As LSU alumna Sasha Sullivan improves at the video game that gave her a career, she is breaking gender barriers within the "Super Smash Bros. Melee" and greater esports community.
Sullivan, who goes by the name "Magi" within "Smash Bros. Melee," placed seventh overall at the Summit Tournament in December. Additionally, she ranked as a B-tier player in Panda Global’s Melee Contenders Tier List, which effectively ranks her as a top-20 player in the world.
However, Sullivan stands out due to her unique position within "Super Smash Bros. Melee" and esports as a transgender woman from Louisiana. She explained how she had a lot of pride for the Louisiana "Melee" community, especially since the people who taught her the game came from the community.
“'Melee' is a very region-based game, so I try to make the people in our scene proud,” Sullivan said. “I strive to represent them in the best way I can.”
When it comes to her standing out as a transgender female in a male-dominated space, Sullivan expressed appreciation that her local scene accepted her as it helped her focus on the game.
“As a newer player, I did struggle with the idea that maybe I wouldn’t be able to be successful in the community due to the lack of other trans players in the scene at the time,” Sullivan said. “I thought it was maybe an indication that you can’t find success in the scene as a trans player.”
Sullivan said watching other transgender players within the esports community such as "Street Fighter" player Ricki Ortiz and "StarCraft II" player Sasha Hostyn, known as Scarlett helped change her perspective.
Sullivan also considers herself lucky, as she said many women dealt with less safe conditions than what is around today. She also said she felt glad that communities are becoming more aware of the steps necessary to become safer and more accessible.
Sullivan discussed what tournaments have taught her, as she keyed in on her preparation habits. Sullivan ran a 10-day streaming marathon to raise money so she could attend The Summit Tournament, but the marathon led to sleep deprivation. Sullivan said she felt prepared to compete regardless, but the experience reinforced her need for good sleep habits.
“Tournaments are always difficult because you will be playing under conditions where you may be uncomfortable, but it’s still your responsibility as a competitor to try and set yourself up to be the most comfortable you can be,” Sullivan said.
However, one consequence of Sullivan’s competitive success comes from the community she built. Her Twitter, @SSBMagi, accrued about 23,000 followers. She also regularly streams on her Twitch, SSBMagi, which has around 19,500 followers. Her social media presence allows her to make a living off of her content.
“Once you establish an audience, it’s pretty easy to snowball it with small stuff like jokes and short form video pieces,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan also described keeping her ego in check when it comes to watching her followers grow on social media. Despite the growth, she said the number does not feel bigger.
“I have tried my best not to reinforce the ‘bigger number does not mean better person’ idea, which has made it a lot easier to see the bigger social media presence as an objective thing I’m just trying to work on for my job,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan talked about the balance between content creation and competing. Though she said she feels she mainly focuses on competing, she also explained that competing felt far too frugal to actually make a career out of it.
“At the end of the day, content creation is my job and "Melee" is supplementary to that,” Sullivan said. “The teams that sign you as a player are usually looking for you to produce content more than get results.”
Despite Sullivan’s success, she never felt like a role model. She said people told her previously that she acts as a role model for them but she finds the idea hard to process. Despite these feelings though, she's still happy to take on that role for others.
“I do strive to inspire hope in others, so I think I try my best to act as a good role model to the people who see me as one."
