Geek Girl of the Month – Ilana
Here at Geek Girl Brunch we are proud of our many accomplished members and officers. That’s why we decided to start a blog series called “Geek Girl of the Month”. Each month we will highlight an amazing member of our community with a special post.
This month, we have chosen Ilana from GGB San Antonio! Ilana was nominated by GGB Officer Sandra.
Bio: Ilana Cuomo is a stand up comedian (on stage she goes by Holli Cuomo) and an artist, specializing in 8-bit style perler bead art. She travels around Texas telling jokes and selling her art, but is based in San Antonio. She is one of the GGB Officers for San Antonio.
Art: SplattyCakeCrafts – @splattycake
Social Media: Twitter
How did you start/get involved with your project?
-I got into art because I was super broke and I was on Pinterest, and I saw some perler art. I remembered doing it as a kid and I decided to invest in it to try to make extra income doing something fun. I got into comedy because I had a funny story and got pushed on stage. I caught the bug and have been doing it since.
What motivates you?
-The joy on people’s faces whenever I make them something awesome or crack them up. It’s my fuel whenever I have bad days at work or I can’t get a joke to sound right.
Tell us about an obstacle, or obstacles you had to overcome to get to where you are.
-Fear has always been a huge obstacle in my life because I used to just shrink away and never try anything, so I would never succeed at anything. Having a small business and learning to be fearless and take risks was and still is a hard battle. But having different creative outlets allows me to overcome that fear and laugh at the unknown.
What do you hope to achieve in the future?
-I’d love to make my living off my art and stand up, but like all things, it takes time to be good at it. I’m fortunate I can live off my art, but I’d like to be able to travel places and tell my jokes too.
Who is your role model?
-Most definitely my other GGB officers. Our chapter wouldn’t be one of the biggest without the team of these 4 incredible women (plus me, so 5 total). The stuff they overcome in their personal/professional lives can be heavy, so when one girl goes down, the others come to her aid, in life and in brunch. They way we all have always clicked (including one of our past officers) is incredible and these gals motivate me, not just when it comes to brunch.
What’s your secret superpower?
-I can put on almost ANY pair of sunglasses and instantly look amazing in them, like they were made for my face.
Favorite tip for self motivation/productivity/organizing etc.
-Having some kind of accountability buddy has always helped me out because I’m a known procrastinator. Even if it’s just my partner casually texting and asking if I got a certain task done. Also, at least 4 alarms in the morning in case I sabotage myself while I’m still half asleep.
How did you hear about GGB?
-I was on Instagram and looking at some perler bead art by @madamfandom and she was making some swag for a GGB chapter, and I was like “Oooooo, what’s Geek Girl Brunch?” And I went on the website, saw that San Antonio needed more officers to start a chapter. So I signed my happy butt up.
What do you enjoy most about GGB?
-The creativity and time and effort some of the brunchettes put in to making some of the swag we have. We always stress that it’s optional, but sometimes the ladies wow me with how awesome and generous they are. We’ve had a Brunchette make custom Jaws art print just for our chapter for our Horror Brunch, one Brunchette crocheted 30 Luna coffee mug cozies for the Sailor Moon brunch, and a couple of girls decorated about 35 individual mugs for Villains Brunch. It’s amazing.
Do you have any words of wisdom for your fellow GGBrunchers?
-I’m gonna put this in all caps because I think it’s important. Also feel free to imagine hand clap emojis between each word. SIT NEXT TO SOMEONE NEW EVERY TIME. I have invited people to brunch and I purposely will not sit next to my friends to get them to socialize with strangers. It forces people to get out of their comfort zone while still in a safe space surrounded by your people, even if you don’t know them yet.
Thanks Ilana for being apart of Geek Girl Brunch and letting us feature you in this blog series!
If you would like to nominate yourself or a fellow GGB member to be our next Geek Girl of the Month, then simply send an email to the main site with the subject “GGB of the Month”. In the body of the email please give a brief description of your project and any links, or the name and info for the brunchette you’re nominating, so we can get in touch with her.