Fandom as a Window to the World with Alice Fanchiang

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In the latest episode of Portrait of a Fangirl podcast, host Jenna Wrenn spoke with fashion and travel blogger, Alice Fanchiang.

Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast

The “Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast” is a new series from the team at the Temple of GeekPortrait of a Fangirl initially began as a web series and has now expanded into a podcast series as well. You can watch and listen to the series both here and on our YouTube channel.

Hosted by Jenna Wrenn, at the core of the project is the importance of telling the stories of women who have found inspiration, growth, and power through fandom.

You can listen to the Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast directly on this page or stream it on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcast / iHeart Radio / Spotify and wherever you stream your podcast. You can even watch it on our YouTube channel. You can also find us on social media on Instagram and TikTok.

Fandom as a Window to the World

Being a part of fandom can spark creativity and open up a whole new world of possibilities. For Alice Fanchiang, being a fangirl led her on international travels and adventures. Though travel was a common part of her life growing up, Alice found that she could experience the places connected to her favorite fandoms as an adult.

Jenna: I really love the idea of fandom as a window to the world. So, can you tell us some of the places that you visited over the years thanks to fandom?

Alice: The last overseas trip I did before the pandemic was in 2019 and me and my friends went to Scotland, and that was because we watched Outlander together.

I like history, so I usually do like going to like historic sites and things like that. So for Scotland, a lot of the sites were places in Outlander or [where] they filmed at. But we also just looked at things like tourist spots. When we [travel], we always like look at the exhibits and read up on it, so it’s really interesting. I like seeing the history of those places and how it’s incorporated in the show in some senses, because Outlander is sort of a historical fantasy.

Just in general, I like experiencing the culture and the way the people are . The Scottish people were so nice, like ridiculously nice. So I would like go back in a heartbeat.

Alice’s passion for travel inspired the creation of her travel blog called Girl on the Roam. Through her blog and accompanying Instagram, Alice shares her journeys in both written and photographic form.

Being a fangirl also inspired Alice to begin posting her fandom inspired outfits on Instagram.

I used to not post pictures of myself too much on Instagram . It would just be my dog or something I ate. But I think it must have been the early days of disney bounding–when that was like starting to get more popular. And then other girls were doing those geek fashion challenges.

So I think when I saw that, I was just kind of like “well, that seems kind of fun. Maybe I’ll just do it.”

An Original Fangirl

Alice was featured on episode 5 of the Portrait of a Fangirl webseries in 2019. There, she spoke about her experiences in fandom and gave viewers a glimpse of her fashion style.

You can follow Alice on Instagram here.

About our Host

Host and executive producer of the Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast, Jenna Wrenn, is also an entertainment correspondent for Temple of Geek.  Jenna has conducted interviews with talent such as Max Brooks, Christopher Paolini, Rachel Smythe, and Ashley Eckstein and has written several articles for Temple of Geek covering conventions, anime, pop culture, and much more.

A historian by trade, a writer by passion, and a cat mom by birthright. Jenna loves to travel, forge new connections, and cosplay. Jenna is excited to bring more fascinating interviews to viewers/listeners of the Portrait of a Fangirl podcast.

More episodes from season two of the Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast

Check out season one of the Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast

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