Cristal Marie

Cristal Marie is a YouTube host and writer for an anime channel. She talks about anime at conventions and podcasts and radio shows. She is developing a web-comic series and writing an anime-related memoir. She also performs music at anime-themed events! She makes a living from being exactly what people told me not to be: a weeb, freak, geek, fangirl... an Anime Girl! 

Cristal grew up in the Dominican Republic. Her education there mainly consisted of going to Catholic schools where she wasn’t allowed to wear pants, and parents who thought “reading too much” would distract her from getting a husband, and listening to people in the media call video games and rock music “satanic”. Anime was considered a gateway to Hell by some people, and there she was trying to get the school choir to learn “One Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII (hint: it did not fly). 

Girls like her weren’t considered “quirky” - they were considered a threat to society. And for a very long time, she let it get to her. She tried to be a “good girl,” AKA "la niña buena." Not anymore. Cristal moved to NYC on my own to start fresh and take her life back. She vows now never to be someone who she's not, and to continue persevering no matter the obstacles.