Meet Amara Smith

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amara Smith. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Amara, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
For most my life I struggled with social anxiety and stage fright. I was bullied a lot growing up, and was homeschooled through middle school and highschool. This caused me to be pretty shy and lack confidence. When I was around 13 I discovered cosplay and conventions. I started using it as an outlet that allowed me to meet like minded people, and share my art with. I eventually began competing in contests because I loved the validation I felt from people admiring my hard work on my cosplays, which in turn gave me the joy and confidence to go on stage to proudly show my work, and me for who I am.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am focused on building a brand out of my art, no matter the medium. I love to share my little creations and projects with people who I can geek out with. My biggest goal is to one day work alongside video game companies or Hollywood studios as a prop designer, as I absolutely love bringing the fictional to life. This dream was really sparked for me when I was 15 years old. I had made a life size Cazador from a video game called Fallout New Vegas. You could not find one ever made online, and still to this day can’t. My father shared it on Twitter and to my shock, the creators of Fallout New Vegas “Obsidian Entertainment”, shared and promoted my Cazador on their Instagram and Twitter. Seeing the amazement and excitement of fellow fans when they saw it gave me a joy like no other. It has solidified itself as a goal to eventually fully engulf my life in this craft. To build to that point, I make small crafts to sell on my online store and local markets to raise more money to invest in bigger projects.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
When first getting into cosplay, do not feel intimidated by the size of your project or details. Take whatever you want to make, and cut it into sections. It will feel FAR less daunting when you can focus on one small part at a time. Having patience with yourself is also very important. No matter how long you’ve been cosplaying, you will make mistakes. The entire process is trial and error. You have to be willing to experiment and move on if something doesn’t work for you. don’t be afraid to start over because your next attempt will be better than your first. Probably one of my biggest things I can’t stress enough, design your cosplay with comfort in mind. The last thing you want to do is spend a ton of money making a cospley and getting to a con only to suffer and be miserable because of the pain your cosplay in causing. These events typically run all day, and you need to put your health and comfort first. When I was still new to cosplay, I did unsafe things like chest binding for a male coaplay using duck tape, and was left with really bad welts and rashes from the adhesive. More than one cosplay I have used shoes that have cut off circulation in my feet and caused paid so bad I couldn’t walk. I’ve even had cosplays so heavy and difficult to get out of that I have collapsed from heat exhaustion because I couldn’t get out of my cosplay easily enough. It is DETRIMENTAL you think about these things when making your cosplay. Safety ALWAYS comes first.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I beleive knowing more is far more important. Being able to be a whole team for yourself is incredible, a jack of all trades is better than a master of one. You’ll go way farther and have far more open doors if you have a variety of knowledge. Once you’re doing something specific, you can always grow the the base knowledge you have.

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