As a professional seamstress, author, and avid costume maker with more than 9 years of experience, Jedimanda has competed, and ultimately won, several costume competitions, as well as judged almost an equal amount. She has been featured in Star Wars Insider and Cosplay Culture Magazine. As well as on several sites such as StarWars.com, D23 (Disney fan club), Kotaku, Nerdist, Marvel.com and SyFy. Jedimanda loves to pour her heart and soul into cosplays with a distinctive eye for accuracy, originality, and just plain fun. She loves to travel all across the US for competitions, meet fans, teach cosplay panels, and genuinely interact with nerds like her.

Amanda has written two books all about cosplay! Her first book, Creative Cosplay, was released in September 2020 and covers the basics of how to get into cosplay with a focus on cosplay sewing, fabric knowledge, convention attendance, and cosplay competitions. Her second book, Level Up! Creative Cosplay is more of a defined focus on pushing your skills further. Draping, designing, SFX makeup and basic LED work take the focus.

She tries to divide her time between her love of costume making, painting, bread making, and building her SFX makeup portfolio with time still to pet her black cat, Salem. She has a BFA from the University of Louisville in Fine Art Painting. She split most of her college and post-college time between working in theatre with costume shop duties.

Online, Amanda is an admin for the SheProp community on Facebook. SheProp is a forum for those who self-identify as female, non-binary, or trans propmakers, costume designers, SFX artists, cosplayers, and more, at all skill levels to get together and chat about all things cosplay. Check it out here!

When she’s not sewing her eyeballs out, she is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at the Speed Art Museum.