MEET THE STAFF: Maria!

Next in our staff spotlight series is our CEO, entire HR department, and resident responsible person: Maria Perry!

Maria has been an important part of turning this little-company-that-can into a smoother running ship. We literally didn't have running water until she showed up. Seriously.

Maria takes care of all of the icky paperwork, develops dice alongside our manufacturers, and leads the charge on our partnership and collaboration initiatives. It's fair to say we'd be lost without her!

 

So Maria, first of all, how did you end up at Dice Envy?

During the pandemic I injured my leg, so I was extra stuck inside, very isolated, and started doing the thing a lot of folks were where I was looking up old friends, reconnecting, all that good stuff. My friend Aabria (who I knew from a shadow cast back when I first moved to LA) was working at Dice Envy, and she tweeted something about their Twitch streams. I popped in, won the first impromptu dice naming competition, and just kept coming back to do more of them (with an honestly pretty unfair success rate).

This was around the time Aabria was gearing up and getting super busy, let’s say the spring before the Summer of Aabria. She wasn’t able to put as much time into doing dice copy and marketing any more, so I guess Dave asked her if I was a good candidate to fill in for her. I got a job offer, did a Zoom interview, and, once the vaccines were all taken care of and we reopened in-office work, I started officially at Dice Envy.

When was that in the course of Dice Envy’s progress as a company? Were you part of the original crew that started in Dave’s apartment?

No, I definitely came along much later than that! They had moved out of the apartment, into a room they were renting from a church, and then out of the church and into our current office before I started. But it was early days for the new location– when I started working, it sort of looked like a prison mailing room– no kitchen, about half as many shelves as we needed, lots of piles of boxes only loosely organized.

We’ve come a long way!

 

What made you want to get into the world of dice?

I’ve been playing TTRPGs off and on for years– a side effect of my time working renaissance faires for a living– and had been in a long running home game of D&D for about five years before I started harassing the twins on Twitch. I was on the latest season of Tempus Multae, from Pseudonym Social, where I played Millie. But I will say I didn’t become much of a dice goblin until I started winning free dice from Dice Envy by naming them. It was a very steep downhill slope, though, and I ended up realizing I needed to take the dice job so I could quit spending all the money from my other work on dice.

What sort of products have you had a hand in developing, and is there anything fun on the horizon?

I’ve brought a handful of new product ideas to Dice Envy in my time here– from the Advent Calendars to the crossbody dice trays, which were a pet project of mine, and I frequently am the one pitching metal dice design themes, though I cannot even begin to lay claim to the hard work that goes into designing those. I also get to work with our friends and clients on all of the collaborations that come through Dice Envy– from Cantrip Candles, Adventure is Nigh, 3 Black Halflings and Beadle and Grimm’s to a couple of upcoming kickstarters.

As for what’s coming up, to be honest, a lot of our efforts and energy lately have been going into our subscription boxes. We’re working through the designs for this year, and I’m stoked– it looks like it should be a really good one! We’re also looking to hit the holidays a little harder, and we have some big ideas for Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Christmas.

What does the average day in the Dice Envy Office look like for you?

Since taking over as CEO in 2025, my days have started to stretch looong outside of the DE office. I usually wake up around 8 am to communications from our oversea manufacturing partners, so I answer those first thing. Then it’s time to get ready, head out the door, and I usually try to hit the office a little earlier than everyone else, so I can do some tidying, restock our break area, clean the bathroom, break down boxes, that sort of thing.

From 10 am to 4 pm, I’m part of the packing crew. Then, once the post office has picked up the day’s orders, I gather new dice and head home, where I write copy, handle any of the tax and business management specific stuff that needs my attention, and take care of any tweaks that need done to the website. I take a couple of hours off for dinner and the occasional game night, then around 9 or 10 pm my time, our manufacturing partners get to work for their mornings, so I will have conversations with them about upcoming products. I’ll usually head to bed between 12:30 and 1 am.

I think this schedule is extra long right now, because I’m still building systems and figuring out workflows. Once I get things a little more on rails, I should be able to regain a bit of work/life balance. Fingers crossed!

I also do some community outreach stuff, attend events when I can (separate from conventions, which isn’t my department), and I often carry a big metal briefcase to give out free sets of dice when it’s appropriate.

Free dice!? Where?!

You might see me around at various Los Angeles D&D events, and I’m often at Guildhall in Burbank, which is sort of my socializing home base. Be sure and say hi if you happen to cross paths with me! Even if I don’t have giveaways on me, I’m always happy to meet new folks.