Community Spotlight: Michele Morrow
One fateful day in 2007, Michele Morrow experienced an accident that almost killed her. For the following year-and-a-half, she lived in a neck brace, spending long hours on a couch or in a hospital awaiting surgeries and looking for things to do that might keep her away from the brink of despair.
It was then that her boyfriend gave her a copy of World of Warcraft, and everything changed for Michele. She played, and she met people online, and she found herself swept away into the sorts of game experiences that we all know and cherish. She also found communities that included players who were sick or injured. Together with others in World of Warcraft, she found healing.
Once she was able again, Michele began writing for HelloGiggles as their first video game writer. She would go on to for Nerdist.com. BiteSize TV took notice of Michele’s talent. She soon began hosting her own series, a geek talk show called “Chaotic Awesome” that attracted guests like Chris Hardwick (Nerdist) and Randy Pitchford (Gearbox). She soon got to host with Larry King, conducting interviews with celebrities, and now hosts “Super-Fan Builds,” an original series by Defy Media coming to the Go90 app.
All along the way, there was World of Warcraft. Michele won multiple server firsts during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and now runs three guilds on the Thorium Brotherhood realm. Beyond playing WoW at the highest levels, she’s also taken her skills to other games, such as Heroes of the Storm, where she won the Mayhem Begins event on Team Low Expectations.
Michele plunged headlong into charitable work, and whether acting as a spokesperson for GameChanger or supporting Operation Supply Drop and Extra Life, Michele found herself interacting with people who also played World of Warcraft. It was a common ground on which she grew relationship after relationship, until one day in 2014 she found herself at Blizzard Entertainment, auditioning for and winning the role of host for DirecTV coverage at BlizzCon.
That led to a number of other video game-related hosting gigs, such as last year at San Diego Comic Con, where she interviewed the cast and director of Warcraft at Petco Park before a live audience.
She went on to host BlizzCon again in 2015, along with co-hosts Alex Albrecht and Malik Forte. She and Malik are now taking their love of gaming to “Status Effect”, a Nerdist podcast that will bring celebrity guests and gaming together at the Improv Theatre’s Improv Lab. She expects this to pair nicely with “Massive”, her weekly gaming stream on Geek & Sundry.
World of Warcraft transformed my life in the most unexpected of ways. It's odd to say that a video game character changed my life, but Sylvanas Windrunner's story resonated at a time when I really needed it. I've studied her story, and I can't wait to see where she ends up in Legion. My affection for the Dark Lady runs deep, so needless to say I jumped up and down like a lunatic after winning the role of her missing sister, Alleria Windrunner, in Hearthstone. I never expected a career in video games, and although I wouldn't trade hosting BlizzCon for the world, I really do miss attending the Warcraft Lore Panel and watching 3's Arena live with other fans! The World of Warcraft community has supported me from the beginning -- before and beyond any other group. Players in-game like to send me screen caps of their Garrison follower Mychele Morrowsong on the "Clean the Latrine" mission. Some like to blow bubbles to my spirit beast, Azrael, at our in-game house on The Wandering Isle. Among all of the amazing opportunities that have been provided to me by Blizzard, I'd have to say the strongest comfort comes from knowing that whenever I'm feeling kinda down, I can always go visit our in-game home in World of Warcraft. –Michele Morrow
We’re thrilled to shine the Community Spotlight on Michele. Her tireless dedication to the World of Warcraft community of players and her passion for bringing the positivity of relationship-building via gaming is an inspiration to us all.
