Episode 11 - feat. Kiera Please

This week MiLadyConfetti and Jess Brohard are joined by Cosplayer, Voice Actor and Twitch Streamer Kiera Please! The gang goes deep on representation in the Twitch and video game space and the taxing mental side effects of content creation and social media. Tons of crucial tips for new content creators and some anime suggestions for horror fans! Enjoy!

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, everyone, Welcome to another episode of Boss Level, where
we interview guests who have leveled up or our bosses
in some way or another. I'm just Brohard and I'm
joined by Lady Coffetti and we have a really awesome
guest confetti. First, I'm going to kick it over to
you though, and just ask how you're doing and how
you've been. I'm doing good. I'm getting over a little
food poisoning from this weekend, but you know, doing good.

(00:27):
It's Monday. I'm trying. We're being honest here, Yeah, it
is Monday. I kind of feel that as well. Where
I guess it'll be Thursday hopefully when people are listening.
But anyway, Kira, we have Kira please joining us. I'm
so so excited. Kira. Can you say a few words
to our guests? What do you want them to know
about yourself? Well, hey, guys, first of all, thank you
for having me. I'm honored. I didn't know I leveled

(00:49):
up and I was a boss, so I'm glad to
have you. Thank you. But hey, guys, I'm Kira. Please.
I I guess I'm a content creator, dreamer and some
other things. I guess we'll talk about that today. Um,
I just like to make stuff and put it out
on the internet. Honestly. Yeah, I was gonna say, like you,

(01:09):
I was wondering if you called yourself because I would
call your call you a content creator. But you do
so many different things. So there's like so many different
titles we could give you, or that you would give yourself.
What's your main focus right now? What's your what's your
kind of project that you're most excited about working on
right now? Oh that's a hard question. Um. But it's
also hard to give myself titles because I don't know
what I am. I just say content creating. Now that

(01:32):
one title king, Yeah, I am a king. I call
myself King Loyalty, So that's fair. Um, big project that
I'm working on, Um, it's it's it's kind of scary
to say because I feel like once you say it,
it becomes more real. But it is real. But I've
been trying to get more into comic book and graphic

(01:54):
novel making in the creation of that. Um, that's so cool,
thank you, And that's has been a whole ride. Most
people don't know, but I've been doing it for about
two years. I just haven't put out anything to the world. Um,
so that's been an exciting and just pretty cool journey
to kind of see unfold. That's very cool. Do you

(02:15):
do everything yourself? The art writing? I know, I'm working
with a few different artists and a few different writers. Um,
I kind of we have i want to say, like
a couple of different books that were um kind of
putting together. I'm more so like the creator and the producer,

(02:36):
So I kind of go scout out the artists and
try to find different people to help with the world building,
and then also working with some writers or up and
coming writers or people who want to be writers and
kind of developing the story with them. So usually it's
about like a group of three of three of us
until we can expand upon the team for sure. That's

(02:58):
very cool. How and what kind of got you started
in that direction, because you know, again, it just seems
like there's so many things that you do and so
many things that you have done, and I totally understand,
you know, as a content creator, sometimes what you do
will sort of change or what you're focusing on will change.
So how did you get specifically into doing like comics
and manga and such? Yeah? So, um, well, I've always

(03:18):
loved comics. I have so many graphic novels, um that
I just I was in love with and I kind
of stumbled upon it. I never thought I would make one,
but one day I drew a picture. Um, oh, this
is so scary because I'm like, I haven't talked about this.
I haven't talked about this. Holy the time it comes out,

(03:39):
like people will like it, I don't know. It's a
long process. Trust me, it takes years. I didn't realize that. Um,
but I always loved like comic books and graphic novels.
And one day I just happened to draw a picture
on act Like I don't know why. I was just drawing.
That was like my therapeutic thing I was trying to
do to help with my mental health. Was just doodling
and drawing. And one of my friends saw the picture

(04:02):
and they said, hey, do you mind if I like
kind of write a story with this, or like just
make a mock thing. And I read the story and
it was actually like a children's book, and then I
was like, hey, what if we like up the antie,
like let's make this for adults, and um, I really
enjoyed where they were going with the story and what
they did with my characters that I decided, like, you

(04:23):
want to like try this out and see if we
can do it. And that's when I like reached out
and kind of scouted out artists, and then we got
characters developed um and the character designs, and then we
started developing the story even more and then it kind
of just fell from there and we've just been working
on it ever since. That's really cool, really, oh, guys,

(04:47):
because you know you talk about like when you do
productions and stuff like that, like there is a lot
of work behind the scenes that a lot of people
don't see or may not comprehend, you know, they just
see the final products when it's like, no, I've been
doing this for a lot years. Also, we were like, really,
it's like it is not that simple, and things like
they take time, like good things take time, and you

(05:08):
never get what you want off of the first rip.
You you kind of go through a lot of renditions
and get to the point where you need to be.
So yeah, that's cool. There you also are where it
takes a lot of work. People, Well, I've been I've
been dealing something for a couple of months now and
then that's gonna be kind of coming out this month.
But then also, like I talked about, I also referenced
a lot Cinderella because I was kind of like my

(05:29):
first big project I put in the world, like the
dress alone, the bodice alone, took so Luca. It was
just so many people involved with that project that I
was just like, no, you just showed up and looked
like Cinderella. I'm like, no, I didn't. That was the
easy part. Is the last part is just showing up.
This easy part all that goes into it. That's that
was part. Yeah, so I completely understand that's that's insane

(05:53):
though that's really cool. He's the Crown, Yeah, exactly. So
one way, Um, I know I've been following you for
a couple of years through Instagram, but I think I
found you through he did a collaboration with um a
few other cos players, and that's how I came to
know become across you and the Pain like a Savage
Expanti ambassador. But one thing I was like thinking about

(06:15):
before this interview was like, I don't know your origin story,
so like what's like your superhero organ story, Like who
is Kira please? Yeah, so I, um, if y'all remember
this one, uh, this one website, Tumbler that's where I
still never heard of it. I started on Tumbler and

(06:35):
it's weird how this all, Well, maybe it's not weird.
So I was on Tumbler a lot. And this was
also like early stages of Instagram, where you know it's
way different now, but um, I was more so on
Tumbler because that was just like the popping website. I
was really really young, but I really enjoyed like just
it was kind of like a big Pinterest page and
I was like, oh, I want to like put out

(06:57):
fashion and hair stuff like these cool girls on Tumbling.
So I started submitting all my fashion and hair stuff
to random um blogs that would just publish me. Like
I would submit like hundreds a day, like crazy amounts,
just to be like I want people. I didn't know
any other way to grow my Tumbler, and I wasn't

(07:18):
I didn't really have a following on Twitter or Instagram,
so I was like, how do I get people to
see me? So I was like submit, submit, submit, submit,
submit to blogs and some of them actually started posting
me and then people started kind of recognize me for
I want to say fashion and different hair stuff. I
used to put a lot of flowers in my hair
and do like crazy scarf tops tutorials, they weren't really tutorials,

(07:40):
they were just pictures of me trying to like put
it on um. And that's kind of how I started
getting traction. And within Tumbler, I started just um promoting
my Instagram because I was like, Okay, I want to
be on like some other platforms as well that I
find cool UM and that's when I started growing more
of a following on Instagram and then it kind of

(08:02):
it blew up for hair, and then all of a sudden,
I randomly decided to cost like I don't even know why.
I don't even think I knew what it was. And
then that's when it like doubled, and that was like
insane to see. I think it was garnered from Stephen Universe,
and it was just a lot of posting on Tumbler
being consistent at that and then also trying to outsource

(08:24):
him promote my other channels as well for different other content.
So that's kind of how it began. Tumbler Thanks Tumbler Recipes. Tumbling.
Is it not still around or is it just like
a dead site. Now it's like it's right, I don't
know any people. Yeah, anyway, that is so fascinating though,

