Celebrating people as their genuine selves has been the mission of Kevin and Karl Allen’s joint business E.I. Games an award-winning game-based learning company based in Miami, Florida.
Kevin Allen has his background in the advertising industry, while Karl Allen is a filmmaker and artist, and these two worlds have joined in creating Business Games that are grounded in Emotional Intelligence (the E.I. in E.I. Games), and are used in universities like Duke and ASU, and companies such as Google and Cisco.
Kevin Allen has done extensive community work at both the local and national level, including his former board role with the Names Project Foundation (The AIDS Quilt), while Karl has engaged and nurtured the local miami queer and drag community over the past few years.
Together at E.I. Games they are supporting local trans and queer voices and giving them a wider platform to discuss issues of discrimination and bias in the workplace.
As members themselves of the local Miami LGBTQIA+ community, the E.I. Games team has been able to bring together a diverse group of people to contribute to their newest venture, the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Game designed to promote successful diversity, inclusion and equity practices in the workplace.
In this game-based learning tool, not only will players hear the voices of the local scene, but they will also see their faces and get to know them in filmed sections throughout the game.
Great care has been taken to respectfully represent each person and give them space within this project for as Kevin Allen always says, “Be the person that you are as you are.”
It might be asked how a game can contribute to efforts in diversity, inclusion, and equity, however anyone familiar with the local LGBTQIA+ community would understand how play can be blended with necessary conversations important to the community itself, and this is the energy and perspective the game was built on.
From performance artists, panelists, nightlife hosts, and working artists the community is always finding new ways of expression, modes of communication and deepening discussions on inclusivity. It seems the community has found a natural ally in E.I. Games.
Despite the talent being local, these voices are contributing to a discussion of issues faced in workplace settings around the world that do not only affect LGBTQIA+ folks, but folks who are POC, differently abled, immigrants, and other categories of people who suffer from bias and different forms of discrimination. It’s a tall order but one that the local scene together with E.I. Games have taken on.