Despite her excellent credentials and high grades, she carried with her traces of imposter syndrome—the fear that colleagues would discover she wasn’t smart or talented enough to be in her position. It is an anxiety that many career-driven women who excel in their fields experience, as noted in a famous 1978 study in Psychotherapy Theory, Research, and Practice, in which observations of 150 highly successful women found that they often thought of themselves as frauds and did not “experience an internal sense of success.”

Letamendi thought people already had enough reason to question her; she didn’t need to fuel whatever underlying doubts by revealing that she was a superhero aficionado who dressed up in costumes. She didn’t want them to think she was immature or unhinged. “I was concerned that people would not only not take me seriously,” she said, “I thought it would impact my value as a scientist.”

To compensate for her own insecurities, Letamendi worked harder, and kept up appearances as a diligent, unassuming academic—while secretly moonlighting in cosplay. It was like she had two separate personalities. She was careful not to let them intersect.

Until one day, when both worlds collided, and she finally removed her mask.

* * *

As a kid, Letamendi first grew captivated by Archie comics. When she discovered she could get them mailed to her home, she saved all of her quarters and dimes and stuffed them into an envelope to pay for her subscription. The bulky envelope came back marked “return to sender.”

Letamendi later became hooked on Batman: The Animated Series, which led her to collect the Batman comic series too. Growing up in California’s Santa Clarita Valley, there was not a lot for kids to do. The area’s first mall had just been built. But there was one comic-book shop, Brave New World. She convinced her mom to drive her to the store so she could browse the aisles.

In middle school, she was bullied some for having interests her peers called immature (she has memories of someone kicking around her Garfield lunch box and calling her names). But by high school, she knew she wanted to be valued for her knowledge, not her looks or social status. She played tennis, dressed in goth and punk clothes, and earned the highest G.P.A. in her class. Her mother was a registered nurse and her father worked for a medical-supply company. “The reason I worked so hard was that I knew I wanted to have a seat at the table,” Letamendi said. “I wanted to have value, and a voice.”

At home, her graphic novel and comic book collections stacked up, and her love for sci-fi blossomed. She also began experimenting with costumes. In 1997, Star Wars was re-released in theaters. “That’s when my fandom exploded,” Letamendi said. She remembers standing in line at the Hollywood Mann’s Chinese Theater dressed in a Jedi outfit, complete with a cape, taking pictures with other people dressed up as characters in the movie. Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Princess Leia, and three Darth Vader figurines filled her room, alongside Batman, She-Ra, He-Man and G.I. Joe.