WHAT IS VIRTUOUS CON?
Virtuous Con is an online sci-fi and comic culture convention that celebrates the excellence of BIPOC creators in speculative fiction across the media of comics, books, film, visual arts, and more. Since our launch in October 2020, we've been honored to bring together an amazing range of Black creators and pioneers in speculative storytelling, including Rodney Barnes, Anika Noni Rose, Danson Njoka, Peter Ramsey, Aida Croal, Wilson Cruz, Alitha Martinez, Marc Bernardin, L.L. McKinney, Beverly Jenkins, Tananarive Due, Stephen Barnes, and many others.
FOUNDER: CERECE RENNIE MURPHY
National bestselling and award-winning author Cerece Rennie Murphy fell in love with science fiction at the age of seven while watching “Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back”. Since debuting her first novel, Order of the Seers (Book 1) in 2011, Ms. Murphy has published eleven speculative fiction novels, short stories, and children’s books, including her latest release Enchanted: 5 Tales of Magic In The Everyday. Ms. Murphy is the recipient of Black Pearl Magazine’s Author of the Year Award for Children’s Literature, the National Best Sellers designation from the African American Literature Book Club (AALBC), and the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA)’s Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award for significant contributions to the science fiction, fantasy, and related genres community. Created in 2008, Ms. Murphy joins the ranks of distinguished previous Solstice Award winners, including Petra Mayer, Carl Sagan, Octavia Butler, and Gardner Dozois. To learn more about the author and her upcoming projects, please visit her website at cerecerenniemurphy.com.
Meet the Team
Program Architect/Marketing Director/Sponsorship Lead
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Karama Horne (@theblerdgurl) is a culture journalist, podcaster, host and critic parked at the intersection of geekdom and diversity. She is the founder of theblerdgurl.com a site dedicated to Black nerd geekdom and pop culture. As a journalist, Karama has bylines at Rotten Tomatoes, NERDIST, Mashasble, SYFYWIRE and The Wrap. As a host has been featured as a guest host on red carpets, comic-con stages and is the co-host of Pop Paranormal, a horror podcast on Travel Channel. Karama has been featured in the NYTimes, USAToday, The Guardian and more and in 2022 her first novel, Black Panther “Protectors of Wakanda: A History and Training Manual for the Dora Milaje” was released. In 2023 Karama makes her debut as a comic book writer in Marvel's Voices: Wakanda Forever.
Program Director
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Diantha Jones is a fantasy and paranormal author of three series—the Wesley Werewolves series, Oracle of Delphi series, and the Djinn Order series. She earned a B.A. in Journalism with a concentration in Television Journalism from Georgia State University. For several years, she ran a book blog called DJ’s Book Corner and was a primary member of Masquerade Crew, an indie book blog. She was also the owner of Masquerade Book Tours. Now, she is proud to be a co-founder of Imaginarium Book Festival, which features authors from the genres she loves the most—fantasy, paranormal and science fiction.
Even though Diantha grew up as a military brat and has lived in many different places, she now resides in Washington, D.C. When she isn’t writing or working, she is obsessing over K-Pop or being hypnotized by Netflix (or YouTube). She is a serious night-owl, and while everyone else is grinning in the warmth of sunlight, she’s hoping for gloominess and rain. Yeah, she’s weird like that.
Tech Manager
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Cherese Lumsden-Wallace is a college educated and self-taught visual artist with a focus in graphic design and livestream production. She occasionally dabbles in cosplay photography and editing. She has worked with LevelForward on their Taxlandia project with Flaco Jimenez by designing the slates and overlays as well as directing the livestream. She also works with Karama Horne on theblerdgurl Live! as a stream moderator, highlight maker and video editor. From packaging design to photo editing, from logo design to captioning videos, anything in that realm she has dabbled in at least once.
Art Director
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Jesse Hayes is co-founder and creative director of Anansi Hayes Media, a design, development and marketing agency with a focus on bold voices. Their diverse client base includes music superstars from Digital Underground to Carly Simon, WNBA star Monique Billings, Afrofuturist and Queer photography legend Lola Flash, and iconic horror and sci-fi authors Tananarive Due and Stephen Barnes, as well as institutions such as MIT, NAACP and the J Dilla Foundation.
In 2023, Hayes launched Cast Iron Rocket a film production company creating shorts films combining music, design and unique storytelling.
Hayes is also a father of three teens, professional musician, published writer, and will wax poetic on geekery from Batman to The Twilight Zone, Star Trek to Octavia Butler.
Head of Publicity
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I was seventeen and a junior at Jackie Kennedy Onassis High School in midtown, Manhattan. I, like many other teenagers, had no idea of what I wanted “to be when I grew up.” But, I was savvy enough to enroll in Ms. Gulston’s business class. Ms. Gulston was very supportive and encouraging; the kind of teacher who sought to provide hands on learning experiences. She informed us that she had arranged another opportunity for some members of the class (those that were interested) to spend a day at a public relations firm. I reluctantly added my name to the list.
On the “Day” I was paired with an account executive from Marina Maher Communications who was working on a Cover Girl account. She introduced me to the field of marketing. I watched as she went about her day, reviewing photographs, and text. At the time I wrote for the school newspaper so I was able to assist her in organizing press kits with updated press releases. She talked about creativity and about how to assist a business move from one level to the next. I realized then, how little I knew about the process involved in promoting a brand. But, my interest was peaked and I felt, this is something I could do and would enjoy doing. At the end of the day, she mentioned she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), for advertising and marketing communications. She urged me to apply.
Months later, I did apply to FIT, and I believe that my enthusiasm along with my reference to the “Career Day” experience, was instrumental in my being accepted into the program. I was on my way!
Vendor Manager