Fans of The Jace Hall Show are no stranger to IGN START, the home of Season 5 and the only place where you can find a man in a smoking jacket telling you the answer to every question you never had.
But IGN is also the home of one of the coolest girls on the internet, Naomi Kyle, who you undoubteldy know as the Host of IGN’S Daily Fix and Cheap Cool Crazy, the latter of which airs on the aforementioned IGN START every Thursday.
Many of you are aware Naomi is one of the most passionate gamers on the face of the planet, but we had the chance to get to know her beyond gaming and discover what it took to develop such a unique career.
What challenges did she overcome, what does it really take to make it in the biz, what music is she listening to when she’s not playing Sleeping Dogs? Here’s our exclusive interview with Actress/Host, Naomi Kyle:
JHS: What’s the biggest difference between living in the U.S. and Canada? (rule: you can’t use the word Hockey more than twice in your answer)
Haha! Ok, fair enough. I think the biggest difference (at least culturally speaking) is the bilingualism. In Quebec, where I’m from, even the predominantly English speaking citizens know how to speak French, and very well I might add. Then there’s of course hockey annnd….poutine (If you don’t know what that is, it’s this Canadian meal made with fries, gravy and cheese curds and it’s absolutely amazing. Everyone should try it at least once. Trust me.)
JHS: We have a lot of nerdcore fans on our site that have all but written off “pop/mainstream” music…are you familiar with the former and overall what do you usually listen to?
Yes, I’m familiar with the backlash towards the Miley Cyrus’ and Nickelback’s of our generation. But I admit – I kind of get where they’re coming from. A lot of music nowadays just sound like rehashes of the same thing. There is however a select few “mainstream” folks who have luckily broken that trend like Adele and Gotye, so the music we hear on the radio is a little more diverse.

But I don’t complain much. Pop music simply means what’s popular at the time, so if the majority of people say Justin Beiber is what’s good than who am I to say otherwise. Besides I don’t have to listen to that if I don’t want to. We’re lucky these days that we can be selective with our music and discover a range of different musicians that we might have never heard of had it not been for such clever inventions as iTunes and Pandora.
When it comes to what music I listen to…I usually go for whatever fits my mood, so my tastes vary quite a bit. In general, if a track has a good beat I’ll quickly take a liking to it, but I also have a more mellow side. One of my favorite bands of all time for example is Interpol.
If you like bands who are very melodic in tone such as The Cure or Radiohead (whom I also love) you should definitely check them out. In contrast to that type of music – when I’m looking for something a little more upbeat or catchy I’ll put something on like Deadmau5 or some old school hip hop. A track called “I Wish” by Skee Lo for example has been on repeat on my iPhone for days now.
JHS: We’re very passionate about encouraging our fans to pursue what they love doing and not letting anything get in the way of accomplishing their goals, with that being said, do you have any advice for people who seem reluctant to pursue their dreams?
I’m a strong believer in manifestation. If you have a passion for something but aren’t quite confident you can turn it into a career just remember, and this is going to sound cheesy but, anything is possible. There is no reason not to believe that your goals are attainable.
After that, all you have to do is make stuff happen. Easier said than done but so often people say, “Oh, I don’t have the time” or “Oh, I’m not at a legal drinking age yet” but really that’s just you making excuses. “You are your own worst enemy” is an overused but very true saying.
Also, it’s important to be patient and accept that you WILL make mistakes – heck, every person whose made history has made a plethora of them, and they still made it. But that’s all part of the journey (again with the cheese) and will make you a greater person in the long run.
JHS: On that note, what is it about your job that you enjoy the most? Did you ever envision yourself being the host of a show on IGN?
As a believer in manifestation it would be hypocritical of me to say that I never saw myself hosting for IGN. I quite literally envisioned it and it happened. But before that ever even crossed my mind as a career, I can’t say that I knew for sure what it was I was going to do. I tried a number of things before I settled on becoming a host. Albeit, I always knew that whatever I did it would involve the arts. I did everything from music, to drawing, to film

editing, to even dancing.
But in the end it came down to combining my favorite hobby (video games) with my passion for film, a perfect fit I’d say – which makes it hard not to enjoy any given aspect of my job. Day in day out, I’m surrounded by passionate, creative, and driven people like myself. Better yet we’re all friends and that allows for us to grow together as a team (mistakes and all) and have fun together. It’s a great thing. I’m also given free
reign over pretty much all the content I’m a part of, which is not only enjoyable but extremely rewarding. And part of that reward is of course the fans – who make me laugh every day and continuously solidify my belief in the work I do here at the company.
How would you like to see your career evolve? Would you ever want to get into directing or more hands on production?
I’m a no limits kind of girl, so of course I’d love to direct/produce someday. Right now, my job involves a lot of on-camera work and interaction with the IGN community, however in the near future I’m looking to write and even produce more original content for the site. I’m only at the beginning stages of this, of course, but my hope is that it will eventually grow to become another aspect of my job. And then there’s acting. I’ve been taking classes for a few years now and given that I work in a creative environment, I’d love to finally put into practice what I’ve learned either through the content we create at IGN or through other outside collaborations.
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If you want exclusive access to the video game industry and updates from one of the coolest girls on the internet, follow Naomi on Twitter and fan her on Facebook.
Paul Nyhart – who has written 891 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Paul Nyhart is the Head Editor and Writer of JaceHallShow.com covering everything from game reviews and previews to the cultural impact of video games.

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