What city are you based in?

Dallas, TX.

Can you tell us about your first cosplay?

My mother helped me make a The Little Mermaid blue “Kiss the Girl” Ariel dress which I wore to FAN EXPO Dallas in 2016. I hope to recreate a new version of it soon.

Do you have a cosplay piece that you are most proud of?

The piece I am proudest of has got to be the Belle hoop skirt [my mom and I] designed. Using hoop steel and ribbon, we created eight rounded sections coming off of a normal circular hoop. It gives my Belle dress such a beautiful shape and is just so fun to look at!

What do you hope to achieve through cosplay?

I love bringing joy to people through cosplay. I hope I can inspire others to be creative, learn new skills, and cosplay whatever characters you love no matter your age, size, gender, or ethnicity.

If you could give any piece of advice to new cosplayers, what would it be?

Just have fun! For the first several cons I attended in cosplay, I was so nervous and felt silly and uncomfortable being dressed up and taking pictures with people. After seeing how happy it made everyone else I realized that I didn’t need to worry so much. People love seeing the costumes you create and being able to see their favorite characters in real life.

What would you say is the hardest part of cosplaying?

For me, I think the hardest part is trying to recreate a dress I see in my head. It can be difficult to make a dress come to life if I don’t quite have the skill level or know how to make something look the way I want it to. Plus, it doesn’t help when what I’m thinking of isn’t exactly practical. [Laughs]