Very Awesome Girls Into Nerdy Activities is a club out of Las Vegas of close to 50 ladies who engage in various events and contribute to charities around town as a group. They range in age from 18 to their 30’s and are drawn together for a mutual love of all things nerdy.

The club was started originally by Stephanie Payne (that’s her real name), who often partners with local comic book stores like Maximum Comics, Cosmic Comics and Ralph of Alternate Reality Comics. Ralph lets the group hold events in the store or collaborates on different activities around the valley.

The group has a fun atmosphere and if you’ve ever seen them or been to one of their booths, you’ll know them right away; as Stephanie says, they’re always the loudest booth. There’s no doubt these ladies have fun wherever they go.

More recently they had an anniversary gathering at the park and collected donations for the local homeless teen shelter, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth. They’ve also donated to Heaven Can Wait, the victims of the Colorado shooting, various animal charities and Critical Care Comics (which donates comic books to sick kids in hospitals). For a little over 2 years now, the Very Awesome Girls have been convening, donating and participating in events such as the Las Vegas Comic Expo.

At the most recent Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival, the Awesome Ladies were dressed as different characters and held a panel about cosplaying. This was extremely informative and a lot of fun as well. They had a Powerpoint style presentation where they discussed cosplaying from the ground up and brought an obvious wealth of experience to the discussion.

Some of their helpful hints about cosplaying:

– always bring an emergency repair kit

– E6000 glue works best

– sign up for Joanne’s Fabrics & Michael’s apps coupons

– Thrift Stores are a great resource so take your time when you’re there

– hold on to the good scraps because you never know when you might need that certain piece of leather for a future costume

– When deciding on a costume, play up to your strengths. If you’re naturally tall, it helps to choose a character who is tall, etc. But don’t feel limited by your natural features, either. Be whoever you want to be.

– Duct tape comes in many different colors and is an amazing tool for creating different parts of costumes

– don’t let the haters get you down – haters are gonna hate so do what makes you happy:  “I feel 10 ft. tall and bullet-proof in my costume.” — Julie Priest aka Scarlet Witch

Meetings are mandatory and are held the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7:30pm. Members must attend 6 meetings per year and volunteer 3 times a year. There is a no drama rule (which explains why they all seem to get along so well), and their interests include stuff like Puffcorn, World of Warcraft, the Walking Dead, Harry Potter and UV tattoos.

They also have a book club organized by member Captain Helen. They read a book a month on the average, and an extra one during banned book week. They also read a graphic novel every other month chosen either by Helen or suggested by the members themselves. They are currently reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Here is their friend, photographer and honorary member, Derek Marsh.

Some more pics….

Thanks to Stephanie (right) and the rest of the Very Awesome Girls for the interview and for giving back! If you’re interested in contacting them or learning more about their organization, you can check out their website at: veryawesomegirlslv.com or their Facebook page here:  http://www.facebook.com/veryawesomegirls.

 

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