Charlee Simacek remembers exactly when and where her life was about to take an exciting turn.
“It was January, and I was in Seattle waiting for a flight to Minneapolis when it happened,” Simacek said.
“It” was the opening of applications for a public relations internship at Tokyo-based Capcom, a $12-billion company that makes some of the most played games in the industry, such as Resident Evil and Street Fighter. For Simacek (BA ’26), who is majoring in Digital Media Arts, and minoring in Advertising and Public Relations, working at Capcom was a life’s dream. Now she just had to land the position.
Charlee Simacek, ’26 Digital Media Arts major and Ad & PR minor
Simacek’s primary concern was sticking out in a competitive internship field, so she made a plan: to overwhelm them with her knowledge. In the fall of 2025, she was enrolled in Dr. April Eichmeier’s course, Strategic Communication 244: Research, Measurement and Evaluation. This course is an introduction to research methods in advertising, public relations and related fields. Eichmeier encourages students to pursue research projects that fit individual students’ interests. Simacek focused on games.
Simacek’s class project, “‘So, You’ve Discovered Sleeves!” The Reinforcement of Hypersexualized Gender Norms in Resident Evil Remakes’” focused on visual portrayals of three Resident Evil characters: Ada Wong, Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine. Her analysis of clothing and body type of characters found varying degrees of hypersexuality reinforced over different iterations of the game over the years.
She included a recommendation for game makers: As games are revised, companies should consider seeking ways to move away from stereotypes to deepen character connections with players who are more diverse in age, gender, race and body than the current characters portray. They should also publicize the changes.
“I wanted to show that I could proactively apply academic thinking to modern problems in the gaming industry,” she said.
Combined with her knowledge of the company and the larger gaming sphere, the research helped her demonstrate commitment and understanding of industry dynamics. In fact, during her three rounds of interviews, she was asked for perspectives and ideas about promoting the brand.
Simacek flies back out West, this time to Capcom’s U.S. offices in San Francisco, California in June.