Sadia Bashir

Sadia Bashir (Punjabi and سعدیہ بشیر) is a Pakistani computer scientist, game developer, and entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of PixelArt Games Academy, the first game development academy in Pakistan.

Early life and education
Bashir was born in a family where education for women was not a priority. Bashir wanted to study at an English-language school, and she started working to fund her own education by offering tutoring session and stitching clothes. When Bashir joined her new school, she was found it difficult to adjust because of her different family background. Bashir spent time at the library where she learned more about graphic design, computers, and gaming. Bashir developed an interest in gaming when she played video games with her brother's friends.

She started designing her own games when she was 13. Bashir had to continue working in order to fund her education for her university. Now she holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science. She also holds a Masters in Computer Science with Artificial intelligence and Software Engineering, Production processes for Video Games from COMSATS university.

Career
Bashir worked as a programmer for a few years before switching to developing games. Her mentor decided to fund Bashir and her colleague to work on games, and they started work in a small basement. Bashir worked for seven years in the gaming industry. During her work, she was disappointed with the lack of innovation and the limited role of women in the gaming industry in Pakistan, so she decided to start an initiative that could address the problem. Bashir arranged meetups and conferences where she connected local developers with international developers. She also organized workshops at universities. After seeing a positive response for the work, Bashir decided to create PixelArt Games Academy. Her organization now has game developers Ken Levine (founder of Ghost story games, creative director BioShock), Rami Ismail (co-founder of Vlambeer), Brie Code (founder of Tru Luv Media), and Jonathon Chey (co-founder of former Irrational Games) on the advisory board. They provide mentorship to Pakistani developers.

Bashir's game development academy provides training, research, and development in games to students and developers in Pakistan. Her organization also addresses the gender gap in the gaming industry. Bashir's program has a requirement of at least 33% women. Her academy also offers scholarships to women. Bashir aims to bridge the gender gap in the tech industry through her initiative.

Achievements
Bashir was awarded the "Women Can Do" Award by the US Embassy at the Women Entrepreneurs Summit in 2016 for her accomplishments. The award is for the recognition of successful women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. She was in the winning team of global entrepreneurship summit 2017. She was also the first speaker from Pakistan to attend the Game Developer’s Conference, 2017 in San Francisco. Bashir is also a member of the Prime Minister's Youth Council, an initiative by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. In 2018, she was featured in Forbes 30 under 30 Asia in the enterprise technology category. The same year, she was named as a Global Gaming Citizen by Facebook Gaming at The Game Awards, held in Los Angeles. She is also the first Pakistani to present at the Game Developer's Conference.