Five Things Rachel Bussert Said
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Five Things Rachel Bussert Said |
| Interviewer: | Claudia Rebaza |
| Interviewee: | Rachel Bussert |
| Date(s): | April 28, 2018 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | |
| External Links: | Five Things Rachel Bussert Said |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Five Things Rachel Bussert Said a 2018 Q&A guest post, conducted by the Organization for Transformative Works' Communications Committee with Rachel Bussert. Includes a graph!
It is part of a series. See Five Things Said.
Excerpts
Did anything take you by surprise when you began volunteering for the OTW or your committee?
Two things, though I think both of them speak more to OTW as an organization rather than just VolCom. The first thing was how well organized everything is overall. Most of the non-profits I’ve had experience partnering with tend to be a little bit haphazard for a variety of reasons, so I was pleasantly surprised by how clear onboarding and training was, and how much effort various committees put into working together for a common goal.
The other thing was just the sheer enthusiasm there is all the way around. Every time we recruit for a role, I’m floored by how many people apply because they want to get involved. That’s not to mention within the organization. There are a lot of really amazing people who put their heart and soul into this.
What’s the most rewarding thing to you about volunteering for the OTW?
Fandom has given me so much. I was kind of a lonely kid, and getting into writing fanfiction was the first time I really found people who felt like my people. A couple of my closest friends are folks I met because they commented on my writing, or because we happened to be in the same fandom chat, and so fandom in general is really special to me. I also gravitate pretty strongly towards non-profits in general, so OTW is just this really natural fit.
I think what is most rewarding for me is that with VolCom, I’ve had the opportunity to take some of the skills I’ve developed in my day job, and turn them towards supporting a cause I have so much love for.
What fannish things do you like to do?
All of them? In all seriousness though, I have a lot of fannish interests. In terms of content creation, I write a lot. I’ve been teaching myself art via photomanipulation as well and having a great time with it. I’m mostly in the Captain America fandom these days, but I dip back into Doctor Who and Fullmetal Alchemist now and again. I also cosplay competitively sometimes and get really absurdly excited about documentation and screen accuracy.
I’m pretty serious about giving back to the community that’s given so much to me, so I also tend to get really involved behind the scenes. In addition to OTW, I am on the team that runs two of the writing/art events in my current fandom, I run one of my city’s cosplay meetup groups, and I’m the co-chair for the cosplay masquerade at a local convention.