Cosplayer Of Color Profile: The Venus Noire

To celebrate Black History Month, we take a moment to highlight seven cosplayers of color whose contributions to geek culture and the greater cosplay community go well beyond their costumes. First up:

Josephine Je — The Venus Noire

The Venus Noire is a southerner who has accomplished some strong and stunning cosplay in the past three years. She’s given her fans a bevy of beautiful looks and a whole lot of charm, but says that cosplay has given her so much more. She’s a self-taught seamstress and craftswoman who found a “community of like-minded nerds,” which helped bring her out of her shell. Her theater background and the lure of an audience gave her the impetus to start a Youtube channel.

She’s an advocate for body positivity and increased diversity in the cosplay community. And she’s incredibly delightful and helpful to those who seek her advice on costuming or achieving a certain look. As a self-confessed comic book nerd, she tends to prefer comic book leading ladies. You’ve likely seen her Wonder Woman or Black Canary on many featured cosplay lists.

Her advice to fellow cosplayers is “to find your tribe.” Before cosplaying, Venus Noire didn’t have that many black, nerdy friends and it came as a shock to find so many people who “looked like me and liked the same dorky things.” To be accepted for who she was, and not “accused of wanting to be white” or “teased for liking Sailor Moon” meant the world to her, and still does.

Venus admits that cosplay can be tough. When you put yourself in the public eye, people will judge you, and haters will hate. She says that for every one mean comment there are a hundred sweet and encouraging ones. This “Southern Wonderhoney’s” beauty, spirit, confidence, and “cospositivity” has prompted people to thank her for cosplaying because she’s given them the confidence to give it a go, too. Follow The Venus Noire’s adventures on her website or Facebook.

For more incredible cosplayers of color, find and follow the #29DaysofBlackCosplay hashtag on Twitter and Instagram. And find Gogo Incognito at http://Facebook.com/GogoIncognito and http://Instagram.com/geekchicsuperfreak.

Feature photo by Matthew R.