"We kind of made history": Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo talks about The Milk Cup Fortnite Competition becoming one giant step for women (Exclusive)
The Milk Cup, a truly groundbreaking esports event series, has quickly set the bar for empowering women in gaming. Launched by a partnership between Raidiant GG, content creator ThePeachCobbler, and the Women of the eRena (WOTE) community with support from Gonna Need Milk, the Milk Cup shines a spotlight on women in esports — both on and off the screen.
With a prize pool of $250,000 for its Fortnite competitions, the Milk Cup has done more than just provide financial incentives — it serves as a platform to showcase the skills of women players, recognize female production talent, and foster a supportive environment that challenges some traditional norms. At its core, this initiative is about opening doors for women and young girls across the esports spectrum, transforming what representation and sponsorship can mean in the world of esports and gaming.
In April 2024, women-focused tournament operator Raidiant (and its founder, former Counter-Strike pro, Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo), content creator ThePeachCobbler, and WOTE (Women of the eRena) announced a partnership with Gonna Need Milk to create The Milk Cup, a Fortnite tournament series for women offering a total prize pool of $250,000.
The event’s title sponsor, “Gonna Need Milk,” is a national advertising and marketing campaign to promote the popular dairy product in the United States facilitated by MilkPEP, the “Milk Processor Education Program.” MilkPEP is funded by America’s milk companies and is “dedicated to educating consumers and increasing the consumption of fluid milk.”
So how did America’s milk companies come to support women in esports and gaming and was the first event held at Comic-Con in Los Angeles a boom or a bust? To know how the Milk Cup got here, what the journey looks like thus far, and where it is heading later this year and into 2025, we need to take a bit of a step back and talk to a few people who were responsible for making it happen in the first place.
Origin story of the Milk Cup and how the women's Fortnite Series became a reality
The Milk Cup probably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for two factors: Content creator The PeachCobbler and the fact that Gonna Need Milk recognized in 2022 that women were generally underrepresented in its marketing campaigns.
This concern led to the decision to focus a lot more attention on women in its campaigns. Then in November 2022, Gonna Need Milk decided to take it to the next level by officially sponsoring women runners at the New York City Marathon.
Eventually, Gonna Need Milk began focusing on promoting general gaming initiatives, tying in marketing for milk and chocolate milk as an alternative gamer fuel to energy drinks (not necessarily for energy but for its benefits to cognitive performance).
Through its gaming efforts, Gonna Need Milk found itself aligned with popular content creator ThePeachCobbler, who explained how there were fewer opportunities for women in esports and gaming — both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
With ThePeachCobbler as a key advisor, Gonna Need Milk set out to do something in the space and inevitably connected with WOTE (Women of the eRena–a platform operated by eFuse), women-focused tournament operator and production company Raidiant (a division of Dignitas owner Meta Entertainment), and its founder — former Counter-Strike pro Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo.
A Shining Star: How the Raidiant team made The Milk Cup possible
Raidiant describes itself as a “broadcast, events, and content platform that exists to improve conditions for women in gaming and esports through education, experiences and inspirational storytelling.” Founded by Garozzo, herself an accomplished former professional Counter-Strike player, the company is by all accounts the best at creating competitions that support women in the space.
Garozzo recalled getting the call from Gonna Need Milk to do a Fortnite tournament and was pretty excited about jumping into it:
“It came together many months ago and we [Raidiant] were super hyped to get this call because Radiant's parent company Dignitas is really into Fortnite — I actually just started playing the game too; I didn't play it for many years because i'm like a Counter-Strike and a Valorant player — so I try it out, and figure it out. I love it and I'm in the top 3% in the country right now – that's a sidebar but that's just to say I dove into this since we heard about this.”
Garozzo went on to say that Raidiant has wanted to do something around Fortnite for a while because:
“(There's such a) thriving women's scene in terms of content creators and fans, but there hasn't been anything large scale yet.”
When the opportunity to take on this project was offered to Raidiant — mainly because Gonna Need Milk wanted to make sure that the production team behind the scenes was also run by women — Garozzo and her team jumped at the chance:
“It was like the most immediate ‘yes’ possible,”
She added:
“(The Raidiant team was) grateful to work with a partner that trusts us and understands our unique expertise in this area.”
