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Poly Living 2024 Speakers List

Click on the presenters name for their full profile.
Zach is a self-proclaimed nerd, sex geek, and consent junkie. He has been actively polyamorous for ten years, and kinky for even longer than that. Zach became interested in consent as a topic more than five years ago as a personal research project. He is currently working towards a Master’s of Social Work degree at the University of Houston to be of even more benefit to his community. Zach lives, works, laughs, and loves in Houston, Texas where he enjoys listening to and playing music, converting from a fat boy to a runner, all things Star Trek, reading, gaming, hockey, cooking and being owned and loved by rescue dogs, including a spoiled rotten boxer named Jadzia. Zach has served on polyamory and kink discussion panels, conducted workshops, and recorded podcast episodes on the subjects of polyamory, consent, and kink. He is also a proud advocate for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and a proud member of the Board of Directors for Loving More. Zach’s website is www.consentwarrior.com
Ray Beyor, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate with a BFA in Sculpture and a certified Kriya Yoga & Meditation Instructor, shifted paths in 2005. Yielding to societal pressures, Ray left yoga teaching for a conventional job and married a cis man. By 2012, Ray was grappling with an abusive work environment, a sexless marriage, and stress-induced health issues. This period of hardship prompted a life-changing introspection, leading to the question: “What life do I want to lead?” The answer steered Ray towards starting a Virtual Bookkeeping business in 2013 and embracing polyamory in 2017, currently sharing life with three long-term partners. In 2022, Ray founded RAY Life Coaching. Using their diverse life experiences, Ray aims to help others achieve autonomy, authenticity, and abundance in love, work, and life. Their coaching is particularly tailored to guide individuals in “coming out” with their uniquely queer self. https://www.raylifecoaching.com
Laura Boyle is a well-known relationship coach, author, and sexuality educator focused on consensual non-monogamy. Laura Boyle is a well-known relationship coach, author, and sexuality educator focused on consensual non-monogamy. She created and maintains the most-cited online polyamory glossary, hosts the Ready for Polyamory Podcast, and has been featured in many national publications, including The Economist, Cosmopolitan, and Parents magazine. She is the author of “Ready for Polyamory,” the guide to pragmatic polyamory, and the upcoming “Monogamy? In This Economy??: Finances, Childrearing, and Practical Concerns of the Polyamorous,” and has been teaching about polyamory and kink since 2017. https://readyforpolyamory.com
Mischa Byruck (He/him) is a men’s integrity coach and supports his clients to live their lives in line with their values. He specializes in handling public callouts and cancellations and has supported over 50 clients to take accountability for harm and return to their lives transformed. He is an ICF-certified coach, with training in abuser counseling, facilitation, antiracism, trauma, gender, consent, men’s work, and sexuality. He is the consent education partner of Bonobo Network, the Bay Area’s premiere sex-positive community organization, and the official accountability referral partner of The Consent Academy. Previously, he founded forLove, a virtual erotic events company, ran partnerships for DataKind and Code for America, worked in international development, and started a large-scale disaster relief organization. He holds a BA from Columbia and an MPA from NYU. https://www.beyondconsent.love
The ‘sensitive one’, was a name given to me by my family. I wasn’t a fan, nor understood the moniker, but it was what lead me on a path of discovery from Naawlins’ La. in the 70’s.  After graduating with a B.A. in the arts for the University of St Thomas Houston, I was commissioned as an officer into the United States Army- Second Lieutenant, Active Duty 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, KY. I took that sensitive nature and applied it to every new experience and with an open mind. My centered nature gave me a perspective that has served me well. After my military service, I continued as a competitive athlete, actor, and entertainer. My careers from sales to working in construction helped give me a clearer understanding of self, loving, and learning. Consequently, the challenges of living openly as a bi-sensual male has been lessened through honesty, openness, clarity, and love.
My name is Intimacy ConAmore. You can find me by that name or as @polyfreelove on most social media outlets. I’m a multiracial Two-Spirit Afab Indigenous Native American Black person who is polyamorous, kinky, Demisexal/Asexual Bisexual/Pansexual and Solopoly but open to all humans not based on gender, sexuality, or genitalia. I am into unfiltered authenticity of self and uninhibited connectivity with others. I’m the mom of young black men. I’m a polyamorous/kink veteran of 30+ years.  I have hosted local Dallas/Ft. Worth poly events to include other large cities throughout the state since 2014 to advocate, educate and support polyamorous communities. I also work in the human sexuality fields of education & services as a sex surrogate, compassionate Companion, a sensuality self-love mentor and private kinky education guidance sessions. I teach Consent & Boundaries in all my works. I’m a nanny aka parenting doula of 30+ years and offer child-appropriate health and safety education around sexuality topics. I teach children scientific knowledge to empower them to keep themself safe from predators who use their lack of knowledge as the way to abuse them. https://linktr.ee/Polyfreelove
Natalie Davis (she/her) is a polyamory writer and presenter. She lives in a resident Vee in the Washington D.C. area with her spouse and her metamour. Natalie has been non-monogamous for more than twenty years and polyamorous since 2009. Natalie has presented workshops on polyamory, including communication skills and poly storytelling, for Dark Odyssey and Crucible events, and for polyamory meetups and conferences, including Poly Living. Natalie has appeared on the Normalizing Non-monogamy podcast and on Poly Role Models. Currently, Natalie is a featured writer on Polyamory Today. You can read her stories about her polyamorous life at https://medium.com/@nataliedavisadventures and connect with her through https://nataliedavisadventures.com/
Jim Fleckenstein is a nonmonogamy educator, coach, researcher, and activist. His professional coaching practice is The Earth Moved, LLC (www.affirmativeintimacy.com). He created the Affirmative Intimacy® approach to healthy and sustainable relationships. A polyamory activist since 1998, in 2000 he co-founded ITCR, now the Foundation of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, and served on NCSF’s board. He has spoken at PolyLiving, CatalystCon East, the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Summit, and internationally at the Non-Monogamies and Contemporary Intimacies Conference. He’s been interviewed by the Chicago Tribune, the Guardian (UK), and on TV, radio, and podcasts. Jim has presented at multiple professional conferences, like the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. Jim’s polyamory research was published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy and The Archives of Sexual Behavior. His 2019 book, Love That Works: 38 Awesome Hacks for Amazing Relationships, was followed by a supporting workbook/journal, Navigating the Heart: Daily Steps for Courageous Relationship Growth in 2022. https://www.affirmativeintimacy.com
 
