PRESENTER BIOS (alphabetical by first name)

Amy Jo Goddard (amyjogoddard.com) (atyourcervixmovie.com) is a sexuality educator & trainer, writer, performing artist and activist. She travels to colleges, universities, communities and conferences teaching workshops and speaking about sexuality and maintains a private sex coaching practice. She is co-author of Lesbian Sex Secrets for Men and is a contributing author of All About Sex: A Family Resource Guide on Sex and Sexuality. Her article about queer performance artists and activism was published in 2007 in the Social Justice Journal and she has been published in numerous other publications including LOFT and Bust Magazine. Amy Jo was host of CherryBomb.com's web stream program "Fresh Advice,” developing, researching, writing and performing over 60 episodes on women’s sexuality. A professional trainer of sexuality professionals, medical students, college students and youth for fifteen years, she has taught courses relating to sexuality at the City University of New York and the University of California at Santa Barbara. Amy Jo has taught breast and pelvic exams to medical/nursing students for 8 years and she is director/producer of the forthcoming documentary, At Your Cervix, a film that depicts this unusual work. She is launching an intensive 6-month sexuality empowerment apprenticeship for women in New York City.

Angel has been a professional pervert since 1993. He is an elitist and also a populist, spiritual and an atheist, an optimistic nihilist. He is a queer genderfucker, an activist both in and out of the leather/kink community, an edgeplayer and was once called 'the nicest mean person I've ever met'. As a person of mixed race he advocates for a less white scene for all of us and for contributing to un-learning our oppressive behaviour. Or at least making a hot scene out of it. He has completed the SFSI Sex Educator Training, the CUAV Speakers Bureau Training, The NCCJ (National Community for Community and Justice) Facilitator Training and much of his education has been geared toward psychology. Angel is a co-founder of Instigate NYC.

Anita Wagner is a polyamory advocate, writer, spokesperson and educator. She has appeared in television interviews and is often quoted in newspaper articles on the topic of polyamory. She has presented educational programs on the subject at Good Vibrations, Dark Odyssey, Black Rose, Building Bridges, Free Spirit Beltane Gathering, Poly Living, and Loving More® retreats and conferences. She blogs prolifically on polyamory and sexual freedom issues at practicalpolyamory.blogspot.com. Anita serves as a member of the Boards of Directors of the Loving More nonprofit and Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness, is co-founder and past board member of Chesapeake Polyamory Network, and is co-founder and former member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for 21st Century Relationships/Foundation of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. She is a past member of NCSF's Board of Directors. Anita also serves as a community advisor to CARAS - The Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities.

Barbara Carrellas (urbantantra.org and barbaracarrellas.com is the author of Urban Tantra: Sacred Sex for the Twenty First Century and Luxurious Loving: Tantric Inspirations for Passion and Pleasure. She is the founder of Urban Tantra®, an approach to sacred sexuality that adapts and blends conscious sexuality practices from Tantra to BDSM, and the co-founder of Erotic Awakening, a pioneering series of workshops focusing on the physical, spiritual and healing powers of sex. Barbara was named Best Tantric Sex Seminar Leader in New York City by Time Out/NY Magazine for her Urban Tantra® workshops. Barbara delights in blurring the lines between sacred and profane, enlightened and perverted, pleasure and pain. This fall Barbara will be presenting new workshops in London and Stockholm, at Louise Hay's "I Can Do It" conference in Tampa, and the first ever Urban Tantra® Professional Training Course. Barbara is a proud graduate of the Coney Island Sideshow School with a double major in fire eating and snake handling.

British "Lucky" Paul (britishluckypaul.com) is a pervert from the other side of the pond with a limitless appetite for sexy girls in latex and high heels. Born in Sussex in the South of England in 1972, Paul started young as a pervert. As a teenager, he would sneak up to London to indulge his fantasies and 15 years later he's still up to his old tricks. In addition to London, Paul has been spotted in the UK, San Francisco, Europe and Australia but is now settled in the Washington DC area. He is a Het Dom Poly Male with occasional switch tendencies. While his depravity knows no bounds, some of his interests include electrical play, bondage, suspension and age play. He can regularly be found selflessly serving the community by disciplining naughty girls wherever he finds them. You can keep up with his events schedule, download his class handouts and find links to online resources mentioned in his classes at britishluckypaul.com

Bobby is a Dominant, a sadist, and a sex pig who makes his home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with Alpha Mate Sir C. A great deal of the joy in his life comes from nurturing a Queer Leather Family of peers and receiving the dedicated service of quality people. Outside the Leather Community, he is a training consultant and transgender advocate. His passion lies in identity, rough sex, D/s, good food and good cigars. Look for him presenting or playing at events like Dark Odyssey Summer Camp, Winter Fire, Queer Invasion, Steel Sanctuary. South Plains Leather Fest, and KinkFest.

