Cosplay guests & Panelists
We are excited to introduce our 2025 guests! All coming from diverse backgrounds, each of our guests and panelists have carved their own personality into their work and have come to Cosplay America to share their skills, knowledge and experience with everyone!
Avera Cosplay
Avera Cosplay, is a cosplayer, artist, maker and your friendly neighborhood Con Mom, and agent of chaos. She is most well-known for her large, detailed armor builds and Memes. Avera Cosplay tends to gravitate towards video game characters and nostalgic themes, and often creates Original Characters and Mashups. Specializing in Eva foam, foam clay and wigs, she loves to talk shop and help cosplayers level up! An avid competitor she has competed and been recognized at contests like The Crown Championship circuit, Holiday Matsuri, Megacon, and Dragon Con. You can find her on Instagram and TikTock with tutorials, tips and memes.
Official Instagram | Official Twitter | Official Facebook | Official TikTok
malindachan
Malindachan (Malinda) especially loves sewing and wig styling, and you might be familiar with the numerous tutorials she's created for Arda Wigs. Thanks to her range of skills and clean craftsmanship, she's been invited as a guest speaker and contest craftsmanship judge internationally.
Malinda and Kyle are an award-winning veteran cosplay duo crafting full-time for their own business: Turtle Smithy.
As cosplayers with 20 years of experience each, they are well-rounded in various techniques including sewing, wig styling, prop/armor construction, and more!
Official Instagram | Official Bluesky | Official Facebook | Official TikTok
Turtle Smithy cosplay
TurtleSmithy Cos (Kyle)'s specialties are armor and props, but he's no stranger to sewing. He has traveled far and wide as a cosplay panelist and judge. A few of his accomplishments include being the first winner of C2E2's Crown Championships of Cosplay and creating armor patterns for Simplicity.
Kyle and Malinda are an award-winning veteran cosplay duo crafting full-time for their own business: Turtle Smithy.
As cosplayers with 20 years of experience each, they are well-rounded in various techniques including sewing, wig styling, prop/armor construction, and more!
Official Instagram | Official Twitter | Official Facebook | Official Website
December Wynn
December Wynn is an award winning cosplayer based in Denver, Colorado. They are one half of WCS Team USA 2022. December specializes in fabric dyeing, painting, and sewing. Other areas of interest include leatherwork, millinery, embroidery, and sculpting.
They have guest-lectured in craftsman techniques at conventions both domestically and abroad, as well as served as a guest-lecturer at the University level. In addition to a cosplay career, December has worked professionally in the crafts industry for five years, including time as a dedicated painter/dyer.
They graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with BFA in Theatre Design and Technologies and a BFA in Studio Arts with an emphasis in painting.
maker fishmeal
Annye Driscoll believes that cosplay brings joy, that making is an incredible form of creative self-expression, and (most importantly!) that everyone can cosplay. Annye focuses on highly detailed craftsmanship, and they’re willing to spend a year on a cosplay to get it right. They have won multiple best-in-show awards, are a repeat finalist for Riot Games’ State Farm x LCS cosplay contest, and have been published by Entertainment Weekly and Marvel Becoming.
Annye lives in Ohio with their husband, cats, horse, and school of fancy guppies. Their first book, The Ultimate Glue Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Adhesives for Cosplay Crafts & More, was published by C&T Publishing in 2024.
You can find Annye on the internet as @MakerFishmeal.
Official Instagram | Official YouTube | Official Facebook | Official Website
Sarcasm-himé
Sarcasm-himé has been cosplaying for longer than the average convention attendee has been alive, and has the Party City wig horror stories to prove it. Addicted to anything shiny, she has a deep love for embroidery, beading, goldwork, and the sort of detail that makes your eyes cross. She loves the challenge of bringing something 2D to life, as well as flexing her creative muscles by interpreting fandom characters through the lens of historical fashion (like her 1910s Erté version of Hela, or her 18th century ballgown Ghidorah).
She has won numerous awards across Canada and the USA, and her most recent win was 1st place in the NYCC Crown Championships of Cosplay. When she's not working on her next detail monster, she's playing Baldur's Gate 3 or indulging in her bubble tea habit (that is perfectly fine and definitely doesn't need an intervention).
Yaya Han
Yaya Han is a cosplayer, designer and author with more than 20 years of activity in the fandom world. Yaya has made over 400 costumes, been featured in two US Network TV Shows and countless magazines, books, newspapers and online media outlets, and she appears as a guest and speaker at hundreds of events all over the globe. Over the years, Yaya’s work has impacted cosplay profoundly and has helped shape it into a commercial industry. Yaya is the first cosplayer to bring branded cosplay-focused sewing and crafting products such as fabrics, trims and a Yaya Han sewing machine to the mass retail market. She is also the first to chronicle a cosplayer’s life story and the evolution of modern cosplay culture in the book, “Yaya Han’s World of Cosplay”.
Official Website | Official Facebook | Official Instagram | Official TikTok | Official YouTube
Brian Boling