 
Heather Franck is an artist best known for her adult coloring book, Polyamory is Sketchy. She co-leads polyQ, a social and support network for queers in polyamory. Heather has presented at Atlanta Poly Weekend, RelateCon, Southwest LoveFest, and genderevolution.  She is passionate about LGBTQ visibility and educational outreach.  Heather practices hierarchical polyamory with her primary partner in Idaho and is going steady with a Dewey Decimal Dyke. https://polyq.org
Jesus is the Board President of Loving More Nonprofit, polyamory activist, and leader in the community. He is a native of the San Francisco Bay area who began exploring alternatives to monogamy in 2004. In 2005 he attended his first Loving More Retreat. In September 2006, he was invited to join Loving More’s Board of Directors. He has worked at raising money for many worthy causes and continues to work tirelessly as Loving More Nonprofit’s volunteer Director of IT. Jesus has been presenting on polyamory at conferences, Universities, and special events since 2008. He is a key coordinator for Loving More conferences and volunteers. Professionally, Jesus has worked in the computer information technology field since 1995.
 
Lee Hencen has been poly for a long time with poly experiences of being married, single, part of a triad, and currently in a domesticating life-partner relationship in Brooklyn, NY with Murray Schechter. She practices a family style of Polyamory which includes long distance relationships. A retired RN, Lee has presented various workshops at Poly Living, Beyond the Love, Loving More East Coast Retreat, Deepening Connections for B-More Poly, and Building Bridges. Lee and Murray have known each other for 18 years, have been in a relationship for 14 years, and have been living together in Brooklyn for 8 years. Their relationship has a deep commitment to open communication, honesty, integrity, vulnerability, and growth which is practiced in their daily lives as well as by attending and presenting various workshops.
Chrissy Holman (she/her) is a queer and neurodivergent community organizer, mutual aid enthusiast, and mental health advocate from Brooklyn, NY. She is the Digital Communications Manager for the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy and Director of Poly Cocktails, NYC’s longest running regular event of 17 years. Chrissy co-founded the American Psychological Association’s DIV44CNM Communications Team, and organized the Polyamory and COVID Town Hall. She is President Emerita of Open Love NY, the world’s largest polyamory organization, and a volunteer for the NCSF. She’s presented at Poly Living Philly, Woodhull Freedom Foundation’s Sexual Freedom Summit, Southwest Lovefest, The Sexual Health Alliance, Columbia University, UMichigan’s School of Social Work, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her work has appeared in Bustle Magazine, Psychology Today, The Tamron Hall Show, The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, The Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, and the Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law. She holds an M.S. from Columbia University in Nonprofit Management and a B.A. in Psychology and Research Ethics from CUNY Hunter.
 
