Presenters
MOMENTUM is proud to welcome the following presenters. Click a name for more information:
- Megan Andelloux
- Heidi Anderson
- Avory
- Brandon B.
- Brian Ballard
- Jenny Block
- Susie Bright
- Lynn Comella
- Katherine Curtis
- Emme
- Maria Falzone
- Samantha Fraser
- Graydancer
- Lillith Grey
- Nina Helms
- Twanna A. Hines
- Jacq Jones
- Princess Kali
- Jessica Karels
- Shanna Katz
- Raven Lightholme
- Mia Martina
- Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson
- Reid Mihalko
- Cunning Minx
- Cameryn Moore
- Sabrina Morgan
- N
- Dr. Ruth Neustifter
- Paulie & Pauline
- Carol Queen
- Nobilis Reed
- Monica Shores
- Silverdreams
- Leela Sinha
- Sarah Sloane
- Tristan Taormino
- Shira Tarrant
- UnspeakableAxe
- Christina Voss
- Anita Wagner
- JamYe WaXman
- Stef Woods
Megan Andelloux
www.OhMegan.com
Megan Andelloux is the founder and director of the The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health in Pawtucket, RI. She is a nationally certified sexuality educator through The American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists and is a board certified sexologist through The American College of Sexologists. She has worked full-time in the field of Sexual Education for more than 12 years.
Labeled by the media as “The Sex Ed Warrior Queen”, Megan lectures internationally at colleges, universities, medical schools, and sexuality institutions on issues surrounding sexual pleasure, sexual health, politics, and erotic justice. She is a Gynecological Teaching Associate at medical institutions on the East coast and developed the Gynecological Training Program for Boston University School of Medicine.
She is a regular contributor at www.carnalnation.com. www.sexualhealth.com, www.hercampus.com, and is an author in the book, “We Got Issues” A Feminist Response to Cultural Attitudes On Feminism. For more information, visit www.OhMegan.com or www.TheCSPH.org .
Megan will be presenting Odd Girl Out: Straddling The Fields of Sexual Health and Sexual Pleasure.
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www.FatOneintheMiddle.com
Heidi Anderson is a rabid sex-positive feminist/atheist/skeptic in the Buckle of the Bible Belt. She has been an advocate, activist, fundraiser, and educator serving victims of partner abuse and/or sexual assault, as well as LGBTQ youth, for the past sixteen years in the conservative Upstate region of South Carolina.
Heidi is also a freelance writer, blogger, and public speaker using sex positive feminism and science based skepticism to increase awareness of the importance of healthy sexuality. She has written for Skeptical Inquirer, Sexis, Clean Sheets, and The Erotic Woman. She blogs at FatOneintheMiddle.com and MinivanLibertine.com, is a Good Vibrations Sexy Mama blogger, and is the creator and editor of SheThought.com, a multi-authored site on women and critical thinking. She has been a featured speaker and panelist at many conferences on topics such as the science of sexuality, sexual minorities, domestic violence and sexual assault, secular parenting, and body image,and is the sexuality correspondent on the Parenting within Reason podcast.
Heidi will be presenting A Spoonful of Chocolate Makes the Vanilla Go Down.
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www.SexPositiveActivism.wordpress.com
Avory is a 20-something genderqueer/poly/kinky blogger, writer, and activist working to spread a sex-positive message throughout “Generation M” using blogging and social networks. Having written about a range of topics from gay rights in the developing world to sex work and the law, Avory’s newest project is the sexuality blog Sex Positive Activism.
Avory is a panelist on New Media Roundtable – Tips and Tools for Social Change and will be presenting Polyamory & New Media.
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Brandon B
Brandon B. is an aspiring sex educator, writer, and performer living in Brooklyn, New York. He conducts workshops out of various venues including the famous Pleasure Chest in the West Village where he is the manager. After failing to locate any gay sex blogs that talked about “sexy safer-sex,” in 2009 he created TheINQUEERY.com, a sex toy and product review site specifically for gay men. In 2010, he began reading erotic pieces from his personal mini-art zine at various venues including a 12-month residency at The Bowery Poetry Club for the burlesque, queer, performance art show Auralfixia. In 2011, he was a model for the New York Sex Blogger Calendar and will be a presenter at the Momentum conference in Washington DC. Expanding upon the success of The INQUEERY Brandon sets out to begin an exclusive new blog for Darling House titled “PLAN B,” documenting his personal journey — not only a sex educator, writer, and performer — but also revealing a behind the scenes look at his life as he attempts to mold himself into a public sex symbol.
Brandon will be presenting No Homo: Prejudice and Homophobia within the Gay Community.
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Brian BallardBrian Ballard has been actively pursuing a life of honest and ethical non-monogamy for nearly 7 years. He is passionate in encouraging and inspiring others to find their ideal relationship and life style, and to own and project them completely. Through his work and association with The Martini Society, freedomcommunity and through organizing special events welcoming positive self-expression, play and exploration, he has had the pleasure of watching many people open themselves to new possibilities and new ways of being.
Brian is also founder and artistic director of The New York Rock Opera Company (NYROC), which will open its inaugural season in Fall 2011, presenting a full slate of rock-based musicals and operas with the intention of moving and inspiring audience members to consider new possibilities for themselves and their communities.
He is thrilled to be a part of the first MomentumCon… and to be a part of a loving and successful triad. Jasmine and Lisa inspire Brian to learn and grow every single day.
Brian will be moderating the panel Defining Non-Monogamy: Bridging the Gap in the Community.
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Jenny Block is a freelance writer and the author of “Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage” (2008 Lambda Literary Award). Among other gigs, she writes a weekly sex column for FoxNews.com. Jenny holds a BA and MA in English and taught college composition for ten years.
She writes for a wide variety of publications and websites, including huffingtonpost.com, the Dallas Observer, Curve, the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Voice, and edgedallas.com.
