#ageofindustry

Can you tell us a little about your fursona? Lumio Draco is a dragon. Or more specifically, he is a celestial moon dragon. Lumio is what I consider to be a projection of my ideal self. Someone who is gentle and comforts in the darkest of times like the light from the moon, but fierce and strong like a dragon. What do you do for fun in your suit? I mostly look for opportunities to suit up not only at furry conventions, but cosplay conventions. The thing that strikes me the most about cosplay conventions is how appreciative cosplayers are of my fursuit and how much attention I attract. It is also humorous to listen to others try and guess what character I am without telling them that it is an original character. So far the most common guess is that I’m an evolved digimon. Tell us about your first encounter with a furry. When I was just out of high school, I had been curious about finding anime shows that featured anthropomorphic characters. After some aimless searching through the web I came across a virtual chat site called IMVU which allowed for character creation. After creating my first attempt of who would later become Lumio Draco, I’ve shortly afterwards come across a furry chat group. From then on I’ve come to learn about other sites like furaffinity and as they say, the rest is history. How did you get started with Furlandia? I have heard about a furry convention that was in the works through the grapevine. Although I wasn’t technically on staff, my boyfriend at the time was the gaming lead and needed some help in the department. From there I wanted to help out more with programming was brought on as the general track programmer the 2nd year and the vice chair/programing lead the 3rd year. What rewarding experiences have you had while working with Furlandia? I would say the most enjoyable times was while I was the general programing track lead. At first I was frustrated at first having very little direction in what to do in the position. With diligence and a fair amount of forethought, I was able to manage scheduling over 20 to 30 hours of content just weeks before the 2nd Furlandia convention. What rewarding experiences have you had as being head of Furlandia? I will say that it was really ambitious of me to be running for chair for Furlandia. It is not for the faint of heart, and it requires a lot of sacrifices. As cheesy and cliche as this may sound however, I am so grateful for our staff and our executive team. Everyone involved this year has demonstrated to me dedication and passion in their work. And I have seen some future Furlandia chairs working for us now. It is my hope that I will be able to pave the way for future leaders to make this convention the best there is to offer in the northwest. What is your favorite panel you’ve seen so far? I would say my two personal favorites are Yiffterpiece Theatre and Plushie Fusion. For Yiffterpiece Theatre each participant must write a section of a …. mature...story prompt by the panelist and then pass it to the next participant. Think of it as telephone with 18+ content. For Plushie Fusion the concept is simple enough, a participant takes a collection of torn off plushie heads, limbs, and body, ect. and sews together a new hybrid creation. I am always amazed by the amount of creativity attendees make at these panels...it has got me thinking of creating a competition for this event in the future…. What keeps you being head of Furlandia? Good question! I sometimes ask myself why I’m crazy enough to do so. The reason I come back to is this: I want to provide a space for our Portland furry community to put aside their differences and celebrate their similarities. Like any family, we all have that aunt that we adore and that cousin we want to shove off a cliff. But in the end, each of us has a story to tell and a lesson to teach.