Big Red is an equal opportunity sadistic Femme Daddy, who is a performance and Spoken Word Artist celebrated for her ability to “wear many different shoes”. In one pair of those shoes she is dedicated to facilitating personal and communal connection and healing, and in another equally empowering and self-embracing pair of red stilettos she works on various ways to encourage, support, and evoke opportunities to accept and create verbiage, experiences, and culture that is raw, creative, authentic, sensual, deeply intense, and intent on empowering, healing, and transforming self, relationships, and communities. With a proven and long standing commitment to education and training, one of her current passions is creating new community connections while presenting and educating at various Lifestyle events.
Madeline has been a kinkster since her late teens, but got more involved with the kink community in her late 20s at places like the SF Citadel and Power Exchange. She became interested in rope and kinbaku while living in the DC area and in her search for something more, found herself among a great many mentors that led her to the leather community. After joining the dark side, she's never looked back and became entrenched in quiet ways in the DMV (DC/MD/VA) community. After attending Frolicon 2013 and falling in love with the Southeast Community, she went on to represent the Southeast leather community as Southeast Bootblack 2013. After a short hiatus from the community due to getting adjusted to a new job, she is excited to see her southeast family at SELF's 20th anniversary. As a lover of rope and self care, she's also looking forward to seeing old friends and new faces at An Introverts Guide to Big Cons and Rope 101.
At the age of 16, Papa Bear began his journey researching his hidden passions via books and other literature (the only legal recourse when one discovers such proclivities at such a tender age); at age 18, a wonderful Miss took him under her wing. Under her tutelage, he learned step-by-step how to use the tools he fetishized, and he hasn’t looked back since. An active member of the Las Vegas community for some time now, Papa Bear is the 2015 President for LUC of LV, a member of the Las Vegas Leadership Council, a member of Vegas Valley TNG, a core staff member of Sin in the City, and served as the Associate Director for the last Las Vegas Mentors Program. In March of 2014, he was honored to win the title of Mr. Southwest Olympus Leather 2014 and won the title of International Person Of Leather in 2015. Papa Bear is a leatherman on the rise and wants to help share his knowledge and the knowledge of others with everyone who hungers for it as much as he!
angel is a slave identified queer leathergirl who lives in Northern CA. She first found the community in Los Angeles in 1995 before relocating to Northern California. Currently a member, and the treasurer, for the girls of Leather, The Exiles, Society of Janus and SF Bay Area Leather Alliance, you can often find her at events in SF or the East Bay. angel organizes and hosts two Santa Rosa munches as well as hosting various kinky events as able. She is a member of Mama’s family as Mama’s North Angel. She serves as the Membership Director for MAsT International, Director of MAsT: Santa Rosa, Organizational Director (The Exiles) for the SF Bay Area Leather Alliance, Judges’ girl for NWLC and the event’s volunteer coordinator, and Judges’ coordinator for Sin-in-the-City/International Person of Leather, in addition to judging and helping produce a contest. Facilitating cross-community roundtable discussions as well as presenting her class on ‘Survival Skills for the single submissive/slave’ are ways she likes to learn and share of herself. She enjoys meeting new people, making new connections and sharing the passion she feels for this lifestyle with others – please feel free to say hello! She finds that in her service to the community she gains understanding, depth and growth on her own journey.
angel is honored to be the 2013 Women’s International Leather Legacy (WILL) titleholder. The title’s purpose is to document, primarily through interviews, the women’s community and our histories. She enjoyed her travels to numerous events, meeting many woman and having a chance to add to the work already started with the Women’s Leather History Project at the Leather Archives and Museum. She looks forward to continuing gathering women’s stories and journeys in the years to come.
For nearly two decades, Paula has been active in the leather clubs and kink community. These days she lives in Charleston, SC and is an out and proud leatherdyke. She also is fiance to Janice, Sir to boy elena, mother to her two daughters, grandmother to her 13-year-old granddaughter and has become chosen mother to more people in the leather community than she can count. She is an activist not only in the leather community but fighting for women’s rights and has been a trailblazer in our community as well as being out and honest as a reforming addict that lives life on life’s terms.
From indulging in kink online in the mid 1990’s to attending early BDSM conferences and eventually planting deep roots in the gay male levi/leather clubs, Paula has held a number of roles and offices and found a deep passion and love for the leather community. She has been accepted as one of the guys for as long as she can recall and with their guidance, has been fortunate to have felt that she was able to evolve into the leather person that she is today.