Her essay “And Then We Were Poly” is included in Rebecca Walker’s book, One Big Happy Family, and her essay “On Being Barbie” is included in the book It’s a Girl: Women Writers on Raising Daughters edited by Andrea Buchanan.
Jenny has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs, including Nightline, Fox and Friends, Glenn Beck, Tyra Banks, Good Morning Texas, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, Playboy Radio, and BBC Radio. She has done a number of appearances in venues rannging from Book Passage to Georgetown University to The Science Museum of Virginia.
Jenny is a panelist on the Opening Keynote Panel, MOMENTUM: Making Waves in Sexuality and New Media Roundtable – Tips and Tools for Social Change, as well as presenting The Accidental Poster Child: How to Handle the Media When it Comes Calling.
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One of the country’s foremost sex educators, activists, and writers, Bright is an outspoken advocate of sexual equality and freedom. Bright is the author of national bestsellers, and —as well as The Best American Erotica and Herotica series, which ushered in women’s erotic publishing. She the host of Audible’s In Bed With Susie Bright, the beloved and longest running sex education show in the history of broadcasting. Co-founder and editor of On Our Backs, the first sex magazine by, for, and about women, Bright was the first journalist to cover erotic cinema and the porn business in the mainstream press. A progenitor of the sex-positive movement, Bright taught the first university course on pornography, and brought lasting sexual influence to her role in films like Bound and The Celluloid Closet. She has one daughter and lives with her partner in Santa Cruz, California. Susie Bright’s memoir, , will be published in April 2011.
Susie, along with Tristan Taormino, will be presenting Multigen Feminist Pornographers Mouth Off.
Photo credit: Jill Posener
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Lynn Comella is a Women’s Studies professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Comella has written extensively about sexual politics, the history of feminist sex toy businesses, and the women’s market for sex toys and pornography. She is a frequent media commentator and writes a monthly column for Las Vegas Weekly on sexuality and culture.
Lynn will be moderating our Opening Keynote Panel MOMENTUM: Making Waves in Sexuality, presenting, along with Carol Queen, Sex Positive Interventions: The Feminist Sex Wars and Beyond and is a panelist on Porn Stars Off the Set.
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www.katherinecurtis.com
Katherine Curtis is a writer, segment producer and anchor for the popular internet and television program, Naked News, and the creator of popular geek culture segment The Naked Nerd. She has been a finalist for two years running in Wired.com’s Sexiest Geeks contest, and she’s interviewed such notables as Kevin Smith, comic book artist Cameron Stewart, and many others while in the buff. She’s passionate about gaming, comics, and sci fi, and will spend hours arguing over the hypothetical sex lives of superheroes. Kat was recently almost arrested in New York for attempting to utilize the State’s topfree laws to shoot a few segments in the streets of Manhattan.
Katherine is a panelist on Who is SexyKitty69? Exploring the social media pros & cons of anonymity.
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Emme, along with her D/s and life partner, Robert own and operate www.MauiKink.com and create custom and unique gear for kinksters from their shop in Hawaii. Before moving to Maui and making kink a career, Emme worked with autistic children and used her BA in English (Tech Writing) as a freelance writer for pharmaceutical and biotechnology websites, print magazines and manuals.
After falling in love with island life, she and Robert turned their kink into a business, launched their website and are working on dominating the world one flogger and length of rope at a time! Emme has helped to create a niche market for their products and is active in learning innovative ideas to transform and grow MauiKink.com into a profitable and eco-friendly business while still keeping the “Aloha Spirit” their company is known for.
Emme teaches workshops and classes with Robert locally, on Maui and Oahu, over such topics as Pervertables, Fire Play and Fire Cupping, Whacking and Smacking and BDSM 101. They are big supporters of the Kink/BDSM/Leather/Fetish/Sex Positive communities as a whole and work with and support such events and companies as Tied Up Events, the NYC Sex Blogger’s Calendar, IMsL, Fetlife and Graydancer’s Ropecast.
Emme is a panelist on How to Succeed in Business – Giving Customers What They Want When They Want It.
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Maria Falzone is one of the most sought after speakers on safer sex at the college level. Each year colleges and universities invite her back to teach the essential rules to greater and safer sex. Unlike other lectures, Maria shares her personal story of shame and suffering about sex and how after contracting herpes from a friend she was forced to honestly look at her attitude about sex. Her ability to connect with students in a very real and personal way allows her to lay the foundation to explaining the RULES to greater and safer sex.
“We live in a society where we get conflicting messages about sex. Our parents and Society tell us to wait. In the world of advertising sex sells. So we end up thinking that we should just know how to have sex. Parents spend good money for us to go to college to get an education so that we can graduate and go out there and get a good job. But when it comes to sex, which most of us are going to have, (hopefully more than once) we have little to no information. Some of us end up emotionally or physically scarred.” Maria then goes on to explain the rules in a very funny and frank manner. Who do the rules apply to? All of us! If you want to wait till your married GREAT! You still need to learn how to have sex.
Her ability to connect with students in a very real and personal way allows her to lay the foundation to explaining the RULES to greater and safer sex.
If you’re gay, bisexual or transgender the rules are the same. There is another level of shame you have to work through. Society says that if your gay, bisexual or transgender that you are wrong, not sex, you. If you are gay bisexual or transgender work through the shame and live your life out loud. If you have an opinion against someone who is gay, bisexual or transgender keep it to your self. Because opinions are like a**holes! Everyone has one and no one wants to hear from them!
Maria reached headliner status in the top comedy clubs through out the US and Europe over 15 years ago and was invited to perform at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival where she met Suzi Landolphi, the creator of Hot, Sexy and Safer. Suzi hired and trained Maria to perform her show. A year later Maria created her funny, frank and personal lecture: Sex Rules!
