Established in May 2020, The Black Collegiate Gaming Association (BCGA) is chaired by Founder and chairwoman & two-time HBCU grad, Keshia Walker. Keshia started BCGA after 22 years of successfully running an award-winning agency, Insights Marketing, that specializes celebrity alliances and partnerships, HBCU initiatives, event management & staffing, diversity, equity & inclusion consulting & experiential marketing. Insights has worked with the best in the entertainment with the likes of Beyoncé and Magic Johnson, to powerhouses in the corporate segment such as Pepsi, Bristol Myers Squibb, COVERGIRL, DIAGEO and Victoria’s Secret. The Black Collegiate Gaming Association is a double minority owned, collegiate esports and gaming company with the ultimate goal to create a pipeline for black and women of color college students to gain corporate roles within the gaming and tech industries. BCGA specializes in esports and gaming education, producing professional gaming summits and conferences, connecting student talent with top companies for internship & career opportunities, sourcing corporate partners for scholarship and mentorship opportunities to the HBCU colleges and students that are formally known as charter member institutions of BCGA. BCGA is also helping each of its 16 member HBCUs build gaming & innovation labs on their campus to help its students gain competitive skills for esports tournaments on a national and global scale. Keshia created history by becoming the first African-American woman to own a collegiate esports and gaming company in America. Her efforts to diversify this space includes The production of Black College Con and Women Got Game Summits where she connects both Black and women of color college students to great women and Black leaders in the industry through panel discussions, meet and greet career fairs and esports tournaments. In the short time that BCGA has been around, Walker has managed to secure partnerships with industry leaders such as PlayStation, GameStop, McDonald’s, HyperX Gaming, Intel Corporation and Riot Games amongst others. As BCGA continues to thrive and build, leveraging key connections with HBCUs and strategic corporate partners is integral to its growth and paying it forward.