(08:50):
because like that's uh yeah, that's just very very interesting
that you you blew up on tumbler first and kind
of segued that to your other social media. Um. And
one thing, one kind of theme I'm noticing about a
lot of these successes that you've had is that it
was something you almost kind of went into on a
whim rather than you know, like you said, you kind
of accidentally um drew a comic and kind of somehow

(09:11):
got into uh cosplay instead of necessarily intentionally setting out
to do that. Is that how you've always been to
you kind of you know, go maybe where the universe
takes you, or would you say you have more of
a kind of set path and goal that you try
to follow. You actually pointed out something I wasn't even
aware of. That that's good to know. Um, I think

(09:35):
a lot of stuff I have accidentally discovered, and I
think that was also through just trying things, and then
within within trying something, I'm lead another way, which becomes
my new path. So I want to say a lot
of things I do I stumble upon. But then when

(09:55):
I get into it, I try to be intentional, like
if I try to be like, Okay, if I'm going
to do this, I kind of want to put my
all into it and see how far I can go
and how much I can do and how much explore
this whole new world. So I think after discovering the
things that I think I'm good at, that's when I
kind of go like, Okay, full speed ahead, let's go.

(10:18):
So a mixture of both, for sure. I'm a big
fan of like you know, like I don't know if
it's considered because I haven't done much reading on like
the like law of attraction and you know that kind
of stuff. But I think there's something to do with
it that, Like I I'm I'm a big fan of
just kind of letting things come to me rather than
and maybe I'm maybe I'm just lazy, but like I
have to expend so much energy and try so hard

(10:39):
at something and it's just not working, Like I would
rather just kind of let something naturally sort of come
to me, If that makes any sense. That's that makes perfect.
I mean a lot of a lot of times that's
how it just happens because never. You never know until
like you stumble upon something you're like, oh, I do
love like pineapples on pizza. I don't, yep, I had

(11:00):
the podcast cut the pockets. But who would not if
I never? You know, I never. I don't like cannibal pizza.
I'm sorry, that's okay, more fun. Sorry? What is your
favorite pizzas happening? Though? I don't really care for pizza
that much. Oh my gosh, but it's just when you

(11:24):
went went to New York for your billboard, what did
you eat? It's like the one thing you gotta get
when you go to New York. It's like it's cool,
like it's there, it's easy, it's accessible. But I would
never like openly choose pizza. Okay, sushi, Yes, sushi, order sushi,

(11:52):
like I had to order food. It's sushi. It's just
I think I'm addicted. I think I'm definitely indictated. What's
your favorite type role or you know, what's your favorite
type of sushi? I used to think it was nagy eel,
but I'm starting to think it might be like yellow
tail and albacore. I like a lot of Yes, I
love a lot of sushimi. I hope I'm pronouncing that right.

(12:15):
I'm so sorry, but though like I'm gravitating towards those
a little bit more. But I do look eel from
time to time, and you're because I know I frequently
stream all the time. I'm usually lurking, I'm doing work.
But I know the one time, the one last time
I was chatting, we need stop, Okay, thank you. I

(12:35):
mean I learned to like she doesn't like she's not
taking any of these compliments. She's just like I think
we're just embarrassing her more than anything. It just it
baffles my mind that people like like me, I'm just like, why,
UM tell me, is there alter your motive? I don't know,
I don't get it. I never understand, but i'd be
learning to. I'm the type of streamer that lurks. I

(12:57):
am not a chatter. But the thing is, no, but
exactly what we're talking about this topic. I think you
had some people on voice chat. I was just typing
and chat when I could get a second. But like
you're talking about, like you know, you talk about your
rise from Tumbler and how everything populated to like your
other platforms. I know, like you just you were partnered
this year on twitch. Right, Um, so you had like

(13:18):
a lot of things like going on. You were just
in a billboard in New York City where you didn't
have pizza. So, but when we talk about all these
big things, I think during that stream, you're being very
vulnerable and talking about like how you don't always do
things or sometimes you don't know what's going on sometimes
when things fail. So how do you deal with, you know,
something that's quote unquote a failure. Um, and what do

(13:40):
you like take from that experience? I don't. I'm sorry, No,
I'm trying to. It's a it's a work in progress.
This is something that I was actually like thinking about
the other day. UM. I don't know if I take
fail your will and and I think that I'm working
on it. I try to like look at failure as like, okay,
just like a learning experience. But sometimes I feel like

(14:03):
I take it very personal because I do try to
put my all into things. I'm like, damn, like it
makes it. It's gonna make me sad, Oh my god,
it's gonna make me cry. But UM, I've been trying
to work on it. I actually I actually recently went
to Georgia and my uncle he was thinking about me
and he gave me this book and UM, I've been
trying to read it UM and it was basically just

(14:26):
about controlling your mood and like failures and successes and
how that impacts UM, like your daily habits, what you
think about UM and just trying to reprogram my mind
because I do get so like emotional about things to
a fault. Sometimes sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not. UM

(14:47):
and also human and you're laws to feel your feelings.
I forgot about that. And that means that you care
about these things that you're doing. Like if you fail
as something that you don't care about, it's like you,
you know, if you don't get emotional about it, you
clearly didn't care that much. Like we're obviously the person
who puts a lot of passion and emotion into things,
which I think is good. I mean, especially like as
an artist, you just have that emotion that you have
to convey, you know otherwise, like what are you doing

(15:10):
right exactly? You hit the nail on the donkey, tail
tail on the dog. What's the same nail on the
head and on the donkey? Yes? That that I really
like that your cash phrases. I know that same, very
same shame. But you were just like you ever just
look at your left elbow. I'm like, have you for it?

(15:32):
Because you're like, wait a minute, guy. I've been trying
as recently just to like breathe take a moment instead
of just always like reacting all the time and trying
to take a step back and be like, Okay, why

(15:54):
do I feel this way? How can I learn from this?
And what can I do better? Are going forward? Because
at the end of the day, I don't know if
any failure is actually a failure because it gets you
towards where you need to go. Um. I know there's
that one another saying fail fast. It's like fail faster
or something like that. To six I forgot. It's like

(16:16):
the faster you fail, the more you learn in the
quicker you can get to the destination. Essentially, I agree
with that. Yeah, yeah, that ends then yeah, and then
watching movies. I really love watching TV shows movies to
get my mind into a different world. I said, I
saw your takes some Game of Thrones. I was like, okay,
I have so I have such harsh opinions and I'm
scared to tell on the Internet, so I sweet and

(16:38):
delete deleted. I don't know if I don't think I did.
I don't think I did, but I think that we
weren't wrong. Thank you. Someone said they didn't like Game
of Thrones and I almost blocked them, but I was like, here,
calm down, calm down, it's okay. But then like the
follow up was like until we get to the season

(16:58):
that we shout that name, then it's like okay, yeah,
but yeah, I'm still working on it. It's it's it's
it's a it's a learning prosperence. Yeah, it's a process.
What do you all do? I would love to learn
from me, Well, what do you tell me that, because
I'm like, I don't know. I just cry on the floor.
That's like, I don't know, it's hard on the floor.

