We recently connected with Siani Currie and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Siani, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I’ve always known I wanted to pursue a professional creative career, since I was in Elementary School. My passion for the arts started even younger when my grandmother used to sew and do arts and crafts. She’d make reefs, floral décor, and sew clothes. She even help me make my own clothes for my dolls from time to time. It wasn’t until Elementary, where I became more developed mentally, that I knew when I grow up I wanted to do something in the creative field. This is when my mother has started signing me up to art camps, art summer programs and courses. We were up north, in Jersey, at the time, where artist programs were abundant. However, when I moved to the south, going into the 4th grade, my creative growth became stagnant, which is odd for a 10/11 year old huh? lol. In the south, they are huge on sport programs, rather than art. I took public school art classes, but they weren’t there to help you actually hone your skills. They just felt like a free class similar to recess but for middle and high school. Even in high school, by the time I moved to GA, they took out the sewing program the year I started. It wasn’t until college that I could start my specialization and allow my creative juices to flow with critique. Originally, I went to school for Fashion Design. That is similar but not exact to what I do now.

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 back background and context?

Hello! My Name is Siani Currie, but you may know me as Si-Si from Facebook or Lexa-Chan, my brand and cosplay name. I got into the merch side of the otaku or anime community about 3 years ago. I got into the Cosplay side of the community 2 years ago. Previously I mentioned, I went to school for Fashion. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta. It is similar but very different from the avenue I chose in my creative field. In college, I wanted to be a Fashion Designer. My specialty was high fashion. Styles similar to Carolina Herrera or Oscar de la Renta, but with my own unique twist. Things are very different now, as after my first new york fashion week debut back in 2019, I stepped away from it all. I had to reevaluate my life and if this was where I wanted it to go. The hustle and bustle of Fashion week was very similar to Art College with almost impossible deadlines and little to no sleep. So I took a step back and a year or 2 later, Lexa-Chan, the brand, was created within the pandemic. Why did I choose the Anime Community over High Fashion? It is just easier. Simple. Easier mentally, easier emotionally, easier creatively because I love Anime and I love being an otaku. So I thought how could I merge the two? Fashion and Anime. By starting my own brand. This way everything could be on my own time. My process, my deadlines, I had full control. My brand brought me so much more joy, that SCAD and High Fashion drained from me. I felt my life coming back when I first started this brand. My mission is to create more options for the femmes and create more representation for black creatives in this community. I first started with my custom chokers were a hit, especially since I included Plus Sizing. For the artwork on my T shirts, I make a point to collab with black artists specifically and make sure they are mentioned and promoted. When I got that off the ground, after my first year, I started dabbing into cosplay and now I am a cosplayer and business owner. Cosplay brought me another kind of joy that my business can’t provide me, a sense of self. Making products with my community in mind is cool, but cosplaying has it’s own rewards. I get to dress up and act like the character themselves. This is where my Fashion skills get to thrive. In Cosplay, I am my own stylist, I am my own vision. I get to create art on myself and present myself to the world. I love that feeling. Seeing my visions come to life. What I am known for is recreating characters within certain aesthetics and creating a look for them. For Peridot from Steven Universe, I created a Cyberpunk fit for her. For my Elmo, from Sesame Street, I created a gender bent academia fit for her. When I see different clothing pieces on the internet, it sometimes triggers this process in my head, like I can see that character wearing that. Then the styling begins. I am also big on using different afro centric hairstyles incorporated into my cosplays where I deem necessary. I think it’s very important, especially as a black cosplayer, to use our hair. In cosplay, black people get to a lot of flack for cosplaying non black characters, so me in cosplay and actually wearing different ethnic hairstyles I hope inspires other black people in our community that no matter what you look like, you should be able to cosplay! Cosplay should be for everybody, even if it seems sometimes, like its not.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative, is the recognition for my work. I love what I do so much because of how it resonates with the people that follow me and my community. I have so much support, whether it’s my family, my community, or my friends. I love when I am out or when I am on social media, and they are like, “Omg, you are lexa-chan, I love [insert cosplay] cosplay you do.” That has to be the best part about it. Not only the fact, I get to be creative, but the fact others can see and appreciate the work I put in.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I started on Tiktok with an old friend of mine. We were doing a twin thing and fell off of it. Being “Twins” really resonated with the public and helped grow my account and following. I started off doing horror things with her, had our first viral video within 3 months, and it has been up from there. I grew my business side of lexa-chan by posting in groups on Facebook and being active everyday. The more you are active on facebook the more people see you and then they start to remember you. This is how you build a reputation. That reputation is key for trust and sales. So my advise will be to stay consistent as much as possible. Take your breaks here and there, but throughout the year keep posting and keep engaging. Engagement with folks is going to push you farther than just posting your content. It gives your potential following more of a reason to support you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lexa-chan.com
• Instagram: hi.lexachan
• Facebook: hi.lexachan
• Twitter: hi.lexachan
• Youtube: hi.lexachan
• Tiktok: hi.lexachan

Image Credits
Mandragora Media Rell on Wheels Photography Maryagoncillo Navy Sky Photography