Everyone is excited to get back to a "normal" life once we're all vaccinated. However, conventions aren't coming back just yet. We still have a long way to go before we can even attend conventions and cosplay events again.

CARMILLA JO is a Bay Area-based cosplayer and model. Growing up with a love for fantasy and animation, she has evolved as not just a model and cosplayer, but also as a costume designer and creative producer. By taking creative control in her works, she has yielded numerous publications and magazine cover features.

As an award-winning cosplayer, her costuming takes inspiration from anime, manga, video games, history, corsetry, and nostalgic cartoons. She plans to continue improving in the craft of cosplay and costuming in the years to come, in addition to collaborating with fellow ambitious creatives for more elaborate and other-worldly photoshoots and projects.

Official website: CarmillaJo.com

Instagram: @CircusofMissJo

Facebook: Carmilla Jo

TikTok: Carmillajo

#StopAsianHate isn’t just a trend. Anti-Asian hate crimes have always been happening, and has gained mainstream media attention in the past few months, especially with the shooting in Atlanta last week. In this podcast episode, Carmilla Jo speaks up about her experience of growing up and seeing herself represented by the iconic Cartoon Network hero Samurai Jack, and how that has influenced her in cosplay.

CARMILLA JO is a Bay Area-based cosplayer and model. Growing up with a love for fantasy and animation, she has evolved as not just a model and cosplayer, but also as a costume designer and creative producer. By taking creative control in her works, she has yielded numerous publications and magazine cover features.

As an award-winning cosplayer, her costuming takes inspiration from anime, manga, video games, history, corsetry, and nostalgic cartoons. She plans to continue improving in the craft of cosplay and costuming in the years to come, in addition to collaborating with fellow ambitious creatives for more elaborate and other-worldly photoshoots and projects.

Official website: CarmillaJo.com

Instagram: @CircusofMissJo

Facebook: Carmilla Jo

TikTok: Carmillajo

Ebby has been cosplaying for almost 11 years now. She focuses on cosplaying from different magical girls series such as Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Creamy Mami. She believes that representation is important, ESPECIALLY in the cosplay community. Throughout her cosplay journey, she wants to continue to inspire cosplayers; both new and veterans in the community. Also spreading cosplay positivity, by sharing other cosplayers and helping others when needed. And lastly,  being a cosplay advocate using her platform to talk about issues that go on in the cosplay community eg. elitism, racism, and sexual harassment. Her hobbies include: sewing, learning Spanish, being an animal enthusiast, and watching One Piece.

@chibimagigirl (Twitter)

@chibimagicalgirl (Instagram)

@chibimagicalgirl (TikTok)

Petite Ebby Cosplay (Facebook)

chibimagicalgirl (Ko-Fi)

Photo credits:

Sailor Princess Tiana

Fanart based by: Drachea Rannak

Photography: @ghostboykenny (Twitter)

@kennyletelier (Instagram)

CARMILLA JO is a Bay Area-based cosplayer and model. Growing up with a love for fantasy and animation, she has evolved as not just a model and cosplayer, but also as a costume designer and creative producer. By taking creative control in her works, she has yielded numerous publications and magazine cover features.

As an award-winning cosplayer, her costuming takes inspiration from anime, manga, video games, history, corsetry, and nostalgic cartoons. She plans to continue improving in the craft of cosplay and costuming in the years to come, in addition to collaborating with fellow ambitious creatives for more elaborate and other-worldly photoshoots and projects.

Official website: CarmillaJo.com

Instagram: @CircusofMissJo

Facebook: Carmilla Jo

TikTok: Carmillajo

Racism. No one likes talking about it. It can be just as polarizing as politics, but it's a topic that doesn't benefit anyone if it's swept under the rug. Building off her series of TikToks addressing racism, Carmilla Jo shares her thoughts on cosplaying characters from different races and how we can improve as a community and as individuals within the colorful world we live in. 

CARMILLA JO is a Bay Area-based cosplayer and model. Growing up with a love for fantasy and animation, she has evolved as not just a model and cosplayer, but also as a costume designer and creative producer. By taking creative control in her works, she has yielded numerous publications and magazine cover features.

As an award-winning cosplayer, her costuming takes inspiration from anime, manga, video games, history, corsetry, and nostalgic cartoons. She plans to continue improving in the craft of cosplay and costuming in the years to come, in addition to collaborating with fellow ambitious creatives for more elaborate and other-worldly photoshoots and projects.

Official website: CarmillaJo.com

Instagram: @CircusofMissJo

Facebook: Carmilla Jo

TikTok: Carmillajo

Chris “Papa Bear” English began his journey into cosplay with a small con in 2013 and has been hooked ever since. Fueled by the love for the craft, and a passion to spread diversity and inclusion, Papa Bear has been heavily involved in the cosplay community as a member of Costumers with a Cause which is a costume charity organization Co-founder of Chicago P.O.C. Cosplayers, and Cosawesome studios.

Papa Bear has gone on to be featured on the SyFy Channel, was the official mascot for C2E2, cosplay affiliate for Wizard World, been a guest speaker at various conventions, lead cosplay programmer, internationally published, competed and judged in multiple cosplay events, won multiple awards and has no plans on slowing down.

Official Website: https://papabearstudios.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/papabearcosplay

CARMILLA JO is a Bay Area-based cosplayer and model. Growing up with a love for fantasy and animation, she has evolved as not just a model and cosplayer, but also as a costume designer and creative producer. By taking creative control in her works, she has yielded numerous publications and magazine cover features.