(17:20):
My cat comes in here and smacks me, like get up.
I'm like, okay. I am also very um emotional, and
I tend to get very emotional when I fail, and
I would say like, okay, maybe I don't know if
this will help. But the thing, the biggest thing that
I've learned from failure is that, yeah, in some ways,
it's a learning opportunity because you can look at well,
what can I do better for next time? But there

(17:41):
are going to be times when you didn't do anything
wrong and you still quote unquote failed, like you know,
just something and like it's it's I just really really
have to remind myself every single time, like not to
take it personally. You know, like if there's maybe an
opportunity that I felt I should have gotten that I
didn't get, you know, it's yeah, I I'm allowed to
be upset about it. But then I kind of have

(18:02):
to remind myself like, well, you just don't know what
it is they're looking for. You just don't know. You know,
it's not that they didn't want you, it's that they
specifically wanted something else maybe and said, I don't know.
You know that that's actually but it's also all right
to be upset, Like that's valid. You know, you can
feel your feelings and yeah, I know for me, like

(18:23):
the like an actual answer, like I do actually cry
on the floor, but when I'm not crying on the floor, UM,
I remember like a specific example, like a lot of
people don't. I don't share it often, but I cosplayed
as Totorokey and it failed. Um I am not used
to like I mean, like as far as like engagement
and stuff was concerned, and I know, like there's a
whole point of this, but like engagement, like I think

(18:43):
got fifty legs on Instagram, which is not normal for me.
It got like eighty on Twitter, And I said, what
did I like? I saw that as a fair I'm like,
I drove, I got a photographer, I got special effects,
I got all the things. I said, why did he fail?
Like it just didn't make sense to me. It doesn't
make sense to me either, and and like I know,
I I was so hurt for that. I didn't actually cry.

(19:04):
I think I got like very upset because I was
just like I put my heart into this. I was like,
why didn't people like it? And my mentor actually had
to say he was like, yeah, but fifty people still did,
but eighties. But he's like, but eight people still did
and that's worth something like And the thing is it's
like and also like stop thinking about metricscause you're gonna
drive yourself and that and that was honestly I was

(19:27):
getting caught up in that. And it's like and they
were like, did you have fun? I said, I did this,
Like did you learn something from that as far as
like you know, photography and what you like and what
you don't like with certain things, I was like I
did um, and also like because I have anxiety and
a d h D, like I tend to just be
all over the place in erratic. So I actually took
something from my higher education degree. Thanks mom. I'm using

(19:48):
my degree UM called a SWAT analysis. So it's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats. So I was able to categoryize what kind
of went, how that kind of shoot went, so I
can have something tangible to look at and then not
repeat the same things gosh, or repeat the things that
did work. So having a photographer and somebody who understands
how to photo, how to you know, take photos of

(20:09):
dark skin. I needed that, Yeah, because sometimes the girl
was looking ashy and I said, I am not casket
ready to say, oh my god. But that was something
that was like that was a strength. I was like,
I found somebody who I know how I can work with,
so that works. And then it went from there. So
like having something that a system that tangibly works, so
I don't it's stuck in my feelings. You I know,

(20:32):
you watch a lot of anime. But you know when
it tachies like Genjutu and Naruto Soccara and um. Granted
they got caught in his um Genjuto and they needed
somebody to touch him to get it out of it.
That's me. I'm like, I need a shoulder touched, So
that's what I need so I don't get caught him
and that and that's my tangible system that works for me.
That's beautiful. But that's really beautiful. I'm gonna I'm gonna

(20:54):
heat some of the things you'll do into my life.
The floor on the I do that too. It's fine.
You're really like putting a lot of faith in us that,
like you know that we know what we're doing. I mean,
it's sound advice like it's not. It's not bad like
it sounds like I'm hearing. I'm like, sounds good. I've

(21:18):
been doing the same time. Well, do you all think
this would be a good time to take a little
bit of a quick ad break then I think so. Alrighty,
well we will be right back. Don't go anywhere and
hear a word from our sponsors. Okay, and welcome back.

(21:40):
We're still here with just Brohard and Kierra please, And
I am also your hostman, Lady Confetti. I want to
just want to jump back in. UM. I know we're
talking a lot about like advice and things that you're
going to follow, But being that you've been in the
you know, doing content creation for so long, what is
some advice that you would give somebody who wants to
do what you want to do? M Okay. First of all,

(22:02):
it doesn't always happen overnight. Okay, it takes time. And
I didn't even recognize how much time and how much
like of my life that I've spent with it, like
just being on the internet, like I think I started
in two thousand, like twelve, and I'm just like, this

(22:23):
is a long time, and a lot of the people
you see, they've been working at it. Just because they
may have blown up now doesn't mean they haven't been
creating videos in the past or have been, um doing
cosplay or doing voice acting or doing all these auditions
until one of them hit and you're like you you
just see the success. So be patient with yourself, UM,

(22:45):
and also be open to change and learning what works
for you. UM. A lot of times people might try
the same thing over and over and over and not
understand why they're why they're not getting the success or
the eyeballs or the brand deal that you want, but
be open to be flexible with your own content, um
and trying new things. I think sometimes we get even

(23:07):
we get scared to change and switch things up, even
when we do find some success, and then all of
a sudden, we feel like we're now stagnant and we
don't understand but we're trying the same tactics. And sometimes
it's okay to do that, but it's also okay to
just do something different, try new things and see what
other things will work for you and what other things

(23:29):
that you enjoy. Um. And it's it's it's crazy that
now this is like a job, because when I was
doing it or started it was, I never thought about
it as a job, which is like a wild turn
of events. UM. Shout out to my my degree. I
went in for creative advertising. I guess I do that

(23:49):
for Yeah, thanks to And also I think one major
thing if you're like actively try to get in this
career field UM to have as a job is make
sure you're taking care of your mental health. Because as

(24:09):
much as social media is a tool, it's also very taxing,
like it's not the type of job where you go in,
clock in and clock out, Like you constantly, whether you
want to or not, you constantly keep thinking about, Okay,
what about new ideas. I want to do this, I
want to stream this, or I want to try this,
and you don't shut off your brain. So make sure

(24:30):
you're taking those moments in time to shut off your
brain and go do something else and not make it
about content. You know, go to a museum and don't
don't post on your story, to go go hang out
with friends and not think about these things, because I
think sometimes you really do need that clear break. While
it's also beautiful to share your life, sometimes it does

(24:50):
become about like what you're saying, it can come become
about engagement and why don't people like this? Or how
come I'm not growing? And as much as it's great
to grow, it's not all about that. If that makes
sense that I love everything you just said so much
because we like we Also, I feel like the like

(25:14):
streamer culture is all about like hustle and like you know,
the you're always grinding and like yeah, and I'm learning
it too. Now I'm just like, oh my god, I
like five hours out of your day is it doesn't
seem like a lot, but then when you're doing it
almost every day, you're like, wait a minute, I needed

(25:36):
there was one time. There was one time I was working.
I started at like eight am and then it was
one am, and I said, what at this computer? And
that's not healthy for your body sometimes Like yeah, well,
and that kind of goes back to what you were
saying about. You know, when you're maybe creating like a
comic book or a cosplay, there's so much work that

(25:59):
you behind the scenes, and it's just like streaming, there's
so much you do when you're not actually streaming to
help your stream and then these viewers like they only
see like the little kind of like the chunk of
the iceberg that's sticking out of the water. They don't see,
you know, the gigantic everything below the service that you
do around the clock. But like, yeah, it's so important
to take care of your mental health. And there was
um oh, and I also wanted to go back a

(26:19):
little bit um to what you were saying about. You know,
like if you're if you're trying new things, you need
to make sure to kind of like try and see
what works and not like necessarily keep kind of spinning
your wheels um as something that's not working, because that's
something I see a lot of UH streamers doing that
are kind of on the beginning of their content creation journeys.
They won't necessarily explore maybe other platforms or other options.

(26:42):
They'll put themselves in a box and will get kind
of stuck on the like twitch partner, you know label
or like a goal and they'll think that that's the
only path for them, when realistically they could be you know,
very fulfilled creating content on YouTube and maybe growing faster
that way, or or you know, doing something else. Have
you ever felt pressure or to kind of be something
or like put yourself in a box like that, or

(27:03):
or are you more always like true to yourself? Um?
I definitely have felt the pressure to only cosplay at
times because I did, uh you know, grow a lot
um while cause playing, and sometimes I would get like frustrated.

