Before becoming a familiar face on Valorant esports broadcasts, Yinsu “Yinsu” Collins was working behind the scenes as a League of Legends esports journalist.
Going from print to screen, she’s picked up a new set of skills since she made the big career change in 2020 when Valorant was first released, holding down the desk during broadcast segments and interviewing pro players — in English and Mandarin with live translations — during tournaments.
Honoring her roots, she does occasionally appear on the LEC broadcast and at League of Legends global events. At MSI 2022, she made her on-air debut at the prestigious competition, and returned during MSI 2023 when it was held on London, sharing the spotlight with fellow female hosts Eefje “sjokz” Depoortere and Laure Valée.
In an exclusive interview with ONE Esports, Yinsu tells us her thoughts on these accomplished League of Legends hosts and the good advice she’s received.
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Host Yinsu is an important bridge between League of Legends and Valorant esports
Sjokz has been a League of Legends host for more than a decade now. Any League of Legends esports fan would instantly recognize her name.
Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden started her hosting career around the same time in 2012, and is now one of the most respected and well-loved Dota 2 hosts in the scene.
Valorant, another Riot Games title, is a much newer game with a younger audience, and Yinsu has been on the broadcast since day one. For her, however, it is Lauren “Pansy” Scott who stands out.
“To me, she’s the voice of Valorant. There are so many great moments in this game that I relate to her. She’s also incredibly experienced, so I think we’re very lucky to have her,” Yinsu told ONE Esports.
Besides Pansy, she also believes that the pro players in each region are a strong driving force in Valorant’s growth, where certain players have become synonymous with their region, such as Jake “Boaster” Howlett and Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom from EMEA, and Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto, Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie, Ilya “something” Petrov, and Kim “stax” Gu-taek from APAC.
While she would like to one day reach the same level as sjokz, it’s still something she can’t wrap her head around. “The words wouldn’t even come out of my mouth because it’s such a crazy idea that could happen. I watched League of Legends for many years. Sjokz is definitely one of my heroes in that game. It feels weird,” Yinsu shared.
“I would like to be a positive change. I look up to all these people but I never really saw anybody that looked like me. I hope I can make a difference and give more Asian talent opportunities,” she added. “VCT Pacific highlights Asian talent I hope that continues all over the world.”
Despite her admiration for sjokz, Yinsu hasn’t actually had the opportunity to work with her directly because they perform similar roles.
She did, however, get a chance to work with Laure at MSI 2023 and was “blown away” by the experience.
“She is professional, she is helpful, she’s very intuitive with how she does things. She can see when people need help or when people don’t need help, and they need to be able to express themselves,” Yinsu praised Laure. “The way that she talks and the way that she respects everyone around her and tries to bring everyone together is such a good skillset.”
At the tournament, she also got to ask Laure questions about hosting, finding out more about how she did things. Taking away valuable lessons, Yinsu returned to the VCT EMEA 2023 broadcast in week seven and shared with her colleagues how she wanted to apply herself differently.
“If you watch the show, week seven, week eight, and playoffs, I think you could see the difference,” she said. “I really took so much away from MSI, Laure, and the League of Legends talent.”
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