AniAmes Guests
The Guest List of AniAmes 2025!
Voice Actors
Amber May
We are excited to announce Amber May as a voice acting guest for AniAmes 2025! Over the past decade, her roles have included but are not limited to Yanqing from Honkai Star Rail, Alice from Murder Drones, Barbie "Brooklyn" Roberts from the Barbie Franchise, Regine from Final Fantasy Seven Rebirth, Dehya from Genshin Impact, the Narrator from Komi Can't Communicate, and countless others across shows, movies, video games, as well as commercials, children's toys, and so much more. We look forward to having you Amber!
Camden Sutkowski
We are excited to announce Camden Sutkowski as a voice actor guest for AniAmes 2025. Camden is best known for lending his talents as Atticus from Pokemon Masters (2019) and Adventurine from Honkai Star Rail. Aside from voice acting, he also works as a professional model, theater actor, and actor in short films and dramas. We're excited to have you Camden!
Molly Zhang
We are excited to Molly Zhang as our third guest for AniAmes 2025! Molly has voiced many characters in anime and video games. Some of her notable characters include but aren’t limited to Astra Yao in Zenless Zone Zero, Gyokuyou in the Apothecary Diaries, Emul in Shangri-la Frontier, Seele in Honkai: Star Rail, and many more. Make sure you check out her Instagram and YouTube to see her other work.
Cosplay MC
DawnStarCosplays
DawnStarCosplays is a passionate cosplayer, panelist, and community builder with over 15 years of experience in the cosplay scene. Known for her attention to detail, flair, and love of cosplay design, she has crafted over 30 costumes and appeared at more than 20 conventions across the Midwest! As a plus-size queer cosplayer, Mariah is a strong advocate for inclusivity and representation in fandom spaces. Whether she’s hosting a panel, MCing a cosplay contest, or sharing tips on prop-making and costume construction, she brings heart, humor, and a deep love for the community to everything she does.
Featured in publications like Creative Cosplay Magazine, CanvasRebel, and Lights, Camera, Cos, DawnStarCosplays is excited to continue connecting with fans and celebrating the creativity that makes cosplay so magical.
Cosplay Judges
Kaleleaf
Kaleleaf is a Minnesota-based cosplayer whose cosplay journey originally began at Iowa State in 2019. Since then, Kaleleaf has created multiple award-winning cosplays, including multiple Best in Show placements. Kaleleaf brings her knowledge of both mass-manufactured and handmade costumes as she is a costume print designer by day and a cosplay crafter by night. When Kaleleaf isn’t making costumes, you can find her watching anime, reading, making art, and spending some time with her corgi, Beemo. She is very excited to be bringing her crafting knowledge back to AniAmes this year!
CosmicRobin
CosmicRobin is an Iowa-based cosplay crafter specializing largely in needlework. Originally starting as a cosplayer in 2011, she has created multiple award-winning cosplays and has competed across Midwest winning multiple Best in Shows and Best in Masters placements. Some of favorite skills include beadwork, hand embroidery, airbrushing, and making every cosplay just a bit more sparkly than the next. Outside of cosplay, Robin is a full time lab tech working with various plants and insects.
LaRire Cosplay
LaRire Cosplay is a long-time competitor and contest runner having judged at more than 13 events ranging in size from local 1 day conventions to Colossalcon North. She has been active in the Cosplay community since 2011, and a competitor from 2013-2019. Since 2019, she has put more focus on her volunteer work with AnimeIowa as their Head of Cosplay, with 2025 being the year she decided to retire from that side of the table.
She has supported the community through the years by being a resource for new cosplayers to bounce ideas off of, answering questions as a veteran competitor and long-time performer (since she was 8 years old, back in 1997!) as well as offering help to the conventions she attends as either a volunteer or opening up resources for other departments to share information.
LaRire is very honored and excited to be returning to AniAmes for 2025 as a contest judge, and can't wait to see what everyone brings this year!
Cosplay Guests
Alys Belyn
Alys Belyn is an award-winning cosplayer, professional model, and retired ballet dancer. Spends her days creating a variety of different crafts and thinking of new ways to incorporate fashion accents into upcoming cosplays. She utilizes historical patterns and drafting techniques to create elaborate cosplays, such as the Alexander McQueen butterfly dress. Some of her favorite cosplays include fashion icons like Effie Trinket, Barbie, and doomed French Queen Marie Antoinette. Her abilities as a seamstress have afforded her with opportunities in creating bespoke items for the Frank Llyod Wright Foundation. Her day job includes working as an Administrative Art Assistant at the haunted hospital turned art studio co-op: Studio Osky in Oskaloossa, IA where her butterfly dress, and hot pink guillotine remain as current art installations.
B Team Cosplay
B Team Cosplay is a cosplay duo based in Central Iowa. Becca and Bailey have been cosplaying together since 2019 and have become Master's Level cosplayers. The duo loves to bring characters to life through details, embellishments, and making costumes that catch your eye from every angle. Together they have a strong focus on textiles; using historical garments as inspiration, and growing their skill set in handsewing. In 2025 the they formed the Cosplayers of Central Iowa group that hosts meet ups for cosplayers to gather and work on cosplays outside of conventions.
Industry Guests
Omaha Pop Expo
Omaha Pop Expo is brought to you by the Omaha Nerd Society and Nerd Empowerment Society, with support from Frightful Four Productions. Combined, we are an accomplished team with decades of combined experience organizing large public events. We are proud to bring Omaha a full pop culture convention experience, including vendors, artists, celebrity guests, panels, cosplay contest, and gaming.
Our deepest ties are in the anime convention community and our guest list will tend to lean toward voice actors best known for anime, video games, and related media. We will always strive to create a diverse guest list, and will also work to invite celebrity guests best known for other genres from time to time.
It is our highest hope to create a new, engaging place for Omaha's nerds and geeks to safely express themselves.
Anime Nebraskon
Anime NebrasKon is sponsored by the non-profit organization Nebraska Japanese Animation Society (NJAS) and is dedicated to connecting people and communities through Japanese animation and pop culture. Our mission is to provide a safe and welcoming environment for all attendees, while promoting the cultural, artistic, and educational aspects of Japanese animation and pop culture.
Our annual convention features a wide range of educational and interactive activities, including: panels with industry guests, a massive cosplay contest, a charity auction, video and tabletop gaming, anime screenings, dance parties, and more.
We are proud to be an organization run entirely by volunteers who are passionate about our mission. If you share our vision of connecting people and communities through Japanese animation and pop culture, we invite you to join us at Anime NebrasKon!
Discover Ames
Discover Ames is the official destination marketing organization for the city of Ames and the surrounding area. We attract and secure meetings, conventions, events, and visitors for Ames and Iowa State University. We provide unparalleled services to groups and visitors as well as enhance the quality of life for the Ames community.
The Ames tourism industry accounts for a major and irreplaceable source of revenue for our restaurants, shops, cultural organizations, attractions, and hotels. Discover Ames enhances the overall Ames experience and contributes to the economic well-being of the city through leadership and innovation in the hospitality industry.
The Discover Ames office is located at 1601 Golden Aspen Dr., Suite 110. Our entryway is filled with visitor information and is open 24 hours a day. Additional Discover Ames visitor information can be found at Ames 1864, a retail shop and Ames concierge service located at 500 Main Street, Suite 101.
Ames Public Library is committed to creating a welcoming space that recognizes the inherent dignity of every person. We honor the unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of customers, staff, and the community as a whole.
Ames Public Library works to reduce barriers to access for the public, provide a safe environment for community members, and foster a supportive workplace. As such, all employees will work to create a culture of respect and dignity for staff and customers.
