Welcome/Opening

A long time ago in a leather bar far, far away, a precocious-ly young Mara set out hoping to cruise themselves to a good night of leather and pain. They discovered love, lust, family and a calling to service that is still going strong.

Today Mara is the current SouthEast Person of Leather, and identifies as a Slave with a capital S, a proud member of the ATM Collective, and wears a host of other labels as a conversation starter: Leather, gender-queer, pansexual, and body stress ritual practitioner. They also love dancing on either side of the S/m slash reveling in being equal parts evil bastard and pain slut.

Their 25+ year journey has been one of pushing boundaries and creating safer spaces for folx in marginalized communities, as well as empowering all people who identify on the right side of the slash.

Thank you for your interest and your support of THRIVE! Because THRIVE is 100% free, we ask that you pay it forward by donating to our speakers. 

Mara accepts support through CashApp ($roninmara) and Venmo (@roninmara) and PayPal (blah@gmail.com) 
If you enjoyed Mara, you can follow them at https://roninmara.com 

If you would like to support THRIVE’s efforts, consider picking up THRIVE swag at https://www.redbubble.com/people/DevynStone/