Composer Harumi Fujita at Otakon 2022.
Takahiro Izutani and Harumi Fujita at Otakon 2022.
Fujita is a video game composer who has worked on Mega Man 3, Final Fight, Ghosts n’ Goblins, and more for SNK, Capcom, and others. She is a part of Brave Wave Productions.
Actor Atandwa Kani at Blerdcon 2024.
Zanybros Co-Founder Junhong Kim at Otakon 2022.
Junhong Kim cofounded Zanybros 20 years ago and it is now internationally known, has over 1,000 video productions, and is one of the largest of its kind in Korea. He always had a passion for videography and creating content so he started his own business with a friend. Zanybros created many of the original music videos for legendary K-Pop artists and set the standard as Jenny explains in the video here. K-Pop star AleXa is also signed with Zanybros.
CEO Jenny Zha at Otakon 2022.
Jenny Zha has been an entrepreneur since she was 16. She’s now the CEO of Infinitize. She has always worked around what she is passionate about and creating businesses has been a way for her to control that and have freedom.
Voice Actor Kikunosuke Toya at Otakon 2024.
Kikunonsuke Toya is a voice actor who plays Donny for TMS Entertainments Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse. The full interview can be found here.
Voice Actor Beau Billingslea at Otakon 2022.
Actor Beau Billingslea has an extensive career, having also played sports and taught criminal law in Germany. He has been a voice actor for Jet Black in Cowboy Bebop, Homura in Naruto, Ogremon and other characters in Digimon, and more. Beau has been also acted in Hannah Montana the Movie, Married…with Children, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Halloween: H20, and more, performed in stage plays, been on radio, and narrated shows in the History Channel such as Modern Marvels.
At Otakon 2022 he was in a session for Toonami Retrospective.
I had the honor of interviewing Beau on Saturday, July 30 at Otakon. He explains how he got into acting, how as an actor he tries to relate to all his characters, and how he goes to conventions and absorbs love from the fans.
Composer and Musician Takahiro Izutani at Otakon 2022.
Actor Walter Jones best known for playing the Black Ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers at Blerdcon 2024.
Chris Patton is an English voice actor who has appeared in Dragon Ball Z, Full Metal Alchemist, Soul Eater, Akame Ga Kill, Black Cat, and more.
C-SPAN Host Lai Frances at Otakon 2022.
I had the honor of interviewing Lai Frances at Otakon on July 40, 2022.
She is a Social Media Producer for TikTok for CNET and also a multimedia journalist and producer who has a focus on music and entertainment such as K-pop.
At Otakon she held multiple roles, including a K-Pop Journalism session and Behind the Scenes K-Pop panel with Zanybros members Junhong Kim, Angelina Foss, and Jenny Zha. She also appeared on a panel with K-Pop artists PIXY and Rolling Quartz and MCed Friday, July 29ths concert.
It was there, at the K-Pop concert that people could immediately tell the kind of person Lai Frances was if they didn’t already know her. Having never hosted an event such as this, she hid her anxiety and connected with every person in the room, asking how far everyone came to experience Otakon and then patiently awaiting each answer among the cacophony of the ballrooms. She even involved stage hands and the stage manager into the conversation, reminding everyone to stay hydrated, because as she explained to me during our interview, it’s a simple act of caring about other people.
In our interview, she explains how she loved music so she began blogging, using Live Journal and Tumblr. She discovered K-Pop through emo and alternative rock and eventually dedicated her Tumblr account to it. From there she decided she wanted to pursue multimedia journalism in college because she would have more channels to tell stories.
Lai also discusses influences, information consumption, the Banksy documentary, the evolution of her career, shifts in journalism, and a cover story that she worked on last year that stood out to her.
J-Pop Group Travis Japan at the Cherry Blossom Opening Ceremony 2023.
Actor/Voice Actor/Singer Reed Shannon at Blerdcon 2025.
Reed Shannon is an actor and singer who has performed in theater, television, film, and video game productions.
He started his career acting as a young Michael Jackson on Broadway in Motown the Musical. He has since voiced Ekko from the hit Netflix series Arcane, appeared in Henry Danger, Speechless, the School of Rock tv series, Station 19, Token, Canal Street, the Wilds, Blaze and the Monster Machines, Pulse, and as Ekko again in the Legends of Runeterra video game.
Cosplayer Yaya Han at Katsucon 2023.
K-Pop Star AleXa at Otakon 2022.
AleXa headlined Friday, July 29’s K-Pop concert at Otakon. In May 2022, she won NBC’s ‘American Song Contest’ with her hit ‘Wonderland’. She released her third album, ‘Tattoo’ earlier this year and is signed with video production and recording label Zanybros.
K-Pop Group Pixy at Otakon 2022.
K-Rock group Rolling Quartz at Otakon 2022.
K-Pop group Just B at Otakon 2023.
Content Creator Karina Acuna at Otakon 2023.
Content Creator Jose Estrada at Otakon 2023.
Content Creator King Chris at Otakon 2023.
