Keith “Vulan” Ellis

[MnFurs Election Committee]

Tell us about yourself.
Hello, my name is Vulan Washburne (they/them) currently residing in Burnsville, MN. I
am a transplant from Georgia, but having been here for over 10 years, I like to call
Minnesota home. I live with my husband, Rico and both of us have been involved with
MNFurs for years.

For anyone who knows me you know I am big about airplanes, I grew up around
aviation. I am an airline pilot, which leads me to have a pretty variable schedule, but
gives me some good down time to focus on personal projects. I own a small aircraft
which I helped build, I am a licensed flight instructor and aircraft mechanic as well. I
really enjoy working with my hands, tinkering, building… It is something I really enjoy
getting to do. I also enjoy cars and electronics, really anything I can physically hold and
work on is a lot of fun to me.

I enjoy cooking as well, and feel I am decent at smoked meats (hopefully anyone
who’s had my brisket can agree!) I love EDM music especially but I do like quite a variety
of music and have a small vinyl collection. I have also grown a good collection of Lego
sets too

What brought you to the furry fandom?
MN Furs did! I knew about furry years before I ever felt comfortable seeking it out
through seeing artwork online and hearing about conventions, such as FWA. It was
around the time I was doing a lot of self discovery about my own orientation, and finally
moving away from “home” in Georgia and starting to find my own self. I found MNFurs
through their website, and learned about the local events such as the picnics. I met
more local furries in North Dakota (where I lived for college) and went to my first furry
event at the MN Furs Spring 2012 picnic. Finding a community I could explore myself and
express how I wanted, furry was an immediate fit for me. I had finally found a social
group that gave me a sense of belonging.

How will you continue to volunteer in the community after being elected to the board?
I have been involved with Furry Migration heavily since its early years, and the
convention is a big passion for me. Event running is a stressful job but comes with a lot
of enjoyment and satisfaction. I worked on the events team with MNFurs in the past and
would like to get more involved in the local events again. But with that said the passion
for me is still the convention. I will continue to volunteer and staff for the convention
moving forward. I took a bit of a break for a couple of years to focus on some career
advances, but I am ready to get back to it to help improve our local community.

How do you view events like Furry Migration and Midwinter Frolic impact the Minnesota Furs
community today and tomorrow?
Furry Migration is our flagship event, it gives us a chance to pull people in from other
places and let them see why we are such a great state, and have the privilege of such a
great community of furries. It is a chance for local furries as well to experience a
convention where traveling out to a con isn’t as possible. Midwinter Frolic is another
great event that I hope to attend soon, but it and a lot of the other local events are part
of what makes MN Furs so strong. Very few other local furry groups have this level of
unity. Having traveled around the country (and the world) and meeting furries in those
areas has shown me just how good we have it having such a strong organization. I want
to see that continue to grow.

What are your strengths that you will bring to the board?
I have strong organizational and planning skills. I have developed them as head of
programming for furry migration for 4 years and con chair for 3 years. I have also been
involved in other event planning, and convention planning for various groups. My life
can be a bit hectic with many different things going on at once but my ability to divide
attention as needed helps to get a lot of things done at once.

What do you feel are areas where you want to further develop yourself? Why?
I have been involved in a number of areas in event running but mostly in the logistical
and planning areas. There are administrative tasks I haven’t been as much a part of
before so it is something I want to focus on improving. Even outside of the Board, those
skills can make me more useful to community events and Furry Migration staff, among
other uses. Additionally I feel that managing interpersonal issues is something I want
more experience on to again, better serve the community.

How can Minnesota Furs reach out to other communities local and national in furry and other
fandoms?
Minnesota Furs doesn’t just mean Minneapolis. Better outreach and support of our
groups in other cities, as well as neighboring states is something we have been
improving upon in recent years, and hope to continue to do so. There are also other
geek cultures and groups locally that we can support, now that Geek Partnership Society
is no longer around.

What are two things that you would like to see accomplished/improved during your tenure?
Staffing is the biggest thing. There is a surge in interest with getting involved and this is
something I feel the society and convention have very much needed. More
opportunities to help out, better mentorship for new people wanting to get involved.
Growing our skills within the community to not just lean on a select few people as we
have in the past. I am very excited to see new faces join the community and would like
to explore what skills and ideas they can bring in.

Secondly, I would like to see growth in 18 and 21+ events without any loss of
focus on all ages events. Through that we can better see youth focused events growing
as well. We have started to see movement in that way but there are always ways to
improve and grow these tracks

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