Rebecca (they/them) is a social worker, therapist, and sex educator who works predominantly with the alt-sex, neurodivergent, and LGBTQIA+ communities. They are the co-founder of Glittergasm Events, LLC, a Philadelphia-based queer play party company. They are the co-author of the book “It’s called Polyamory” Coming Out About Your Nonmonogamous Relationships. They are a writer who addresses issues of polyamory, cancer, sex education, and mental illness. Rebecca has spoken at CatalystCon East, West, and Midwest, Poly For All Seasons, AwesomeCon, Rocky Mountain Poly Living, Atlanta Poly Weekend, InfinityCon, Sex Down South, DragonCon, and Woodhull Sexual Freedom Summit. As always, they are working on their next book. https://linktr.ee/TheFriskyFairy
 
Raven Kaldera is an intersex transgender Pagan shaman who lives with his poly family on a little homestead in Massachusetts. He is the author/editor of 46 books, including Power Circuits: Polyamory in a Power Dynamic, and Pagan Polyamory. Raven is a well-known presenter in both the East Coast Pagan demographic and the BDSM/power exchange demographic. ‘Tis an ill wind that blows no minds. https://ravenkaldera.org
Jennifer is currently on staff with Loving More, & has been a member of the polyamorous community for over 20 years. Jennifer has a huge interest in fitness, & furthering her knowledge about life & human nature. She is working on becoming a certified sex educator, creating a mobile fitness business, & is an ordained minister, with an ecclectic taste in music, books, movies, & hobbies.
 
Socially awkward professionals hire Ico (Ee-Co) to attract their next romantic relationship because most suck at starting conversations with someone they’re interested in dating, have no game when it comes to expressing their deepest intimate desires, and can’t get past the first date. So, Ico helps them to easily be socially smooth in conversation, experience being loved just as you are now, and become second date worthy. Bottom line, you get to feel loved in the exact ways you need to be loved and be worthy of that love NOW! Ico is the Autistic Love Mystic and uses They/Them pronouns. They are the founder of Enlightened Consent Foundation, a nonprofit creating sacred sanctuary spaces for people to explore their sexual identities and intimate desires without being blamed, shamed, nor be told that they’re bad nor wrong, or worse yet, get beat up on dating apps. Ico is a 2 time internationally best-selling co-author of the books: “Sexy Secrets to a Juicy Love Life” and “Ignite Love: Real Stories of Defining Love and Manifesting More of it in Your Everyday Life”. https://enlightenedconsent.org/
Gloria Jackson-Nefertiti is autistic, a published writer, a former fundamentalist Christian, and a breast cancer survivor. In fact, it was the cancer diagnosis in 2013 that caused her to realize how short life is; this served as the catalyst that caused her to come out, LOUD AND PROUD, as sex-positive, bisexual, and polyamorous. Plus, it helped her to set boundaries and refuse to accept shabby treatment (especially shaming) from others. It also helped her to stop caring about what other people think of her. She is very much interested in helping others identify shame, recognize shaming behavior, and finally, to transcend shame. She lives in Seattle, WA.  https://NotGloriaJean.net
 
Liz Newsom, LCSW, is a gender and sexuality affirming therapist in the Dallas area specializing in individuals who identify as kinky and/or consensually non-monogamous. She employs DBT, CBT, strengths-based perspective, Feminist theory, EMDR and parts work to help her clients achieve their goals. She runs a private practice focused on providing a space for new therapists and social work students to learn sex positivity and inclusivity. Additionally, she likes to find opportunities to provide community and professional education around sexuality-based topics. In her free time, she likes to spend time with her kids, time with partners, remodel her home, and take road trips. https://www.realisticexpectations.net
Tamara Pincus (she/her) is a licensed clinical social worker, certified sex therapist and trained urban tantra professional. Tamara has been working in the field of sex therapy and ethical non-monogamy for over 10 years, and has extensive experience working with polyamorous people and relationships. Tamara has been engaging with the sacred sexuality community and attending regular workshops and trainings since 2014. Historically, she has run workshops like “Fucking The Whole Body” and “Breathing Fire: The Basics of Ecstatic Breathwork.” She runs The Pincus Center for Inclusive Treatment and Education, which offers regular programs on consensual non-monogamy, BDSM, dating skills, and fat empowerment. She is also the co-author of It’s Called Polyamory: Coming Out About Your Non-Monogamous Relationships with Rebecca Hiles. https://www.tamarapincus.com 
 
Murray Schechter has identified as polyamorous since 2004. He’s currently on the board of the Polyamory Foundation and has been part of PLN and served on the Leadership Committee of OLNY (Open Love NY). Murray has presented at various forums including Poly Living, Beyond the Love, Deepening Connections for B-More Poly, and Open Love NY discussion groups.
 