Dan and dawn bring a diverse background to each presentation and workshop they lead. They blend their experience in sacred sexuality, BDSM, M/s, energy work, and spirituality to offer a unique perspective to their audiences. Their workshops are based on education and experience and, blended with a sense of humor, are not only informative but entertaining as well. Dan and dawn consistently receive excellent reviews for their workshops, demos, and presentations. As they move between clear and simple presentation of facts and information to personal stories of their fascinating experiences together, they energize their audiences with “the ease and grace of people that enjoy what they are doing”. Dan and dawn also host the Erotic Awakening weekly internet radio show (podcast), taking the listeners around the nation with them as they visit sacred sexuality events, bdsm gathers, Ds munches, poly retreats, and more!

Danielle dv8 - Active in the BDSM/Leather community for fourteen years, Danielle is the Matriarch of House dv8, Houston, TX - a Polyamorous, Spiritually Focused, BDSM family. She is a practicing Zen Buddhist but House dv8 is all-denominational, pan-sexual and gender/sexual orientation bending. She started presenting in the lifestyle in 2007 but has been a public speaker on various aspects of wellness for ten years. She is a certified personal trainer, kick-boxing, yoga, Pilates, and aerobics instructor and practices homeopathy and energy medicine professionally.

Ignacio Rivera (polypataoproductions.com) is a Queer, gender fluid, Trans- Entity, Black Boricua performance artist,  lecturer, activist, new filmmaker and self-proclaimed sex educator. Ignacio is the founder of Poly Patao Productions. P3 is dedicated to producing sex-positive workshops, performance pieces, films, play parties and educational opportunities that are specially geared toward queer women and all trans, multi-gender, gender-queer, gender non-conforming, gender variant people of color and their queer and trans allies. Ignacio is also one of the founding board member of Queers for Economic Justice, a progressive non-profit organization committed to promoting economic justice in a context of sexual and gender liberation.

Julian Wolf is a pansexual polyamorus switch with a penchant for play and a passion for education. She identifies as Leather Queer and is always exploring possibilities. As an educator she offers a variety of classes on a variety of sex positive topics. Her educational programs range from 101s to advanced relationship dynamics to wax play, and you can find her teaching at conventions and in classrooms every chance she gets. Out as kinky and queer for a decade, she enjoys having adventures across the country, and writing about the local alternative scene in Carnal Conundrums, a Sex-Positive Alternative Advice Column running in the Weekly Alibi.

Lady Hilary & Marine - Lady Hilary and Her Marine have been traversing the leather kink world for 20 years; this year they celebrated 10 years as Owner and property. Together they teach and share their passion and love for all that is a joyful representation of the alternative. The creation of Vanguard retreats for queer kinky folks to gather in an intimate environment for the purpose of growth and exploration has been their passion since 2005 you can find out more on VanguardLeather.com. They can also be found teaching locally in the SF Bay Area as well as nationally for various leather and kink organizations on subjects of relationships of all kinds.

Lqqkout (kinkfriendly.org) is a fun-loving rope geek and sex educator who has found a home in the Midwest kink community. When he's not traveling to events, he contributes to the Iowa State University CUFFS group, and serves on the board of Minneapolis TNG group Min-KY. Although he's a relatively new member of the scene, LqqkOut has presented at numerous events across the country, including Kinky Kollege, Shibaricon, Denver Bound, and Beyond Leather. As a presenter, LqqkOut aims to provide a comfortable down-to-earth learning environment for all genders, orientations, and experience levels. LqqkOut's long list of presentations, events, and class materials can be found at his website kinkfriendly.org

Marc B is an experienced top and the nicest sadist you will ever meet. He has been a long time member of the Black Rose, and has served on the board twice. Over the past 15 years he has presented to many BDSM groups across the country on the topics of mummification, rope bondage, single tail, flogging, fear play, edge play, fire cupping, nipple play, and many others. He strives to make his presentations are fun, involving, and informative.

Mark A. Michaels (Swami Umeshanand Saraswati) and Patricia Johnson (Devi Veenanand) (tantrapm.com) are a devoted married couple and have been teaching Tantra together since 1999. They have lectured throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe, and Australia, work privately with couples, and offer online instruction. Michaels and Johnson have been featured on television and radio and in numerous publications. Their approach combines traditional lineage-based Tantra with the best contemporary methods so that students can bring heightened awareness and an expanded capacity for pleasure into all aspects of everyday life. Michaels and Johnson are the authors of The Essence of Tantric Sexuality (Llewellyn, 2006), which won the USA Book News National Best Books 2007 Award in Health: Sexuality. Their second book, Tantra for Erotic Empowerment: The Key to Enriching Your Sexual Life (Llewellyn 2008) won the 2008 USA Book News Award, also in Health: Sexuality, was selected as an Indie Excellence Awards finalist in New Age Non-Fiction, and is a ForeWord Magazine Books of the Year Award finalist in the Body, Mind and Spirit category. Inspired by their experiences at Dark Odyssey, Michaels and Johnson co-founded the Pleasure Salon (along with Selina Fire), a monthly, New York City gathering of sex-positive activists, educators, professionals, and other like-minded people, in order to build community and create a space for the open exchange of ideas.

