We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah Brice. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.
Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
The cosplay community is largely difficult to make a profit in – especially if you are doing it as a full-time career. The typical avenues of money-making in cosplay are through platforms like Patreon that are based on fan subscriptions, selling merchandise or photo prints, or getting paid for company collaborations. Some cosplayers get paid for appearing at conventions or for making costumes or wigs for others, but the return on investment is typically very small.
Very rarely can a cosplayer go full-time into their hobby/career. Much of that has to do with gaining a strong following and good reputation and using that to work with big brands.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi, I’m Sarah!
I’m a full-time Air Force public affairs member. I was initially trained in videography to include areas of narrating, radio, news desk, lighting, interviewing, editing, filming, storytelling and making public service announcements. The career has since merged with journalism and photography into the “public affairs” career and so my skillsets have broadened.
Roughly one year into my career in the Air Force, I began my cosplay hobby. At my very first convention – which is also the first time I applied for a costume contest – I won the “judge’s choice” award for my Princess Peach costume.
At that time, cosplay was not an easy hobby to get into. There weren’t pre-made costumes you could buy online, wigs were hard to come by, and tutorials were nearly non-existent. We had to teach ourselves sewing, painting/dying, crafting, hair styling, prop-making and more!
I initially wanted to start cosplaying when I went to a convention called Otakon and saw how much fun everyone was having in their costumes.
I have been in the Air Force since 2009 and cosplaying since 2010.
In 2011, I moved overseas and spent the next four years in Japan and Korea, where I grew accustomed to the cosplay convention culture in those countries. I had a bit of a culture shock when I moved back to the U.S. and had to adjust to cosplay culture stateside!
Photoshoots weren’t as prevalent at conventions and I wished more people had a chance to show off the costumes they spent so much time on. As a result, I started a group that met every month for cosplay photoshoots outside of conventions. The group was called “D.C. Cosplay Photoshoots” and quickly grew to 3,000+ members by the time I moved again. It is still going strong today under the supervision of the admins!
I have grown greatly in my comfort level with creating costumes and with being myself while in cosplay. I grew a massive following of about 900K followers across multiple platforms. My content includes all sorts of characters, but the ability to fully express my personality is what keeps my platforms alive and what keeps me going. On my channels, I can create scenes full of storytelling, or I can be my own blend of goofiness. Because of my professional background in videography, I understand a lot about what goes on behind a professional video or even something silly and lighthearted.
I have worked with companies like Resident Evil, Oculus, and Amazon Prime Video in the past to bring their brands to light or create hype for an upcoming release.
I am also working on a degree in Marketing!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I was in a rut. My TikTok page was stuck at 100K followers for months and I was actually losing followers. My Instagram page had stayed at 2K for a year. I didn’t know if anyone liked what I was making or if they even cared. I thought to myself “why am I even putting in this work if nobody wants to see it?” I was so close to giving up.
Then one day, I posted a video of me dressed as Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil. This was a few weeks before the game was officially released. I was dressed as a popular character at a relevant time using a popular TikTok song. My video blew up. I cried from gratitude. I gained a second boost of inspiration and love for posting and I haven’t looked back sense!
I prefer to dress as characters most people can recognize because the interaction online is more enjoyable for me and more people can relate.
There are people who say to “only dress up for yourself, not for people online,” but I love my fans and I love the positivity they bring to me and to others on my page.
While I still dress up in more obscure characters from time to time, I prefer to follow the trends and jump into a large community of fresh and enthusiastic costumers. Their energy is contagious!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My creative journey is powered by my desire to have a creative outlet, but it’s turboboosted by the fans and friends I’ve made along the way! I loved the community I created with the “D.C. Cosplay Photoshoot” group of cosplayers and photographers a few years back and I love the online community I’ve made with my fans!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beacons.ai/lifeofcosplay
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeofcosplay/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/lifeofcosplay
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifeofcosplay/
- Twitter: https://x.com/LifeOfCosplay
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lifeofcosplay
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifeofcosplay
Image Credits
I took all of these photos – mostly while setting my phone on a tripod or selfie stick! The backdrops were created by me, too