As a follow up to our interview, we have another interview with a local Silver Spring cosplayer, Mia Mclaughlin. With just over a year in the area, Mia offers a newer transplant’s perspective to Silver Spring, but brings a lot of passion and novel ideas on how to continue to promote Silver Spring.
“I feel like Silver Spring has a big artistic feel to it… it’s very artsy. I’d love to see more of the arts come out in Silver Spring.”
As a cosplayer, Mia is very aware of her shopping selections with an eye always open for potential accessories to her costumes. One glaring, missed opportunity to her is the infamous City Place Mall:
“I think it’s got the potential. We just need to get someone in there to start putting up some businesses. If you got three or four of the right businesses in there, the rest would follow.”
As opposed to having one of our typical interviews, Ani Mia and I had more of a conversation about the goings-on in Silver Spring, and how to promote those events as well as create new ones.
“I like that there’s a lot of stuff in this area. I just think there needs to be more of it.”
“I know they do a production of Rocky Horror Picture [Show] downtown DC twice a month. Maybe we could get that team up here to do a performance once every couple months, I would love that.”
“Free comic book day is actually a great opportunity to not only promote comic books, but education and reading for kids… if you did a gallery opening and you had it for comic artists or independent artists. You could even do a theme night.”
Besides having a considerable amount of ideas for growth in the area and costume design, Mia has a vast amount of knowledge of social media. It’s the main channel through which she markets herself.
“I’m a social media expert at this point. I’ve had to learn to adapt, and I’ve read all the books on Social Media… When Facebook changes their algorithm, I’ve got to stay on my toes… I am my own business.”
As her own business, she’s certainly been able to leverage social media to her advantage that many small businesses may be envious of. That being said, she still faces the drawbacks that come with the monetization of social media.
“From a small business perspective, [Facebook] is doing some pretty shady things… I have all these fans, but unless I want to spend $50 a day, I can’t reach all of my followers.”
Find Ani Mia on Facebook
Find Ani Mia on Twitter
