Traveling Valentine Staff

Meet the faces and personalities of Traveling Valentine.

The Jack of Trades

Name: Tom T. Convention Names: K Valentine Position: Owner, Editor, Writer Primary Skill: Writing Secondary Skills: Photography, Film, Psychology, Driving, Communications, Firearms, Bargaining, Improvising, Acting Twitter: TravelValNT Facebook: KValentine

Tours of Duty: Fanime (2001-Present), Anime Expo (2002-Present), Anime Los Angeles (2007-Present), Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (2005-Present), ACen (2007, 2008), Dollectable/GoGa Doll (2007-Present), AoD (Various), SiliCon (2005-Present), WonderCon (2005-Present) and too many other conventions, gatherings, photo shoots, and events to mention.

Cosplayer. Photographer. Drinking Buddy. Tea Snob. Gun Enthusiast. Ballroom Dancer. These are just some of the many hats Tom wears during a convention in addition to his spiffy fedoras, berets, and literal hats he wears. Tom attended his first convention in 2001 at Fanime and never looked back. Deciding to take up cosplaying when the coin landed heads--he would have started drawing had the coin landed tails--Tom grabbed a needle and thread and began altering clothes from Goodwill into costumes from anime series like Lupin the 3rd, Cowboy Bebop, and Ouran High School Host Club. He then got distracted with photography and began shooting cosplayers at conventions. Combining his photography with his writing skills, he developed Traveling Valentine as a coverage service to describe the convention experience to those unable to attend conventions. When the video production bug bit him, he started several video series to show off his screen writing, acting, and improv skills. Between video production, cosplay, convention coverage and the occasional sketch writing, Tom still manages to find time to serve as a Community Guide on Associated Content, review anime titles on The Escapist and practice his ballroom dance moves--which he is more than willing to teach to beginning dancers. Some call Tom unfocused but he simply calls himself diversely skilled.

The Musician

Name: Michael T. Convention Name: Sal Position: Photographer, Music Reporter Primary Skill: Music Secondary Skills: Photography, Gaming Twitter: None Facebook: None of your business

Tours of Duty: Fanime (2007), SacAnime August (2009), AOD (2010), Miscellaneous cosplay events and gatherings.

Michael is new to the convention scene. As the young blood of Traveling Valentine, he is yet to reveal his skills and favorite convention aspects. So far Michael covers music and gaming since those are two of his confirmed skills. Michael plays bass in a band named "Michael and The Multi-Ethnic Friends," who compose and play their own thrash music. The band is currently instrumental with hardly any lyrics and no vocalist. With this, Michael has knowledgable background information with what sounds good and how well bands are playing during live performances. This is a great asset since none of the other members of Traveling Valentine can differentiate the J-Rock bands. As Tom's brother, Michael can make sense of Tom's logic train. There really is not much to say about Michael since he rarely says anything. But given enough training and exposure to the convention life, Michael may soon set the course of the average anime fan... or suddenly decide to flee the country at the mention of the word "Yaoi."

The Social Butterfly

Name: Tatiana V. Convention Name: Ten Position: Shojo & Cosplay Writer, Publicity Primary Skill: Communications Secondary Skills: Writing, Improv, Sketching Twitter: nonojusco Facebook: TheT3N

Tours of Duty: Fanime (2007-Present), Yaoi-Con (2007), Tales of Anime (2006), Cherry Blossom Festival (2007, 2009), Miscellaneous cosplay events and gatherings.

Tatiana blazed into Traveling Valentine ranks through the time-honored tradition of asking for a position and passing a field test consisting of but not limited to providing constructive input and putting together more than two coherent sentences on the spot while filmed. Being better versed in cosplay trends and shojo, Tatiana can comment on those two areas of convention activity while Tom and Michael do manly convention activities like getting distracted by cosplay cleavage or seeing which shonen anime has the bigger giant robot. As the staff of Traveling Valentine develops, we wonder what else this butterfly has in store.

The Little Sister

Name: Trina V. Convention Name: Unyuu Position: Scheduling Aide, Field Assistant Primary Skill: Organization Secondary Skills: Communications, Purchasing, Ungodly patience with fanboys Twitter: None Facebook: Here

Tours of Duty: Fanime (2006-Present), Yaoi-Con (2009), SacAnime (2010), AOD (2010), Miscellaneous cosplay events and gatherings.

After an embarrassing mishap in December 2009 where Tom attempted to attend three events in one day and missed two of them, he realized that the human body could not be two places at the same time for longer than three seconds. He decided it was time to recruit someone to make up for his lack of calendar skills. And who better to recruit than family? As the Little Sister who lives closest to Tom and has her eye out on the events in their area, Trina constantly keeps Tom up to speed on what is happening when. Her scheduling abilities are constantly put to the test outside of conventions as she attends college while balancing her gaming, anime fan, and social lives in addition to putting up with her Onii-chan's erratic tendencies. Trina also helps Tom by being an extra set of eyes and ears when he needs to cover two events simultaneously. This is as close as he gets to being two places at the same time. An avid shopper, she seeks out the best cosplay materials at the best prices even if it means Tom has to bang his head against the wall while waiting for her to make up her mind.

Associates

Traveling Valentine recruits Associates for on-site assistance during conventions. Their help is greatly appreciated and duly credited.

Associates List Under Construction