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Recently I went to a "Build-A-Bear" store and bought a gift for my wife for her upcoming birthday. I got her a Lalaloopsi "Crumbs Sugar Cookie" doll / plushie. The process to make the doll included getting the dolls body, stuffing the body (Just like stuffing a Teddy Bear), getting a voice box for the doll (you push her foot and she says a few things), and bought a complete outfit for the doll including a frilly dress. smile The doll was is so cute that you can't falling in Love with her.

What made this a special day for me is the fact that the lady who helped me to stuff the doll and dress it up in the outfit that I bought is the fact that she is a cosplayer!! I needed help dressing up the doll so while the sales lady was doing that we started to talk about a few things. Dressing up the doll made me think about putting on a Cosplay outfit for a convention. I mentioned this and she said that she was a cosplayer and going to Youmacon 2015 the same con that I'm going to in a couple weeks. Wow I thought that was amazing. I mentioned that I was a Cosplayer too and going to the same convention and we talked about it for a while. How cool is that. smile

This Cosplayer got a job helping kids dress up and put together outfits for dolls, bears, and other animals at the "Build-A-Bear" store. It made me wonder what other jobs that a Cosplayer could be qualified to do.

Here are a few examples: Makeup Artist, working at a Nail Salon Spa, being a model, being a Voice actor or actress, Costume designer, and so much more. I know of one Cosplayer who now works at Nickelodeon in California. She does many things their to help them out with producing shows. Something to think about in these times when people are looking for jobs. Making use of your Cosplay skills and outfit making could help you get a job!!

I was recently at an "FYE" store at Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights, Michigan. FYE stores in general have a large selection of CD's, DVD's, Blu Ray, and related collectibles. They also have a large selection of Anime and Anime series related products. Those products include DVD's & Blu Ray of Anime series, figures, plushies, and so much more.

When I was at the Anime section of the store one of the employees asked if I needed help. After talking to the employee for a while I found out that she was big time into Anime, going to cons, and cosplay. We both talked about what Anime that we liked and recommended different series to check out to each other. Being a big Otaku fan helps her help customers out with finding Anime series to buy and answer questions about different series that are sold as well. Both of us are Sailor Moon fans and I was able to tell her about the upcoming releases of Sailor Moon Crystal and Sailor Moon S Anime in Blu Ray. Just like me she can't wait to buy them.

People working at Comic book stores also need to know about Manga and Anime series. Also if the place is into gaming they need to know about the different Collectible Card Games played like Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, and others.

It's nice getting to talk to other Otaku outside of cons about Anime, Manga, Conventions, and Cosplay.

There are a good amount of interesting jobs for cosplayers that know how to make costumes or develop skills that are related to cosplay or even ways to combine college education with hobby:

Professional Cosplayer
Sewing Pattern Maker
Fabric Fabricator and Designer
Costume Designer (at theaters and with the Hollywood)
Costume Assistant
Wig Designer
Wig Maker
Costume Commissioner
Make-up Artist
Special Effect Artist
Costume Researcher
Curator of costume and fiber at a museum
Author
Fashion Designer
Model
Store Owner (Specialty)
Store Assistant (Specialty)