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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 
(CS:GO) has a long history of fielding women-only esports tournaments. It was one such event—the 2014 Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) tournament in Paris—that inspired Emmalee “EMUHLEET” Garrido to found an all-women CS:GO roster. Team Karma was born in 2014, which would later become Dignitas CS:GO Fe.
“We were the only team at the event that had no sponsors and no financial backing,” Emmalee Garrido told The Esports Observer. “We had to pay for our own flights and we raised some money through Twitch
Team Karma went semi-pro with Selfless Gaming in 2016, then was recruited by Dignitas in January of 2017.
Heather “SapphiRe” Garozzo, one of the original players on Team Karma, is now the manager, “team mom,” and serves as Dignitas’ vice president of marketing. Garozzo believes that CS:GO has the most competitive women’s scene of any esport.
“I believe that all-women’s tournaments are largely responsible for this,” said Garozzo. “I think by putting women esports athletes in the spotlight, it provides a relatable role model for younger women and encourages more to participate. [When you] compare that to many other esports, you don’t see females competing on a big stage. As a young woman, you may not feel inspired if you don’t see a person you can relate to.”
Credit: Dignitas
Dignitas CS:GO Fe coach David “Xp3” Garrido has been with the team since the beginning as well, and recalls how the community came together for women players.
“CS:GO was the first game to offer a tournament for women so they could compete and experience the same thing as the guys—going on stage, playing all the way through a tournament and not just playing against the guys and getting knocked out the first round,” said David Garrido. “Everyone just accepted it in the community, even early on. I think that’s why it’s the biggest game for [women] and the biggest game [overall].”
Dignitas runs squads in other games including Rocket League , SMITE , and Clash Royale . Alongside Counter Logic Gaming Red and Beşiktaş Esports, its female CS:GO roster is the only team it fields in the game.
Esports stands poised to become a $1B USD industry in 2019—82% of which will come from brand investments such as media rights, advertising, and sponsorships, according to Newzoo. Many of the brands that contribute to that figure have expressed interest in womens’ esports.
“One of the questions we get a lot from brands is, ‘what are the things they can do to help women in gaming?’,” said Carolyn “artStar” Noquez, another original member of Team Karma and current player for CS:GO Fe.
Credit: Dignitas
Intel has been one of the largest supporters of female esports, added Garozzo, calling the Intel Challenge at IEM Katowice the “most prestigious tournament in the women’s esports circuit.”
“From Dignitas’ end, our partners HyperX
For example, Dignitas CS:GO Fe has participated in the Dew Tour, an extreme sports event that features Mountain Dew’s sponsored athletes.
“We’ve collaborated with various skateboard and snowboard Olympians on various content and fan engagement initiatives,” said Garozzo.
“It’s interesting to see Mountain Dew get involved because they’ve always been an innovative brand in crazy sports,” added Noquez, noting that Mountain Dew is already considered a “gamer drink,” which brings the company’s involvement full circle.
Credit: Dignitas
In April, Mountain Dew released the first three episodes of a five-part documentary on Dignitas CS:GO Fe.
Emmalee Garrido and Noquez frequently speak at business events. Both said they would like to see more non-endemic brands aimed at women get involved in esports.
“I stream on Twitch and one of the things that I love to do is give makeup tutorials,” said Noquez. “I would love to see a brand like Sephora
Sephora entered esports in 2018 as a regional sponsor for the GIRLGAMER Esports Festival in Portugal and Benefit Cosmetics sponsored the GIRLGAMER Esports Festival in Sydney in June 2019. Both brands are subsidiaries of LVMH.
The competitive scene for women continues to expand in CS:GO and beyond. BenQ’s DIVINA initiative has been creating esports competition opportunities for women since 2011 that in addition to CS:GO have included PLAYERUNKNOWN’S UNDERGROUNDS (PUBG) and Starcraft II .
On July 5, DreamHack launched the inaugural DreamHack Showdown, an all-women CS:GO tournament. ASA Entertainment’s women’s CS:GO tournament, Super Girl Gamer Pro, will return for its third year as part of Nissan’s Super Girl Pro festival July 26-28.
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted by Graham Ashton.
