Presenter Bios

Anika Bergstrom – Montreal, QC

Beyond Duality: Troubleshooting Switch Dynamics

Anika Bergstrom has been organizing and teaching in the leatherdyke community since 2004. She’s been on both sides of ongoing power dynamics, sometimes at the same time with the same person, and has had her mind so thoroughly stretched by her experiences that she isn’t really sure she remembers what the box looks like anymore. She’s a real theory-head and enjoys thinking about the things we do and why we do them, as well as what we get out of our kink and how we can have more satisfying relationships. Ownership dynamics, spirituality and ritualized play are central interests for her, though she also seeks both sides of the whip and the blade and finds unpredictable switchy romps to be great fun, too.

Anna Peak – Berlin, Germany / Toronto, ON

Death, Mourning and Transformation in the Context of BDSM

Anna Peak is a kinky artist and sexual activist. She has offered workshops about BDSM and sexual practices at events like Unholy Harvest in Ottawa, Mr. Leather Toronto, Berlin Osterkonferenz and Berlin Xplore.

Bennett – Toronto, ON

Mindfulness in Service and Sensation

Proving that it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks, Bennett is excited about combining a relatively newfound appreciation of both power dynamics and meditation in this workshop. Being a true Libra, she is always looking for new ways to find balance and appreciates how both help her find a deeper understanding of herself. She is used to performing in a business environment and is excited about trying out her facilitation skills at Harvest.

Cheryl Stewart – New York City, NY

Deep Bottoming: Going Deeper and Taking More

Cheryl Stewart has been active in the NYC women’s leather community since they frolicked with the dinosaurs. A Pantheon of Leather NorthEast Regional Award winner for her work creating space for leatherwomen to party in her capacity as past Party Captain for the Lesbian Sex Mafia, Cheryl loves to bring her community together to play. A founding member of the Sirens Women’s MC, NYC, and founder of the New York Motorcycle and Scooter Task Force, Cheryl is an avid motorcyclist and professional sculptor in NYC. She was a teenager when she went out to the Hellfire Club (NYC) the first time, and this year she celebrates her 50th birthday. Her perspective as a seasoned submissive/ masochist is informed by experiences, good and bad, that can provide other bottoms with useful tools.

Charlie – Montreal, QC

Basics Tasting Salon: Beatings and Blood

Charlie is a longstanding active member of the kinky-poly-queer community in Montreal, overlapping with the Unholy Army of the Night. She is a switch, but mostly identifies and has extensive experience as a dominant and as a sadist. Professionally, she is often involved with facilitating discussions and training adults. Find her on Fetlife under Miss_C_!

Kink In Motion (Kim) – Kitchener, ON

Flow in BDSM: How to Hit that Psychological Sweet Spot

Kink in Motion (Kim) is nothing if not aptly named. She’s anything but straight, and always in motion. She’s given workshops on BDSM skills and theory for An Unholy Harvest, TEASE and Cliterature, where her photography of stylized vagina art was showcased. She has organized the Tribal and Synergy parties in Kitchener, written a series on erotic photography for Sex Life Canada, been a speaker at Wilfrid Laurier University on BDSM and LGBT issues, and is the organizer of Practice in the Park, an outdoor skill share held during the summer months in Waterloo. She hails from Kitchener and can usually be found dancing with fire for fun and profit.

L. Shane – Toronto, ON

Submission Grappling

Ever since she was a wee thing, L. Shane has loved to wrestle. She is looking forward to sharing with you what she has picked up over the years through formal and informal training.

Lady J – Toronto, ON

Basics Tasting Salon: Beatings and Blood

Describing her passion for Female Domination as a lifelong journey, Toronto’s Lady J has fostered and earned the respect of SM practitioners and fetishists from many parts of the world. She has been featured as an educator and presenter in the mainstream media (on the TV series “KINK”), and has given lectures and demonstrations at many BDSM-related events and adult trade shows. Lady J is particularly fond of all things Victorian—especially her canes—and takes great delight in introducing the casual and curious alike to the joy of all manners of pleasures and pains.

Linda aka Mind Mistress – Montreal, QC

Exploring Erotic Mind Control

Linda aka Mind Mistress is a Certified Hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner who has been working both as a therapist and professional hypno-domme for 12 years. Her professional specialty is “forced” feminization, but what she really likes is seeing sexy women hypnotized... or at least pretending to be!

Lolix – Toronto, ON

Electrified! The Erotic Edge of Violet Wands

Lolix is a Toronto-based pleasure activist, reluctant academic and occasional porn-creator who often has ponies on the brain.

Luca a.k.a. pepper the puppy – Toronto, ON

Unleashing Your Inner Canine: An Introduction to Puppy Play

Luca/pepper is many things: a queer transwoman; a leatherdyke puppy overjoyed by the Unholy Harvest community; a biker dyke and proud member of the Toronto Amazons MC; a bottom with a love/hate relationship with needles; and a Top with a love/love relationship with single-tails (particularly her 6’ and 8’ bullwhips). As pepper, Luca has been active in the Toronto puppy scene for several years as a regular of the Black Eagle Kennel Klub. She is devoted to her beloved puppy Owners T’Hayla and perilhelion, and loves to share her passion for the whimsy of puppy play with others.

