EMUHLEET on Riot vs Valve, Nursing, and Breaking Barriers for Female Players

5-Time World Champion Emmalee "EMUHLEET" Garrido joins the show to talk about breaking barriers for the next generation of female esports players, why Riot's hands-on approach to VALORANT has been refreshing compared to Valve and the similarities between nursing and being an IGL. 

Loosely Scripted is a regular podcast from Nerd Street Gamers talking with top players and streamers in all the major esports. 

Full transcription for this episode below:

Hello and welcome into loosely scripted a podcast from nerd street gamers. I'm your host Mitch Reames. And this is actually my first episode of this podcast where we're going to be talking to some of the biggest names in eSports and gaming around all the top titles. We've got a fantastic guest for y'all to kick off my time hosting this show. Our first guest is Emily Garrido, but you probably know her as Emma leet. Emily is a true eSports veteran. She's been competing eSports tournaments since 2014. it burst on the stage with the electronic sports World Cup in Paris. Previously competing at local tourneys. Emily brought together a squad at the team paid their own way to the event, making it all the way to the Grand Finals in the female event, says that she's gonna be five time world champion in CSGO. It could be absolutely dominating Iam canovee says female events since 2017. She's beside the Dignitas, where she's the captain of the Cisco and Valerie Teves. Oh, she's become one of the most successful female eSports pros of all time. She's also been working as a nurse by day well gaming by night. It's not an easy schedule to hold for anyone, much less a five time world champ. Emily, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me.

So I can only imagine this last year has been insane. On the gaming side, you're the captain of a brand new esport team, a team competing in a brand new esport I should say. And on the nursing side, we're dealing with the largest public health crisis of the last century with the pandemic. Have you had a chance to breathe it all through last year?

Well, fortunately for me, I, I'm only doing per diem nursing, so I'm actually just doing full time gaming. But I do have so many friends that are working during these times who I absolutely love and support and adore and just talking with them. Like it's making me exhausting. Like, so many of them are just constantly working and constantly trying to put in a way to help and um, yeah, I just, I'm just so glad that we have so many wonderful nurses that are there during these times. I think we're all so thankful to have the nursing profession. And that's it any point, you know, much less a pandemic, nurses are always under appreciated or under.

They always deserve our appreciation for the for the role they take on and in this last year, it's taking on that another level of importance. And again, another level of stress probably on the same time.

As someone working per diem, how have you seen the pandemic impact the profession through your friends?

Well, so, so I used to work at a rehab center, where I would help people who were struggling with addiction mainly. And so my co workers and I are still really good friends. So I was talking to them, how about how it's going. And it's it's extremely difficult in their particular field, because, um, contact and like communication is super important. And having to follow all these precautions for someone that's already struggling with their mental health is kind of a scary thing at first. But through through the month, we've slowly developed a way to kind of adapt in a sense. So at first, it was a little bit worrisome, just because of the field that me and my friends do. But luckily for us, we have to be able to adapt in any type of situation. And that can apply to gaming too.

Well, I was gonna bring that up because I was thinking about it. And you talk about as as a nurse, you have to make decisions quickly and confidently. And it definitely feels like there's a crossover between that and the skills you need to be an effective itl in a game like cs go or Valerie, can you talk a little bit about how those skills actually do translate? Yeah, well, I used to be the lead nurse of where I was working. So there I definitely acquired a lot of leadership skills, having to think fast and adapt fast. And all of my nursing skills in this sense is definitely something I applied into leading my team and eSports. You know, like, you have to think about as a nurse in your environment. It's one time I had a patient who had overdosed, so I had to think super fast, because my next decision was absolutely crucial for this patient's life. So what I did during that moment, instead of panicking and freaking out, I had to just do some deep breathing, gather everything that I'm confident in of my learning and my skills and save this patient with my co workers and applying that to endgame. You know, sometimes we have a bunch of utility that's coming at us. We have a team that could be rushing into us and being able to think fast and not panic in this situation is what's going to make or break winning this round.
Absolutely. It's it's something that I don't think people would know about having not worked in the

Two things is sort of just how complicated that role of an eye GL can be. And how similar it can be to to really high stress professions that that make you think on your feet like that. Yeah, and for me, honestly, like I, I used to work a job before where I was working as a waitress at a slower restaurant. And for me, I really think like the highest stress is fun. Like, I enjoy it. I think that is exciting. And I enjoy the challenge and being able to

kind of be a shoulder to lean on for my co workers, for my teammates, in that sense to rely on in a certain situation is exciting for me, I absolutely love what I do

