Sher Machado (born 1993), also known as Transcurecer, is a Brazilian

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

event organizer and streamer.

Biography

Sher Machado was born in

Nilópolis Nilópolis (, , ) is a municipality in Brazil, located in the Rio de Janeiro state's southwestern region, bordering São João de Meriti, Mesquita and Rio de Janeiro. It is the smallest municipality in Rio de Janeiro state, with a total area o ...

, Rio de Janeiro, in 1993. She began playing video games at the age of seven. Growing up in the 1990s and 2000s, she experienced prejudice in online games. In 2015, she discovered the game ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

'', and attended events like the Campeonato Brasileiro de ''League of Legends''. At the time, she didn't feel represented because the scene consisted mainly of

cisgender The word ''cisgender'' (often shortened to ''cis''; sometimes ''cissexual'') describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not ''transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is Latin and ...

heterosexual white men. Additionally, she had not yet transitioned to a

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

. In 2016, she did her first live stream at a friend's house, a career she wanted to pursue, but lacked a good computer to do so. In 2019, she joined Capacitrans, a project aimed at empowering trans people in the workplace. Later, she became the project's general secretary. She is also part of the Wakanda Streamers team, established in 2018 to support and unite the Black community. She is an ambassador for Ceres Trans, a project by photographer Caio Oliver that gives visibility to Black trans models. During this time, she started studying physics. In 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, she began creating content online and launched a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

campaign, which Machado described as the kickoff to her streaming career. In July, she managed to buy a new computer with the help of influencer . Her streams typically feature games by

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher, and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on to develop ...

such as ''League of Legends'', ''

Valorant ''Valorant'' is a 2020 First-person shooter, first-person tactical shooter, tactical hero shooter video game developed and published by Riot Games. A free-to-play game, ''Valorant'' takes inspiration from the ''Counter-Strike'' series, borrow ...

'', and ''

Teamfight Tactics ''Teamfight Tactics'' (''TFT'') is an auto battler game developed and published by Riot Games. The game is a spinoff of ''League of Legends'' and is based on '' Dota Auto Chess'', where players compete online against seven other opponents by bu ...

''. Her

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel was created the same year under the name "Transcurecer". At the end of 2020, Machado received an offer to develop a project in partnership with STrigi Manse, an

organization notable for supporting diversity. She then created the Rebecca Heineman Cup (CRH), a ''League of Legends'' tournament exclusively for trans people. The event was named after

Rebecca Heineman Rebecca Ann Heineman is an American video game designer and programmer. Heineman was a founding member of video game companies Interplay Productions, Logicware, Contraband Entertainment, and Olde Sküül. She has been chief executive officer f ...

, the first person to win an esports championship in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and a trans woman. The first edition took place on January 29, 2021, the in Brazil. The event gained international attention, leading her to join the Brazilian esports organization in February making her the first trans woman to be hired by an esports organization in the country. A second edition took place in July 2022. Sher starred in the documentary series ''Mundo Invisível dos Gamers'' (''The Invisible World of Gamers''), released on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on May 7, 2024.

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Machado, Sher 1993 births Brazilian transgender women Brazilian Twitch (service) streamers Brazilian people in the video game industry Living people LGBTQ esports players People from Nilópolis Transgender women entertainers Women in esports