(Photo courtesy of Colorado Anime Fest)
Written by Colleen Bement
Meet Teca!
This award-winning cosplayer has been creating for 23 years and specializes in competition, craftsmanship, and presentation. Teca was part of the World Cosplay Summit Team USA for 2020 and 2022 and she has won over thirty awards. Many have seen her host panels and judge contests at more than twenty-five events across the country. “Sailor Moon” fans may have seen her in her role as an official cosplayer for industry events as Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal for VizMedia, America from Hetalia for FUNimation, Kyouko Sakura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica for Aniplex, Marida Cruz from Gundam Unicorn for Bandai, and has also worked with Japanese music acts such as Kalafina and CHEMISTRY. Teca took part in this year’s Colorado Anime Fest last March 2023 and took time out to chat with Nerd Alert News. Find out how she got started and exactly what a professional cosplayer is.
How did Professional Cosplay get its start?
When it comes to professional cosplay, Teca explained what that meant for her. When she started 23 years ago there were no professional cosplayers. She went on to describe that it became kind of a joke phrase in the community because there wasn’t an avenue with which one could really make a living. She explained that people pretty much started out with modeling and then branched out. Other people made it by being commissioners, so there were different avenues that popped up. It wasn’t until social media had really taken off, and those companies would pay you, and that really became a social media professional cosplayer.
Fairly early on I thought about doing commissions, and was not really into modeling, then I realized that there are some hobbies that need to stay hobbies. I do get paid to do events and speak at events, but it’s not my main source of income. The reason for that is that I like making what I like to make. A hobby stops being fun when it’s on someone else’s timeline. I was in the costuming department for a season in high school, and I thought it was miserable. I don’t like making things that other people want. I want to make what I want and on my timeline. I didn’t want to do the rate race of social media or making stuff for other people. I love competitions. I love hosting panels. I love meeting other cosplayers, and if I’m going to do this and go for accolades and go for wins, and getting guest spots, those are where I’m going to do it. I decided that the two feet in and nothing else was not for me. She talked about how there are those who absolutely love making. They love the sewing and the dying and that’s their happy place.
Getting to know Teca
When it came to anime, “Sailor Moon” was her favorite growing up, but it was not actually her introduction to Anime. She had an older sister who was into anime, and her first was when she was six years old, and added that she was way too young for these two series: “Bubblegum Crisis 2033” and “Devil Hunter Yohko.” Teca joked at how extremely age-inappropriate it was, but she was hooked. She loved that both of these series’ had strong, badass women who were just kicking butt. I was really into She-Ra too. I just loved those series where women just cleaned house in an awesome way. Then I moved to college and fell out of it a bit until “Sailor Moon” started playing early in the morning before school. Hooked again, I got back into anime, and that kind of opened the door to video rentals and whatever I could get my hands on those days. What VHSs could you find at the store, or who you know. “Sailor Moon” had reignited something I already had planted. Nowadays it’s so accessible. There are so many distributions and millions out there at your fingertips.
“Sailor Moon” is one of her top three and she likes different anime for different genres. It has introduced her to so many people who she dearly loves and connected her with a childhood friend. There’s so much attached to “Sailor Moon.” Another series she loves is Koki Kariya. She loves the mecha designs, the characters, and she loves that it’s a contained storyline that has an overarching arch that has an ending. It’s a beautifully constructed series. I love Bubblegum Crisis 2033 because it has women in mecha anime that you don’t get to see nowadays. They’re slightly sexualized but in an empowering way.
Teca’s love for sewing
Teca’s mother sewed and she always had access to a sewing machine. She never sewed herself until she wanted to go to her first anime convention. My older sister had been to the Renaissance Festival, and I got dressed up for that. Then I found out that there was an anime convention and I said let’s make outfits. I loved it and was completely hooked. That was what spurred her to learn how to sew, and her mother helped her out with her first costume. At one point she decided that she didn’t want to make her mom make all of her outfits. She realized that she wanted her cosplay to be made in a specific way. Mother’s not an anime fan so she doesn’t know, and I’m like no, you can’t use THAT color green, it’s THIS color green. I should learn this myself! Not wanting to put it all on her mother, she started sewing and later bought her own sewing machine when she went to college.
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