My experience with Luminara. I was the first talent to leave Luminara. I’m glad I can finally say publicly that Luminara was the core reason I wanted to graduate & go on hiatus back in October 2025. I was villainized. I was isolated. The work I put into NuCloud was taken credit for by Camana. I could go on and on about my experience with Luminara, but I want to make one thing clear: I am not blaming the staff or the talents. They were victims too. 𝗠𝘆 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢, 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮. When I heard Cam and some people in Luminara wanted to attend Anime NYC but couldn’t afford badges, I wanted to be a good fellow professional in the space. I had two extra exhibitor badges because I had a booth, so I offered them for free. Cam then started passing around the exhibitor badge I gave him to people without my permission, including people I did not know. Cam and his “squad” would come to my booth and act like they owned the space. He even took a business meeting there, interfering with the interactions I was trying to have at the booth I paid for. Y͟o͟u͟ ͟c͟a͟n͟ ͟s͟e͟e͟ ͟i͟n͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟ ͟A͟n͟i͟m͟e͟ ͟N͟Y͟C͟ ͟s͟t͟r͟e͟a͟m͟ ͟V͟O͟D͟s͟ ͟h͟o͟w͟ ͟u͟n͟c͟o͟m͟f͟o͟r͟t͟a͟b͟l͟e͟ ͟I͟ ͟w͟a͟s͟ ͟w͟i͟t͟h͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟m͟ ͟t͟a͟k͟i͟n͟g͟ ͟o͟v͟e͟r͟ ͟a͟n͟d͟ ͟a͟b͟u͟s͟i͟n͟g͟ ͟t͟h͟a͟t͟ ͟s͟p͟a͟c͟e͟. He also kept asking my rep how much the booth cost and how to get one, digging for information while disrespecting the space I paid for and abusing the badges I had generously offered. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘕𝘶𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥. Luminara wanted me to essentially organize a large-scale IRL event within three months, which is already extremely difficult. They claimed they would help, but in reality, they did not. To be clear, there were a few honest staff members who assisted, and I appreciate them. But instead of Cam taking the lead, I had to direct people every step of the way. Any time I was not involved in the conversations, things would fall apart and nothing would get done. And let it be known: 𝗜 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁. Luminara did not contribute financially to the event. While I was organizing the NuCloud concert, rumors were being spread internally about me and other staff. I was being villainized with claims like, “Kōri thinks this is her show and doesn’t want to give anyone else credit.” 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲. Cam was the main person responsible for posting on the Luminara account, and I even reminded him to credit everyone who worked on the concert, no matter how big or small their contribution was. But the trash talking continued, and eventually I started to feel like I was the problem. I try really hard to word things in a way that won’t hurt people, because I truly never had evil intent. But everything I heard made it clear that people were being encouraged to view me like a villain. 𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲, 𝘀𝗼 𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀. And honestly? It kind of was my show. That is not an exaggeration. I was doing about 95% of the work while Luminara had “event production agency” in their bio. Only one person from Luminara attended the NuCloud concert in person. I did not receive any real-life help from Luminara. The staff at NuCloud were volunteers thanks to the USS Hornet, and I trained and onboarded them myself. Some of the talents also seemed to dislike me because Cam was spreading rumors and lies about me. I went out of my way to include some of the talents in the NuCloud concert. I even had artwork done for them, and some still refused to post the postcards I made or even repost the concert. 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝘂𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱, 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁. They supported other talents, but would not even repost my important projects. I had organized an entire concert on their behalf, released original music, and then Luminara did their first cover song without even asking if I would be interested in joining. 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱, 𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗺𝗲. I am glad Luminara is no longer creating false promises. This is why I left. This is why I continued pursuing independent concert hosting. 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆. I’m heartbroken for the talents who were led on with false promises, but I’m genuinely happy they now get to continue their journeys without being tied to false hope. I’m cheering y’all on. 💜