Heather “Talon”

[MnFurs Election Committee]

Tell us about yourself.

Hey everyone, I’m Talon (she/they)! I’ve been in the furry fandom for around 17 years, starting way back when with the original official Warrior Cats forums. Ever since then I’ve been lurking around in the greater furry fandom as an artist, but I only learned about MNFurs in 2021. I’ve been on staff on the communications team since December of 2022, am the lead moderator for our Discord server, and the Social Media department head for FM! At the time of writing this, I am also the current president of MNFurs. This would be a reelection for me! In my free time I work with animals, create art and plushies, and play video games.

What brought you to the furry fandom?

I first joined the fandom ~17 years ago. On the Warrior Cats forums, it was very common for folks to give themselves a warrior name as their username when they joined. It was also very common to make yourself a warrior cats fursona. The name Talon came from the prefix of my chosen username all the way back then, and I’ve been going by it this entire time. Talon-the-sona has also remained a cat for 17 years, though I’ve added two other sonas in the meantime.

I’ve always been very into creating art, so it was a pretty smooth transition from the forums to the wider community that existed on DeviantArt, and then to sites like Twitter. I appreciate the art and originality of the fandom; unlike other fandoms, this community is run entirely on original characters and content, giving people way more individual freedoms with their content, identity, and experiences. I love my characters, and seeing others characters, and get great joy in commissioning others to draw mine for me.

How will you continue to volunteer in the community after being elected to the board?

Regardless of whether I’m reelected or not, I will continue to do my job in Communications as well as on the Discord. I also will be continuing to be FM Social Media Head for as long as they want me around. I got into staffing for MNFurs to help people and our community, and being on the board (or not) won’t stop me from doing that.

How do you view events like Furry Migration and Midwinter Frolic impact the Minnesota Furs community today and tomorrow?

I think that what we have going for us in Minnesota is very special. Unlike what I’ve seen from many states, we have an organized community, with events that are easily accessible to outsiders and newbies. Furry Migration as a con is also special in that, unlike many cons, it’s run entirely by a nonprofit (MNFurs), which means there aren’t monetary gains to be made when making decisions. This is important now more than ever, since it means decisions are made to be as beneficial for the con-goers as possible, instead of personal pocket books. As it grows, I think it’ll also help bring more furs into the larger Minnesota Furs community as a whole.

As for Midwinter Frolic, I don’t think the benefit of a smaller, more intimate venue where you can meet other furs more one-on-one can be understated. With such a large community, sometimes it can feel difficult to make connections with others, especially when you’re new to it. Hosting events like Frolic give furs the opportunity to actually sit down and chat with one another, and make connections that are less fleeting than a romp.

What are your strengths that you will bring to the board?

As a person, I’m typically pretty efficient at seeing problems from various angles, and coming up with solutions I think are reasonable compromises if several people are disagreeing, as well as seeing how issues would affect different demographics.

Communication, especially written communication meant to be spread to wider audiences is also something I believe is a forte of mine. Determining how things should be worded to be the most understandable while still holding some personality is something I pride myself on. I’ve also had success in the past with helping others understand one another. By this, I mean that if one person is trying to explain their point of view to another, and the other isn’t understanding, I can often find a way to word it so both of them understand what the other is trying to convey.

I’ve also been on a board once already, so I am familiar not only with the process but the people. I think having tenured staff as well as fresh faces works best – that way, if someone new to the board has questions, there are folks who may better have the answers for them.

What do you feel are areas where you want to further develop yourself? Why?

Despite wanting to do the best I can, I often have a lot of anxiety that I’m not doing things properly, or that what I’m doing is letting down others. While I feel I’ve already greatly improved in this area with my first term on the board, it is something I feel can always be improved.

I would also like to further develop being more proactive and making professional connections. Nonprofits survive off of not only our community, but making meaningful connections with the nonprofits that surround us that also support or share our visions. If elected, I would like to put more thought into this going forward.

How can Minnesota Furs reach out to other communities local and national in furry and other fandoms?

I think Furry Migration, which we are already doing, does wonders in reaching out to both the local and national (and international!) furry scenes. I also think it wouldn’t hurt to look into other cons in the area (such as anime or general geek cons) and potentially have a presence there, whether it be a booth or something else. Some events in Minnesota also have opportunities for nonprofits to booth and be approachable to the general public about what their organization is like – the Renaissance Festival is one of these, as an example.

What are two things that you would like to see accomplished/improved during your tenure?

One big one that is already somewhat a work in progress is finally getting a Youth Program nailed down! There’s been talks and discussions during my term on the board, and it’s something I personally have been working on, but it hasn’t come to fruition yet. Given the chance, I would love to continue working on this so that our minor members have a place to hang out that is more structured to them.

I also think it’d be beneficial if the day-to-day operations could be a bit more transparent to members. I think a lot of people do not fully understand what it means to be a non-profit, or why we make the decisions that we do, especially when it comes to membership actions. Sometimes people feel that we are personally choosing to ignore problems or ideas, when in reality it is discussed at length, and often the choices we make are made with legal concerns in mind. It could be quite beneficial to further the education for our own community about why we make the decisions that we do, why we pick the venues that we do, etc, in some capacity.

One goal of MNFurs is to promote education. How do you intend on helping promote education?

Circling back on how I said MNFurs could do more outreach – boothing at events can be incredibly helpful in not only finding more members, but also explaining what our organization is for! This is especially helpful for our org specifically in that the general public often has a lot of questions or misconceptions for what “furry” means, and what our community does. We often get questions on romps from non-furries about what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it, and I think outreach events would be a good way to help others understand us better!

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