(27:24):
While it's great to be a cause player, I started
getting frustrated that people didn't see these other things and
parts of my personality that I actively wanted to share
and do, and they kind of not on purpose, but
put me in a box and I was just like
I would just get so frustrated. I'm just like, yell

(27:45):
are making me not like doing this because I'm like, yeah,
I want to be a voice actor to like, hey,
can you pay attention a little bit of that, or
like I also want to talk about I don't know
food for a little bit, and like I have these
other interests, um, and I start to putting myself in
the box thinking that I'm not I can't make any
other content because no one will care. Um, I don't

(28:07):
think that anymore. It took some time, but I was
just like Okay, like I need to I just need
to share more of these other things and other interests
so people can understand, like I'm not just this one thing. Um.
While it's great to be that one thing, and I'm
so happy and grateful for the experiences and the opportunities
it has given me, UM, I also am blessed to

(28:29):
say that it's also given me opportunities and other realms
and other fields that I find so much joy in
that I do want to kind of, um explore And
I think that's okay to kind of slow down on
one chapter of your life to see what this other
book is about. For a little bit um, but yeah,
that did. That was a little like frustrating at a

(28:52):
time because it's like, how does something that provided me
so much joy also put me in a box? If
that makes sense? Can I say I'm trying not to
get emotional right now because I felt the same exact
way so sad, like I started to feel it with
Cosplay and then I kind of reclaimed that energy for me,

(29:13):
so I only do things when I feel like it.
But it was more so with a game for me,
and I was just like, I can't do this anymore
because it was Milady Confetti the DVD streamer, and I'm like,
I have so much more than this stupid game. It's
not it's not stupid. It's actually really fun game, but
like I got closed in the box and then like
when I would do other things, no one would be there,
and like I was just like but you know talking
about you pour your heart into the thing, and then

(29:35):
here I am crying on the floor. I just felt
like it felt like a vicious cycle. And it's like
then I talked about like things like you know, I
don't want to be put on a boxer, don't put
me on you know, this platform over here, like when
I'm just human and trying to figure out like what
sticks to the wall. So then I had been afraid
to try things. And then come this new year, I
said no more, and I started streaming Resident Evil Village.

(29:58):
I don't know what number, I don't have account um.
I started streaming that because I was just like I
want to I want to break away from this. It's
not that I don't love that, though, I still stream
it once in a while, but it's like yeah, and
there's like I know, like I'm probably older than you,
but like you're somebody I've always looked up to for
like in content creation because it's like no, no, but

(30:18):
it's real because it's like I didn't see many black girls.
I didn't see many black girls doing things. And then
it's just like oh wow, like to see the platform
that you had and just it's just it was just
like that was just a moment for me, like that
all the things you said to know that you're not alone,
like even whatever you know, no, no, that my brain
my brain is braining. That was very reassuring and is

(30:40):
it cathartic? What's what's the word? Like that that was
nice to hear I think I needed to hear that
because like a lot of times we feel these emotions
alone and wow, I know it's not it's not I'm
not the only one going through it. It's nice to
actually hear someone in like similar spaces, um just just
relating and I will I don't, I don't. I sometimes

(31:02):
I'm cautious about what I put on Twitter, particularly my Instagram,
like private stories or just me like crying on the floor,
but like I really wish I wasn't. That's the honest
out of but like because sometimes it's just like then
I get seen as like, well, you have all of this,
you have this with Logitech and this and act blah
blah blah blah blah. But I'm like, Okay, but like

(31:23):
I want to do this thing over here, like I
want to talk about anime, I want to talk about
like other things I want to talk about, you know,
putting pain on my face because I just like to
do what I want to talk about, going on hikes.
And it's like sometimes like when people just see you
as this thing that's tough, and it's like, you know,
you don't want to disappoint people, but at the same time,
like I'm disappointing myself. You know, it's it's it's nice

(31:49):
and not I'm not alone and I'm not gonna cry
because this makeup is bomb. It's okay me neither. I'm
not I will cry after after Oh my gosh. No,
thank you for sharing. Um yeah, thank you for sharing
because I don't I don't feel like feeling like I'm
losing it. This is one of my favorite things about

(32:13):
doing this podcast is I feel like like we as
hosts are able to learn so much from our guests
each time, and it's just wonderful. Like I feel like
we all level up. You know, yes, this and this.
I feel like this has put me on a new level, Like,
thank you again for having me. This is this is
great of course. Oh I think we also have some

(32:34):
questions from twitterhoo good points, sorry some so lumpy. Shinobi asked,
I love that name. With the increased spotlight on geek
culture in the last ten years, has the demand for
cos players also also rise risen and how has that

(32:57):
affected them? I had to adjust that provide. I would
like to say, I know nothing. Don't listen to me
at all. Um, these are just my opinions. I'm still
learning and trying to adult like everybody else, so be
patient with me. UM. But I think with the rise
of geek culture, I definitely have seen a lot more

(33:20):
spotlight in diversity within the space as well, UM, which
is I think cool to see. UM. Can you say
that last part of the last part of the question again, yes, UM?
So yeah, has there been a demand more for cause
players um? And also how do you think that's affected them?

(33:41):
Mm hm ah mm hmm. This is a hard question
to answer because you know, I don't know anyone else's experience, UM,
but I will say there's a lot more people in
the space, so I'm guessing that has um created more
of a demand for people to want that type of content.

(34:04):
But also, like in general, I feel like this space
has become so hungry as far as just like out
putting something UM. And I think that TikTok is an
attest to that, because it's almost like if you're not
posting like sixteen times a day, then you are irrelevant
and I'm just like Jesus making one hours bro. So

(34:28):
I definitely feel like the demand has gone up, but
I also feel like in a certain way it's also
loved out because there are so many cose players. There's
like no way that you're not probably getting one cosplay
a day from somebody. UM so uh, I don't know.

(34:49):
I think it's definitely like showcases. I think definitely more
diversity in the space. Like this is kind of the
first time and maybe the last decade I've seen more
people who look like me who are not are not
just like being podcasters or people who are hosting shows
like maybe like on crunty roll or like any of
like for any or anything like that, not even just
like anime related, but like like the board, I was

(35:12):
just like, I was just like, oh my god, like that,
like that is cool. And also with voice acting too,
like I love seeing that. I just I just especially
in animey. I'm like, I love I love saying black.
I love it. Yeah, which is it's really cool to see.
I definitely feel like it's UM as of these recent years,
it's definitely broken into mainstream, which I feel like inherently
makes it a better UM, a better community because we

(35:36):
are able to see all these different perspectives from different
types of people and also see people who wouldn't traditionally
be in this space be in the space and learn
about it and also find interests in it um, which
is crazy because I'm like, for real, Jordan's got a collapse.
That's crazy. I was like, I would have never seen
that when I was in middle school. Now yeah, crazy.

(35:59):
I'm like wow, like and it's being recognized and I
think respected, which is a big thing because I think, um,
like me growing up, it wasn't really respected. It was
kind of just like keep that over there. Um. Now
it's like you don't watch anime. It's the opposite. But
also like when Megan the Stallion, like when she did

(36:21):
that total roke um cosplay on the cover of magazine.
I forget which magazine. Yes, I was like why I
heard that. I was like, of course it is. I'm like,
she's not doing that in the fire and Ice come
on it always like alright, alright. I was like, who's
feeling there. I was like, cool, it's on the cover.