That's amazing. So when were you able to make that transition to full time gaming? Was that a relatively recent thing over the pandemic, where you're like, Okay, I got to make a choice between these two things, or, you know, at what point in your career, were you able to be like, okay, I can start making gaming my full time career. Yeah, that's, that's a really good question. Because I really, I love nursing, it's something that I just love to do, especially in my field, like, I just have a really good connection with my patients at my rehab. But making the decision of just going part time and focusing full time on gaming was so hard for me. But I had to do it, essentially, because I started having to request two weeks off of work, because me and my teammates are traveling so much, we were traveling to tournaments, you know, all over the world, we had to take two weeks off to go to Europe, compete in these events. And I just felt like, it really wasn't fair to my patients. My boss was super cool about it, everyone was so supportive, but I wanted to give my patients the best healing process that they could get. And I definitely had a really good connection with so many of them too. And I just felt like, you know, it wasn't fair to them, for me leaving for me to go play in a tournament. So that's when I decided that it was probably best to step down No matter how hard that decision was.

Absolutely. Do you still stay in touch with some patients and former patients that you build those connections with? Unfortunately, we're not really allowed to, you know, yeah, it's, I really wish I could because man, I just only want the best for them. But they will always leave me like these cute little cards and notes. And you know, I kept some of them on the side. And I I wish I could connect with them. But we're not allowed to.
So switching gears a little bit as this transition to from Cisco to valor in it's happened, one of the really cool things to come out of it has been a really that treads the tradition of female tournaments that happens in CS GO expanding to valerate as well with VCT game changers and a lot of top tier orgs. Citing teams, I was just going through them all before this. And so you've got your team switching over you got CLG red switching over c nine white TSM. Eg he's got a mixed roster and Genji just signed a new team they announced this week. Why is it so important to have those household names in eSports orgs, those tier one orgs searching for inciting female tolerant invalid?

Well, I think for us, in general, my team switching from CS to valorant was a very smart decision. Because valorant and Riot really listened to the community. They're constantly updating things on what the players asked just to make the game better to make it more of a competitive environment. And I really felt like five never did that. And I started playing Counter Strike 1.6. So I've been playing for about 15 or so years now. And I definitely know that the community is what made the game what it is, we are the ones that hosted our own tournaments, and just really grew with scenes within ourself for for valve not to expand and ask for a request is kind of a little bit of a slap in the face. So switching over to valent I think is a very smart decision because look at how big the game is already. We have these huge name organizations like you said, already signing. And so to me that only confirms that I made the right decision to switch with my team. This game is a fun challenge. It's not as easy as Yes, in a sense to where I could do the same strategy that I did five years ago and see us and it work you know, and we're in Fowler at this games, adapting things are changing. There's different agents different ability cops are so many different things you can do. And we've really enjoyed this challenge me and my teammates. So yeah, we're loving valorant so far

It's a really amazing thing to see so many organizations investing in the women eSports scene. I think it's absolutely awesome to see and you mentioned valve, I mean, notoriously completely hands off with everything in CS and

basically eSports in general besides ti, they're just like, Hey, you know what? Yeah, you all do you. And then Riot notoriously hands on building the League of Legends eSports ecosystem, especially as a female player in this game, does that hands off nature of valve? Did that cause issues at times when it comes to things like moderation? like making sure tios are creating safe spaces? In a lot of these cases? Is that something that you think there's going to be a difference with, with Riot led events versus valve? A valve title?

I think that's a difficult question to answer. Because when when CSX first came out, we were kind of living in a different time, a much different time than we are now. I used to be a closet gamer. I didn't tell anyone that I played video games when I was younger, because like, I didn't want to be perceived as a loser or nerd. You know, that was just a stereotype of people. But like video games back then. And same with being a woman, like, not many girls did play video games back when I first started. So it's a hard question to answer because it's such a different time we're living in right now. There's so many women gamers now before there was a lot of fans, but now we have female competitors with people that want to compete. And that's what I've always strive for with my team. So this is a great, a great time to be here. But I guess along the way, there were so many amazing female rappers, representatives that helped pave that way. Like my teammates. We did panels, we did charities just talking about it. Um, and yeah, it's only right that right, it is listening to like, hey, there's a lot of women that want to compete. And that just shows it because there's so many girls that are signing up. So just a different time and a good time right now.

It certainly is. And as you talk to some of the young women that are that are competing in this is there, an air of mentorship at all that comes with that. It's like, Hey, this is what it's like to compete at these these top level events, because I talked to see nines. Mel, who's one of the best young female players out there right now. And she mentioned players like you like Miss Harvey, like Potter that helped open those doors and paved the way for girls like her to be able to compete at the top level. Yeah, I mean, well, when I first started playing, too, I didn't have a female gaming role model to look up to. So I wanted to kind of do essentially, like, go through all the obstacles and learn how to beat those obstacles so that once I made it towards the end, I can teach ways. So women's in my panels and stream or whatever, to not have to go through all that hard stuff.