The Milk Cup: From an idea to the execution
The very first Milk Cup featuring Fortnite took place at Comic-Con in Los Angeles on Oct 5, 2024. Garrazzo was surprised at how much effort the Gonna Need Milk team put into branding at the venue, and how the tournament space was not tucked off into a corner as many esports tournaments tend to be at major gaming and entertainment culture conferences.
With great branding exposure at the venue and a decent space within the convention center itself, Garozzo was pleasantly surprised by the attention the competition received. Seating quickly filled up as well as any standing room, as convention-goers stuck around and cheered for the women as they competed to take home a piece of the $250,000 prize pool.
But outside the actual competition, Garrazzo says that support from the community, content creators, and co-streamers has made this inaugural cup a major success for Raidiant and all of its partners:
“The community has been fantastic. I love when we were putting on these qualifiers and the LAN, and everyone was talking about it. This was the talk of online and we've even gotten big people like Aussie Antics and Bugha from Dignitas diving in and supporting it and getting genuinely excited, and ThePeachcobbler has been an advisor excited for this throughout the whole series.”
Another interesting thing according to Garrazzo was that those who stayed and watched the competition — many of whom were young women who were fresh out of high school and thinking about their future careers as they prepared for college — expressed gratitude that this event happened. They said it opened up their eyes about possible opportunities for them in esports and gaming in the future either as players or as someone working behind the scenes in production. This is exactly the point of an event like the Milk Cup.
Ultimately, the first Milk Cup saw over 300 women competing in the qualifiers and enjoyed 2.7 million views online across its three qualifying rounds earlier in the year. Gonna Need Milk covered all travel expenses and accommodations for the 99 qualified trios who attended the LAN event as well.
One interesting fact is that Garrazzo thought it was very important that participants walked away with some type of physical acknowledgment of their participation and accomplishments. Typically the winners get a big gimmick check with a large number on it or a single trophy for the team (which only one person can have physical custody of). This is where the idea of the medals handed out at the Milk Cup LAN event came from.
Garrazzo remembered her days competing in Counter-Strike and having to “rock-paper-scissors” with her teammates to decide who “got the big check” or took home the trophy. But one time when competing at ESWC, she received a medal that was all her own, and this was her inspiration for what Milk Cup handed out to participants, making sure that they had something physical of their own to memorialize their contribution and accomplishment at the event.
The Future of The Milk Cup and what's next for the organizing team
Happy with the reception of the first event, Gonna Need Milk announced The Milk Cup Winter Split, offering women Fortnite players a chance to compete in three online events to close out the year, with $50,000 up for grabs. The Winter Split is currently ongoing and is being broadcast live on Women of the eRena's Twitch and Gonna Need Milk’s YouTube.
Its Open Qualifier 1 kicked off on November 13, 2024, and will be followed by a Closed Qualifier on December 9, 2024, at 7 pm EST. The Finals will be held on December 16, at 7 pm EST. All matches will be streamed on Twitch.tv/erena, with more channels to be announced. Those interested in signing up can learn more at gonnaneedmilk.com/milkcup.
Garrazzo went on to talk about the event sponsor Gonna Need Milk and their commitment towards the tournament:
“They were so cool, like, and so into it. They wanted to sit [in the] front row and know everything about the players and celebrate with them. We've worked with so many great brands over the years, and like every brand, any dollar you give to esports is super appreciated, but the Milk team is just so excited about the future. They know that we've created something special… they are like ‘wow, like we kind of made history, you know?’
She further added while talking about the future of the tournament and the team:
“Every conversation was super grateful, super excited about the future. They know the players and they can speak the language now despite not necessarily being gamers, and that's really exciting. That’s really what you want to ask for in a brand—not just your money but your passion, your care, and wanting to do things right for the community. We really couldn't ask for a better partner than the Milk team. “
While Garrazzo played a major role in the success of the inaugural Milk Cup, she credits the Gonna Need Milk team for caring about what they are doing and seeing it as more than just some marketing campaign to target an underserved demographic.