Maria has performed standup on ABC, A&E, Showtime, TBS.
Maria will perform an abbreviated version of Sex Rules! at our Meet & Greet on Friday night, before the Keynote Panel.
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www.notyourmothersplayground.com
Samantha Fraser is an author, educator and ethical slut from Toronto, Canada. She shares her open marriage experiences & lessons on her blog and is currently finishing up her book “Not Your Mother’s Playground: Open Relationships for Everyday Folk”. She loves giving people insight into their own relationships by discussing taboo subjects openly, with wit and a side of naughty, personal experience.
In addition to the blog, book and guest writing spots in various printed and online publications, Samantha has appeared in Canada’s National Post, on CBC Radio Q, SexMatters TV and the upcoming documentary “Thoroughly Modern Marriage” to air on CBC’s Doc Zone in early 2011.
Samantha also teaches polyamory and sexuality workshops in Toronto and is planning a Toronto conference on modern sexuality & relationships for Fall 2011. Never a preacher that non-monogamy is the only way, she remains open to learning about relationship structures and what works for every individual she comes into contact with.
Join in on or on Twitter at . Visit her life coaching site at www.samanthafraser.com.
Samantha is a panelist on Who is SexyKitty69? Exploring the social media pros & cons of anonymity.
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Graydancer, Ninja Sex Poodle & Ronin of Love, comes from the venerable rope bondage tradition of Madison, WI, where he honed his craft to become the world premiere podcaster of rope bondage with “the Ropecast“. He is the author of three novels including Nawashi (which climbed to #1 on the Podiobooks.comcharts) as well as numerous short stories and essays. Graydancer’s writing has been published in several anthologies edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, Secret Magazine, Power Exchange Magazine, and most recently “” (edited by Lee Harrington).
A veteran of the stage, Graydancer serves as a feature performer and M.C. for Madison’s hottest burlesque company, Foxy Veronica’s Peach Pies, as well as regularly appearing at the Miramar Theatre as part of “Erotic Milwaukee.” He has also been featured as a reader of several fiction podcasts including Nobilis Erotica and Escape Pod. You can browse the images in the Graydancer Style gallery to see some of his work, and feel free to use them on your site provided you A) only use them to reference Graydancer’s work and B) where the image is being used.
Drawing upon a background in performance video and technology, Graydancer’s company satorimedia also professionally rigs, photographs, shoots, edits, and works as a web designer for several clients ranging from Kink.com to Costume Cuties. You can also hear Graydancer as a guest on various other popular podcasts such as Polyamory Weekly and Dart’s Domain. Currently he plies his trade as an itinerant Rope Artist, Kink Educator and Sex-Positive Activist, smiting the evil of sloppy ends wherever they may lie. You can follow his general exploits at his page, or simply email him at .
Graydancer is a panelist on Podcasting — What’s in It for Me: Marketing, Mojo and Monetization.
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Lillith Grey
www.sexinpower.com
Lillith is a queer femme educator, entertainer, and social activist. A former high school teacher, she experienced first-hand the harmful effects of abstinence-only education, and now works to increase awareness around issues related to sexual freedom. She now teaches at the college level, and is a full-time Ph.D. student. She is an instructor in the Dallas Mentors’ Training Program as well as a teacher for the Council of Tribes Advanced Topics Program. She also presents educational workshops on a variety of topics, including research, personality, kinky sign language, and multicultural/diversity issues at a variety of events and conferences. The founder of NLA’s Fresh Leather (FL) program in 2007, she now serves as the Fresh Leather Coordinator for NLA-International, and is a member of NLA-I’s Writing Awards Committee. In 2009, she was a Pantheon of Leather nominee for Woman of the Year, and was recently honored with the National Leather Association International Woman of the Year award. An experienced stage performer, burlesque dancer, and event producer, she owns and runs Gloryhole Productions (www.GirlsGoneGloryhole.com), an entertainment company combining the best of Burlesque and BDSM. She also owns and is a contributor to www.SexInPower.com.
Lillith will be presenting The Feminist Connection and, along with N, will present Sense & Sexuality: How Taking It Off Empowers The World!.
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In 2003 Nina Helms, founder and President of DevineToys launched a new product category in the romance/adult industry to market accolades. DevineToys is one of the pioneer companies to shift the perception of and to bring high quality and design to an industry known for its rough edges and cheap manufacturing practices.
Helms made DevineToys profitable after 1½ years in business, and doubled revenues for each of the first 5 years. Responding to customer demand the DevineToys collection grew from 4 to over 10 SKUs. Industry giants turn to DevineToys for private label products to add to their own brands. DevineToys enjoys global distribution, being in doors in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa. DevineToys is passionate about bolstering sexual satisfaction and gratification . . . Live, Make Love, and Laugh! For more information visit our website at www.DevineToys.com.
Before launching DevineToys Nina Helms was of EVP of Business Development for Imagination, an international branding firm, winning business with Nasdaq, and managing multi-million dollar accounts with Ford, Coke and Samsung. She was also EVP of Business Development of an international e-business solutions company and an early licensor of multimedia content to the new media industry (AOL, yahoo!) for the Associated Press.
Nina will be moderating the panel How to Succeed in Business – Giving Customers What They Want When They Want It.
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Twanna A. Hines is a Manhattan-based sex, dating and relationships writer. She studied at New York University. Her B.S. and M.A. degrees are in sociology. Called one of “the internet’s sultriest sharers” by the Village Voice, details about her rendezous have been printed in Glamour magazine. She has appeared on CNN, NPR, Sirius Satellite Radio as well as CBC. She has written for Lifetime, Nerve, New York Press, Fast Company and has a blog on the Huffington Post. AOL recognized her award-winning site FUNKY BROWN CHICK®. She has also been quoted in New York magazine, Gawker Media, The San Francisco Chronicle, EbonyJet, The Baltimore Sun, Vibe and elsewhere.
