Geeks to Watch Out For: Geeky Nikki

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Jul 29

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Geeks to Watch Out For is our series featuring geeks and nerds who are doing great things throughout the world. In this post, we talked to Nicolle Milesh, a blogger from Richmond, VA. Check out our conversation:SHE: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?NM: My name is Nicolle Milesh. I’m 29 years old and from Richmond, VA. I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts with a major in Filmmaking. I have a regular 9-5 office job, but on the side I am a freelance photographer and I sell my artwork at comic cons and on Etsy. On my free time, I have a blog called Geeky Nikki. On my blog I showcase my artwork and write about topics that I’m interested in. I also love to play video games and binge watch tv shows on Netflix.SHE: What inspired you to start blogging?NM: After I graduated from college, I got a 9-5 job and I noticed that my life fell into a routine of: work, home, pay bills, work, home, pay bills, etc. Having a blog has helped to motivate me to break up that routine and to step out of my shell a bit. I especially love doing my Geeky Adventures posts. I’ve been to so many festivals since starting my blog and I’ve enjoyed experiencing that and sharing it with others. I love photographing live events and posting the photos online.SHE: When did you first realize you might be a geek?NM: Looking back on it, I’ve been into geeky things since I was very little. I have an older brother and I would play video games with him (nintendo, sega genesis, super nintendo, dreamcast, etc.) and I watched Sci fi movies (Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, etc.) with him. When I was a kid, I didn’t consider myself a geek as a kid. I just liked those things.I went to a very small high school and I hung out with the kids that loved to talk about Harry Potter, Buffy, and Anne Rice novels. We were dorky and I absolutely loved it. High school was definitely the time in my life that I dived head first into the Harry Potter fandom. After discovering Harry Potter, a spark of creativity lit up inside of me, I made Harry Potter mashup videos (under the name MissPhoenix or Phoenix Productions), I drew Harry Potter fan art, and I even tried to write a fanfiction once. I went to the midnight releases and I did Harry Potter cosplay (mostly as Tonks because she is my favorite).SHE: Your blog has a wide variety of topics showing a lot of your geeky interests - how do you choose what to write about?NM: It was pretty difficult for me to figure out how to organize my blog. Lucky, I have two wonderful friends, Jennifer Lockhart (JJLockhart) and Eve Valenzuela (Eve's Treasures & Trinkets), who helped me figure out how to structure my site. One night we all sat around a table making lists and charts for what I wanted to do/say with my blog. After that night of planning, I came up with the categories I wanted to cover on my blog: Geeky News, Geeky Art, Geeky Guides & Reviews, Geeky Lifestyles. My blog is a way for me to showcase my artwork, highlight what’s current in pop culture and to share my personal growth.SHE: What are your top 5 geeky loves?NM:1) Harry Potter2) Movies3) Video Games4) Board Games5) ComicsSHE: If someone were to visit Richmond, what geeky attractions would you take them to see? What hidden geeky treasures can be found?NM: Richmond has a wonderful art and food scene. Street art has become a popular thing for the last few years with artists from around the world coming to Richmond to paint murals. Richmond also has a number of art galleries and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Every first Friday of every month from 5pm - 9pm, art galleries around the city open their doors for people to see their exhibits. Food trucks and local vendors also come out.One food place I would recommend to anyone visiting Richmond is Sugar Shack. It’s donut and coffee place with several locations in Richmond and the surrounding areas. Recently, in honor of the release of Pokemon Go they made a massive donut and decorated it to look like a Pokeball. They did Pokemon trivia to determine who would get the donut.Another favorite place of mine in Richmond is the Byrd Theatre. The Byrd Theatre was built in 1928 and has been operating as a movie theater since then. They still regularly show movies. Every so often they will do midnight movies showing the best cult classic films like Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Goonies, Pulp Fiction, etc. The Byrd Theatre is located in the heart of Carytown, which is a great place with local shops and restaurants. Some of my favorite shops in Carytown are World of Mirth, One Eyed Jacques, and Chop Suey. World of Mirth is this whimsical toy shop for all ages. They have the best selection of toys and geeky merchandise I’ve seen in Richmond. One Eyed Jacques is a hobby shop with a great selection of board games and Magic the Gathering cards. Chop Suey is one of the few local book stores left in Richmond. There’s always a peaceful and calm atmosphere in the store and an awesome cat named Wonton that chills there. That’s just a few of the awesome places around Carytown.SHE: Who is your favorite female geek character?NM: One of my favorite characters ever since I was a kid was Catwoman (Selina Kyle). The first time I saw the character was Michelle Pheiffer’s performance in Batman Returns (1992). Since seeing that performance I was memorized by the character. I love characters that are antihero/antiherione. Characters that are in that gray area captures my interest far greater than the classic clean-cut heroes. Catwoman definitely falls in that gray area. She has been depicted many different ways since her first appearance in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). She was originally a supervillain but has moved throughout the years to be more of an antiheroine. She also has a very complicated romantic relationship with Batman. I see Batman and Catwoman playing a chess game against one other.