Mental Health & Power Exchange AMA

AJ Renard (she/her) has been involved in the BDSM world her entire adult life, although she was a dark little thing far before that. AJ is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and has a deep passion for teaching about the intersection of BDSM and mental health. She finds her happy place when there is rope, electricity, knives, boots, fear, and a lot of crying involved. In her limited free time she makes custom chainmaille for her shop, Foxy Feisty Redhead.

AJ teaches a variety of classes about consent, negotiations, perspectives on D/s, bottoming for intense scenes and edgeplay, mental health and BDSM, and behavioral science in PE dynamics. Additionally she often teaches about BDSM in non-kink spaces, hoping to de-stigmatize kink for therapists and medical professionals. She also loves demo bottoming for Violet Wand demos, and things that make her shy in front of groups of people.

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. 

AJ Renard accepts support through PayPal (FoxyFeistyRedhead@gmail.com) 
If you enjoyed AJ, you can follow her on FoxyFeistyRedhead.com or Fetlife (fetlife.com/users/419271)

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

Goddexx Symphonee is a Black, Bisexual, Non Binary, LeatherFemme who has been active in the Baltimore and DMV community for over 8 years. Her passion for kink and Leather is set in her belief in the spiritual and practical liberation that both practices can bring to those who participate in them, especially members of the African Diaspora. Once she began to get comfortable with her own path, Mx Symphonee served as President of the Mid Atlantic Onyx Pearls and as an organizer for Perverts of Color to fulfill her need to give back. She is currently representing her local community as the Ms DC Eagle titleholder and building her project known as "N.E.S.S.T". Calling on her unique personal experiences and knowledge, she has participated in panels across the country and taught a variety of classes ranging from “Strap On Basics” to “Intersections of Kink and Spirituality”. While she has held a few roles since entering the scene, she currently identifies as a Dominant, Sadist, Top leaning switch, LeatherFemme, and Cat.

Leo (He/ Him) is unapologetically authentic in how he lives his life, that is the cornerstone of his foundation. Embracing it with enthusiasm and a twisty sense of humor. This idea touches every aspect of who he is: Leather, Queer, spiritually focused, sadist, trans-masculine, Master.

Leo entered the BDSM scene in the late 1980s as a Leather Dyke. Self-mastery has always been at the forefront of his passions, of which he has many - including blood play, facilitating hook pulls, energy work and body modification, to name a few.  As the owner of Beyond Piercing, he has more than a passing fancy to all sharp things. He loves sharing his knowledge and skills with others.

He has been mentor, teacher, friend, student, Sir, Daddy and Master (to a select few) and is honored to facilitate spiritual journeys. He’s been an active member of MAsT, COLLAR and a variety of other organizations. Leo is in long-term addiction recovery and has worked as an addiction counselor, victims advocate and in crisis intervention.  He’s been practicing authority exchange relationships since 2005. After an 8-year sabbatical while recovering from a car accident he is thrilled to be back more passionate than ever.

magic is a queer leather slave with a passion for service and education. Their main topics of interest include service, history of the leather community, authority transfer, and neurodivergence and kink.
They first entered the community in May of 2015 and took a hiatus for their undergrad. Despite taking time away from the community their interest in kink continued, and even found its way into their studies.

With the completion of their undergrad and a newfound interest and passion for leather they dove back into the community in May of 2019. Since then they've proudly offered their services to their community on a regular basis.

TBD

Mxstress is an educational consultant, public speaker, professional dominatrix, and coach with over a decade of facilitation experience. Their work spans disciplines but focuses on the experiences of individuals with historically marginalized or minoritized identities, especially queer, transgender, and gender non-conforming people of color. They use humor, empathy, and honesty to empower all in a shared pursuit of justice, liberation, community, and dismantling systemic oppression.

Drummer Pony is a transgender, queer, autistic leatherman, sadomasochist, ponyboy and all-around deviant with a flair for the extravagant and bizarre. He has been active in the Colorado leather community for almost five years and spends much of his time engaging with the Rocky Mountain Pony Herd. He is an avid writer, artist, and gardener with a background in environmental science and justice.

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. 

Mxstress Rowen and Drummer Pony accepts support through CashApp (https://cash.app/$RowenThomas) and PayPal (@RowenThomas)
If you enjoyed Mxstress Rowen and Drummer Pony, you can follow them https://linktr.ee/mxrowen (Mxstress) https://fetlife.com/users/8971159 (Drummer)

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

TBD

Born to kink on 6/9, The Rabbi (He/Him) is a Cisgender, Ambimorous, Gynesexual, Sadistic Bratty Daddy Dom. He has been called the "Prince of the Pervertables," "The Pied Piper of Brats," and "The Carrot Top of Kink.” (The last one was a compliment, right?) He creates his own unique toys with a sadistic flair that would make the prop master on Cutthroat Kitchen jealous, including ceiling fan paddles, Lego nipple clamps, and a mop head flogger to name a few, selling them in his online store, SINagogueBDSM on Etsy (and Fetlife). The Rabbi has electrocuted people with slinkys, broken all Ten Commandments (over someone's ass), and hit people with everything he can get his hands on, including a literal kitchen sink. Currently, he's a mental health professional working on certification to be a sex therapist. The Rabbi is hoping to follow in the steps of the early psychological pioneer, William Moulton Marston, who was the creator of both D.I.S.C. Theory (Dominance/Inducement/Submission/Compliance) and Wonder Woman, the latter of which was originally intended to bring BDSM to the masses in a digestible format.