Her first attempt at titleholding came in 1998 as she competed for and won the title of Ms. Southern Coastal States Leather. From there she went on to win SouthEast LeatherFest’s Ms. Leather Pride 1999 and American Leatherwoman 2000. She has continued to work in the titleholder circuit for the past seventeen years.
These days, her passion has come full circle as she has returned to working with levi/leather clubs and mentoring the next generation of leathermen and leatherwomen. She presently is co-founder and president of LowCountry Leather, Charleston, SC. In addition, she co-founded Coastal Allegiance to Wisdom and Service (CLAWS), Myrtle Beach in 2000. She was fortunate to be the first female officer of Southeast Conference of Clubs in 1999 and holds associate membership to a long list of clubs across the U.S.
Paula created and organizes the Annual Leatherwomen’s Dinner held in Chicago, IL during the American Brotherhood Weekend, which has grown exponentially in two years. She also promotes sober living and has helped to organize and conduct AA meetings at leather events. Add to the mix that she emcees events, teaches classes whenever possible, writes on a regular basis and attempts to promote positive and healthy living.
She is proud to have been the recipient of the Pantheon of Leather Readers Choice Award Woman 2000, Southeast Regional Award 2000, North Carolina Leather Continuous Service Award 2002 , Mr. Marcus Spirit Award 2013, and most recently, the Southeast Community Leatherwoman Award 2015. At the end of the day………. she really is just a kinky bitch who likes to have fun.
Archer and Tess are based In Phoenix, Arizona. They both serve at Arizona Power Exchange (http://www.ArizonaPowerExchange.org) which serves the Phoenix community with over 500 events each year, The Alternative Lifestyle Relief Foundation (“The Foundation) which is a charity intended as a bridge for those in the lifestyle who suffer a catastrophic event, and support the broader lifestyle in many ways including lots of charity work.
Both are business owners, and bring very different skill sets both to their relationship and their teaching style. Never taking themselves-or anything else- too seriously, their particular brand of teaching is to give everyone the tools to make the best decisions for them, believing that we all need to find our own ‘right’ way.
Join their always fun and interactive workshops and classes and get a view into how the way you want to live is right, and how you can bring excellence to your life, skills, and relationships every day-with the uniqueness you already possess.
About Archer
Archer is a Phoenix, AZ-based lifestyle mentor, educator and volunteer. As an educator and organizer, he is passionate, inspired and motivating. For the last eight years he has been an active member of Phoenix's local BDSM Dungeon, Arizona Power Exchange (APEX).
Archer enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with those willing and eager to learn. He developed and led both the “Make-and-Take Workshops” and the “Skillz Workshops” at APEX, and has presented on numerous topics in the Southwestern United States and Canada.
He continues to serve the Arizona Power Exchange and members (www.arizonapowerexchange.org) as President. He has been on its Board of Directors, served as Vice President, and is a staff member for Butchmanns Experience (www.butchmanns-experience.org).
At home, he is currently working on his own shop projects which include new f-ing machines, miscellaneous dungeon furniture creations, and restraints using steel, wood, and leather. Also, he is working to develop an M/s website and blog.
As an avid photographer, Archer brings his passion and inspiration to his photography. He began to explore film photography in 1981 and moved to digital format in 2006. His years of experience in M/s and BDSM afford him unique insight which helps to give his photography rare authenticity. His favorite types of photos are those that are edgy, sensual, and feed the sexual imagination. You can find examples of his photography work at yssp.zenfolio.com. You can find him on FetLife under the screen name ArcherInAZ.
About Tess
Tess is a business owner, so she brings a practical approach to everything she does. Bringing those skills to the Kink World she has taught on presentation, writing, and other practical skills we can apply to our lives both in and out of the dungeon.
Tess reads all the time- everything. Tough to find a subject that she hasn’t stored away ridiculous little facts about. Her specialty is being a generalist. Rarely useful, always fun! She is organized-in her own way, scheduled-as it suits her, and exceptionally principled-much to the chagrin of some!
Service is her highest value and actively seeks opportunities to serve, learn service skills, and teach those service skills she has accomplished. In the last couple of years, she’s turned her passion towards helping others feed their service fetish and provide exceptional service. With her friend Wen she created The Service Arts and together they are preparing to launch a series of books! To learn more about the Service Series please visit The Service Arts at http://www.theservicearts.com.
