Yaya Han — Chinese Designer

Yaya Han is an American cosplayer, model and costume designer based in the United States. She is a regular judge at cosplay competitions. Han was featured on the Syfy channel's Heroes of Cosplay, and has appeared as a guest judge on the TBS reality show King of the Nerds multiple times... (wikipedia)

Before I was a cosplayer, I was a fan artist. I would draw my favorite characters and sell the pieces at art auctions. But once I discovered cosplay, it was like, 'I don't have to draw my favorite characters, I can become my favorite characters.'
I think 'Heroes of Cosplay' will show a lot of the positive things, like how much effort it takes to make a costume. These people on the show aren't taking shortcuts. As long as that effort gets through to the viewers, we will be inspirational. Then there will be people who watch the show that want to get in and hands-on make outfits.
I roll from my bedroom into my workroom in the morning and craft-craft-craft.
So many of us, we love these things that come from Japan. We play the video games every day, we read the manga, people watch the cartoons, they absolutely love it.