Cheryl Platz is a world-renowned designer, creative director, teacher, and author whose work on emerging technologies has reached over one billion customers across multiple industries, from best-selling video games to the largest cloud platforms in the world. Past employers include Griptonite Games (Disney Friends), Electronic Arts/Maxis (The Sims franchise), Riot Games (League of Legends, VALORANT, Arcane), Scopely (MARVEL Strike Force), Microsoft (Azure, Cortana), Amazon (Alexa, Echo Look, Echo Show), Disney Parks (PhotoPass), the Gates Foundation, and MAYA Design.
In 2024, Cheryl joined The Pokémon Company International as Creative Director, Game Studio, with an initial focus on Pokémon TCG Live. Cheryl's first book, Design Beyond Devices: Creating Multimodal, Cross-Device Experiences was published by Rosenfeld Media in 2020.
As a video game director, designer, writer, producer, or voice talent, Cheryl has contributed to or supported shipped titles including The Sims: Makin' Magic (PC), The Sims 2 (PC, DS), The Sims Bustin' Out (GBA/Console), The Urbz: Sims in the City (GBA/DS), Disney Friends (DS), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (GBA), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (GBA/DS), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (DS), BATTLETECH (2018, PC), League of Legends (PC), Teamfight Tactics (PC/Mobile), VALORANT (PC), MARVEL Strike Force (Mobile), and most recently Pokémon TCG Live (PC/Mobile). Her popular Game Dev Diaries TikTok series was viewed hundreds of thousands of times with over 30,000 followers at @theCherylPlatz.
As principal and owner of design education company Ideaplatz, LLC, Cheryl has presented her sought-after talks and workshops to global audiences in over 15 countries and five continents.
Cheryl holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University and is an adjunct faculty member of Carnegie Mellon's Master of Entertainment Industry Management program at Heinz College where she teaches the craft of video games. You can find her on Bluesky and Instagram at @funnygodmother, follow her on Medium or LinkedIn, or learn more about all of her work at http://cherylplatz.com.
