I attended my first New York Comic-Con (NYCC) in 2017 as an avid fan of Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, looking forward to seeing the cosplayers and panels hosted by the actors. My friends and I saved every penny we could from our minimum wage retail jobs to go on the most popular days, Friday and Saturday. It was worth it.
I enjoyed an overload of all my nerdy interests in one place with my favorite people, and I was on cloud nine. 2024 was the first time I’ve been able to attend since then and while my entourage didn’t change, my excitement for conventions sure did!
Over the past year, I’ve been given the incredible opportunity to hone my skills as a writer and marketing professional with FUTURE NOW and all I could think about when the NYCC dates were announced was, “How can I use my hobbies to help push me closer towards my career goals?”
The answer was FUTURE NOW.
After speaking with the marketing and newsletter team leaders, I got the green light to create content based on my NYCC experience. It would be an opportunity to showcase my ‘nerdy’ interests in a more professional and rewarding way.
I walked into the convention with the focused goal of creating content. It made me look at everything I was experiencing in a different light. I knew Artist Alley would be a huge part of my video content because I wanted to highlight all the incredible art exhibited in the booths.
Popular artists like Gabriel Picolo (@_picolo) had a line a mile long in front of his booth, which is understandable since fans could purchase original works and get exclusive access to his upcoming Teen Titans: Starfire book.
I also took time to visit and patronize the quiet booths. I wanted to share the work of lesser-known artists like Alex Rivera from Freelance Inker LLC. I am now the proud owner of amazing original pieces of my favorite DC Comics characters signed by Rivera himself.
Frédéric Pham Chuong (@frederic_pham_chuong) is an artist I’ve followed on Instagram for years. Seeing his detailed cover art of characters from the Transformers franchise in person was incredible.
The exhibits from One Piece and Dragon Ball were my next important stops not only for content but because of my connection with them as well.
My deep-seated love of anime felt validated because I could share it through FUTURE NOW; I wrote articles about them for The NOW this year. This experience helped me realize exactly what I want to do with my career.
One of the best parts of any convention is cosplaying. While some cosplayers were at NYCC for pleasure, many spent their 2024 convention season dressing up as their favorite characters and working hard to make a living out of it.
I’ve followed many cosplayers like Kayla (@rinnegoddess) and Lena (@lenalemon) for a long time and seeing them collaborate with companies like Crunchyroll because of their consistently outstanding cosplays has been fascinating to watch.
A huge highlight of my NYCC experience was seeing cosplays of characters like Scarlet Witch, Deadpool, and Wolverine, and anime cosplays like Sabo and Ace from One Piece or Ichigo from BLEACH. I realized that I am now connected with people from the companies that market and distribute these works–people like Jake Black.
I met Jake at the 2024 FUTURE NOW Media & Entertainment Conference in June. Jake is an award-winning writer and content creator who has written for some of the biggest brands in pop culture and entertainment, including Star Trek, WWE, Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Supergirl, Smallville, Umbrella Academy, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and many, many more.
The next month, Jake was the featured speaker in the FUTURE NOW Leadership Talk. I clicked the registration button so fast that I almost broke my mouse. Hearing him speak about his career journey was inspiring and motivating.
I had a full circle moment when the October edition of The NOW was sent out, featuring my piece celebrating the 85th anniversary of Batman. In it, I expressed my deep love for the character and everyone who worked hard to bring him to life over the years. My heart leaped when I saw a message on LinkedIn from Jake. He not only read my Batman piece but he said, and I quote, “Nice work!”
Later, he shared that he’s worked on Batman-related content over the years, including an episode of Batman: The Brave and The Bold (which is included in my top five favorite Batman adaptations post on Instagram).
This was a huge moment for me—not only did I meet someone who does exactly what I want to do for a career, but I was able to establish a meaningful connection with someone who has worked on a character who helped mold me into the person I am today. I got to shake the hand of someone connected to a very important part of my childhood and it was like the universe telling me that I’m on the right track.
It means a lot to me after struggling for so long trying to figure out if I was ever going to find a career that I enjoyed or if I was going to be like so many other people and just take a well-paying job that I hated for the sake of “security.”
Do you ever feel like one decision can change the rest of your life, whether it be for better or worse? I believe that there are no coincidences and that everything happens to bring you to where you need to be.
Attending the FUTURE NOW Media & Entertainment Conference and volunteering with FUTURE NOW has been life-changing and one of the best decisions I have ever made.
I’ve learned that every accomplishment isn't without disappointment, every reward isn't without sleepless nights and every win is so much sweeter when there’s a trail of losses behind it. The only thing that cannot waver is your belief in yourself.
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