We caught up with HQ Trivia’s Sharon Carpenter to chat all things quizzing, and the rare occurrence of being a woman of colour at the forefront of game presenting
If you were challenged to picture a game show host, there’s a pretty big chance that your mind will go directly to someone male, and someone white.
However, in the age of internet obsession and an increasing integration of apps into every day life, there’s more space to do things differently. Enter HQ – a free game app that broadcasts live, daily games to tens of thousands of players around the world. Answer 12 questions in a row correctly, ranging from easy to hard, and each winner gets a share of the game’s cash prize of £1000 – with £5000 up for grabs in the Sunday evening game. Simple, but effective!
Sharon Carpenter, who works between London and New York, heads it up as a regular presenter on the US and UK version – in fact, the Watford-born presenter was the leader for the UK version when it launched earlier this year. (Take a peek at her in hosting action below!)
Sharon – or Shazza, as fans affectionately call her – has been a major part of its success, and for regular players, feels like a long-lost friend of sorts! Raised in a mixed heritage household (Indian and white), but in an area that lacked a lot of diversity, Sharon developed an appreciation of hip-hop music as a mode of self-expression – and proved to be an essential stepping stone in her presenting career. We had a chat with her on all things gaming, growing from a shy childhood, and just how she’s doing her part in making the future of game hosting a lot more colourful.
So, Shazza, when did you know you wanted to be a presenter?
It wasn’t for a while. I went to university in America with a dream of one day running a record label – I wanted to be an A&R and I’ve always loved music, and that’s what led me to New York. I interned for a small, independent label, and I realised: ‘Okay, this isn’t actually as interesting as I thought.’ So I ended up falling into the other side of music: covering it. I got offered the opportunity from someone who’d heard about my passion for music to host a public access show, which is basically low-budget, community television. I didn’t get paid for it, but we’d go around interviewing all sorts of stars, from Snoop Dogg, to Nas, Lil Kim. At first, I didn’t think I’d be good at it; I used to be super, super shy, growing up. I didn’t know if this was gonna work out for me in any capacity, but people used to compliment me on my interviews – even the celebs themselves would say they enjoyed the interview. So, it was a natural progression from that to broadcast journalism. I realised that I had this love for telling stories, and performing, and entertaining, and it kept going!
How long into your career were you before HQ came about?
Quite a while! My career has taken me all over the place; I’ve worked with some amazing networks in the US. I’ve worked for CBS doing business news; I’ve worked for BET – I used to go on 106 & Park with Terrence J and Rocsi. I then came over to help launch BET in the UK, which was a really amazing experience as well. I’ve done everything from hard news to entertainment – but I’ve always been after new experiences. When I was invited to come along and audition for HQ, I wasn’t really sure what it was, I just knew it was some sort of a game show app. I went in, did an audition with a cold read, ad-lib, left, and didn’t think about it for a few months – then I got a call, saying that they’d launched the show and that they wanted me to come in and host an episode! I was doing the American version of the show initially, and after a couple of months, they said they’d love me to lead the way and be our lead host on a UK version. And for the next three months, I was going around the clock, working seven days a week, two live shows a day, one a day on weekends, and it’s become so popular! It’s amazing to see it explode in popularity. In the US we’ve had as many as 2.5million players at one time, and in the UK, 280,000.
Sharon Carpenter
Are you proud of being in such a rare position as a woman of colour, hosting a game show?
Oh yeah, definitely. Firstly, there aren’t a lot of female quiz show hosts. I did an interview in the US, and we delved into the fact that I’m a woman doing this job, and we were really wracking our brains trying to think of female quiz show hosts, with there being so few. In terms of being a woman of colour, I do feel proud, because I think it’s inspiring to a lot of young women, showing ‘you can do this too’. Growing up in the UK, as a kid I dealt with a lot of racism, pretty much every day of my childhood from four to 14. I was very shy because of that – and to be able to get to a point where I’ve gone away for a while, and I’m coming back, doing my thing, giving as good as I can and hoping people enjoy themselves. I’ve been embraced by the audience, and it is a really good feeling, especially looking back, where I came from. But I think what’s most special about it is that it’s showing young women of colour that if you put your mind to something, you can do anything – even when they tell you ‘you can’t’, even when you’re facing so many obstacles and discrimination along the way. Just stay focused, persevere, focus on the quality of the work you’re putting out, and work hard, harder than the rest, and you’re always gonna get to where you wanna go.
You’ve said that hip-hop helped you to come out of your shell, and find a sense of solidarity with other people of colour when you were younger. What helps you find your way as a woman of colour now?
Once I got to that point, that was when I really started to feel good about myself as a woman of colour. Seeing things evolve, as well, like seeing women of colour on the front cover of magazines, and actually being celebrated as attractive, and accepted. Though I still think there’s a way to go – I did a documentary a while back called ‘Beauty Blackout’ that was about the discriminatory standards of beauty in the UK, and how women of colour aren’t really being held up as other women are as ‘beautiful’, in a number of different industries. And it was interesting, because in America, people talk about race a lot. There’s a lot of dialogue and discussion on race, which I think is a good thing, as to move forward, you have to talk about these things. In the UK, it was harder to find people who were willing to talk about discrimination they face, because I think we’re not used to it. It’s great having this conversation now, because a lot of people are uncomfortable talking about race in the UK. Being in America has helped. I only started talking about growing up around racism recently. But being in a place where people aren’t afraid to tackle that topic, has been very helpful.
Catch Sharon hosting on the HQ App; shows are every evening at 9pm, and on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at 3pm. Keep up with her on social media @sharoncarpenter