(36:42):
That's wild. I'm like, oh, we have made away, We've
paid waste. And I love how like the o g
s of like anime are just like welcoming. A lot
of us are. We're just like, no, come over, we
want we want to talk more. Any people, please, yes,
join us? It's crazy and it's it's cool to see,
like you said, um, not justin like solely cosplay, but

(37:04):
people going into these different spaces, like as far as
like clothing. The fact that hype Plant is basically like
a main stream brand, Um, that's Jordan's he's doing this thing.
I'm like, that's amazing, Like you're killing it. Um, Like
when he came up and hug but he was like,
oh hey, I was like why, I don't know who
I am. I'm just like, wow, like you you you

(37:26):
did the thing. And like I recently saw that q
D pie since Jasmine, um, she talked about it with
me a while back, but she's starting swim swimwear, swimwear,
um anime swimwear, and I'm like that's freaking amazing, Like congratulations,
that's so real, like and just being in like taking

(37:47):
this one niche and putting it into all these different
communities and sprinkling it and make it just it's really dope.
And oh my SAMPI with the lounge where like oh
see there's I don't I don't know if we're allowed
to like link all these awesome black um anime inspired places,
but like we really should. I don't know, my heart,
we should do that though if you co sponsored, but like,

(38:09):
please link them somewhere. So I have a question for
both of you then, since you know this is a
topic that obviously you know, I can't relate too much. Like,
you know, I'm white and so growing up there were
all these you know, there's a ton of white representation
where I looked, never something I struggled with. So what
would be the advice that you two would give to

(38:31):
maybe younger people of color who are growing up and
don't necessarily see themselves represented. Like, what was it that
kind of kept both of you driving forward as you saw,
you know, like there aren't really a lot of other
black women doing what I'm doing? What was it that
that motivated y'all and and that you can pass on
to the next generation. Um, For me, the motivation was
that there wasn't many black women and I was like,

(38:53):
all right, I'm gonna do it and make sure everybody
else knows they can too, so they feel comfortable because
sometimes scary, you know. Um, I I definitely wanted to
be like dang, I want to advocate for you can
do this thing, Like I think Sa Ray is a
good UM portrayal of bit like you can have that
you can act, and you can make your own production

(39:15):
company and create your own shows and be writers in
these spaces that traditionally you wouldn't see yourself. So I
think just becoming that person that I would want to
see um to allow other people to also become that
person that they want other people to see, and kind
of making it like a domino effect, because you know,

(39:37):
it just takes one and then it takes another, and
another and another and then and then you're one of us, Yes,
exactly one of us. What about you, lady, I don't,
I don't I think. I think I was just a
type of person, just like kid to adult. Like I
just always thought that anime was cool and like yeah, sure,

(39:58):
like I got bullied and I ousted and you know,
pushed to the side for it and all the other stuff,
but like I thought it was cool. It was something
that engaged my imagination um from things like Sailor Moon.
I was just like, I want to be like Sailor Mars.
I want to be like Sailor Pluto. Like I don't,
I don't know, Like I just I just always thought
it was cool. So like, yeah, while externally. It did suck,

(40:19):
like I still always because I was always I was.
I'm also an only child, so like also didn't have
like a lot of friends. Oh yeah, I'm an only kid.
Um my mom m Mother's Day, um so um. I
don't know. I think it was just like that escape
for me. But then also like it was kind of
cool when I got those moments where I could talk
to other people about anime. And actually this year it

(40:43):
was something that because it wasn't always something I talked
about publicly, but one of those things along with playing
Resident Evil Village, A lot of things were coming from
this one very game. But like after I was completely
after I completed the game and everything was fine and
the world didn't disintegrate around me, I said, yeah, like
kind of like you were mentioning earlier when we're talking
about like take risks, do things. So like I talked
about anime out loud, I talked about my experience. I

(41:05):
talked about being bullied, and I was like, yeah, that sucks,
but you set Gara Meshi is one of the greatest
characters ever in anime. Ever. You would never convince me otherwise.
And then I found friends and saying that. I was like, okay, cool.
I mean, I don't know. I've just always been, at
least in that department. I've been very, very very true
to myself. And I'm just like, if I'm having fun,
you can throw all the spitballs you wanted me. I'm

(41:28):
still here. And I think you inherently being like comfortable
with that side of your personality has led people to
also become comfortable um with those sides of themselves that
they might shy away from because of how people will
perceive it. So that's kudos to you, man, kudos to you.
Can we end the podcast because Kara is trying to

(41:48):
make me cry and I'm I'm not. I'm not okay.
Are you gonna go crown the floor? Right here? Though?
Right here? This is my crying Matt here Okay, it's
actually rug Oh, I carry this through the New York subway. Rug.
Jordan was like, you're going to carry that home? I
was like, yes, I will, Yes, I will. Thank you

(42:12):
see you at the next meetup. Lovely a love bait
for you, Jess. We gotta get you to watch some anime.
I know, viewers or for our listeners. What is an
anime that Jess should start listen to start watching like
just to Kill You, like a good starter anime. Everyone's
going to say attack on Titan, right, no to them,

(42:36):
don't listen to um Okay. I feel like everyone that
I follow on Twitter, they're always posting about a talk
on Titan. So I was like, Okay, I'll watch a
couple episodes. Don't do it to yourself. No, that's that
is not a that's not a good startup. Really Okay,
well yeah, well then what's in your opinion? What's some
what are some good ones? I should start with it.
Like way back in the day, I was a fan
of anime and like in high school and college, but

(42:58):
I kind of fell out of it, like after for college.
I just have it so like when we try to
graduated college because I'm old, so literally it's been since
I've watched and I know it's like there's so it's
like there's so many new ones that are out in
the last you know, decade. Yeah, they blew up. But
I would say, yeah, I would say, because I'm a

(43:19):
person that is very story German. So like that's why
a lot of the big likes shown shown in some
show JO like don't capture my brain because I'm like,
if you don't have a story, you lose me. Things.
I have a really great story. I would say fruits Basket, Okay, yeah,
I read I read that manga back in the day.
Is it still like so is it like so it's
unfully continuing the story or is it like is it

(43:41):
actually so? Yeah? So they did the remake. Okay, so
they did the remake. That is one, and then they
also have the prequel. I believe that they're working on UM,
which I don't know much about, but I'm prepared to cry. UM.
There's another one. It's called Classroom for the Elite UM
that came out a while ago. But it's it's it's

(44:02):
very sure. It's I think it's only twelve or thirteen episodes.
UM can it's not graphic, but it can be intense. UM. Like.
I like things that kind of UM that challenge me,
like to think about, like the society and stuff that
we live in, because that's just the type of person
that I am. UM. But if you want something that's
like I guess a bit longer, I say you you

(44:24):
Hocke show because it has a beginning and an end.
I like things that have an ending. This is a
lot of shade the dragon Ball Z and I do
not get I like dragon Ball Z is like forever
long right isn't ID for like five episodes and it's
so much filler and they take tense like power up

(44:45):
or don't who was still dead? Be dead? Like I
just can't. I am over it. Yeah, I don't think.
I don't think I'll be starting with dragon Ball Z
or I wouldn't even know. I think I'll just skip
that one entire But I'm it is time for one

(45:05):
more ad break before we come back for some more
awesome anime discussion. Don't go anywhere, listeners will be right back.
Attack of High and is graphics that will do you
like if you're not used to that, which I like
horror movies, So I'm okay with that. You're fine, Oh yeah,

(45:26):
that might actually be Yeah, go for it. Then go
for it. It might be might be right off my alley.
I'm like, I'm one of those people that like, maybe
this is weird, but like horror movies super help with
my anxiety because like, if I'm anxious about like, like
I love one that I really like. I don't know
if I would say is my favorite one I really
like because the Boy do you know it? I don't

(45:47):
think it's this girl um goes to like England to
become an a pair. Oh wait, wait, we're gonna come
back from Okay, okay, talk about all right, listeners, welcome
back to boss level. You know what, We're having some
amazing discussion on the breaks, and we decided we're just
gonna hop back into things we're gonna bring bring bring

(46:07):
this back around to the discussions. We're talking about horror movies.
Horror movies. We're talking about a movie called The Boy.
So I was just describing for Confetti and Heira what
The Boy is about, and I'm not going to spoil it,
but it's it's this young woman goes to I think
England to become like a no pair for this young boy.
She shows up and the parents go, yeah, we're gonna
you're gonna take care of our son Broms And here
he is and they present her with a doll and

(46:30):
she's kind to look into them like is this a
joke and they're like, no, it's not a joke. And
then I don't want to spoil it, but so Chiara,
do you know do you know that one. I feel
like and I'll say again, I'm still not gonna spoil it,
but like like creepy things will happen, like she will, like,
so she'll she goes along with it. She decides like
she'll actually take care of this doll. So she like
puts him in a chair and then leaves the room.

