If you’re interested in participating in the Geek Out Challenge, read this post here! Each day I will be posting a question for that day for the next 30 days. When I reach day 31, I will release all 30 questions in a single post with links to all of my answers. Follow along each day with your own post or feel free to wait until the entire challenge has been released and take it on when you like! Be sure to link back to the master post at the end or link back to each post for each day.

Day 6 – What real life geek inspires you?

I tried so hard, but I couldn’t pick just one geek that inspires me. It’s okay if you can’t either! I think this is an amazing element to the challenges I create: you can take my questions and make them yours. So don’t think of this as bending or breaking the rules but instead that spinning the question allows you to be YOU and write about what matters to you. With that being said, here are two real life geeks that inspire me!

Felicia Day

If you don’t recognize the face of Felicia Day right away, let me help you out! She created, wrote, and starred in The Guild! Love the YouTube series Tabletop with Wil Wheaton? She helped create it! What about the Geek & Sundry YouTube channel? that’s Felicia too! She’s made TV appearances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and more. And we can’t forget her numerous video game voice contributions like Fallout: New Vegas, Guild Wars 2, and more!

I first discovered Felicia on Supernatural, an obsession a the time. I fell in love with her character and did that every fan does when they fall in love: I researched the crap out of what else she was in! I started watching The Guild and fell in love with Tabletop, the show she created with Wil Wheaton. Some of my favorite episodes of Tabletop feature Felicia.

Why does Felicia inspire me?

Felicia and I share more than the same home state. As a fellow geek girl, I look up to Felicia’s amazing success. Her creative web series, her book, and all of her career endeavors have been motivating and inspiring. I would love to write a book myself one day and have a successful blog and YouTube channel. Could a web series or podcast be in my future? I sure hope so. Felicia gives me hope that we will have more successful geek girls out there making waves and kicking ass, and that hopefully some day, I will be one of those successful geek girls.

Wil Wheaton

Who is Wil Wheaton? Well he was on this little show that you’ve probably never heard of called Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’m kidding! Wil was about 15 when he took on the role of Wesley Crusher on Star Trek and before that starred in Stand By Me which really skyrocketed him into fame in the first place then went on after that to act in several films and voice a variety of characters like Aqualad on Teen Titans, Kyle in Kyle + Rosemary on Nickelodeon, and more including anime characters and himself in animated television shows.

He also hosts the YouTube series Tabletop that he created with Felicia Day and makes appearances on Day’s Geek & Sundry series. Not to mention voice acting in video games, narrating various audio books, his blog, comic book, and just so much more that I can’t possibly fit it in all in this blog post. He even has his own beer! Needless to say Wil is a man of many talents.

Why does Wil inspire me?

While I was a long time fan of Wil, I connected with him on a deeper level when he talked about his anxiety and depression. I was diagnosed with anxiety not too long before reading his article and instantly identified with him. His story was so relatable. I know I am not the only geek who read his article and thought to myself “I’ve done that too; I feel/felt that way too.” He not only told his story, but he did so as a way to break the stigma surrounding mental health. It inspired me to talk more on my blog about my anxiety and PTSD.

Wil continues to inspire me with his work on comics, video games, and his web series. Once upon a time, I created a comic along side my own book and never thought that anything would come of it. I’m more inspired than ever to dust off my book and try to get it going again. Will it ever be published? I’m not sure, but I would at least like to finish it exactly the way I envisioned several years ago when I first penned it in my spiral notebook.

What real life geek inspires you? Let me know in the comments below OR take on the challenge yourself and link back to this post so I can see your answer!