Her Universe Celebrates the Year of the Fangirl

February 25, 2013 Fangirl Ashley Eckstein, Her Universe, Year of the Fangirl

HerUniverse.com, through a very special year-long campaign, will shine the spotlight on a different fangirl every day showing their diversity, dreams, and interests.

I am so honored to be joining Ashley Eckstein, Erin Kelahan, Amy Ratcliffe, Victoria Schmidt, and Lillian Skye to celebrate Her Universe’s Year of the Fangirl. This is an exciting time to be a fan of science fiction and fantasy, especially with the prospect of new Star Wars movies on the horizon. Back in the Prequel Trilogy days, it took a while to find a place with like-minded individuals. Her Universe has provided fangirls a means to express their geek pride through fashion. Year of the Fangirl will open up doors and make it easier for women to find their spot in the ever-growing community of fans.

I am blessed to be able to interact with many incredible fangirls, and almost every day I meet someone new in the community. As I started looking for fangirls to highlight, I realized this list is enormous and diverse. There are some amazing fans who have been helping build a community, so it’s with great pleasure that I help shine the spotlight on as many as possible!

This Wednesday Ashley will be hosting a Facebook chat over at the Star Wars Books page at 3:00 p.m. EST. Come join the discussion, or just drop in to say hello.

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 25, 2013

Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano on the television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and founder of Her Universe™, the groundbreaking sci-fi apparel line for fangirls, announced today a very special year-long campaign to highlight and recognize one of the fastest growing and important segments of the sci-fi/fantasy/pop culture audience… women. Geek Girls, as they sometimes are affectionately known, can be found in every walk of life and beginning today, HerUniverse.com will shine the spotlight on a different fangirl every day showing their diversity, dreams and interests. Featured fangirls will be selected from submissions by way of fans and a team of 5 fangirl contributors, personally picked by Eckstein, who will be searching across the U.S. and the world for individual stories of every day female fans.

“From day one, it’s been very important to me to make Her Universe a positive and supportive community for fangirls,” said Ashley Eckstein. “I’ve traveled the nation over the past 2 ½ years with Her Universe and I have been inspired by so many amazing women. There are several great outlets that highlight fangirl celebrities and pop culture news but I wanted to create a place where we will share the stories of everyday women who are proudly letting their geek flag fly! If she considers herself a fangirl, we want to hear her story!”

Eckstein is encouraging fans to submit their choice for a “fangirl of the day” on the Her Universe website. Fangirls of any age can be nominated and profiled; however, fangirls under the age of 13 must be nominated by their parent or guardian. Starting today, the fangirl form can be found on the Her Universe website (heruniverse.com) with questions to be filled out about the female fan to be profiled. Once completed, individuals can submit the form on the site, and attach a photo (optional). Each day, Eckstein and the fangirl volunteers, will spotlight a “fangirl of the day” on the Her Universe website and its social media platforms.

The Geek Girl contributors Eckstein has assembled for this project reflects the variety and creative nature of the fangirl community:

Tricia Barr – a professional engineer, author, and founder of FANgirl Blog, which focuses on discussing Star Wars, strong female characters, and storytelling.

Erin Kelahan – a longtime sci-fi/fantasy fangirl and passionate supporter of Her Universe and fangirls everywhere. Erin’s goal in life is to help as many people as possible find and embrace their inner geek.

Amy Ratcliffe – a freelance writer, Star Wars enthusiast, twitter addict and all-around geek who enjoys most things sci-fi and fantasy. Amy has written about comics, cosplay, conventions, and other topics around the internet and in print.

Victoria Schmidt – a veteran cosplayer “Scruffy Rebel,” and co-founder of the geek girl fashion and style blog, “Set To Stunning.” A geek fashion trendsetter who has spent her life devoted to a broad range of fandoms.

Lillian Skye – a Star Wars fan since before she could hold a lightsaber, now a junior in high school, Lillian writes for a student run publication published weekly by the Tampa Bay Times and has her own blog for geek chic Star Wars fans called “Fangirls in the Force.”

The “Year of the Fangirl” campaign officially launches today, February 25th, on http://www.heruniverse.com but additional elements and opportunities for Geek Girls will be added throughout the year, including a very special event in coordination with San Diego Comic Con. More information will follow soon.

About Her Universe

Her Universe was launched in 2009 by actress and entrepreneur Ashley Eckstein, and her partner, The Araca Group, known as one of the most innovative theatrical production and merchandise companies in the world. Her Universe was created to directly address the expanding market of female fans by entering into its first agreement with Lucas Licensing to develop and produce a line of female-centered Star Wars apparel and accessories. The success of that line was followed up with a collection for the Syfy network including such shows as Battlestar Galactica and with BBC America for Doctor Who and with CBS Consumer Products for Star Trek. You can learn more about Her Universe and purchase the current line of fangirl apparel and accessories by going to http://www.heruniverse.com and by following Eckstein on Facebook and Twitter.

Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and strong female characters. She also writes about Star Wars for Random House’s science fiction and fantasy blog Suvudu.com and for Star Wars Insider magazine.

In her spare time, Tricia puts the finishing touches on her first novel, Wynde. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.

For updates on all things FANgirl follow @FANgirlcantina on Twitter or like FANgirl Zone on Facebook.

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Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and the intersection of women within Star Wars fandom. She is co-author of Ultimate Star Wars and Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia from DK Publishing, a featured writer for Star Wars Insider magazine with numerous articles on the Hero's Journey. Her FANgirl opinions can be heard on the podcasts Hyperspace Theories and Fangirls Going Rogue.

Tricia Barr's novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library's successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena's Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.