as a path to career opportunities rather than just a game. It’s also planning to panels with big-name players in the esports and adjacent industries.
“We see esports as a great leveler when it comes to opportunities and education because after COVID, whatever that means… education is going to be drastically changed, and we see esports as being a great vehicle for revolutionizing that and to getting education back up to a place and a language to where the students can actually understand and take to it,” Seals said.
For its part, Esposure’s 24-person team is looking to expand on past successes, recently helping two players get drafted into the NBA2K league and another student transition into esports production from wedding photography. It’s also hoping its mission and location in the southern part of the region will help lower entry barriers and diversify the esports industry.
“Our goal is really just to make sure that we are letting people know about this opportunity,” Seals said. “We’re trying to say it as loud as possible.”