She enjoys the art in her kink, and finds opportunity to bring beauty and creativity to what we do participating in things like artistic wax, liquid latex, needles, staples, artistic violet wand etching, and is currently working on mastering cutting. On the Dungeon floor, she appreciates being able to provide a bit of theater with performance art, and elaborate scenes designed to entertain as well as be a whole bunch of fun!
Tess has been involved in the BDSM Community for many years, but became a fixture at APEX (http://www.arizonapowerexchange.org) upon accepting an Officer position in 2010.. Excited about learning and teaching the things she learns, she has a passion for helping people embrace the things that make them happy, and live their lives with their own versions of excellence! Tess also produces the Arizona Master slave contest (http://arizonamasterslave.com).
Tess is committed to making the world a better place, and if the people around her aren’t careful she drags them along! You can find Tess on Fetlife as BabyItsColdOut.
Dick Gray
I’m Dick, Richard to some. Some know me as a queer, perv, sexual deviant, who loves men, furry men, shaved men, bears, beards, tall men, short men, men of color, and did I say men. I’m a man, leatherman, living with AIDS, a lover, brother, son, friend, activist, a seducer, and who knows what else. I’m an image on Recon, Facebook, Manhunt, Fetlife, and many other sites. As you see, I am still evolving.
I’m from Greenville, NC. Grew up the odd kid in catholic school with nuns that had originally taught my mom as a girl in PA. Guess that’s where the kink began. From shooting arrows at each like St. Sebastian to the corporal punishment of the nuns, I had a good start on the road to kink. I’ve known I was attracted to men since around 4 yrs old, gave my first bj at 8, and was knew I was queer in my early teens (or so my classmates liked to remind me).
When I found my first Drummer Magazine at a newsstand in Chapel Hill in 1979, I knew I had found other men with the same likes, desires, and erotic visions that i had and continue to have. I moved to Greensboro, NC in 1984. Worked at a queer dance bar and met the guys that would begin Tarheel Leather Club. Our club officially came into existence on April 1, 1990. I am still an active member of the Tarheel’s after 25 years. Takes a lot of love of our members and what we are doing to stay that long.
I was Southeast Leather Sir in 2003. The last SELeather Sir from SELF. Competed in International Leather Sir/boy 2003 in Tampa. I’ve continued to be active in leather in NC, supporting clubs and their events. Have focused the last few years on Tarheel Leather Club and expanding our membership and friends and leather family in my life. I’m on a journey to discover my paths into my future and find my vision. Care to share? Dick
Northman a native of Memphis, was Mr. Southeast Rubber 2014 and is currently Mr. Southern Coastal States Leather 2015. He is turned on by almost everything, and can trace many of his kinks to childhood. Northman introduced the neon orange hanky, which means "almost everything", to the gay hanky code. Among his favorite kinks are CBT, nipple play, breath play, flogging, bondage, humiliation, and of course rubber. In January 2013, Northman traveled to Atlanta and was thrilled to find an abundance of Leather and kink-minded people. It was on that trip that he decided he wanted torelocate to Atlanta, largely due to the Leather community. In August 2013, he competed and was “sashed” Mr. Southeast Rubber 2014 at Southeast Black and Blue Weekend. He has travelled to many events educating and dispelling myths about rubber as well as getting men in rubber along the way. At the end of October 2014 Northman competed at Mr. International Rubber in Chicago representing the Southeast. He is currently a pledge with the Coastal Empire Sentinels, an affiliate member of Tarheel Leather Club, and an associate of Low Country Leather. He is also a Novice Sister in the Atlanta house of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Outside of kink he is currently a graduate student about to finish two graduate programs, and has been an outspoken Queer activist for many years. He is passionate about sex education, promoting safer sex, PrEP advocacy & education, de-stigmatizing HIV (Mr. Friendly), rubber/kink education, Queer history, Transgender issues, archival work, and much more. He has worked with several Queer organizations in Tennessee and has quickly gotten involved in Atlanta. As Mr. Southern Coastal States Leather 2015 Northman continues traveling focusing on educating and promoting kink inclusiveness. You can follow his public posts on his Facebook profile "Northman Atl"; on Fetlife, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and many other sites/apps as “NorthmanATL”; or at NorthmanATL@gmail.com .
You can follow my public Facebook posts at: Facebook.com/NorthmanATL. Find me as NorthmanATL on: Fetlife, Instagram, Recon, RubberZone, Tumblr, Twitter, and more. To view my travel and event schedule check out my Google Calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=northmanatl%40gmail.com&ctz=America%2FChicago