AnnMaria Demars Making Learning Games Where You Actually Learn | Episode 311

Professor Game Podcast

After a stint in juvenile hall, AnnMaria ran away from her last foster home at age 15 and, with a fake ID, got a job and an apartment. By age 19 she had her bachelor·s degree, an MBA at 21. She was the first American to win a world judo championship, then retired from competition to earn her Ph.D., became a professor, and quit the university to start her first business after the death of her husband. She has founded four companies, raised four children, been one of Forbes 40 Women to Watch over 40, a Next Gen Leader of the International Game Developers Association Foundation and AARP Purpose Prize Winner. She and her daughter, Ronda Rousey, are the only mother-daughter combination in the International Sports Hall of Fame.