And so now that we've kind of paved the way almost we have these amazing teams like Sina and Mel's team that are doing so good. They there's not as many obstacles now to be a professional eSports player with valor at least. And so for all of us, people who started in the beginning, we we've kind of broke those barriers early on, and hopefully made it easier and create a pathway for people to follow a little bit better.

I don't think there's any debate that it has gotten a lot easier and valor it in particular being you bring up the the change in error. And that's a really good point, because bellerin is the first new major esport said Overwatch I guess, depending on if you call each new Call of Duty title and new esport, I wouldn't. But it's kind of the first new major esport right. And that helps reduce that barrier to entry. And it's also the first new major esport to come out in this era where it's a lot more socially acceptable to game and we've seen that have an impact because the new game comes out and suddenly there's all these female players in a way that other eSports didn't usually have at the start of it. It developed over time. So

is that because it's a new game? Is that because of what riots doing is that because of the era that we're in, how do you see that? Or is it just a combination of all things that we're seeing this influx of female talent? Definitely a combination of all things. I mean, Riot has dated it right? They're so smart and what they've been doing, they've been kind of just sitting back a bit for a few years and just kind of studying and watching what works doesn't work what people need and don't need. So a combination of everything.
I think Counter Strike had the most women

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That we're competing. And that's because we had women only tournaments, not to say like people don't know me, my teammates only played a woman tournaments two or three times a year. Other than that we played in mixed tournaments played an online League, so only two or three times a year. But the idea is having these women tournaments to get more women that are a little bit uncomfortable, and don't have as much experience as my team to just get out there and get started. And that's what valor and Riot are doing in creating tournaments, like with nerd Street, the VCT game changers, so many teams are just getting that experience and forming and learning how it how it is. And

it's just so amazing to see because this is something I always wanted when I first started. And I think the idea is eventually to not have women turn with then we can all you know, it's just to get started just to get more women that are playing. So it's exciting. Yeah, that's absolutely the long term goal. And we're already starting to see I remember see nine

took down renegades, I believe it was in a qualifier. So we're already starting to see those renegades is a solid squad there. So we're already starting to see those mixed tournaments come into fruition and start to see real success on that front. And the female tournaments help provide that platform for now. But yeah, long down the line, it'd be awesome to have eSports is amazing, because it's this level playing field between genders. And we need to do more to to help make their even split between genders at the top level as well.

Which brings us to the next thing, what still needs to be done better to increase female representation in eSports as a whole, you know, Valerie's doing a good job of it, but maybe more of an anomaly in the Cisco world than in some other eSports, where you just don't see very many women competing, oh, what is eSports as a whole need to do better to increase female representation?

Well, I live answer this question to be for the same to kind of support each other to like, you know, a white knight, it became a term for anyone that wanted to help somebody that was like being bullied. And I think it is so dumb, and I hate it. And I've seen on social media actually lately that a lot of professional big athletes are talking about this that like, it's not okay, you're not a white knight, it's just not right. And so I think these type of discussions is what we've always wanted, especially from like top streamers, they have a huge fan base. So if their fans see them being supportive and not being toxic, then naturally the rest of the community is going to follow this type of behavior. So this talks and discussions on social media is a really good start to kind of elevate the way that we're already going right now. But I, I feel a pathway for everybody just rising and everyone just becoming as one and that's what makes gaming to me. so unique is so many people from so many different places can connect. It's one of the most beautiful things about it. And it's I think we all love gaming for that reason for a variety of reasons. And yes, seeing the conversations change and seeing those dialogues happening from the biggest names of the community is is awesome to see and is

a like he said, a really important step in towards making this a better thing. TWITCH chats always gonna be a little bit toxic. But if we can, if we could change the percentage of toxicity to not toxicity that's, that's great, right.

So I want to switch up a little bit, we have seven questions that were asking every game or just to get an idea of their complete background in video games, how they reach the point that they're at today. So you mentioned that you've been a gamer for a long, long time and a closeted gamer as you described it. What was the first video game you remember play?

My first game I remember playing his golden eye on the Nintendo 64 I just have I don't remember much from when I was younger, but I do remember specifically playing golden I mean, my brother would argue very often on his term it was the play and just really good times that that game. Amazing game my friends. I never owned that one and whenever I go to play with my friends, they just smoke me because they could practice on it so much and I was so I've ever getting very frustrated. Like it was cuz I was like, I was like I did this game. My parents wouldn't buy it for me. Oh, oh. Alright, so how about your favorite video game vlog type CS fire. But what is your favorite video game and why?

