Sherita-Dunbar

IN HER OWN WORDS: Sherita DunbarMy name is Sherita Dunbar, a lot of my friends call me Ree. I’ve been a costumer since 2008. I’m based out of Atlanta, therefore my very first convention was the very scary (scary for me at the time) Dragon Con.

I have always been considered a nerd I guess. I love cartoons of the 80s and will even sit down and watch them today. I’m a hardcore wrestling fan and I love the Simpsons.
As far as video games, I used to religiously play every Mario game that I could get my hands on. I grew up kinda poor so whatever my mom could afford to buy, I’d play. My first love of a video game however, came when Mortal Kombat was released. Despite the M rating, my mom bought it for us. Lol! The spiked pit, the violence, the blood, the fatalities…ah, yes, I love those games. And I still turned out pretty ok! Thanks mom. 🙂 Even to this day the only games I will really play is something old school. From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Final Fight, anything that’s walk around and beat ’em up, you don’t have to try very hard to get me to pick up a controller.
As far as how I got started costuming, that would be when my husband who had been attending Dragon Con for years one day came to me very shyly (and he really is not shy at all, Lol) and said to me babe, I was just wondering, I see a lot of guys at the con who bring their hot wives in costume and I got to thinking, well I have a hot wife, so would you wear a costume at Dragon con so that I can have my hot wife by my side with me? I laughed and gladly accepted! It was too cute not to. Lol!
Closer to the time of Dragon con ’08, that willingness to accept and eagerness was replaced with apprehension, doubt and nervousness about attending my first con, in costume no less. Why? I was portraying a Caucasian and Asian character (X-Men’s Rogue and Street Fighter’s Chun Li, 2 of my husband’s favs and my own). I remember thinking people aren’t going to accept this, no one is going to want to take my picture, what in the heck was I thinking?!?! Nonetheless, show time came I walked out in Rogue first  and Chun Li the next day and I had an amazing con experience! Every since then I have been hooked on costuming!
After my first convention, I remember thinking while I am familiar with  both Rogue and Chun Li, I really would like to “know” about the characters that I intend to portray. I almost felt like a fraud. Therefore my new goal became to read up on anyone that I intended to costume as, past, present or future. With that being said, my hubby bought me my first comic book! I don’t claim to have the vast comic knowledge of someone that has been reading comics all of their lives and I am extremely honest about this, but I do however make it a point to know my characters. My current reading list is mostly DC. Catwoman, Batgirl, Wonder Woman and Marvel’s Red She Hulk. You may have noticed a pattern there. Lol! Yep, all women. Don’t judge me!
My favorite genre would probably be a tie between video games and comics  followed by Sci Fi and then anime.
Cons that I currently attend are Dragon Con, AWA, Mega Con and Momo con. I plan to venture out and return to Heroes con and possibly Metropolis but it really depends on my work schedule and finances. The characters that are generally a staple at every con, (in addition to something new) would be the sexy Catwoman and the powerful Red She Hulk (both of which I have several versions of the costume). However, I’m definitely all across the place when it comes to characters. I’ve also done new 52 Wonder Woman, red lantern Laira, Vixen, Rogue, Chun Li and Talisman.The way that I see it, race doesn’t define who I am and I costume as anyone that I choose to. It’s a fun hobby for me and I will always treat it as such.