Sailor Sun : @sailorxtasy / photo: @archmax_studio One of my friends from college knew of Anime

Sailor Sun : @sailorxtasy / photo:@archmax_studio 

One of my friends from college knew of Anime Conventions and asked me to join him.  I had just finished school (undergrad) and was like “let me see what the fuss is”.  My first convention was Animazement in North Carolina. I went in not knowing what to expect.  When I saw the cosplays of my favorite anime characters and video game characters I LOST MY MIND.  It was then and there I decided that I wanted to be a part of it! And that’s how it began….closet cosplays, then ordering off of EBay to Amazon and having a seamstress.

Cosplay has taught me to have confidence in myself. I used to be somebody with very low self-esteem when I discovered cosplaying; it really helped boost up my confidence, it really helped me see my favorite characters reimagined in the way I see them and that I should not let anybody tell me who I can and cannot cosplay.  Cosplay is for everyone and it is a hobby; I’m here to have fun no matter My Size,  the color of my skin, or my age!

What inspires me to keep cosplaying is seeing how many more and more there are of  people of color cosplaying their favorite characters and putting their own spin to it. I want to be one of those people that keeps inspiring cosplayers and inspiring people who are older like myself who are in their thirties and forties to let them know that life does not end when you become a full-fledged adult. That you can still enjoy watching anime, watching cartoons, reading comic books, going to the movies and dressing up as your favorite pop culture characters.

I want to keep cosplaying for as long as I can.  I do it for fun; I’m not looking to be famous and I’m not looking to make money.  It’s nice if it happens and if it doesn’t it doesn’t matter because at the end of the day I’m happy that my cosplays inspire others to play a little dress up.

I’m 43, a mom to a 10 year old son, I am a Special Education Teacher and overall a big kid at heart :-)