We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Riggs Anita a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Riggs, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Being a creative and a enjoyer of Art and fashion have always been a part of me. My love of ball culture, cosplay ,The Met Gala, known as “fashion’s biggest night and my time spent in Rome. All of these elements came together to form the type of event I wanted to produce. My first experience where I knew I wanted to create events was having the chance to go to Carnival in Venice, Italy. Carnival is rooted in ancient Saturnalia and was popularized during the Renaissance. The event is a vibrant intersection of art and revelry. I wanted to create events that combine the spirt of Carnival to celebrate artists in Pop-Culture. All media genres together to celebrate, network, elevate, and build community through the intersection of Fashion just like the famed Met Gala, known as “fashion’s biggest night. I’ve always been a person with a philosophy of collection experience so it was inevitable that I’d want to do that for others.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I’m Anita Riggs, though many people know me as Tranquil Ashes. I’m a proud Baltimore native, and for almost a decade I’ve been carving my own lane within the fandom and arts community. My journey has taken me through many roles and I have learned so many skills around the way. In doing so I have became a Elevated and Luxury event producer, a creator cosplayer, host, actress, and makeup artist. Each facet of my passions have helped shape how I connect with people, express myself and tell stories through my work.

Along the way, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with and be featured by incredible platforms like Disney, Nickelodeon, Afropunk, Oprah Daily, The Phillips Collection, and Mehron. But what’s meant the most to me is the community I’ve been able to grow with. I’ve hosted, judged, and developed programming at conventions across the country, including New York Comic Con, San Diego Comic-Con, Momocon, Cabbagecon, and Holiday Matsuri. Being in those spaces, contributing to the culture, and connecting with people who share the same passions has been a huge part of my journey.

All of those experiences led me to create something of my own—The CosGala. It’s more than just an event to me; it’s a space that reflects my vision for creativity, community, and celebrating the artistry within fandom. This year will be our 6th Flagship Gala Event with an Olympus theme. We are so proud of our work in elevating artists in the community and celebrate pop-culture and want more to come and join us as we work on growing our team and having more arts lovers come to The CosGala (@thecosgala on IG)

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Simply to allow people to help in your journey. When you are a creative and you show your art to the world in whatever form that it, it’s easy to keep your creations close to the chest. Which I agree with to a certain extent. There will always come a time where you progress exceeds your skills. Once that happens you either need to go learn said skill or find someone to assist you and take the load off of you and to support you.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I don’t think there is one singular thing that is rewarding as a creative. However, I do think the process/journey is something that you should deeply value and learn from. It can always be frustrating not to get where you want to go quickly, BUT if you don’t learn and grown from your journey the success won’t matter as much. That being said, seeing your creations come to life is a indescribable feeling. To see the fruits of ones labor and passions is one of the greatness joys as a creator?

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @tranquil_ashes
• Facebook: @tranquilashess
• Linkedin: Anita Riggs
• Twitter: @tranquilashes
• Youtube: @tranquilashes
• Other: Threads: @tranquilashes
  CosGala Event @thecosgala (IG)

Image Credits

photographers : @SFDesigns @RandomEyeCandy Maryann Walker (on IG)