Regina man lone Canadian recognized at global gaming expo
- Jeanelle Mandes | October 10, 2016
A Regina man was the lone Canadian representative at a recent international gaming expo.
The Global Gaming Expo, also known as G2E, is the biggest gaming expo in the world and recently held its annual Top 40 under 40 program, which recognizes the future of gaming. Gaming executives nominate someone from the Emerging Leaders Program—and 40 are recognized worldwide.
“I was completely shocked when I got the news I had no idea because it was out of the blue,” says the only Canadian Top 40 Under 40 nominee, Jada Yee from Wood Mountain reserve in Southern Saskatchewan. “I had a lot of emotions. It was happiness and that feeling that I finally made it…all of the hard work I’ve done for 17 years of gaming had finally paid off.”
Yee was informed two days before the event that he was nominated. He didn’t want to miss his special recognition event so he hurriedly booked a last minute flight and ended up flying everywhere in North America to finally get to Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Right away, I felt like a rock star cause people wanted to interview me,” says Yee. “I was at the convention for probably 12 hours and then I went to my reception. By that time, I was so tired and wanted to go home. The next day, I was at the convention again for 13-14 hours and early Friday morning, I was on my way back home. That’s how fast my trip was.”
Yee is currently the Food and Beverage Manager at Casino Regina and had been the manager for almost every single department including the Pit Boss, Slot Manager, Bank Shift Manager, and Surveillance. The biggest position he held was the Casino Manager but he took his current position to lessen his work responsibility as he was also studying for his Bachelors of Business Administration with a major in Human Resource Management at the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv).
“I liked being the manager but I liked my education even more so I wanted to finish off my degree,” he says. “Money isn’t everything in life.”
Yee balanced his education, work, and being a family man. He and his wife Kristi have four children – two boys and twin girls.
“A lot of my success comes from my wife—she is my rock…she’s a huge influence in my life,” says Yee, who also credits his friends who graduated from FNUniv. “I didn’t do this on my own, there’s many people involved in this entire journey like my friends Mike Dubois, Cadmus Delorme, Tom Benjoe, and Jacob Pratt. All guys that I surround myself with all helped me get to where I am and ill never forget that.”
Yee is expressed how truly honoured he is that he was recognized not only the Top 40 under 40 in the world but also being the only Canadian, who happens to be Indigenous. His years of hard work stems from teachings that were shared to him from the university elders, including the late Ken Goodwill who passed away in 2010.
“He told me to always try your best and to never back away from failure because even when you fail, that’s when you learn most in life and you become stronger,” he adds. “I believe in First Nation values to learn as much as possible…so my goal in life is to always learn as much as possible in life but in return, share the knowledge with everyone.”
The G2E was held at the Venetian Casino Convention Centre on September 27-29, 2016.