Nerd Street is an event production company started and operated by Ben Penrod. Ben is the founder of Awesome Con, Annapolis Comic-Con, Southern Maryland Comic-Con, Central Florida Comic Con, Nerd Street Wrestling, Star Con Orlando, and AfterBrawl NYC. Ben started reading comics at age 13, and in the late '90s began selling parts of his collection on eBay and used the money to buy more comics on eBay. This hobby turned into a full-time job in 2008 when Ben started an online comic book store. After spending the next three years traveling the country selling comics at conventions, Ben and Steve Anderson from Third Eye Comics created the Annapolis Comic-Con, soon followed by the Southern Maryland Comic-Con, both still thriving local shows that cater to comic book lovers like themselves. Ben started planning Awesome Con full-time in 2012, and the first one launched in April 2013. It was an immediate success, and it quickly grew into one of the largest fan conventions on the East Coast. Ben launched Central Florida Comic Con in 2019 in Lakeland, Florida.