Lydia Winters

{
 "title": "Lydia Winters",
 "rows": [
 {
 "field": "Lydia Winters",
 "label": "Real name"
 },
 {
 "field": "April 22, 1987 <span data-isodate=\"1987-04-22\">(age 39)</span><br>(link to wikipedia:Florida article, displayed as Florida), (link to wikipedia:United States article, displayed as U.S.)",
 "label": "Date of birth"
 },
 {
 "field": "Chief Storyteller",
 "label": "Occupation"
 },
 {
 "field": "American",
 "label": "Nationality"
 },
 {
 "field": "English",
 "label": "Languages"
 },
 {
 "field": "(link to Vu Bui article, displayed as Vu Bui)",
 "label": "Spouse"
 },
 {
 "field": "Conducting Minecraft Live/Minecon",
 "label": "Known for"
 },
 {
 "field": "https://www.lydiawinters.com/",
 "label": "Website"
 },
 {
 "field": "[https://twitter.com/MinecraftChick @MinecraftChick]<br>[https://twitter.com/LydiaWinters @LydiaWinters]",
 "label": "X (Twitter) handle"
 },
 {
 "field": "[https://www.instagram.com/lydiawinters lydiawinters]",
 "label": "Instagram name"
 },
 {
 "field": "MinecraftChick & LydiaAndVu",
 "label": "YouTube channel"
 },
 {
 "field": "MinecraftChick<br> LydiaWinters",
 "label": "''Minecraft'' names"
 }
 ],
 "invimages": [],
 "images": [
 "mcchick.png"
 ]
}

Lydia Winters is Mojang Studios' former Chief Storyteller. Prior to 2020, she was the Brand Director, and before that the Director of Fun. She was best known as the host of the MINECON and Minecraft Live livestreams, and was also a special advisor at Block by Block, a charity dedicated to using Minecraft to improve public spaces worldwide.

She was the first woman to be hired by Mojang, in June 2011.^[1][2] She announced her departure from Mojang in October 2024, after over 13 years at the company.^[3]

She shares a YouTube channel with Vu Bui, where they post videos about photography.^[4]

Winters graduated in 2008 from Florida Atlantic University with a bachelor's degree in "Elementary Education and Teaching".^[5] She then taught fourth grade for a year before delving into photography, often shooting local weddings.^[1] Later, she discovered video blogging after attending a photography workshop, and began making daily videos about random topics. Despite her style becoming popular, which also led to her raising $10,000 for breast cancer research, she then decided to focus her videos on videogames after consulting with friends.^[1] Although Winters had played only one video game by then, The Oregon Trail, she decided to play Minecraft as her friends thought it would be hilarious. On November 15, 2010, she uploaded her first video to YouTube under the name "MinecraftChick" as "Minecraftgirl" was already taken.^[1][6]

By June of 2011, Winters sent an email to Mojang asking if she could interview the creators of Minecraft at that year’s E3. Carl Manneh, the CEO of Mojang at the time, replied, asking her if she could host a portion of their booth dedicated to Minecraft on the Xperia Play.^[1] She accepted, and was soon at the booth in Los Angeles. Manneh was so impressed with how she acted that he had told the rest of the staff that Winters would be hired. She was then hired on June 28, 2011, and flew to Stockholm that December.^[1][7]

Over time, Winters' job evolved from being a community builder to a more senior role toward merchandising, licensing, and events. Winters said that she also had an instrumental role in adding Alex, the predominantly female character, to Minecraft.^[1] As with licensing, Winters would tend to avoid using gendered typecasting as a way of making Minecraft accessible to everyone, saying that she wouldn’t approve descriptions of Steve and Alex if they weren’t gender neutral.^[1]

Winters announced on October 4, 2024 that it would be her final day with Mojang Studios.^[3]

• 👁 Winters' official Mojang avatar. She is seen holding her pet spider.
  
  Winters' official Mojang avatar. She is seen holding her pet spider.
• 👁 Lydia with Tyler Pappas.
  
  Lydia with Tyler Pappas.
• 👁 Lydia in action figure form.
  
  Lydia in action figure form.