(46:51):
Comes back, he's like on the floor or like and
like on the bed or something like that. He has moved,
So she doesn't ever like witness the doll moving, but
like he'll like creepy things or happening. Yeah, I feel
like I know what you're talking about too. Yeah, I
don't know. You're probably gonna watch that tonight, Like no, probably.
I love a good horror I love a good psychopathriical thriller.

(47:12):
They're they're the best. Yeah, So like, Okay, the reason
I love a horror movie so much is because if
I am anxious about anything, it's something that maybe isn't
going to happen, but it's something that is grounded in
like the real world, you know, like I worried that
like oh my friends hate me, you know, or I
worried you know, whatever, I'm worrying about it's something that
is grounded in the real world. And then I watch

(47:32):
a horror movie and I'm like, this is a crazy
concept that would never happen, like final destination, as like
gory and stuff and as scary as it is. I
never I haven't. I'm not. I don't have the real
death coming to you. But that's that's behind And I said,
absolutely not. I pulled over to the side say I
will not be behind this thing. I'm the same way.

(47:55):
But very movies make me feel something. I'm just like, yeah,
I'm terrified. Um like it is that good? No, I
love it. I think. I think the thing that I
enjoy about like scary movies, it's because some of them,
if they're done really well, they make me think, like
like I I think I was can I curse? Am

(48:16):
I allowed to know? Yeah? Okay, Like Midsomar fucked me up, like,
oh my god, like the plowing. No, it's okay, so
I got through half of that. To me, I got
through half of that, Like, but I like the things
that sucked me up because then I go on YouTube
and I'm like, what does this all mean? Yeah, those movies,

(48:37):
like I just leave thinking more, which I think that
that's the best thing about movies for me is when
they like cause me to question certain things even though
obviously it's not real. Actually I don't know, it might
be real. Yeah see I bought that way with Candy Man.
When I saw that, I didn't see it realize it

(49:00):
was remake or the original. Yeah, I didn't realize because yeah,
I think because I was watching the original. Not obviously
not when it came out, but like I watched then. Um,
but I watched that and I was just like, that's
a lot because it's it's just because it has a
lot of like intersection, because I think that was I mean,

(49:21):
they call I think that documentary is called film nowir
I was talking about like how blackness always and queerness
always intersects with like horror a lot, so like they
take a lot of elements for that and they just
kind of make that thing horror. But Candy Man was
one of the first things where I actually like saw that.
I was like, okay because some sounds like just me
something to make it click. And I was like okay,
because I'm like, I'm not getting this from Nightmare on

(49:43):
Elm Street. Personally, I just Halloween. I'm just like why
is he breathing and walking down the street Like I
don't I don't get it. So, um, I think, I think.
I like stuff like that like that like is thought provoking.
Yeah it is. It is a remake. I mean I
think Jordan's pills doing that a lot, which is really
cool to see, um and using like black issues and

(50:07):
black problems to kind of have a bigger conversation, um
the horror, you know, which is dope. There also like
what do y'all think about like, um, Black Mirror, like
things like I love it, love it, I love it,
like because I'm up, I'm I was obsessed with love it. Yeah,
because it's exactly like you were saying, like it makes

(50:28):
you think because there's so many like there's so many
episodes that are obviously drawing like huge parallels to like
our modern day society and like different aspects of it
and either like critiquing it or you know, having a
commentary about it and so it's just and then even
the ones that don't though it's kind of a interesting
like what if Yeah, and we almost live in like

(50:48):
a Black Mirror episode so to speak. I know they
put it like they put it like objectively out there
with like showing the numbers or like doing certain things
or but I feel like that ain't pull far from
what we're going through right now. Yeah, I give it
a month, you'll be right there. The funny thing is like,

(51:09):
especially when like those of us who have anything to
do with like streaming or anything sort of like somewhat
public facing, because it's like, you know, obviously the probably
the most famous episode NOS Dive where Bryce Stallas Howard
is like, you know, everyone has like the social rating
or whatever, and it's like, we don't have that, but
we do have like I mean the Internet and the

(51:30):
fact that like anything you've ever yeah, exactly metrics like
how many how much engagement is your you know, Twitter
getting Oh it's not getting as much. Okay, well then
you're not going to get as many opportunities and and
things like that. So it's like, you know, in that episode,
you're like social score had real life ramifications. You know,
you can't live here unless you have like a three
point five or above or whatever, and it's like that's
the exact same thing, like, oh, unless you have ten

(51:52):
concurrence or whatever, you know, or ten thousand followers or whatever,
you're not right for the ad campaign, and it's like,
that's people's livelihood. It's almost coming. Well, it kind of
has become like social currency. I I it's like cloud tokens, Like, oh,
they actually genuinely can benefit you or make things harder.
Like I actually was watching a video somewhere. I don't

(52:14):
know if it's correct, but it seemed correct. I gotta
check my sources. But actually Netflix doesn't make any money,
but it has so much value because of the amount
of subscribers they have, and that inherently is valuable to
investors and people around them. So they place a number,
but they actually output more money just creating their own um,

(52:37):
their own shows and stuff be cut, but that increases
their subscriber a count, which and then makes them more
profitable technically because they have access to so many different
people around the world. Right, that's very interesting because I
didn't know that, but I need something to stare at.

(53:00):
I agree, But I was like, I was wondering. I
was like, how does Netflix make money? I was like,
it can't just be from can it just be from subscribe?
And they also have merchandise too, so all the things
that they own if they make merchandise Ferment then probably
not the wincher because there's always a legal battle with
that franchise. But like things like Stranger Things for example,

(53:20):
like they own that, so when you have Stranger Things merged,
they do make a profit off of that. Gotcha? Gotcha?
And I was, I was, I wasn't wondering that for
a long time because I know Hulu, you know, they
have ads, like I think Peco has ads, and I'm like, well,
Netflix doesn't have ads, but that makes a lot of sense.
Yet yet I mean they honestly they probably have like

(53:41):
product placement in their episodes. Instead, we don't don't even notice,
you know, they have like brand deals with like whatever
soda they're drinking or whatever, you know, what have you
so subliminal we don't even notice it. They're making money
other place. Oh I think actually, but we had another

(54:03):
we on other tangents had another Twitter question. Okay, bring
them on high Twitter. Um Genesis on Twitter asks for
tips on getting over the fear that your cosplay isn't
good enough. There's so many amazing ones out there than
mine pales in comparison, which is probably not true a Genesis,
but not true. Um, but I would say what I've learned,

(54:32):
um when I was in my cosplay journey is like
there's so many different types of cosplay, which I think
sometimes people don't recognize, Like you don't have to always
be an armor builder. It's cool as you are, But
maybe you're a causet close player. Maybe you don't want
to even make your outfits. Maybe you're the type of
person that wants to buy it and you're more so
like to do the makeup or do the hair. And

(54:52):
I think recognize that in yourself. You know, figure out
what kind of clouseplay you are, and don't let see
something else deter you away from being that kind of
cause player, because it is okay and it's all right.
Sometimes people need different levels in different types of cause
players to then feel comfortable. Because I was looking at