Before moving to New York, Twanna enjoyed a career in international affairs and published work on immigration, ethnicity and race relations after a brief stint working at an American Embassy in Europe. Having lived in London, Chicago, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and The Hague, she speaks English and Dutch fluently as well as conversational French. She enjoys passionate love affairs with far-away lands and intelligent men. Get down with the funky brown.™
Twanna will be presenting Sex & Race in America: Opening the Bedroom Door.
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Jacq Jones is a sex educator and the owner of Sugar, an award winning women and trans operated, for profit, mission driven sex toy store. She has taught classes on sex, sexual techniques and relationships around the country at diverse venues including: Babeland (NYC), The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, PhaseFest, The DC Eagle, community basedorganizations in Baltimore City, the Maryland AIDS Administration, Dark Odyssey and colleges and universities.
Jacq has a degree in Women’s Studies and has worked in Reproductive Healthcare and Sexuality Education as a manager, educator and crisis counselor since 1994. She is certified in HIV Counseling, Testing and Referral and as a Sexual Assault Advocate.
She brings her own unique style to teaching. Her passion for positive and healthy sexuality comes shining thru. Because of the depth of her experience in reproductive health care, she is able to blend hot tips and techniques with balanced, accurate and up to date information about anatomy, and safer sex.
Jacq’s classes receive rave reviews from a wide variety of people. She normalizes sex and creates a class environment that is fun, safe and hot!
Jacq will be presenting Feminism, Sex Toys and Capitalism.
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Princess KaliPrincess Kali is a foot-fetishist and lifestyle dominatrix with extensive experience in humiliation, corporal punishment, female supremacy and TPE play. Hailing from sunny California but now based in Boston, this young and vivacious blond hair, blue-eyed Domina is best known for the unique way she combines her sweet-natured appearance and natural charm with her insatiable appetite for cruelty and unbridled sadism. Transitioning into the BDSM community was a natural step for this dominant Diva, who has actively been cutting boys (and often girls) down to size her entire life.
Princess Kali has been lecturing on a variety of BDSM topics throughout the country since 2003 in the US and internationally. Presenting at such educational institutions as Harvard, RISD, and Brown University as well has Lifestyle venues such Black Rose, Fetish Flea Fair, Leather Retreat and Kink in the Caribbean has garnered Princess Kali respect in both the vanilla and kink worlds.
Always on the lookout for new and fabulous ways to explore her kinky creativity, Princess Kali spends much of her time working on her personal website (www.PrincessKali.com); organizing Washington DC and New England’s monthly foot fetish events, Footnight (www.Footnight.com/ne.html); updating her line of Fem Domme DVDs; and, naturally, keeping her personal stable of willing sluts, submissives, and slaves in line.
Founding the Kink Academy in 2007 has allowed Princess Kali to reach an even broader audience in a more personal way, with her particular form of kink positive sex education, helping couples and singles reach a deeper understanding as well has a heightened creativity in their personal perversions.
Princess Kali is presenting Women Taking Power: D/s dynamic as Feminism and is a panelist on How to Succeed in Business – Giving Customers What They Want When They Want It and Ethics and Responsibilities for Sex-Positive Writing.
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www.youngmetropoly.com
Self-described as “Vanilla’ish with exhibitionist tendencies”, Jessica Karels is focused on building awareness about relationship choice within a mainstream audience.
Jessica is the author of Young Metro Poly, a website where she shares her stories about being in a MFM relationship, and how her experiences in the corporate and political world have helped her in poly organizing. She is in the process of developing Shake the Movement, a development and resource site for sex-poitive leaders and educators. Jessica is also one of the co-founders of and webmistress for Modern Poly, a social media and networking site that is developing into an online intentional community.
Based in Minnesota, Jessica helped lead her local polyamory support and social organization, MNPoly, for over 6 years. During that time, she fascilitated workshops, hosted fundraiser events, trained mentees, and developed a group infrastructure that empowered members to help the group through volunteering. On a larger scale, Jessica has fascilitated workshop sessions and panels about polyamory and social organizing.
Jessica is a panelist on New Media Roundtable – Tips and Tools for Social Change.
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Shanna KatzShanna Katz is a queer kinky disabled feisty femme sexuality educator and professional pervert currently based in Denver, CO. From topics like vaginal fisting to non-monogamy, and oral sex to how sexuality and dis/ability intersect, she talks, writes and teaches about the huge spectrum of sexuality, both from personal and professional perspectives. She’s using her Master’s of Sexuality Education to provide accessible, open-source sex education to people around the country, and is currently working with Fascinations to bring sex educators, kinksters and teachers to educate in the Southwest as well as online.
A member of AASECT, NCSF and the ACLU, Shanna is actively involved in work towards equality and social justice for people of all identities. Teaching classes at colleges and universities (such as Brown University, Colorado College, SUNY-Purchase, ASU, U of A and more) is one of her favorite ways to expand horizons. She also loves traveling to speak at conferences, sex toy stores, dungeons, women’s groups, LGBT centers, art galleries and more.
She has written for many sites, including FunLove.com, GoodVibes.com, OutFrontColorado.com, FemmesGuide.com, has had her erotica published in multiple anthologies and has run the popular blog Sexuality Happens for more than four years. When not blogging, teaching, writing or tweeting about the oh-so-many awkward moments in her life, you can find Shanna drinking tea, eating cupcakes, and cuddling with her partner Q and their three rescued cats; Kinsey, Kali and Jasper. For more info, please visit her sexuality education site, www.ShannaKatz.com.
Shanna is presenting One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Identities and Intersections and is a panelist on Who is SexyKitty69? Exploring the social media pros & cons of anonymity, How to Succeed in Business – Giving Customers What They Want When They Want It, and Ethics and Responsibilities for Sex-Positive Writing.
