Goddess Software has developed mobile apps including: iGown, Pride And Prejudice RPG, Closets And Connections 1 and BlackFashionFacts. As Chief Visioneer of Goddess Software since April 2003, Vanessa Paugh, Ph.D., was 2019 Business Month honoree by Iota Phi Lambda Sorority Epsilon Tau Chapter.

Aiming to enhance the technological experience of women, and utilize her many years of software development experience Dr. Paugh wrote the Making Dress Up Games series of books. Interviewed at the Austin Women's Game Conference by the local news media about what women want in computer games, her ideas about game development have been featured in Delta Sky Magazine and Gamasutra.

Dr. Paugh has lectured on iOS development at Collin College. She has an extensive educational background, comprised of a Doctor of Philosophy in Aesthetic Studies, a Masters of Fine Arts in Arts and Technology, a Masters of Science in Engineering and a Bachelors of Electrical Engineering. Paugh also holds a Sun Java Developer certification.

Formerly a senior system engineer at EDS for five years, Dr. Paugh worked with many companies in different capacities including First American Real Estate, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Lockheed at NASA and Westwave Communications.

After the completion of her dissertation on Artificial Personality in 2009, she steered the company's research toward refitting violent game mechanics and enemy AI into non-violent game designs. BlackFashionFacts was the first game showcasing this work.

Dr. Paugh talked about why she does what she does after the release of Pride and Prejudice RPG.

"The primary reason that I created Pride and Prejudice RPG was to ultimately increase the numbers of women in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM). As Ghandi said, 'be the change you want to see.' Studies have shown that many gamers become interested in STEM from curiosity about the inner workings of the games they play. Subsequently, they want to make games themselves and eventually choose programming or other STEM fields as careers. In addition, when many women see how technology can solve problems which interest them, they realize that STEM fields don't have inherent gender association.

"Currently, many concerned women are debating the best methods to increase the numbers of women in STEM. Some say that gender neutral toys, clothes, media and attitudes are the only way to go. Others are trying the girly geek route with perfume chemistry sets, pink Legos, computer engineer Barbie and glamorous magazine style math books. The problem comes when these groups forget the goal and end up fighting each other. STEM fields don't have to be limited by gender and cultural gender norms don't have to limit careers in STEM fields. According to Kim Tolley's research, in the 1830's, Americans debated whether women could study classics, because many 'experts' thought they should continue to study science. In 2005, Americans debated whether women could study science because some 'experts' thought they should continue to study classics. It's time to take the gender limitations out of academics, period. I hope Pride and Prejudice RPG is one step in that direction. It includes literature, musical math, historical fashion and creative experimentation. These are the four main subjects that we require all students to learn: Language Arts, Mathematics, History and Science. When roadblocks are removed and encouragement is not withheld, women can learn all of them.

"Although I had played many computer games, I never considered becoming a game designer until I heard about Brenda Laurel and Purple Moon's Rocket's New School. In 2004, I was enlightened by Sherri Graner Ray's Gender Inclusive Gaming and investigated redesigning traditional violent gameplay into other game playing mechanisms. That same year, Janet H. Murray's Hamlet on the Holodeck inspired me to read all of Austen's work and start turning Pride and Prejudice into a game. Talking with Julienne Gehrer, the developer of Pride and Prejudice The Board Game in 2006, allowed me to focus on selecting the genre of the game first. I settled on role playing games as the most appropriate one after researching many genres. Reading Emma Campbell Webster's Lost in Austen in 2007 confirmed my findings. Research and game development came together on the iOS platform in 2012."