Check Out Samantha Kitts’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Kitts.

Hi Samantha, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a born and raised Arizonan. My family settled here in the late 1800’s (around 1870, I believe) and worked at the encampment which later became Tempe. I started out premature in life. It seems I have always had a knack for wanting to just jump right into things (life included). When I was young, I had a severe grand-mal seizure that changed my perspective on things. It made me more cautious but also taught me to enjoy being in “the moment” a whole lot more. I suppose that my flexibility in life is a result of the seizures I experienced in my youth. Despite trepidation, I overcame those health obstacles and dove headfirst into my creative goals.

I graduated from High School in the top 10 of my class. I started college at ASU and eventually transferred to the now defunct Art Institute of Phoenix (where I earned a degree in Animation). When the 2008/2009 recession hit, I was still pretty young (guess I still am) so I shifted gears. I was raised with computers and technology so moving into that field wasn’t that much of a stretch for me. During my mid-late twenties, I discovered a passion for Enterprise Technologies that I did not know I had. In less than ten years, I went from being a level 1 Technical Support Representative to a Lead Cyber Security Analyst with a focus on Governance, Risk and Compliance. I am GDPR trained and certified by a certified EU Educational Body and I often find myself perusing Data Privacy Laws.

Now, I did not forget my creative side during this professional transition. In 2014 I discovered cosplay and have created over 60 costumes for myself and others. I have been invited to speak at conventions on pop culture topics from Emerald City Comic Con to La Comicon to Phoenix Fan Fusion and more. I have also been a cosplay guest at a few local events. In fact, cosplay helps relieve the stress from my analytics focused career.

Today I am an IT Professional, a Cosplayer and a Video Game Enthusiast who embraces the “NOW” of the present.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, no road ever is smooth. There are crags on every surface, be they defined or near invisible. I suffered health problems in my pre-teen years, I was bullied in my teenage years, anxiety has been a constant “companion” for me and career obstacles were prevalent to due to my gender being female. Despite these valleys of despair, I always accepted helping hand offered to me. Traveling on a road alone only make the journey that much harder. So I accepted help when and where I could. Now, I return that help tenfold.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work is two-fold: by day I am an IT Professional and by night, I am an Artistic Savant. My IT work pays the bills, it stabilizes my life and allows me to explore the creative side of my personality. I work as a Cyber Security Analyst who specializes in GRC. What does that mean? Well, put simply, I make sure data being stored remains compliant with the laws of those citizens whom my company stores data on. I audit that data, I validate its compliance, I research our third-party vendors to assess their risk levels and I help update/write policies to ensure the company complies with the scope of those requirements/rules/laws. Yeah…that’s the simple explanation, lol.

My art is secondary. I accept commissions for costumes on occasion and get to create unique looks for fans of geeky series. I accept contracts for illustrations ranging from logos to comic books and even a few medical drawings. My art is free flow so having it as a secondary source of income allows me to shut down whenever I please and avoid creative burnout. I also use Cosplay as a way to raise money for charity. Anytime I am invited as a guest, I donate ALL of my proceeds to local charities OR the #BLM Movement.

When asked, “What are you most proud of” I answer: being flexible. The world is not forgiving to rigidity. Our environment, our culture and our society demand change. So change I do, and often.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Hm. Isn’t life luck? Statistically, even being born is lucky. I don’t really think much about luck. I would say I have had my fair share of good and bad. Bad when I was a kid and had seizures, bad when the economic recession occurred before I even graduated college, bad when the only paying jobs I could find were call centers, etc. Good when I made the shift to IT, good when I discovered cosplay, good when I was sponsored by CosplaySupplies.com to complete a costume project even though my social media numbers are not enormous, etc. Luck is ever present but I tend not to acknowledge it, I simply see it as another lesson meant to be learned.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thermocosplay.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thermocosplay/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThermoCosplay/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thermocosplay

Image Credits
Samantha Kitts Kincart Photography