Today we’d like to introduce you to Sapphire Nova.
Sapphire, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been cosplaying pretty much all of my life. I have always had a passion for theatre and costuming, so cosplay was a natural fit. Initially, I started going to midnight movie premiers in costume, and years later, convinced my husband to join me. He was the one with the inspiration to start our business, Superheroes Unlimited. People were always asking where we got our costumes from and if they could buy them from us, so it made logical sense to us to start selling costumes. Since that time, we have hired many other cosplayers to help us make and showcase the costumes. Nowadays, we travel all over the country to attend comic cons and other pop culture events as professional cosplayers. We have been featured guests at around 200 shows in the five years our business has been open.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. Starting a business is hard. For the first couple of years, we made very little money, and just being able to make the bills was very difficult. I worked two other jobs just to be able to survive, and even then, there were plenty of times I came up short. It takes a great deal of passion and dedication to make your own business happen. You have to be 100% okay with having no days off, not getting to hang out friends, spending nothing but the absolute bare essentials, and knowing that after all that, it still might not be enough. My best advice is do it for the passion and the love of the craft (business, etc.) and not the money. If you are trying to start a business because you think the money will be flowing in, then it’s probably not the right reason to start it. If you truly love what you do and want to share that with the world, then those initial struggles will make it worth it in the end.
Superheroes Unlimited – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
As a whole, we make custom costumes. All of our costumes are made by cosplayers for cosplayers. What that means is all of our costumes are made by people that understand what it means to wear a costume all day at a convention, need to have it break down for travel, have it last longer than one wearing, and those kinds of things. Superheroes Unlimited has brought together some of the most talented cosplayers in the business. Every designer works with whatever medium that they are most proficient in. That means that we have the people that are talented seamstresses working with fabric (and not trying to make wigs or crafting armor). Our wig stylists make wigs, foam smiths make the foam armor, and so on. This ensures that our customer get costumes that are made by the best possible person, and it keeps the cost lower because one person is not trying to learn a new skill (ie a seamstress is not trying to learn how to style a wig just because the costume needs both pieces). Our team is what really sets us apart and allows us to be able to make ANY costume that someone requests of us.
As an individual within the company, I have my own specialties. I mostly style and create wigs, and make most of my own costumes that I wear to conventions. In the convention scene, I am known for my high-quality costumes and for always bringing out my best work to the show floor, even if that means lots of early mornings doing 2-3 hours of body painting before a show to make my characters be as accurate as possible. I always strive to make my cosplays compelling, whether that means making them perfectly accurate, putting a fun twist on them (like a gender-bend or a mashup), or giving them a lot of intricate details. This level of dedication has to lead to me being on the cover of 2 different comic books (with a couple of future ones in the works) and being published in several different magazines.
Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
There are a lot of opportunities out there for women, but mostly I think we women make our own opportunities. One of the most important things for a business is Networking, and that is something that most women excel at. Women are amazing at forming personal relationships and making themselves memorable. No business is built by one person alone. It takes connections from many different sources to make it a success, and women are more able to open themselves up and form those meaningful ties.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.superheroesunlimited.com
- Phone: 973-936-8661
- Email: service@superheroesunlimited.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/SuperheroesUnlimited , Instagram.com/SapphireNovaCosplay
- Facebook: Facebook.com/SuperheroesUnlimited , Facebook.com/SapphireNovaCosplay
Image Credit:
Otis Casey Photography
Mick Bur Photography
ChrisCross Photos
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