● Please tell us your name and where you are based.  
Alley Shelley AKA Rogue Empress 

● How long have you been cosplaying?  
14 years 

● What characters have you cosplayed the most? 
Rogue is my staple cosplay 

● Please list your Website or Fan Pages  
Rogue Empress

1. What made you decide to cosplay?  
I saw how much fun others were having at Baltimore Comic Con in cosplay. I always wanted to be Rogue, so one year I started sewing in my dorm and learned the difficulties of hand sewing spandex for the first time. After that suit, I had a lot of trial and error on other projects. My creative brain is very well utilized when making cosplay. 

2. What do you do for your day job or hobbies?  
I am a Compliance Coordinator for a local university. I enjoy kayaking, cooking, baking, hiking, decoupage, and entertaining friends. 

3. Which of your cosplays have been the most challenging and/or the most rewarding and why?  
Most difficult was Princess Lilandra. Her boots were a nightmare trying to figure out a cut out front with a webbing look. Constructing the wig was time consuming and so much fake hair was used to wrap it, I think I still find hair particles from that wig in my living room. 

4. What is the best advice you would give to other cosplayers?  
The whole idea of this was always to have fun. It is Cos”play” not Cos”popularity contest”. So many of us were bullied growing up because of our love of comics and being nerdy/geeky. Do not become what hurt you growing up. Be supportive of fellow cosplayers. Keep enjoying and creating what you have passion for, and if you get burned out, it is okay to take a break.  

5. What one thing could the cosplay community do better when dealing with one another? 
Over the years, I have taken more of a step back from cosplay. That bully mentality and ego has spread more in the community. The popularity of it brought out some toxicity and was starting to feel more unwelcoming over the years. I wish people would always remember to be kind to one another. It may be store bought, may be not comic/screen accurate, and guess what… that is perfectly fine. The person wearing it loves that character and is there to have fun and geek T.F. out. Remember the golden rule, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything…” And then take a step back and ask yourself why are you judging someone in a costume. This is/was supposed to be fun.