She Quit Fashion One Year After Graduating With Honors to Cosplay Full Time | Ashlynne Day

Ashlynne Day showed up to her first convention in a Lady Loki costume she made herself. She didn't even know what cosplay was. People kept complimenting her "cosplay" and she had to Google the word when she got home. Fifteen years later, it's her full time career.Ashlynne Day is a professional cosplayer and content creator who studied fashion, graduated with honors, worked in the industry, and walked away from it all one year after graduation to build a career doing what she actually loved. In this episode of Conversations That Count, she sits down with David Shaft to talk about what it took to keep going when her family thought she was crazy, how she found her community, and why dressing as a character can make you braver than you've ever been as yourself.Why the transition from "everyone thinks you're crazy" to "everyone wants your autograph" requires you to be your own biggest supporter first, because nobody else will believe in it until you've already proven it worksHow finding your community changes everything, and why showing up in costume is the fastest way to make friends with people who share your passions even if you're an introvertThe advice Ashlynne gives to anyone who's been wanting to try cosplay or attend a convention but keeps talking themselves out of it: just go, and don't let people who don't understand it stop you from having funConnect with Ashlynne: ashlynnedae.com | Instagram, TikTok, X, and BlueSky: @AshlynneDaeWatch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tUaWJmO21tUNew episodes of Conversations That Count every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode.Full episodes, show notes, and resources at ctcpodcast.mediaFree Communication Playbook with 10 frameworks and scripts to communicate like a pro: https://conversations-that-count.kit.com/e7fa86a708