With more than 25 years researching consensual nonmonogamies and BDSM, Dr. Eli Sheff is the foremost academic expert on polyamorous families with children. Dr. Eli has a PhD in sociology and is a Certified Sexuality Educator who has written four books and 30+ academic articles on CNM and BDSM/kinky sex. She serves as a relationship coach, educator, and expert witness. CNM is certainly not for everyone, and Dr. Eli can help people understand how it can work and why, and when it is a bad idea. She has appeared on hundreds of podcasts, television shows, and media interviews with outlets from NPR, National Geographic, and the New York Times to Cosmopolitan and Savage Love. Dr. Eli blogs for Psychology Today and always wants to make friends with dogs. https://linktr.ee/DrEliSheff
Tara L. Skubella is founder & guide of Earth Tantra, where people heal with nature and transform with Tantra. Tara is an earthing meditation expert and certified in the following: level 4 certified Tantra guide, integral relationship coach, 200 hr kundalini yoga instructor, and Death Doula. Her truth is lived in harmony with mother earth on her small 8 acre farm called Raven Wild Farm, which is also a retreat healing center, in Delta, Colorado. Some people know Tara from Discovery Channel’s television show, Naked and Afraid. This significant life changing experience opened the path to a spiritual awakening and discovery of Tantra. Survival is still a passion of Tara’s and she enjoys teaching wilderness survival and leave no trace ethics at Red Rocks Community College near Denver, Colorado. Tara shares her passion for the wilderness and Tantra to help people find intimacy and healing in nature as a building block to connect with mother earth, themselves, and others to live more fully connected lives. https://www.earthtantra.com/​
Hugh Stewart, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in Psychoeducational Processes at Temple University. He created “Personal Growth Alternatives, LLC” in Abington, PA 23 years ago and launched his new business “Dr. Rusty’s Love Shack” in 2013. Hugh is a proficient and skilled Professional Inspirational Speaker, Sex Positive Relationship Coach, Integrated Psychotherapist, Hypnotherapist, Seminar Leader, Reiki Master, Shaman, and Writer. He also teaches certifications for Usui and Shamanic Reiki and Holistic Integrative Breathing. Hugh has professionally recorded two mp3 file series titled “Holistic Integrative Breathing” and “Open Heart Shamanic Change Journeying.” Hugh’s current focus is coaching people who want to attract and BE WITH the relationship(s) of their dreams with deep lasting Love and sizzling sacred sex! He specializes in Full Self Expression and Taking 100% Responsibility in relationships! Hugh Loves working with alternative/non-traditional lifestyles/relationships (polyamory, BDSM, gay, bi, lesbian, transgender, asexual, queer, pansexual, questioning, etc.) and traditional, open minded, edgy, monogamous, heterosexual lifestyles/relationships.  https://www.drrustysloveshack.com
Joshua Tenpenny is Raven Kaldera’s partner of almost 2 decades and has been polyamorous and kink since his teens. He is a massage therapist, bodyworker, and yoga teacher, and works especially with the LGBTQ, kink, and body modification communities. Joshua is currently the clerk of his local Pagan church and presents with his partner Raven all over the world.
Robyn is the Executive Director of Loving More Non-Profit and a national organizer and leader for polyamory awareness. She is a polyamory counselor, workshop facilitator, and writer. Since 2004, Robyn has worked to expand media awareness of polyamory appearing in numerous articles, radio shows, and TV, as well as helping to connect the media with other polyamory activists and individuals. Robyn and Loving More were instrumental in the formation of the Polyamory Leadership Network. A national speaker and advocate for polyamory, she has been a speaker at conferences, taught at universities, and been a featured keynote speaker. Robyn has been openly polyamorous for 33 years, raising three children in a polyamorous family. Robyn has been running polyamory support groups, teaching and facilitating relationship and sexuality workshops since 1999. In addition, she counsels polyamorous individuals and families. Robyn has appeared as a spokesperson on The Montel Williams Show, Our America with Lisa Ling, and Baisden After Dark, as well as numerous radio shows and news articles. www.RobynTrask.com
Leanna Wolfe’s sex research was spirited by coming of age in the thick of the 1970s sexual revolution and feminist movement in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her curiosities and academic appetites led her to engage in field research in Mexico, Africa, India, and Papua New Guinea. From 1980 to 2018, she worked as a university professor teaching and researching topics ranging from orgasm, multiple partner sexualities, and sexual assault. In 2016, she launched Wise Woman Sex and Relationship Consulting, providing counseling through her unique lens of Sexual Anthropology. https://www.wisewomansexandrelationshipconsulting.com

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