As an award-winning cosplayer, her costuming takes inspiration from anime, manga, video games, history, corsetry, and nostalgic cartoons. She plans to continue improving in the craft of cosplay and costuming in the years to come, in addition to collaborating with fellow ambitious creatives for more elaborate and other-worldly photoshoots and projects.

Official website: CarmillaJo.com

Instagram: @CircusofMissJo

Facebook: Carmilla Jo

TikTok: Carmillajo

PROS AND CONS COSPLAY is comprised of two multi-award winning cosplayers from Missouri who dabble in all areas of cosplay from craftsmanship, performance, judging, and contest directing. Pro enjoys projects that require a lot of embellishment and intricate detail such as embroidery, bead-work and painting. Con prefers projects that require challenging the laws of physics and using unconventional building techniques such as wig styling, larger than life builds, and historic fabric manipulation. They love talking shop about cosplay builds, and creating inclusive environments in the cosplay community. You can find them on Instagram at instagram.com/prosandconscosplay, Facebook at facebook.com/prosandconscosplay and on Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/prosandcons

Photo credit: John Clayton

CARMILLA JO is a Bay Area-based cosplayer and model. Growing up with a love for fantasy and animation, she has evolved as not just a model and cosplayer, but also as a costume designer and creative producer. By taking creative control in her works, she has yielded numerous publications and magazine cover features.

As an award-winning cosplayer, her costuming takes inspiration from anime, manga, video games, history, corsetry, and nostalgic cartoons. She plans to continue improving in the craft of cosplay and costuming in the years to come, in addition to collaborating with fellow ambitious creatives for more elaborate and other-worldly photoshoots and projects.

Official website: CarmillaJo.com

Instagram: @CircusofMissJo

Facebook: Carmilla Jo

TikTok: Carmillajo

February is Black History Month. Unfortunately, February 2021 has seen an alarming spike in Asian hate crimes and murders. Racism is an ugly issue that cannot be ignored within the cosplay community, especially in light of gatekeepers and bullies who harass black cosplayers who cosplay non-black characters. Cosplay is for everyone, regardless of race, as it is a hobby that should unite passionate fans who share a common love of geeking out over their fandoms. In this episode, Carmilla Jo touches upon how Black history has shaped American culture and success, how Asian culture and history has played a complicit role in systematic racism, and how we can do better to become better allies and improve as a community.

LETTERS FOR BLACK LIVES is a crowdsourced project started by Christina Xu in 2016 in response to initiating discussions of the Black Lives Matter movement between younger Asians and Asian elders. The letter has been translated into more than 30 languages, including Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Khmer, Hmong, Tagalog, Nepali, Hindi, Russian, and many more.

Thank you Shelli Anpan (@shellianpan on Instagram) and @thekitchengorilla for being my sensitivity readers when I wrote up my draft!

Cover art by @monyeeart

CARMILLA JO is a Bay Area-based cosplayer and model. Growing up with a love for fantasy and animation, she has evolved as not just a model and cosplayer, but also as a costume designer and creative producer. By taking creative control in her works, she has yielded numerous publications and magazine cover features.

As an award-winning cosplayer, her costuming takes inspiration from anime, manga, video games, history, corsetry, and nostalgic cartoons. She plans to continue improving in the craft of cosplay and costuming in the years to come, in addition to collaborating with fellow ambitious creatives for more elaborate and other-worldly photoshoots and projects.

Official website: CarmillaJo.com

Instagram: @CircusofMissJo

Facebook: Carmilla Jo

TikTok: Carmillajo

New Year's Resolutions can be an invigorating way to start the beginning of the year. Some people love them, while others may not feel that they're as conductive for setting goals. In this episode, our host Carmilla Jo shares her thoughts on creating resolutions, setting goals, and what she has done in the past year and hopes to continue into 2021.

CARMILLA JO is a Bay Area-based cosplayer and model. Growing up with a love for fantasy and animation, she has evolved as not just a model and cosplayer, but also as a costume designer and creative producer. By taking creative control in her works, she has yielded numerous publications and magazine cover features.

As an award-winning cosplayer, her costuming takes inspiration from anime, manga, video games, history, corsetry, and nostalgic cartoons. She plans to continue improving in the craft of cosplay and costuming in the years to come, in addition to collaborating with fellow ambitious creatives for more elaborate and other-worldly photoshoots and projects.

Official website: CarmillaJo.com

Instagram: @CircusofMissJo

Facebook: Carmilla Jo

TikTok: Carmillajo

Happy new year! Today's episode is more of a very short mini-episode ringing in the new year, with two news: the publication of the January 2021 issue of Craft Center Magazine, and guesting on the podcast Nakama Fitness.

CARMILLA JO is a Bay Area-based cosplayer and model. Growing up with a love for fantasy and animation, she has evolved as not just a model and cosplayer, but also as a costume designer and creative producer. By taking creative control in her works, she has yielded numerous publications and magazine cover features. As an award-winning cosplayer, her costuming takes inspiration from anime, manga, video games, history, corsetry, and nostalgic cartoons. She plans to continue improving in the craft of cosplay and costuming in the years to come, in addition to collaborating with fellow ambitious creatives for more elaborate and other-worldly photoshoots and projects.

Official website: CarmillaJo.com 

Instagram: @CircusofMissJo 

Facebook: Carmilla Jo 

TikTok: Carmillajo