Meet the Delta Behind NPHC Sailor Moon
The integration of black characters into traditional crime fighting superheroes has always been a controversy worth addressing. This topic has more recently been up for discussion as more actors and actresses have taken on roles to represent the black community in the Marvel Universe. An innovative member within our NPHC community has recently hit the spotlight for her own portrayal of what some of us consider childhood nostalgia. https://instagram.com/p/BLAU21yg4nh/
Chauna C. Lawson is a 2008 initiate of the Zeta Delta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, home to Bowie State University. She is originally from Washington, D.C., but currently resides in Silver Springs, Maryland. You may have witnessed her creative portrayal of Sailor Moon circulating throughout social media. We were fortunate enough to talk with Chauna regarding her viral inspiration:
PBL: What organization did you join, and why?
Chauna: I loved the grassroots origins of Delta, as well as its origins in Black feminism. It's five point programmatic thrust offers a variety of programs, as well-rounded as I'd like to consider myself being.
https://instagram.com/p/BLQ0OxEA81l/
PBL: Your photos are circulating all throughout social media. Where did you come up with this concept?
Chauna: I LOVED Sailor Moon growing up. It's what got me into anime. I really identified with Sailor Mars, although I admired Jupiter as well. Mars fiery passion and blunt honesty was often misunderstood.
PBL: Is this the type of work you do?
Chauna: I decided to create a cosplay page that also offered a lens to the NPHC experience. When brainstorming my own cosplay ideas, I knew Sailor Mars would be towards the top of my list. Luisa ,the AKA, was already on my team. She's one of my best friends, so I thought it would be cute for her to cosplay Jupiter and take photos with me. After giving it further thought, I realized that there was pretty much a sailor Senshi whose colors were almost identical to the D9 Sororities colors.
I started doing this [cosplay] simply as a hobby; but, shortly after beginning my cosplay "career", I was recruited by @conmanhilton to help conceptualize what is now @blerdcon. I work for Blerdcon part-time as a part of the planning committee.
https://instagram.com/p/BK_iX0DA9JS/
For more of Chauna and her modern movement, follow @ccthegreekgeek on Instagram.
You can check out more work from Blerdcon here: http://theundefeated.com/videos/the-year-of-the-blerd-cosplay-edition/