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Raven Lightholme
www.freedomoffetish.com
Raven Lightholme is the host of the sex, relationship, and fetish advice podcast, Freedom of Fetish. She is a member of the Connecticut bar and graduated cum laude from law school with an emphasis on intellectual property law, and she received her B.A. in psychology. She now works for an online privacy company. Raven is as kinky as they come: pansexual, a lifestyle switch, an occasional guest dominatrix at fetish events, and an active part of New England’s fetish and BDSM scene. Through Freedom of Fetish, Raven endeavors to provide accurate, frank, and entertaining advice based on her legal and psychological background, sexuality research, and personal experience.
In her free time, Raven enjoys letting her kinks run wild at fetish events, presenting at sexuality conferences, putting herself through masochistic workout sessions, and playing marathon video game sessions. Freedom of Fetish is available on iTunes and at www.FreedomOfFetish.com. To find out more about Raven, follow her adventures on twitter at .
Raven is a panelist on Podcasting — What’s in It for Me: Marketing, Mojo and Monetization.
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Mia Martina is a writer and smut podcaster. Mia’s podcast – I Want Your Sex – is told in the form of a serialized narrative about her adventures at sex parties, her experiences with open relationships, and her tales of modern urban sexuality. As one listener raves, “Mia walks the listener through the door and into a bedroom of complex physical bliss and intense emotion.”
Mia looks to inspire people to explore their sexuality and be open to new experiences. She has taught workshops on non-monogamy and is excited to be a co-host of an erotica reading series in her new home of Austin, Texas. In closing out her ten-year chapter in the big apple, Mia was featured in the 2010 New York Sex Blogger calendar. Aside from the Library of Congress indexing her tweets, Mia’s writing can be found on Nerve, Ravenous Romance and Paper Bag Press.
Mia is moderating the panel Podcasting — What’s in It for Me: Marketing, Mojo and Monetization and a panelist on Defining Non-Monogamy: Bridging the Gap in the Community.
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Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson
Mark A. Michaels (Swami Umeshanand Saraswati) and Patricia Johnson (Devi Veenanand) are a devoted married couple and have been teaching Tantra together since 1999. 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 was a ForeWord Magazine Books of the Year Award finalist in the Body, Mind and Spirit category.
Michaels and Johnson wrote and appeared in two instructional DVDs produced by the Alexander Institute: Tantric Sexual Massage for Lovers and Advanced Tantric Sex Techniques. They were guest teachers in Tristan Taormino’s Chemistry 4, a sexually explicit film in which they introduced the cast to Tantra. They have been featured on television (Good Day Colorado, AM Northwest, Naked New York), radio (Afternoon Advice and Nightcalls on Playboy Radio, Go to Bed with Cosmo Radio, The Derek and Romaine Show, A Chef’s Table) and have been quoted as experts in numerous publications and on many websites – from women’s magazines to dating websites to men’s magazines to GLBT- oriented media – including Redbook, Latina, Jane, Cosmopolitan, The Village Voice, Metro, Pregnancy and Newborn, More, Rockstar, The Sydney Star Observer (Australia’s most popular GLBT weekly), Emotion (Germany),The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tantric Sex, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Enhancing Sexual Desire. They have also contributed articles to various online and print publications, including Chronogram and Debonair.
The couple has taught throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, and Australia, combining a traditional lineage-based tantric approach with the best contemporary methods so that students can bring heightened awareness and an expanded capacity for pleasure into all aspects of everyday life. They are senior students of Tantric pioneer Dr. Jonn Mumford (Swami Anandakapila Saraswati). Dr. Mumford has named them his lineage holders for the Americas and Europe, and Sunyata co-author ofThe Jewel in the Lotus has also named Michaels his successor. In addition, they have studied Bhakti Yoga with Bhagavan Das and Tantra with Dr. Rudolph Ballentine.
Michaels and Johnson are co-founders of the Pleasure Salon, a monthly gathering in New York City that brings together sex-positive people and pleasure activists from a variety of communities.
Michaels is a graduate of New York University School of Law, is a member of the Bar in New York State, and holds master’s degrees in American Studies from NYU and Yale. A playwright and translator, he translated and adapted Goldoni’s The Mistress of the Inn for the Roundabout Theatre Company, and co-wrote The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of Debate, which premiered at New York’s Primary Stages. Johnson is a professional operatic soprano who tours throughout the United States, Europe, and South America and has performed with the New York City Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, and the Komsiche Oper Berlin.
Mark and Patricia will be presenting Teaching and Learning Tantra Online.
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Reid Mihalko
ReidAboutSex.com
Reid Mihalko of www.ReidAboutSex.com helps adults create more self-esteem, self-confidence and greater health in their relationships and sex lives, no matter what their self-expression of those happen to be.
From his rated-PG/PG-13 workshops (Cuddle Party, Speed-Flirting) to the rated-R (Iron Slut Sex Educator Showdown) to his explicit, NC-17 rated, Show-N-Tell sex education workshops (where audiences get to watch, take notes, and ask questions), Reid has worked with thousands of individuals from myriad walks of life, orientations, relationship styles, countries and religions. Known for his charisma, wit and emphasis on integrity, Reid travels the country teaching, coaching, consulting and collaborating on fulfilling his mission: Create more self-esteem, self-confidence and health for adults in and out of the bedroom.
Reid has been a featured speaker at dozens of conferences on relationships and sexuality and is a sought-after presenter and teacher at colleges and sex positive stores across the country.