Mistress Max Rulz‘s BDSM and D/s inclination became very clear 20 years ago and has allowed her to study with many people who were pioneers of the BDSM and D/s lifestyle as we know it today. Her studies pertaining to the kink lifestyle have taken her all over North America as well as Europe. Max has co-presented at the University of Texas for their “Human Sexuality” class. She produced her own radio show for over a year called “The Leather Hour” a BDSM show on KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, TX / 89.5 Galveston, TX. Max has appeared on FOX news and is the founder of a woman’s BDSM support group called “Just Us -Women in Kink”.

Ms Cynthia (cmhurt.com) - A BDSM/Sex Positive educator and Body Modification aficionado, Ms Cynthia has presented over 250 Workshops on 60 topics over the past 15 years. Her 20 years experience as a professional Dominatrix along with her personal exploration, wicked sense of humor and sexy antics have kept her in high demand at events, institutions and organizations. She has contributed heavily to Leather activism and politics but has decided that she would rather play and teach than talk and strategize, for now at least.

Q, often known by her easily identifiable blonde mohawk, is a two-time, award winning bootblack and presenter both within and outside of the leather community. An activist for more than 15 years, Q has consistently made strides to bridge the various communities to which she belongs. Her most recent journey as a titleholder in the leather community provided her with the opportunity to continue a rich tradition of education while indulging her activist side. Q has a passion for public speaking that she is excited about indulging through future presentations.

Sarah Sloane(sarahsloane.net)) hails from the metro Washington DC area, where she lives and works as a sexuality & relationships educator, writer, editor, and sex-positive business consultant. She identifies as a kinky poly queer woman with a penchant for service (individual and community) and a desire to empower others to succeed. Her website has pretty much anything you could ever want to know about her, including her upcoming projects and schedule of classes.

Sebastien is a freak of nature. A gendertransgressor, a butch top and a half breed Lakota, he believes that the personal is political and often also profitable. He is well versed in BDSM from formal service to casual power/pain exchange. Sarcastic and well mannered, foul mouthed, clever, and respectful, he appreciates edge play, age-play, boots, cock sucking, fear, strong hands, surprises, intelligence, and gender fuck. He is a Paramedic with a degree in Fire Science and has been involved in the BDSM scene for the the last ten years. He has been teaching classes/facilitating workshops (about both BDSM/kink topics and other (queer/trans, anti-oppression and medical) topics) for the past seven years. Sebastien is a co-founder of Instigate NYC.

Sir C is a sadistic, bisexual, and poly Master and BDSM educator. She shares a home and Her life with Her Alpha Mate, Bobby, and is pleased to be part of PQLF leather family. She is well known for Her rope rigging, interesting training perspectives, unique M/s philosophy, and “evil” genius. She has pursued Her passion for strenuous bondage and suspension professionally on sites like Hogtied, Waterbondage, InSex, Men in Pain and InSexM. Her personal passion is evident in Her local and national affiliations, participation, and teaching. She was the founding Associate Director of MAsT: Metro New York, is a Trainer with The Estate, and has taught at a number of group meetings and munches, as well as national events including TES Fest, Dark Odyssey, BR, South Plains Leatherfest, Ohio Leatherfest, Leather Retreat Master/slave Camp and Shibaricon. She is also currently seeking a queer live-in slave.

SwitchMe is a co-gendered, bisexual, polyamorous switch who finds pleasure in helping others discover the sheer joy and bliss of a free and uninhibited sexuality. He has been presenting and teaching for over 10 years on a variety of subjects, including body image, touch, deviancy, anthropology and computing. She is currently working on an advanced degree, conducting fieldwork in the Caribbean, and has several publications. His workshops focus on the many ways to let go of inhibitions and enjoy our sexuality.

Whittney Matlock is a professional massage therapist, Pagan priest, healer and educator. He practices and teaches self transformation through spiritual exploration. Whittney blends his love of healing, spiritual exploration, sexuality, BDSM, meditation, music, trance and touch into an elixir of enlightenment which he happily shares with anyone interested. But, he is more interested in teaching you how to concoct your own elixir that will help you transform into the gold which lies within you. His classes are not for the faint of heart they are about getting involved with yourself and others. Take a chance, risk discovering something you may never have known existed.

Wintersong Tashlin (barkingshaman.blogspot.com)) is a shaman, magician and presenter who has been teaching and running rituals for over a decade. He is a council member of Clan Tashlin, an earth based teaching and magical order built around a unique approach to magic, spirituality, and the relationship of people to the land and gods. Wintersong sees pain and pleasure as valuable tools, and employs them in both his spiritual work and erotic play. In addition to his magical and spiritual classes he also teaches workshops on various erotic techniques. He and his poly family have been filmed for television documentaries in both the US and the UK. His essays on life as a queer/kinky/pagan/poly shaman living with Tourette syndrome can be found at The Barking Shaman, as well as being a contributing author on the spiritworkers blog The Gods' Mouth's (godsmouths.blogspot.com) and the online magazine Blood For the Divine (bloodfordivine.blogspot.com), which focuses on the ordeal path as a spiritual tool.