When recent Creative Media Industries Institute graduate Jeremy Ozulumba (B.A. Game Design, 2024) talks about his career path, one theme comes up again and again: opportunity built through connection.
That ethos was on full display last December, as Ozulumba helps market and support a major collegiate esports tournament held in conjunction with Anime Weekend Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center. The AWA X ECAC Collegiate Invitational, which ran from Dec. 18–21, brought together esports teams from across the region to compete in Marvel Rivals and League of Legends, with $1,000 prize pools and free entry for participants.
Ozulumba’s role in the tournament grew directly out of an internship he secured while still a student at Georgia State—an opportunity facilitated through CMII. During his final year, Ozulumba interned under Melvin Breeden, CEO of Radar Live, gaining hands-on experience in marketing, live events, and youth-focused media initiatives. That relationship led to a paid opportunity this fall, when Breeden invited Ozulumba back to assist with marketing and on-site coordination for the esports invitational.
“CMII helped me take my first step,” Ozulumba said. “That internship didn’t just give me experience—it gave me connections I’m still working with after graduation.”
Now back in Atlanta after graduating in May 2024 and completing National Guard basic training, Ozulumba is using marketing as a way to re-enter the creative industries and expand his professional network. For the tournament, he is supporting promotional outreach, assisting with event setup, and working on-site during the first two days of competition—gaining valuable exposure to large-scale live events and esports production.
Beyond esports marketing, Ozulumba is also developing a longer-term vision shaped by his experience as a student creator. He is in the early stages of building an independent digital platform designed to showcase—and potentially monetize—student and recent-graduate creative work, including video games, films, and music.
Alongside this broader vision, Ozulumba continues to develop his own work as a game designer. While a student at Georgia State, he helped prototype Electro Ball, a 3D platformer created through CMII’s PantherDev Club in which players dodge obstacles to reach the end of each level. He now plans to bring the game to completion, using the experience to better understand the challenges student creators face when moving projects beyond the classroom.
The idea grew from his own experience navigating the transition from student projects to professional visibility. “Student work has real value—it just needs better platforms to carry it forward beyond college,” he explained. “This is about giving those projects a place to live, so they can be seen, shared, and taken seriously.”
Inspired by programs like GameHeads, which support young developers through collaborative production and public showcases, Ozulumba envisions a multidisciplinary space that blends elements of existing platforms—without forcing emerging creators to compete immediately in crowded mainstream marketplaces. His goal is to build the platform from the ground up, giving creators more control over their work while addressing challenges around copyright, originality, and sustainability.
For Ozulumba, both the esports tournament and the platform idea point to the same core motivation: creating access. Whether helping students compete on a national esports stage or imagining new ways for creative work to reach audiences, he sees marketing and community-building as essential tools.
“None of this happens alone,” he said. “You find your people, you build something together, and you keep going.”
As Ozulumba’s journey shows, CMII internships don’t end at graduation—they often serve as the launch point for professional opportunities, creative experimentation, and new pathways into the media industries.
To learn more about the AWA X ECAC Collegiate Invitational, click here.