I mean, my all time favorite game has to be CS because I've played it for 15 years, maybe more. I've met so many incredible friends from Counter Strike. I've met lifelong friends, my teammates. They were brought

To my to my wedding, I met my husband from Counter Strike so many great memories from CES. I think this game is just my favorite. It's the funnest to play. I lasted that long Counter Strike. But right now my favorite games

I'm passionate about it because it's, it's such a fun challenge. It's it's a fun change. You know, I just want to cook I'm always thinking, How can I get better? How can I improve? So those are my two favorite. Like they're a game you played for 15 years I think deserves the spot just purely on like the time alone.

But yeah, the valorant has been such a nice, I think for a lot of people who are playing CS. It's like, like you said, you can run the same strategy you're running five years ago and Valerie offers that change and that depth to the game that Valve never was really going to change it because CS is a great game, but valor it offers that extra level of strategy that I think a lot of CS players a lot of veteran CS players were really looking for.

So that I imagined CS was also your first competitive video game, although I guess you could call golden diverse your brother a pretty competitive experience. Oh, that was a very competitive.

did I win? Probably not.
My older brother, actually, you know, fun fact. A lot of people don't know my first competitive game. I played Medal of Honor one time online in the league. That kinda is my friend.
Medal of Honor. Interesting. Okay, yeah.
Then how about the handle? I mean, Emily, very similar to Emily is there when did that develop that you wanted to go by Emma leet.
I wanted a way to kind of combine my name with something. And I don't know if you know, elite talk is some people don't know, at least talk is. I think I've heard of it. But please explain. So gosh, this is so hard to explain. So lead talk is kind of where we used to be my friends used to talk to each other without using actual letters.
They would use like numbers like little slashes, little dashes and create words from not word. So that's kind of how I decided to combine my name with a lead. So that's really mo 1337 just kind of a way to combine my name
classic, I love it. I always find it so so interesting to do you talk to players and they're like yeah, I didn't necessarily realize this is what everybody would call me for the next 10 years of my life or or longer.
I talked to a sudah and he named him his character after Anna Bay cuz some other character he wanted was taken he's like yeah, I probably wouldn't have kept this because I don't really watch that animate anymore. But he knows me as soon as so it's I find it so funny that people just kind of make that decision it's just like oh now this is your your new name in this world in this professional world forever
would you change it if you could?
Like if it wasn't like a huge process? No, probably because I just I wasn't very good before this like my very first name was Angel war. And that is not very creative, I think but Emily it was it was stupid.
Hey, go it takes it takes a few iterations before you come up with the right gamertags
How about in your free time who is your favorite gamer to watch I can be on your team can be on your org can be invalidated or can be completely separate. Who do you like to watch in your free time?
To be quite honest, I don't have much free time our like I

I schedule my day to the tee even when I need to go shower like I have my whole day scheduled. And it keeps me sane because I'm so busy. So what I do really enjoy to watch on twitch is actually nerd straight because they're constantly hosting tournaments for Valerie. So this is my way to kind of chill watch the stream but also, you know, get some inspiration for my team. So I watch that a lot. I we appreciate that. Of course. We love that people are watching it and I was just talking just published an article with renegades Roy has been killing our summer champs lately. And he talks about how the meta is really evolving in those tier two scenes in a really interesting way as and so he feels like there's a lot of innovation happening in those tournaments right now. And I think that's cool that other people are watching it as well trying to take notes on what's working what's not.

So I know we're running out of time here. This is my favorite of all the questions and I think it's so addressed because you can take it in a wide variety of areas.
If you could be any video game character, who would it be? And why?
I will have to say, probably sage. Okay, and I don't play many. It's funny. I'm a gamer, but I don't play many video games. I just stick to like, what I know with fps
with Sage because like, I love being a nurse, and I wish so badly I could be a sage to where I could just heal people that are struggling or in pain. I just want to be like, yo, yo, you know, like a sage. And also, I think she could be like a real life. Elsa with her little ice. Build a little snowman here, you know, that'd be fun.

Yeah, if only heli people was as easy as just hitting the button or using it all, you know. Yep, I wish. Well, Emily, thank you so much for joining this, I appreciate you being the very first guest on this podcast that I've hosted. So I you set a lofty standard that everyone else will have to live up to and I appreciate you coming.
Thank you so much. To our audience. If you enjoyed this show, we'll have a lot more episodes coming for you soon, we're gonna be talking a bit about valerate of course being nurtured gamers. We're also gonna be talking about Smash Bros, CES Overwatch, all the good stuff, trying to talk to people from all the DOP eSports and really just get a wide look at the esports industry. And then if you want to learn more about Emily, I'll be publishing a story. You'll probably recognize some of her quotes if you listen to this episode. But I'll be publishing a story with those quotes and a lot more details about her story. And being an absolute champion in CSGO, Cisco and now in valorant, as well. So Emily, thank you once again. It was a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you