(55:14):
cause play and I'm like, I don't know how to
sell that well. I was just like, will I ever
be able to do this? And then I saw people
who like, we're taking things out of their closet and
reimagining different pieces, and that made me feel comfortable on
my journey. So you never know who you can impact.
But also, um, just I find that value in yourself
that it's okay, to be at whatever level you are

(55:36):
at and through time you may become this crazy elaborate sewer.
You may not, And that's fine because again there are
different types of cause players and different levels and different
um just different journeys and different passways. So I think
just because you think someone might not like it because
it's not this elaborate thing, or you don't think it

(55:59):
may be good enough, don't like look at that as
true because in the reality, there's going to be someone
that likes it and someone that relates in, someone that
sees you and feels connected to you. And I would say,
don't get caught up in comparing yourself to people, because
you can get lost very quickly. And it's it's it's

(56:19):
scary there. So do the thing that you love to do.
If you love the costplay, then just do it and
find the thing that works for you. Like you said, agree,
that's great. And I don't have any personal advice because
I'm not a cost player. I have, like I have
done a small amounts of costplay, but like I never
considered it was such an infrequent thing. I never consider
my self cost player. But I really liked both of

(56:40):
y'all's advice, and you know, especially like Kara what you
were saying about, it's like, no matter what kind of
quote unquote like level your costplay is on or you
feel like it's on, it can serve a purpose and
it can help someone, you know, like I like I
like I, I really I. You know, one reason I've
never gotten too costplay is besides not being duper duper

(57:00):
interested in it. It's like I can't so I'm not
super crafty. I can't make all this big armor cost plays.
But there can be just as much like value, like
you said in you know, doing like the makeup and
and the hair and kind of putting it all together
and maybe arranging the photo shoot, working with a really
talented photographer and creating your own sort of art around it.
So that's I really like, that's amazing. I feel like
I'm learning so much from doing So when'd your next cosplay? Oh? Yeah,

(57:25):
maybe maybe I'll get into it after I start watching anime.
We'll check in on you. But do it, do that
cosplay girl? Just do it? Yeah, just posted into it.
Just keep going. The first step is just doing it.
That's it, just doing it. I think my first cosplay

(57:47):
was technically I think I was in college and I
had just bought something from Spirit Spirit Halloween. It was
like a Spider Girl um cosplay, and I was just like, oh,
who Spider Girl? And and learn about like the multiverse
and who Spider Man daughter is and stuff like that.
So go for it. That's such a fun way that
you were like inspired by the character first and then

(58:09):
you were like, now I'm going to get into this story,
you know, based on because there's so many like there's
so many different characters and variants. Like I'm just like
sometimes it's hard to keep up. But like that particular
I was like, oh, let me hone in here. Yeah,
one thing I will say. Here's what I will say,
not necessarily just from a cosplay perspective, is you know,
in addition to just do it, like, don't feel like

(58:31):
you have to be an expert on that like source
material to cosplay a character, because I think there is
a lot of like gate keeping out there, and there
are a lot of people that are like, oh, you're
cosplaying this character. Oh, well, you know, what's something, you know,
what's the you know, They're like asking the story and
how did they get here and why? Yeah, like how
did she get her superpowers, you know, etcetera. And it's like, no,

(58:55):
you're just like stop, I don't know. I'm just like,
I just watched the movie. I'm sorry, can't just be
like I think it's valid to just be like I
like the character. I like the way this character looks
or the way this character acts. Are you like something
about the character? Like, isn't that all you need to
be able to cosplay? You just I like something about
this character, so I want to cosplay them? Yes? Yes, really, yes, Okay,
well that's how I feel too. You're absolutely correct, but

(59:20):
also even not even just from anime, just like cartoons
or like you know, different cool things in history like
stuff like that. Like you can literally just cosplays for everybody,
do it respectfully, but you know, cosplay is for everyone.
I cosplayed the Morton Salt Girl at one time, the
one don't do that? I didn't. I was like, no

(59:40):
one's ever done her, It's good, let's try it out.
I love that. Are there any other kind of um
fun costplays you've done like that? There are, or maybe
a character that you wouldn't other people might not think
to cosplay? Yeah. I think at one point during Black

(01:00:01):
history month, I instead of just doing black characters, UM,
I tried to do iconic figures UM so like Aretha
Franklin or UM even like Scissa or someone like that
that I felt they had major impacts and paved a
lot of UM different roads for people of color. I

(01:00:23):
thought that was pretty cool. I was just like, this
is fun. It was nice to not solely just do
like cartoons or anime, but to out of the box,
break out of the box, and UM show respect and
love for these people that I feel like, UM deserve
this kind of recognition and like I don't like, I
don't see it often in that community. So I was like, oh,

(01:00:44):
this would be like fun to do UM. And then
you know, making the photo shoots look like exactly like
the people, like having the gray scale or the grain
or um things of that nature. That was just like
it was just fun. And then one time I try
to do a whole bunch of Cereal box characters. I

(01:01:05):
don't know how that one went, but it was fun trying. See,
I'm inspired by locations around me to do cosplay, so
that's when the best way. So like, if you see
me in my house shooting, it's probably because it's winter
or rating. But like if I see a place and
I'm like, this character reminds me and looks like it
belongs here. So now I'm going to do this thing

(01:01:26):
because I do like mostly location shooting. That's why I
missed living in California because it was always warm. It's
nice over here. There's no human to take me back,
but not thout the taxes. Gases six dollars, Oh yeah,
don't don't. It's okay three thirty anyway. Um, and we

(01:01:49):
don't have the pump rown cats. It hurts my heart
every time I'll go for our listeners, the frowns that
I'm seeing. I am so sorry. I think I think
gas is like two eight five in Ohio. That works,
But you have to pump your own gas. We do?

(01:02:10):
We do? Yeah? Is so are you in your New Jersey?
Is New Jersey? New Jersey is the only isn't it
the only place that you that you like? You're not
allowed to pump your own gas? Yeah, it's against us.
In Wisconsin, I think there's too. Really, that's so fascinating.
So when I go to places like New York and
I get stuck, I have to ask some potty to
pump my gas for me because I don't know. You

(01:02:30):
don't know how wow, when I live in California, I
didn't bring my car for that very purpose. I'm like,
I'm not learning so crazy. That's so cool though, like spoiled. Well, no,
that's great because it's not like I mean, it's not
like it's hard, but it's just like you get like
your hand smells like gas and it's just like, yeah,

(01:02:52):
it's not everybody. My hand smells like perfume. Must be
nice because I've seen like YouTube videos and like people
starting fires and I'm like, no, see that would be me. Nope,
like that spark or something will happen. I'm like, I'm
not knowing that. I'm like that's terrible. It is like, no,

(01:03:14):
that will be me, and I'll be all blewed up.
I'm not doing it. This has been a very interesting podcast. Yeah,
I don't want to know like a listening vision representation
my A d H D. This podcast. I liked it.
This has been a lot of subjects. Well, I mean,
does anyone else have any other topics they'd like to

(01:03:37):
explore before we go ahead and wrap it up? Are
you making more music? See? I have a love hate
relationship with that because I, okay, I don't think I'm
good a good artist. Did we just tell do the Cospornia?

