Gaming
Esports
The rise of Emiru: Gaming, cosplay and a career powered by pure fun
A lifelong love of gaming, a knack for creative cosplay and a drive to build community have turned this creator's hobby into a full-time career from Twitch streams to six-figure contests.
She describes herself as "just a girl who plays video games a bit too much", but Emily 'Emiru' Schunk's journey tells a bigger story: how curiosity, creativity and consistency can shape an entire career. From childhood gaming memories to anime podcasts, live events and massive community contests, her path blends passion with play and shows how far doing what feels fun can really go
From Nintendo 64 to Twitch
Emiru has assamed a huge following
© Koury Angelo/Red Bull Content Pool
"Growing up, my siblings and I could only play video games at my grandma's house. My uncle, who was in high school, lived with her. He had a Nintendo 64 with Super Smash Bros and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We'd knock on his bedroom door asking to play his video games. It definitely annoyed him.
"I started playing League of Legends because I was watching anime on a totally legal website and there was an ad that said: 'Play for free'. I was like, 'Damn, for free?' I had a MacBook Air and would play on the trackpad in bed, in the bath, all the time."
Turning fun into a career
"I'm just a girl who plays video games a bit too much and likes to dress up, but I also like doing crazy stuff like Red Bull Flugtag and building a community. I started streaming video games on Twitch when I was 17 and posting cosplay a couple of years later. It started for fun, but has grown to where it’s fully my career.
Getting in the Red Bull Flugtag spirit
© Robert Snow/Red Bull Content Pool
I'm just a girl who plays video games a bit too much and likes to dress up, but I also like doing stuff like Red Bull Flugtag and building a community
"I love not being restricted to one type of content. From gaming, hosting anime podcasts and reaction videos, to developing in-game characters, voice acting and entertaining audiences with IRL content at pop-culture events and conventions... whatever feels fun to me."
Cosplay: the creative breakthrough
"I've probably had the most success with cosplay stuff. Cosplay is any kind of dressing up as a character, fictional or real, from a series or from your imagination. It's about creativity and putting a look together. Most people cosplay from anime, movies or games. Most important is to feel confident and make it obvious you're having fun. I'm not just saying that to be nice, I truly believe it makes a difference in how it's perceived.
"I started with make-up looks inspired by League of Legends characters. I had a well-established social media account from playing League, but made a new one for my cosplay because I thought people following my main account wouldn't care for it. I realised I was wrong. That second account is now my main account and I completely abandoned my old one."
Life in the cosplay community
"I don't think of myself as a professional cosplayer, just someone who enjoys the hobby. At one point, I had more than 200 costumes. Since I never wore the majority of them, someone convinced me to clean out my closet. I still really regret it – I wish I'd kept them all as collectibles.
"The cosplay community is vast and very creative. I recently hosted a contest on my Twitch channel with a prize pool of $100,000. I'm really proud of organising events like that – they’re fun to stream and watch, and give back to the community. Just this weekend, I was walking in New York doing an IRL stream and a guy came up and told me he'd won my contest for a Black Panther cosplay. He wanted to say hi and thank me in person. It was a super-cool experience. I've run into a lot of people who've entered my contests and it's always surreal.
"Someday, I hope to do a live one at a big convention, but I'm also happy with the online 'anyone can enter' format we have. I'd love to continue being able to give money to talented people so they can keep making cool stuff."
