Top 100 Women in Games: Flavia Timiani-Dean

Flavia Timiani-Dean’s route into the games industry came via her language degree, which landed her a place working in the kids and educational division for the CD-I at Philips Media Interactive.

From there, she moved briefly to SCEE, before spending ‘many happy years’ at Eidos working on iconic IP including Tomb Raider, Championship Manager, Hitman and Deus Ex – to name but a few.

In 2007 came the opportunity to work at Disney in their interactive group.

Timiani-Dean says: My very first job ever was working at Disneyland Paris, so it felt like I was coming back rather than starting a new role.”

Timiani-Dean says despite her two decades contributing to major game releases, her role at Disney has offered her some of the most challenging and complex work of her career.

This includes her and her team’s efforts on Disney Infinity, of which she says: The thrill of bringing together childhood favourites with Marvel superheroes has been amazing.

My team are a small part of a very big team, but I can say that it’s my team that bring the game to other languages and that makes me very proud.”

It’s this thrill that Timiani-Dean enjoys about the games industry, with the constant momentum of the sector keeping her continually engaged.

There is always something new, the pace of technology means that you have to engage and keep pace,” she says.

Yes, it can be stressful and full on at times, but it is never ever boring – and we are in entertainment; that is pretty special, especially at a company like Disney.”