Reid has been a writer and producer on a number of films and television projects about sex and relationships, and appears regularly in the media. He has also appeared on the Emmy award-winning talk show Montel, Fox News, VH1’s Scott Baio is 45 and Single, Showtime’s Penn & Teller’s Bulls**t!, Canada’s The Sex Files and SexTV, and the short-lived Life & Style, on NPR, Sirius’ Maxim Radio and Cosmo Radio, and in Marie Claire, GQ, Details, People, Newsweek and The National Enquirer, as well as media across the globe in thirteen countries and at least seven languages.
Reid is a panelist on the Opening Keynote Panel, MOMENTUM: Making Waves in Sexuality and will be presenting Sex Worker and Single.
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Cunning Minx has been the tireless producer and host of the Polyamory Weekly podcast (www.polyweekly.com) since the spring of 2005, now with over 230 episodes in production. A kinky boobiesexual, Minx founded the show as a resource for the poly and poly-curious to form a community, share experiences and help guide each other on their journeys of poly exploration. And hopefully, also guide each other away from common relationship land mines–or at least share sympathy when they step on one!
Poly Weekly has received accolades from the likes of ErosZine, Fleshbot and the Chicago Sun-Times, and Minx has spoken on poly, kinky and Web 2.0 community-building topics at the Heartland Polyamory Conference, Leather Leadership Conference, Dragon*Con, Galleria Domain 2 and New York’s Poly Pride Day. Join the conversation at or on Twitter at
Minx is moderating the panel New Media Roundtable – Tips and Tools for Social Change, a panelist on Defining Non-Monogamy: Bridging the Gap in the Community and Podcasting — What’s in It for Me: Marketing, Mojo and Monetization and is presenting Personal Branding for the Sex-Positive Activist.
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Cameryn Moore is an award-winning performer, writer, comedian, sex educator, and, oh yeah, a professional phone sex operator. When at home in Boston, Cameryn makes semi-regular appearances at the Naked Comedy Showcase and the Comedy Studio in Boston; she recently headlined at the Stand Up/Strip Down comedy/burlesque showcase in Montreal and also hosted Boston’s first-ever Smut Slam (“where storytelling and erotica collide”). In 2010 her one-woman play Phone Whore ran in 71 shows and 17 cities across North America. This year, Cameryn will be touring both Phone Whore and her new play, slut (r)evolution, in 25+ cities. She blogs about her “day job” at www.camerynmoore.com.
Cameryn will be performing Phone Whore.
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Sabrina Morgan is a dominant phone sex operator and camgirl, a fetish companion, and an occasional porn performer. She has been in the adult industry since 2005 and chronicling her experiences since 2006 at her blog sabrinainstockings.com. She considers it a personal mission to bring subtlety and the art of the tease back to our sexual consciousness one phone call at a time.
As a supporter of ongoing education for erotic professionals, Sabrina is involved in consulting and training fellow distance sex workers. She presents regularly at sexuality-related conferences on sex work and relationships (whether with clients or with partners).
A reactivated activist and a bi femme with a little nylon fetish, she spends entirely too much time on Twitter (twitter.com/SabrinaMorgan).
Sabrina will be presenting What it Takes to (Successfully!) Date a Sex Worker and is a panelist on Blogging the Gap: How Sex Workers and Sex Writers Can Work Together.
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N is an multi-form, multi-media artist who is a jill of all trades. As an award winning burlesque performer, she has traveled throughout the country to bring her queer, unpredictable performance that will leave you thinking, which has earned her the title as “The ONLY Letter In Burlesque!”. She won the “Most Humorous” award at the 2009 Boston Burlesque Expo with her work in Hypergender Burlesque and has performed everywhere from the New York Burlesque Festival all the way to reading at the Sex Worker Literati reading series.
In addition to co-producing her hit burlesque show Auralfixia in NYC, & running her production company Crimson Kitty Productions, she is a videographer, professional singer, makeup artist, model, sex blogger & most awesomeness person. Read more about her at www.auralfixia.com, www.crimsonkitty.com and www.nc17ofburlesque.com.
N, along with Lillith Grey, will be presenting Sense & Sexuality: How Taking It Off Empowers The World!
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Dr. Ruth (Dr. Ruthie) Neustifter
Dr. Ruthie knows that our sexuality is our most intimate form of body language in our relationships with others, and with ourselves. She works with diverse individuals, relationships and professionals who are seeking to enhance their sexual well-being and communication within a sex-positive framework. She also spreads sex-positive education through her blog, toy reviews, and brief educational videos.
Dr. Ruth Neustifter holds a Ph.D. in Child & Family Development, with advanced training in Family Therapy and Qualitative Research. She is a recognized relationship expert specializing in sexual communication and education as well as recovery from intimate partner violence. She teaches student-therapists, conducts original research, offers workshops, and offers private consultations to clients throughout North America. Dr. Ruthie is looking forward to the release of her first book, The Nice Girl’s Guide to Talking Dirty, in the Spring of 2011. You can visit her online at www.ExploringIntimacy.com and on Twitter @DrRuthie.
Dr. Ruthie will be moderating the panel Ethics and Responsibilities for Sex-Positive Writing.
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Paulie & Pauline are a New York based creative team, and life-partners. Their first book together is a collection of essays and documentary photography titled “Off the Set” (Aural Pink Press 2010), which explores the off-screen romantic relationships of ten couples who perform in porn. The goal of this project is to confront many of the commonly-held stereotypes that are often used to dehumanize and marginalize the men and women who perform in porn. Proceeds from “Off the Set” will help support the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (www.aim-med.org).
Paulie & Pauline seek out candid moments in the human experience with a curiosity that is heavily influenced by their backgrounds in journalism and sociology. Mostly, though, their photos reflect their voyeuristic fascination with people and their stories. Their photos have been published in print and online (including the 2010 Sex Blogger Calendar), appeared in several group exhibitions of fine-art photography, and are included in the permanent collections at the Museum of Sex in New York City and the art gallery at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
Paulie and Pauline will be moderating the panel Porn Stars Off the Set.
