When Chiara “Sats” Di Stefano was a child, she wanted to grow up and be a Mythbuster. Considering that show ended in 2018, she’s since resorted to her backup plan: writing.

A fan of fantasy, mystery, and everything funny, Di Stefano (the younger) was born to Deb Peraya and Larry Di Stefano, two Vancouver film industry veterans. This means she grew up in a household where telling her parents she wanted to go into the arts (thus putting a wrench in their retirement plan) was more frightening than coming out as bisexual.

Her combined personality traits “go-getter” and “massive nerd” meant her mom taught her story structure early on. Peraya proceeded to use Di Stefano (Chiara edition) as a free story editor for the following decade or so. But Di Stefano (2.0) isn’t too salty about it. After all, the experience left her with a deep understanding of the fundamentals of narrative as well as an ear for punching up comedy.

Di Stefano’s love of interactive, character-driven stories makes her a shoe-in for games writing and narrative design, especially after graduating top of her class from Vancouver Film School’s Writing for Film, Television, and Games program. Her deep fascination with psychology and pop culture, carefully cultivated throughout her BA (Interdisciplinary Studies with High Distinction) at the University of British Columbia, is a huge asset when developing layered characters. But don’t mistake her bookish nature for her being boring – Di Stefano is a fangirl through and through, and adores cosplay, cartoons, anime, and musical theatre.

Chiara “Sats” Di Stefano: Inspired. Eccentric. And stubborn as a goddamn mule. But she’ll take that last one as a compliment.