An Intro to CruzCtrl

Welcome to the site! My name is Josh (aka CruzCtrl), and this platform and brand have been an amazing way to grow and utilize my knowledge of esports as a whole. In this blog post, I hope to share a little about my background experience in this space.

The Beginning

I've been a gamer just about my entire life. As a kid, I've been really into competitive games like Counter-Strike (starting around 1.3) and spent countless hours playing the original version of Runescape. This was interesting for me as gaming was not as valued as it is today, but I am rooted in the love of the game and the many people I have met online through gaming. From having to head home early to scrim with my CS:S team to learning how economies work in MMORPGs, gaming has really stuck with me my entire life. As I continue my career in this space, I really hold those experiences as a child near to my heart and continue to implement my experience in grassroot gaming spaces into the growing esports industry.

Collegiate

My undergraduate career was waaaaay long that it should have been. Despite a few shortcomings in my academic career, my involvement in my campus community truly gave me a valuable experience to understand myself and what I really want to do with my time and career. Towards my last few years in school, I ended up getting in touch with some faculty and really engaged folks in the gaming space on campus to push forward to create a more established program for gaming. From my experience working for the school, I discovered how valuable gaming / esports is in helping students feel a sense of identity on their campuses. 

Career

I'm only a few years into my career, but I have had the opportunity of working at a livestreaming startup as a Community / Marketing Manager. This has been an amazing opportunity for me to really understand many realities of the esports and content creation ecosystem. I've been able to create many new programs to bring value to users of the platform, creating value for the numerous brands, pro teams, and organizations, and continue to really explore how to be effective in marketing and creating community in the digital world. 

The Future

I truly do live by the mantra of living life one day at a time. I see what life has offered me and truly do strive to create something of every opportunity I am given. This platform continues to provide me some flexibility in trying new things and applying the knowledge I have learned throughout my life. Getting stuff done is really something that brings fulfillment in my life, and I will continue to do what I can with what I am given to provide value to the people that I come across in my life. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, it really does mean a lot. Feel free to get in touch with me via social through the links below. 

https://twitter.com/JoshCruzCtrl
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuacruz77/