Luna Allison – Ottawa, ON

Energetic Systems of the Body

Luna has been a facilitator, performer, poly kinkster, pagan and yogi for the last 10 years. During her yoga teacher training in 2005, she was taught extensively about the energetic systems of the body: what they govern, how they work and how to work with them for optimal health. Since then, she has been applying her knowledge of these systems to daily life, including kink and D/s.

mitch – Toronto, ON

Mindfulness in Service and Sensation

mitch is consistently reminded of the benefits of calming an ADD mind through meditation, kneeling and a firm hand or voice, and he is struck by the parallels between these methods. Taking a mindfulness course to survive a stressful workplace and a life of living with anxiety brought new insight and strategies to his service, heightened his focus in play and deepened his potential in intimacy with new and long-term partners alike. His five years of being a 24/7 service submissive are combined with a newly discovered enjoyment of receiving service and giving sensation. Although a shy boy, mitch loves facilitating learning experiences. He brings his years as an outdoor educator and now a classroom teacher, appreciating the power of experience and focused debriefing.

Ms. Charlie – Montreal, QC

Dominance 201

Charlie is a longstanding active member of the kinky-poly-queer community in Montreal, overlapping with the Unholy Army of the Night. She is a switch, but mostly identifies as, and has extensive experience as, a dominant and as a sadist. Professionally, she is often involved with facilitating discussions and training adults. Find her on Fetlife under Miss_C_!

Nathan – Toronto, ON

Mindfulness in Service and Sensation

Nathan brings a fresh perspective as a service submissive. He has found parallels between his approach to service in a D/s context and his Karma Yoga practice. Through his meditation practice, reading and discussion, he continues to deepen his understanding of presence, intention and focus. As a workshop facilitator, Nathan has offered trans 101s and anti-homophobia workshops to schools and service providers across Ontario. He is excited to discuss mindfulness within the context of kink with fellow perverts.

Robin – Montreal, QC

Rope Bondage for the Attention-Impaired

Robin has been playing with rope for about 8 years as both a top and a bottom. More of a rope slut than rope expert, she loves to just grab some rope and see what happens. When knot doing kinky stuff, she likes to go rock climbing, biking and watching Gen 1 Transformers. She’s also an active member of the Montreal Burning Man community, and has been known to organize Metro parties and Underground City scavenger hunts.

Sarah Pie – Toronto, ON

Basics Tasting Salon: Beatings and Blood

Sarah Pie is a leatherdyke from Toronto. She has been teaching at conferences all over the place (well, within an 800 km radius) for more than ten years. She loves playing with and teaching about needles and other sharps—there’s just something about their delicate, intimate viciousness. Mmm... She also has a knack for making the technical aspects of blood play safety fun and approachable. She is eager to help you satisfy your pointed curiosity!

Shorty Laroc – Montreal, QC/ New York, NY

D/s and Technology

Shorty is a boy who currently lives in Montreal and New York, but has lived and worked all over the world. They are a multimedia artist who enjoys melding their performance art into their play. They are an older brother/uncle to the younger boys and girls around them and try hard to be a good boy for their ever-patient and loving daddy. Shorty has been running play parties in Montreal such as Against the Wall, a gateway play party for over 200 new generation kinksters, and their smaller party called Family since 2007.

Sinclair Sexsmith – New York, NY

Cock Confidence

Sinclair Sexsmith (mrsexsmith.com) writes the award-winning personal online project Sugarbutch Chronicles: The Sex, Gender, and Relationship Adventures of a Kinky Queer Butch Top at sugarbutch.net. They have contributed to more than a dozen anthologies, and are the editor of Say Please: Lesbian BDSM Erotica. They teach workshops on gender and sexuality throughout the US, including at various colleges.

Tarna – Toronto, ON

Bootblacking: The Filth, the Friction and the Fun

Tarna is a queer feminine switch, a book whore, an unrepentant pervert and foodie. She can often be found filthy with polish as she gleefully works on the latest pair of boots to land in her lap, or running amok throughout the United States and Canada. Her most recent adventures have brought her the honours of being brought into Mama’s Family as Mama’s Canadian Tarna, and the titles of Bootblack Toronto 2012 and International Ms. Bootblack 2012.

T’Hayla Ferguson – Toronto, ON

Mindfucks: Fears, Tears and Fun!

T’Hayla Ferguson has been privileged to present workshops nationally and internationally since 1995 at such amazing events as Black Rose, Beyond Vanilla, South Plains Leather Fest, Desire, TO Kink, Forbidden, TEASE, Pacific Friction, Wicked Womyn and An Unholy Harvest, to name just a few. Currently focusing on adding therapeutic counselling skills to her acupuncture practice, T’Hayla is thrilled to be escaping her studies for the endless excitement of An Unholy Harvest 2012! Harvest remains, without a question, one of the best women’s BDSM conferences in the world. Thank you to those that make this possible.

Virilia Crush – Toronto, ON

Face Play: A Heady Experience

Virilia Crush has been a professional dominant for over 8 years, and has been volunteering within the kink and queer communities for over 12 years. She has experience learning and teaching on a wide variety of BDSM topics, including bondage, piercing and safety.

Youkali Youkali – Toronto, ON

How to Talk Dirty in French

A professor, writer, editor, translator, and the new Ms Leather Toronto 2013, Youkali Youkali has been active in the Montreal-Toronto scene for over seven years. Under her real name, she writes science fiction with a twisted touch. Under her pen name, she writes queer BDSM fiction and publishes it on her blog, though not as often as she might like!

Comment parler cochon en français Prof, écrivaine, correctrice et traductrice, zibeline est active sur la scène Montréal-Toronto depuis plus de cinq ans. Sous son vrai nom, elle écrit de la science-fiction avec une petite touche tordue. Sous son nom de plume, elle écrit de la fiction bdsm queer qu'elle publie sur son blog, mais pas toujours avec autant d'assiduité qu'elle le souhaiterait.

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