I’m Jewel, and I collect My Little Ponies

In my everyday life, I am a university graduate with a degree in Film and Video, a voiceover artist, and a freelance video editor. But you’re not here to read about that kind of stuff, are you?

I have been collecting ponies for as long as I can remember. After a brief hiatus (in which I was “too old” for ponies–ha!) and a renaissance through the G2 line, I joined the My Little Pony online communities when I was a young teenager. I have now been active in the community in general for almost 20 years. During that time, my collection has grown from a humble 45 to around 3,000 individual ponies from all over the world, some of them truly one-of-a-kind treasures!

You may ask yourself, how does one find themselves with THAT many ponies? How does a person become so involved in such an obscure hobby?

The answer is a little complex.

When I was a teen, and my life was almost ready to truly begin, I became seriously ill from complications from a common flu virus. My body never truly recovered, and sustained permanent damage as a result. As the months, and then years, went by and reality set in, I did what many people do in the face of difficult news: I turned to something that had always made me happy, something that reminded me of my life before chronic illness. Something I could do despite my condition.

And so here I am, a pony collector who happened to have found her “tribe” among fellow collectors. Over the years, I would find myself involved in, and even leading, many different projects related to my hobby.

Some of my history in the MLP collecting community includes:

I host the annual Maryland Pony Meets, which I founded in 2003.
I am a credited contributor to the My Little Pony Collectors Inventory books by Summer Hayes.
I created the documentary My Little Obsession, which has reached all corners of the globe, and continues to be sold and shown to this day.
I have been an avid supporter of the annual My Little Pony Fair & Convention for many years, including contributing a rtistic, video, and voiceover talent for their Hall of Fame Celebration Dinner ceremonies.
As of 2019, I have become the owner of the My Little Pony Trading Post, a forum where I have been a moderator since 2005 and a member since 1999. This beautiful community is the oldest operating My Little Pony forum in existence!

Collecting ponies has opened up a crazy, quirky, incredible world to me, both in my own experiences and the strong, lasting friendships I have made with fellow collectors. In attending the national and international conventions, I have seen parts of the world that I never would have otherwise. It’s a unique little corner of the collecting hobby with memories I will cherish forever.

If I could tell you anything, it would be this: Life is short. Be you, and do what makes you happy.