(01:03:57):
But hear me out, hear me out, like, I'm not okay,
how do I put this? I don't think okay, sorry, okay,
I'm gonna We're not gonna let you get away with it.
I don't know. While I think it's it's cool, it's

(01:04:18):
just also I just don't. I I think I have
to get comfortable with putting out music because I've kind
of conditioned in my head that I'm not that great
at it. And music, honestly, it's kind of expensive, it is,
and you don't really get money from it, like you

(01:04:39):
don't not saying you have to do it for money,
but like even music artists that are big, they don't
really make money from music. Um. And so it's hard
for me sometimes to put myself in the mindset of
like making music because one if I already don't feel
the best at it, and then I'm like putting in
a lot of money. I just I've kind of took it,

(01:05:02):
taken a step back from it, which is why I
like to like wrap in my streams now because that's
where I can get it out, but there's just like
other things that I I feel like bring me a
lot more joy. I don't I don't want to say
I'll never put out music. I just don't know if
this is the timing for it. Like if I like,
if a brand deal wants to give me a music

(01:05:24):
studio and place me in with some producers, go ahead, honey,
and I will make you some magic on their tab,
on their tab. But right now, I just I feel
like I have a lot more love for other things.
Not saying I don't have love for it, but I like,
I know a lot of musicians and I see how
hard they work and how much energy and passion they

(01:05:46):
put into it, and I just cannot say the same
for myself. I kind of do it like, oh this
is fun, and then I kind of just go around
and I just I see that and I see the difference.
And there's other things where I feel like I'm doing
putting all that path in, but it's just different avenues.
And I think if it comes time where I feel like, okay,
I really am like passionate about making a lot of music,

(01:06:10):
then I might potentially put out some more. But right now,
it's just like not on my radar. I don't want
to say it's never gonna happen, it's just not. It's
just it's not in the heart of the cards right now. Yeah,
it's not. It's not, it's not. It's not in the
cards right now. I want to be that person that
when they're doing something, they're extremely like into it and
like it's almost like ride or die, life or death,

(01:06:32):
and you need to get it done and you feel inspired.
But I don't really feel inspired by music at the
current moment personally. Um so I think I'll just wait
for that passion or that inspiration to hit too then
kind of put my heart into it if that time
comes that we like, No, but not everything has to
be content to. Like sometimes singing in the house is

(01:06:55):
completely fine. I'm a train singer and I don't even
put stuff out. I'm not doing that like on weight,
like wrapping on stream and doing it like that. That's
where I find like a lot of joy, like that's
really fun for me, or just like doing bad karaoke.
But um, I don't think I necessarily have to like,
all right, I need a package of this, get some
cover art, put it on Spotify because that it's a whole.

(01:07:17):
That's a whole, that's job. It's a job that's like
pumping your gas. That's too much. I'm just like, I
was like, I'm already trying to do content creation and
comics and all these other things. I'm like, I'm like,
if I am really about to be down for it,
I need to chill, Like I can do this just
for a fun, like I like doing it just like,
you know, for fun, as opposed to like out putting

(01:07:37):
um like a project. Well, no, that is so important,
Like I think confetti. Didn't you just say? Literally, not
everything needs to be content? Like that's so true, because
I remember I think I saw you tweet like it's
would have been a couple of months ago at this
point you tweeted something about like skateboarding and you like,
I don't remember if Like someone was like, now give
us content, Now give us skateboarding content or something, and

(01:07:59):
like went off on that not everything needs to be content.
Some things are just for me, you know, which is
so important for your mental health. They were like, I
can't wait to see your skate videos. I was like what,
I'm just like, I have to do more things I'm
like this so fun. I don't want to make it work.
I'm tired. Not everything has to be work. I will
here with this not being work. But like, and then

(01:08:20):
when you talk about like, because I grew up, like
you know, we grew up with like social media, so
it's just like sometimes I just want to share that,
like I'm having fun skating, yes, and then that's it.
I still want to, like sometimes enjoy social media as
a human being. Yeah, I'm at the skate park and
I'm having fun. Yeah, exactly that part. And I also
saw I correct me if I'm wrong, your feature creator

(01:08:41):
at dream Con, I am about that. I'm gonna be
a dream Con. I'm also gonna be actually going to
Colossal Con to um, okay cool, which is really fun.
I don't think I've ever really been a guess that
a convention only once and it was kirk con Um.

(01:09:03):
But other than that, I've always tried to be one
and they never really approved or I'm not sure what happened.
So it's gonna be interesting and cool to kind of
do that and see what that's like. And UM host
my own panels and um have the conversations that I
want to have um, and like these activations at these

(01:09:26):
different conventions, UM and seeing how that goes. Learning from him.
I'm excited and terrified too. You're gonna do great. Thank you.
I'm We'll see. I'm excited. It's gonna be different. I'm
just gonna be like I'm on the other side now,
and we miss each other and we see anime. So
if we don't see each other a dream con, I
will lay on the school and cry. We will see

(01:09:48):
each other. We will see each other. We will see
because I was like, okay, I ever say, oh my god,
better come to my panel. I'm skipping it. I'm gonna
come fro oh man. I'm excited. It's cool. It's different,
and UM, I'm just blessed that I've been able to
kind of have this longevity in my career that I

(01:10:11):
didn't even know was gonna be my career UM and
being able to kind of see it transform, um, maintain
and just show me into different pathways that I just
never knew were possible for myself or that I would
end up being in m But I mean, I feel
like I said, you're somebody who I even looked up to,

(01:10:31):
Like just seeing your content and seeing all the versatile
things that you do and learning so much from this
podcast that I'm gonna go cry later that you know
that you're not alone. And when we talk about like
leveling up and things like that, sometimes it's not always
just the set journey of things that we have, like
the path, we're gonna do this, we're gonna get a partner,
we're gonna do this and this, and I sometimes it's

(01:10:52):
just going with the flow and just vibing and just
seeing what works, but also having the courage and to
try new things. So thank you so much for being
here to thank you guys seriously, y'all are so sweet
and amazing and I really enjoyed this conversation. So I
appreciate y'all having this podcast for one and bringing on
different people and just like sharing their stories and talking

(01:11:16):
like this is very very nice. Thank you. I needed this, girl.
I was sad yesterday. Say, I mean, I was like
I said, I'm just gonna go with food poisoning. So
it's Monday, well almost Thursday, but yes, people will be listening.
My brain is no That's why chest is here. I

(01:11:37):
was gonna say I didn't have food poisoning. I can
kind of wrangle, this herd of cattle. Thank you. Um, Kira,
can you please plug your social media let listeners know
where they can find you and any special kind of
projects you want to plug. Hey guys, I am Kira.
Please you can find me on all platforms under the
same name, um, except for on Twitch and TikTok up.

(01:12:00):
They took my name and you have to spell pleased
with the Z. But I think that gives it a
little spiciness, so it's okay, UM, yeah, just keep on
the lookout. I I do want to start creating comic books.
It will take me some time to get in the
hang of that, um, just because those things take time. UM.
But hopefully you will enjoy the different pieces of content

(01:12:21):
through that UM and hopefully I can do something little different,
you know, but also know things and inspire you maybe
if you want to be an artist or a comic creator,
a manga creator. This is an again, another pathway, another
journey that you can take and don't let anyone stop
you to do it period period. And Confetti, where can

(01:12:44):
our listeners find you? I am a lady Confetti on
every platform. Nobody's taking my name. I'm so happy about that.
So you can find me at his TikTok YouTube, Twitch, Twitter,
don't Instagram, please follow my Instagram. It's a it's it's
a little scary over there, so Instagram because an anime

(01:13:06):
Instagram has found me, So please hold my friend over
on Instagram. I say, I'm already your friend there, so
hopefully it's a little bit less scary. I don't know
what you mean by scary. But one of my one
of my posts is like going very bay. I said, like,
imagine your first anime crush um battling your current one,
and it was such versus tangan news away from Demon Slayer.
It's a lot okay conversation. Um. And then I am

(01:13:36):
just bro hard. I'm not really super active on social
media these days. I'm on Twitter as a Twitter and Instagram.
I'm just at just bro Hard because nobody took those
because I've got kind of a crazy name. And then
of course, um, don't forget to follow the podcast on
social media at the Boss Level pod that's spelled l
v l UM and also join our discord for a
behind the scenes look at the show, and you can

(01:13:58):
recommend new guests or give us feedback and chat with
us directly. It's a really good time. Definitely join up
there and we will see you next episode. Bye bye U.