A thousand years ago Last year, I got a DM from a random Earper asking about FanExpo. Wynonna Earp was my first fandom, and Office (AKA Jill) was one of my first Earper friends. We both fangirled over the show, the actors, and over our personal favorite, showrunner Evelyn Andrews. We met in person waiting in line to meet the cast and Evelyn, and then, on zero sleep, she got back in her car and drove to Rochester. I had offered to let her sleep on the couch of our AirBNB in Toronto after she assured me that she was not a lesbian serial killer — neither a lesbian who killed people, nor a person who killed lesbians — but she insisted on driving through.

A friendship was formed that day that I will always treasure. She asked if she could steal my Fandras picture to create a Fandras inception, and I obviously said yes. Tim Rozon snapped this picture, and it’s one of my favorites.

Interestingly, people then confused the two of us, thinking Nedley’s Office and old Lesbiyinzer here were the same person, and that is not true. We are two separate people. However, as I found at ClexaCon, I would be lucky to be confused with Jill, who is the very essence of an Earper and a true representative of the best of our fandom. I am thrilled to have met her and honored to call her a friend.

Tell us a little bit about your non-Earper alter ego.

I’m an aerodynamics engineer by education, a software technical project manager by trade. I love distance bicycling (my longest ride is 150 miles in a day and have my eye on doing 200 miles in a day next summer or the one after). Raised in Ann Arbor, I’m a Michigan Wolverine through and through but now live in NYC – I moved here intending to stay just one year to experience city life.  That was 11 years ago. I go on at least one one-week vacation with my mom & dad every year because they are two of my best friends as well as my parents. Obviously, another significant personality trait of mine is that I love to fangirl.

How did you find Wynonna Earp and the fandom?

A friend of mine after Ep1 aired messaged me and said, “Jiiiiiiiilllllll!!! Wynonna Earp. That is all.”  (I think that was the exact quote.)  After Ep2, she said, “JIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! WYNONNA EARP!!!! TRUST ME!” I had recorded Ep2 but hadn’t watched it so I watched it and was all, “Oh, hello.” Then went back and watched Ep1 and was hooked. It wasn’t until Ep9 that I decided to jump into the Inanimate Object twitter handle mayhem and then the rest, as they say, is history.

Is this your first fandom?

Awww, part of me wishes it was, but part of me is happy it’s actually not. Star Trek was my first fandom (as in the original series, though I was not alive when it aired, I loved it and yes, I’m a Trekkie). The X-Files was my second fandom; I cut my teeth in that fandom at the same time the internet was being born. Yes, I know that’s dating myself. BTW, I was totally a noromo, don’t flame me.

What is your favorite fandom memory?

I have two. My friends and I took a trip to Vancouver to seek out and take the geekiest of geeky pictures with X-Files locations. During that trip one of my buds and I arranged to meet with William B. Davis (aka the Cigarette Smoking Man in X-Files). To our surprise, during that meeting he asked us out to lunch! That lunch was just…. beyond expectations.

On par was meeting the Wynonna Earp cast at FanExpo 2016. The actual Con experience wasn’t the best… but meeting these genuine human beings who shared the pure joy that is Wynonna Earp outside and in the shadow of the Space Needle after driving 8 hours starting at 3:00 am…talk about beyond expectations. I will forever remember that day. I will forever remember walking back to my rental car of an 8-hour drive back to NYC thinking, “I’d do this again in a second.”

What is your favorite con memory?

Okay, so the above FanExpo 2016 was my first real con and as such, that memory is my fave. Second favorite is the two #FandrasInceptions I’ve been an honor to be a part of. Oh, and I did get a hug from Kat Barrell at ClexaCon and how can I not mention that?!?

What is your favorite Wynonna Earp/Earper activity?

This might come as a surprise to a lot of people, but I enjoy writing fake small-demon-infested-town police blotters and fictional goings on in the sheriff’s office. I have always had a strange adoration with small town police blotters (probably because my mom was born in a tiny town in the thumb of Michigan [and kudos if you know what ‘the thumb of Michigan’ means]) and this just kinda fed right into that.

What has Wynonna Earp come to mean to you?

It’s just pure fun as well as a “come as you are and make no apologies for that.” It makes me smile. It makes me feel giddy. It makes me feel free. There is not enough of that in the world today.

Favorite Earp sisters moment?

This question is cruel as there are so many!!  I guess mine is not when they’re together but it’s when Wynonna says, “Peacemaker is just a gun; Waverly is Waverly!!!” It just threw in your face what family meant to Wynonna, and that just cut me to the quick.

Are there any pictures you’d like to share of your Wynonna Earp experience?

I don’t think it could be anything other than this, a screen grab from a behind the scenes clip taken at ClexaCon, me with two kickass women, all smiles, celebrating just how much this show means to us and being celebrated by the show as to how much we mean to them.

Dolls or Doc?

Doc. (Which is so strange because I am the kind of person that pretty much ALWAYS chooses the law man/woman!!!)

How have you Earped your life?

How have I not!? But seriously, the best thing I feel like I’ve done is brought the joy of just having fun into the lives of people around me. I’ve taken #WynonnaTravels where I go and just unabashedly taken pictures because IT’S FUN AND I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK! I’ve given away t-shirts to people and tried to #EarpItForward whenever I can.

What’s the Earpiest thing you’ve ever done?

Mentioned Wynonna Earp in a résumé and then submitted that résumé for a job. No, really, I did that.

How are you most like Randy Nedley?

Hmm.  I don’t shave as often as I ought to.  Also… I think I’m kind of a decent person. And I think he is, too.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you Fandras?

I’m an 8, but rotated 90 degrees (that’s an infinity symbol, btw).

Describe why Fandras is a thing in 7 words or less.

Because it is, duh!

Many thanks to Jill for participating! And we’ll see you next time with an EarperView with another one of my favorite Earpers.