Top 40: Morgan Long
Okanagan Edge Staff - Apr 13, 2018 - Columnists

Image: Contributed

This year, Okanagan Edge and the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce have partnered to showcase some of the Okanagan’s most exciting entrepreneurs, through the Top 40 Under 40 program.

Sponsored by BDO, the Top 40 Under 40 recognizes innovative young professionals in our community and showcases their accomplishments.

Okanagan Edge will feature a new honouree each week, so check back often.

This week we recognize the founder and CEO fo Sad Panda Studios, Morgan Long.

Image: Contributed

Morgan Long is a “driven and passionate artist, with a flair for the dramatic and a love for all things cute.”

After receiving her certificate in Applied Business and Technology at Okanagan College, Long spent some time working as an artist with local gaming studios. She was a senior artist and art team leader at Disney Online Studios Canada, and before that a creative lead and art director at Hyper Hippo Productions.

Her art is also featured throughout best-selling How-To-Draw Anime books, and she has worked as a concept artist for major IP holders like Sanrio, Jagex, Funimation, and Disney.

After spending a decade working as an artist on video games, comics, animations, and toys, Long recently founded her own studio to create products “in her own style.”

Now, she’s the CEO and founder of Sad Panda Studios, an indie game studio based in Kelowna.

She released her first game, Crush Crush, in 2016, and more than one million people installed it within its first year. But Long says Crush Crush is just the beginning for Sad Panda Studios, and the team is now working on a cat dating simulator.

Along with its development work, Sad Panda is active in giving back to the community: it sponsors events like Startup Weekend Okanagan, hires co-op students from UBC, and donates monthly to the Edmonton Valley Zoo.

Long says she is “proud to be part of the growing community of women seeking entrepreneurship within the tech and gaming industries.” She has hired several talented locals to join her team and help develop their next big hit.


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