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Carol Queen has a PhD in sexology; she calls herself a “cultural sexologist” because her earlier academic degree is in sociology: while she addresses individual issues and couple’s sexual concerns, her overarching interest is in cultural issues (gender, shame, access to education, etc.). She is on the board of directors of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation.
Queen has worked at Good Vibrations, the woman-founded sexuality company based in San Francisco that turned 33 years old in 2010. Her current position is Staff Sexologist and Chief Cultural Officer; her roles include representing the company to the press and the public; overseeing educational programming for staff and others; and scripting/hosting a line of sex education videos, the Pleasure-Ed series, for GV’s sister company Good Releasing.
She is also the founding director of the Center for Sex & Culture, a small non-profit sex ed and arts center (www.sexandculture.org), and is a frequent lecturer at colleges and community-based organizations. Her dozen books include a Lambda Literary Award winner, PoMoSexuals, and Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture, which are used as texts in some college classes. Her most recent book is an updated second edition of Exhibitionism for the Shy.
Her blogs and regular columns can be read at the Good Vibes Magazine and at SFGate’s City Brights bloggers page. For more: carolqueen.com
Carol is a panelist on the Opening Keynote Panel, MOMENTUM: Making Waves in Sexuality, a panelist on Porn Stars Off the Set and, along with Lynn Comella, is presenting Sex Positive Interventions: The Feminist Sex Wars and Beyond.
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A few years ago Nobilis Reed decided to start sharing the naughty little stories he scribbled out in hidden notebooks. To his surprise, people actually liked them! Now, he can’t stop. The poor man is addicted. His wife, teenage children, and even the cats just look on as this wretch of a man, hunched over his computer keyboard, and shake their heads. Clearly, there is no hope for him. The best that can be hoped for is to just make him as comfortable as his condition will allow. Symptoms of his condition include a novel, several novellas, and numerous short stories.
Noblis is a panelist on Podcasting — What’s in It for Me: Marketing, Mojo and Monetization.
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Monica ShoresMonica Shores has written and spoken about the sex industry, sexual rights, and sexual taboos for over five years. From interviewing “gay for pay” male escorts to writing about her own experiences with anal sex, she’s of the mind that there’s no such thing as too much information when it comes to sex. Her eternal goal is to de-stigmatize and de-mysticize consensual encounters.
Monica is a regular contributor to Alternet, The Rumpus, Ms., The Huffington Post, Filthy Gorgeous Things, and a former editor of $pread magazine. Her writing has also been included in The Best Sex Writing 2010.
Monica is moderating the panel Blogging the Gap: How Sex Workers and Sex Writers Can Work Together.
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www.nakedconfusion.com
Silverdreams has over twenty years of experience in BDSM, which gives her insights into what makes bottoms and submissives tick. She enjoys helping people new to the scene find their way, giving them the benefit of her years in real-life D/s relationships as well as learning from others. She believes that knowledge shared during frank discussion, combined with a sense of humor, provides valuable tools and techniques so that people can learn how to safely enjoy the entire experience, with emphasis placed on the responsibility of the bottom and coping with physical and mental issues bottoms experience.
She has developed a keen interest in how the explosion of online outlets like Fetlife, Twitter, and Facebook have added to the landscape for people to learn about, explore and express kink online and has a special interest in how online media has changed the practice of BDSM for newbies and oldtimers alike. A member of NEDS, NELA, NCSF and EFF, she has taught Bottoming 101 for NELA and teaches classes for Bound in Boston on Bottoming in Rope, as well as classes with her boyfriend, Septimus in Connecting Through Rope, Getting Into the Scene, and How Not to be the Creepy Guy. She is an opinionated, self-avowed bratty bottom and high heel shoe fanatic who enjoys predicament play and rope bondage. Owned and collared by Septimus, she has a blog exploring various D/s dynamics, Brat Play, and her own D/lg relationship at nakedconfusion.com and when not blogging, tweets under the name of SilverDayDreams.
Silverdreams is presenting Traveling the Yellow Brick Road of Kink: How to Avoid The Flying Monkeys Along the Road to Oz.
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Leela helps adults get their sexy, juicy, fun groove on in bed (and on the kitchen counter) and everywhere else in life. She is a sex-positive life coach, a sexuality coach and educator, and an ordained UU minister. She is also the creator of Tideworks, an integrated body-mind coaching methodology that uses bodywork along with traditional coaching techniques to move things along. Her favorite parts of coaching are clients’ brilliant moments of clarity about their desire AND how to get there.
Leela has been doing sexuality education since she was 14 and thinks everybody deserves access to information and pleasure, which almost always go together. To that end she’s on the advisory board of Scarleteen.com, on the editorial board of SALACIOUS Magazine, and an occasional contributor at TransEnough.com. She’s trained to teach UUA sexuality education classes and sees plenty of healthy ways for sex and pleasure to fit with faith. Read more and sign up for her sex tips at http://leelalifecoaching.com.
Leela is presenting Sex in the Sanctuary.
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Sarah Sloane
Sarah Sloane is a sexuality & relationship educator from the Washington DC metro area. She has taught literally hundreds of classes for ; she also works with individuals & small groups to learn skills and techniques to enhance their lives. Additionally, she is a popular guest on numerous podcasts and internet radio shows, and delights in speaking her mind and creating dialogue with listeners across the globe.
In addition to her , Sarah is the owner of Equilibrium Consulting, LLC, which offers services to help people find better balance in their personal & work lives; she and her staff offer personal assistance, media & communications consulting, writing, and business & personal coaching from a humanistic, sex & relationship positive perspective.
Sarah is also a proud Independent Consultant and Sex Educator for ; working with Love U gives her the opportunity to do focused small group “party” classes where attendees can ask any question about sexuality & purchase high-quality sex toys & accessories in a private, sex positive environment. She is happy to also act as a personal shopper, assisting customers with finding the perfect toy to fit their bodies and their budget.
