Rising Stars: Meet Juan Gonzalez of Conculture Podcast

Today we’d like to introduce you to Juan Gonzalez.

Juan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Con Culture started as a passion project built around something I genuinely love, which is the culture of comic cons and the people who show up to them. Cosplayers, gamers, fans, content creators, these are my people, and I wanted to build something that celebrated them.

The channel really took off because of a moment we didn’t plan. My whole team showed up to a convention and every single one of our cosplays kept getting mistaken for a different character. So we filmed it, we shared it, and that video did over seven million views and brought in twenty thousand followers overnight. That became Mistaken Cosplay, our flagship series, man on the street at conventions, and the reason it worked wasn’t luck, it was repeatable. I built a system around that concept and the whole team was pulling views off of it.

From there we just kept showing up to cons, kept telling the stories of the community, and the audience grew to over 250 million views and 250,000 subscribers across platforms. We’ve partnered with brands like Lexar, Gfuel, and PGY Tech, traveled to cons across the country and even internationally, and built a team that makes it all happen on the floor.

Today Con Culture is more than a channel, it’s a platform for the cosplay and fandom community. We recently launched a “Cosplay Is For Everyone” shirt Kickstarter because that phrase isn’t just a tagline, it’s the whole philosophy the show was built on. The goal has always been the same: go to the cons, find the people, and share what makes this community so special.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not. And I think anyone who tells you it was smooth is leaving out the best part of the story.

In the beginning, conventions turned us down. Flat out said no, our page wasn’t big enough for their standards. That stings when you’re putting everything you have into building something you genuinely believe in. But those rejections became the chip on my shoulder. Every single convention that said no eventually let us in, and now the goal is to get so big that my whole team has easier access everywhere we go.

Beyond the rejections, the operational side of running a channel like this is brutal in ways people don’t see. We travel to cons constantly, and that comes with real costs, flights, hotels, gear, booth space. There was a stretch where TikTok restructured their rewards program and our revenue dropped 60% almost overnight, right in the middle of a travel run. A correction eventually came, but by then I had months of operational expenses stacked up and that money went straight to paying them down. You’re working insane hours just to make forward progress.

And then there’s the personal side. People laughed at this for years. Said it wasn’t real. Friends, people close to me, thought it was ridiculous to build a channel around going to comic cons. Eight years later, 250 million views in, those same people ask how I did it.

The thing that always pulled me through was the community itself. You’re at a con and a total stranger recognizes the brand, and they don’t just know my face, they tell you how the content made them feel. That’s the fuel. When the business side gets rough, and it does get rough, that’s the thing that keeps you moving.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Con Culture is a pop culture media channel built around the convention experience. We cover comic cons, cosplay, gaming, and fandom across the country and internationally. The way we do it is by showing up, getting on the floor, and talking to the people who make these events what they are, cosplayers, fans, artists, vendors, the whole community.

What we’re best known for is Mistaken Cosplay, our flagship series where we go man on the street at conventions and interview cosplayers whose costumes keep getting mistaken for something else. It sounds simple, but it captures something real, the humor, the creativity, the passion these people bring. That series is what grew us to 250 million views and 250,000 subscribers across platforms. Beyond that, we host cosplay contests, we have brand partnerships with companies like Lexar and Gfuel, we do full con coverage with daily uploads, interviews, and live content, and we recently launched a “Cosplay Is For Everyone” shirt through Kickstarter because that phrase is the whole philosophy behind what we do.

What I’m most proud of is the moment a total stranger at a convention recognizes the brand and tells me how the content made them feel. Not just that they watched it, but how it made them feel. That to me means we’re doing something right. The numbers are great, but that’s the thing I hold onto.

What sets us apart is that we are not outside looking in at this community. We are part of it. We show up to conventions because we love them, we celebrate the people there without an ounce of irony, and we treat every cosplayer we interview like they deserve a platform. A lot of channels cover fandom to exploit it or cover it from a distance, we cover it from the floor. We cover it from a genuine place of love for the community. That’s always been the difference.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
The best place to start is conculturepodcast.com. Everything lives there, you can learn more about what we do, and if you want to get in touch, that’s where you reach us.

For brands specifically, we are always looking for partners that genuinely serve our community. Our audience is cosplayers, gamers, pop culture fans, and content creators, so if your product or service speaks to that world, there’s a real opportunity to do something meaningful together. We’ve worked with brands like Lexar, Gfuel, and PGY Tech because the audience alignment was there. That’s the standard we hold. It has to benefit the community, not just check a box for the brand. If that sounds like you, reach out through the website and let’s have a conversation.

You can also support us directly by backing our Cosplay Is For Everyone Kickstarter. It’s our first shirt, and it was built with this community in mind from the ground up, the fabric, the sizing, all of it. All the details and the link to back it are on conculturepodcast.com.

For the community itself, the easiest way to support us is to follow along on all platforms at Con Culture Podcast. We’re on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, all under the same handle, @conculturepodcast. Subscribe on YouTube because that’s where the longform content lives and that’s where we go deep on conventions, cosplay, and pop culture. And if you’re heading to a con and you see us on the floor, come say hi. Seriously. That’s why we’re there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.conculturepodcast.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conculturepodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conculturepodcast
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@conculturepodcast