Sarah is presenting Business Management Techniques for Sex Positive Entrepreneurs.
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Tristan Taormino is an award-winning author, columnist, editor, sex educator, and feminist pornographer. She is the author of six books, including The Big Book of Sex Toys, Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships, and The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women. She runs her own adult film production company, Smart Ass Productions, and is currently an exclusive director for Vivid Entertainment. She wrote the popular syndicated sex column “Pucker Up” for The Village Voice and other alternative weeklies for almost ten years. Her official website is puckerup.com. She gives lectures on sex and relationships all over the world.
Tristan is a panelist on the Opening Keynote Panel, MOMENTUM: Making Waves in Sexuality and, along with Susie Bright, is presenting Multigen Feminist Pornographers Mouth Off.
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Shira Tarrantwww.shiratarrant.com
Shira Tarrant, PhD is an author, professor, and social critic. A nationally recognized expert on gender and sexual politics, she has published several books including When Sex Became Gender and Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and Power. Shira Tarrant is an Associate Professor in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach. To read more about her work, see http://shiratarrant.com.
Shira is a panelist on Porn Stars Off the Set.
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UnspeakableAxe is a blogger and podcaster who has been involved in the BDSM community from the first day he moved to New York City almost six years ago. As a kinky submissive male he found it difficult to meet a partner and began blogging about his difficulties. After a few years he started The Masocast, a sexuality podcast featuring interviews with a variety of people in the sex-positive community.
He has been called “the greatest sex-podcaster his apartment building” and many consider his websites among the best UnspeakableAxe-themed online today.
FInd Axe on the panel Podcasting — What’s in It for Me: Marketing, Mojo and Monetization.
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Christina Voss is the editor of FilthyGorgeousThings, an online magazine dedicated to sex, art, and photography. She encourages contributors to write openly and thoughtfully about sexual experience on a variety of themes, from sex work to kink to monogamy. Her background is in the history of art and culture,with a focus on sexuality, and she writes a column for FGT on the history of sex in art.
Christina is a panelist on Blogging the Gap: How Sex Workers and Sex Writers Can Work Together.
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Anita Wagner
Anita Wagner is a passionate polyamory coach, blogger, spokesperson, educator, and sexual freedom activist. She advocates for the interests of polyamorists with enthusiasm and determination, and loves to help them find their poly bliss. She does this via her website and blog at practicalpolyamory.com by providing helpful information in her educational programs, and on her website and blog, on subjects like polyamory and spirituality, jealousy and other pitfalls, poly/mono relationships, and poly for kinky people.
As a veteran community organizer Anita co-founded Chesapeake Polyamory Network, as well as The Institute for 21st Century Relationships, which is the foundation of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, where she also served on the board of directors. She has presented educational programs on polyamory at Good Vibrations, Sex 2.0, Dark Odyssey, Transcending Boundaries, Poly Living, The Floating World, Black Rose, Loving More® Retreat, Primal Arts Festival, Free Spirit Alliances’ Beltane Gathering and Fires of Venus, Florida Poly Retreat, and Washington Area Secular Humanists.
Anita is a faculty member at KinkAcademy.com, a member of the Polyamory Leadership Network and serves as poly community advisor to CARAS – the Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Loving More® and Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness.
Anita can be found on the panels Defining Non-Monogamy: Bridging the Gap in the Community and New Media Roundtable – Tips and Tools for Social Change and will also be presenting The Shadow Side of the Internet and Its Role in Sexual Compulsion.
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JamYe WaXmanJamYe WaXman, M.Ed. has been dubbed “the nexxxt generation of sex educator” by Wired.com. A well-known and sought after educator and lecturer in the field of human sexuality and relationships as well as a sex writer, author, blogger, video host, producer and director, WaXman is the author of the award-winning book Getting Off: A Woman’s Guide to Masturbation and a contributor to the book, Naked Ambition: Women Who Are Changing Pornography.
JamYe has collaborated with adult film pioneer Candida Royalle as a producer and co-writer and has created her own adult education and erotic films as well. Her three-part video series, Personal Touch, was put out by Adam and Eve Pictures in 2007, and her latest educational film, 101 Positions for Lovers (Sinclair) has received praise from places like Fleshbot and Paul Joannides, Psy.D, author of The Guide to Getting It On.
WaXman worked as a consultant for the Katie Morgan Show on HBO and has written for Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Playgirl, Zink, Steppin’ Out, Reality Sandwich and the LA Weekly’s After Dark website. She is the President of Feminists for Free Expression.
Find out more: www.jamyewaxman.com
Jamye will be presenting The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Looking at Female Masturbation Past and Present.
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Stef Woods is a writer and advocate from Washington, DC. She blogs about her dating adventures and offers advice to readers’ relationship and sex questions. For two years, Stef wrote anonymously as “City Girl,” in the hopes of protecting her career as an attorney.
In 2010, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. Stef has openly shared her experience with others via photographs with Moshe Zusman, interviews and her blog to encourage early detection and raise awareness. Stef recently “came out” in the blogging world to allow her to do more advocacy work.
Stef has been featured on a local talk show, Let’s Talk Live, and in numerous online publications, including NBC Niteside. She is a supporting member of the American Association of Sexual Educators, Counselors and Therapists, and has written for FunLove.com and Lotus-Blooms.com. Stef was recently interviewed for Sibley
Hospital’s On Health magazine and a profile in the fourth edition of Dr. Janell Carroll’s textbook, Sexuality Now!
Join in on Twitter at www.twitter.com/citygirlblogs and follow her adventures at www.citygirlblogs.com.
Find Stef on the panel Who is SexyKitty69? Exploring the social media pros & cons of anonymity.
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