Keynote Speakers
Mim Chapman Ph.D.
Mim Chapman, Ph.D., is the author of “What Does Polyamory Look Like?” as well as the UU poly curriculum being used by congregations to nurture understanding and acceptance of poly families. She is also the author of a sex education performance-art piece, “The VP (vagina-penis) Dialogues.” She is a certified Myers-Briggs trainer and has led workshops in various aspects of diversity, learning styles, multiple intelligences, collaboration, anti-harassment, sex and aging, and the change process for conferences, schools and businesses. She was Toastmaster’s “Communicator of the Year,” the YWCA/British Petroleum “Woman of Achievement,” and serves on the Board of Directors of Loving More. She currently lives in Santa Fe, where she is a relationship coach, surrogate partner, associate professor and keynote speaker. http://mimchapman.com
Cunning Minx
Cunning Minx is the sultry-voiced producer and host of the Polyamory Weekly podcast, devoted to sharing tales from the front of responsible non-monogamy from a pansexual, kink-friendly point of view, now with over 400 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 and kinky exploration.
Minx has spoken on poly, kinky and Web 2.0 community-building topics at ShibariCon, Geek Girl Con, CatalystCon, Atlanta Poly Weekend, Leather Leadership Conference, Dragon*Con, GD2, New York Poly Pride and Poly Living. The Poly Weekly podcast is the winner of the 2007 Erotic Award for Best Podcast, was voted one of the 11 best polyamory blogs of 2014 by DatingAdvice.com and has received accolades from ErosZine, Fleshbot and the Chicago Sun-Times. http://polyweekly.com/
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Workshop Presenters
Kevin Patterson
Kevin Patterson is an active member of the Philadelphia polyamory community. He's been practicing ethical nonmonogamy since 2002 after opening up a relationship that eventually became his marriage. At some point, Kevin and his wife, Antoinette, took the limits off of their dating and began practicing very similar to Relationship Anarchy. In April of 2015, Kevin was inspired to start Poly Role Models, an interview series for people describing their experiences with polyamory. Poly Role Models is part of a drive and a desire to change the way our lives and communities are viewed. It is a platform for the diversity of our relationship structures and the people within them to shine through.
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Robyn Trask
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 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 25 years, raising three children in a polyamorous family. Robyn has been running polyamory support groups, teaching and facilitating relationship and sexuality workshop since 1999. In addition she counsels polyamorous individuals and families. Currently Robyn is working on two polyamory related books. robyntrask.com/
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Billy Holder
Billy Holder is a Polyamory activist, educator, and community organizer who helped found and manage the Non-Profit Organization Atlanta Polyamory, as well as Atlanta Poly Weekend. Billy currently serves as the Vice President of Relationship Equality Foundation Inc. a public charity 501 (c)(3), where his primary role is outreach, education and new program development. Also as a member of the Polyamory Leadership Network, he is in contact with Poly leaders from around the world and is up to date on all the happenings, conferences, news, and events. Billy has been Poly identified since 2004, but believes he has always been poly, since he began dating. Monogamy never worked out right. His first experience with multiple relationships was asking someone to the prom as a 2nd date. They didn’t react kindly at the notion they were back up in case the plans with the first fell through. But he never got to explain that’s not what he meant. Much growth has happened since and he now knows the value of upfront disclosure in relationships. www.atlantapolyweekend.com, http://jackelxing.wordpress.com
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Jim Fleckenstein
Jim Fleckenstein ([email protected]) is a relationships educator, coach, researcher and activist. His currently heads The Earth Moved, LLC (www.affirmativeintimacy.com), an educational and coaching practice helping individuals and groups. He is the creator of the Affirmative Intimacy ™ approach to building healthy and sustainable relationships. A polyamory activist since 1998, in 2000 he co-founded the Institute for 21st Century Relationships, now the Foundation of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF), and serves on the NCSF board. He has spoken at PolyLiving, NYC Poly Pride, CatalystCon East, and the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Summit. He’s been interviewed by the Chicago Tribune, the Guardian (UK), and on TV and radio. Jim is a member of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT), the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), and the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In recognition of his expertise, Jim has been chosen to present at multiple AASECT and SSSS conferences, and to the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. Jim’s research has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Sexual and Relationship Therapy. www.affirmativeintimacy.com
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Karen, Dan & Dawn
Karen has served three years as the Executive Director of PolyColumbus, a thriving poly support community, and co-led the group for almost 10 years. She has led poly discussion groups at lifestyle events and is an experienced speaker/facilitator in the arena of effective communications and relationship dynamics. Dan has been immersed in the polyamory lifestyle for over a dozen years. Along with his wife dawn, he has been presenting across the nation at a dozen major events each year, and has taught hundreds of classes on a variety of topics. dawn has lived poly for 12+ years and has a passion for sharing her life experience to educate, and support others in their quest to find their paths, heal as needed, embrace their journeys and live their dreams. Together, Karen, Dan and dawn co-produce Beyond The Love (www.beyondthelove.org), a yearly poly focused event located in Columbus, Ohio. They live in an amazing poly house dubbed The Nest and are raising Ginger the Poly Puppy along with two gray cats.
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Jesus Viramontes Garcia (Chuy)
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. He is a key coordinator for Loving More conferences and volunteers. In addition Jesus has worked in the computer information technology field since 1995.
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Valerie White
Lawyer, parent, and director of the Sexual Freedom Legal Defense Fund, Valerie White has spoken on sex, law, polyamory, and parenting at national and regional conferences. She was founding president of Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness and serves on the Coordinating Council of Family Tree. She was on the board of Interweave, the Unitarian Universalist BGLT advocacy organization. She has lived in an open triad for 22 years, and her family includes 14 year old twins. Her writings on polyamory have been published in “Loving More” and “The Humanist”. A long-time sexual rights activist, she was president of the Vermont Civil Liberties Union.
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Ken Haslem
Ken Haslem is a retired anesthesiologist and Polyamory Activist. He recently established the Kenneth R. Haslem Polyamory Collection at the Kinsey Institute of Indiana University. He has presented lectures, sermons, and workshops on polyamory, aging and sexuality at various conferences.
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Mischa Lin
Mischa is the Founding President (2009-2011) and current Vice President & Director of Communications for Open Love NY, playing a key role in growing the organization to over 4,000 members worldwide. Mischa’s background is in corporate communications and public relations, with more than 20 years of experience working for companies such as NRG Energy, Deloitte, UBS and Sprint. Her media relations and media training skills have contributed to successful placements about polyamory in the New York Times, ABC-TV’s “The View”, New York Daily News and New York Post. She also co-authors a “he said / she said” advice blog for polyamorous and open relationships titled “Polly Wanna Answer?”
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Chrissy Raymond Holman
Chrissy Raymond Holman is a queer, demisexual, panromantic polyamory advocate from Brooklyn, NY. She is the current president of Open Love NY and a moderator for a large intersectional safer space that centers the voices of marginalized folx who are also poly/non-monogamous. She is also a member of the Poly Leadership Network and a self-proclaimed poly-tician. Chrissy segued into the non-profit sector after spending a decade in the music industry, doing radio promotion and artist development for Sony Music. She lives with her anchor and two children in NYC, and has a queerplatonic life partner and a large extended international polycule whom she loves dearly.
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LustyGuy
LustyGuy, the outspoken co-host of Polyamory Weekly, has never been monogamous, having lost his virginity in a triad during his teen years. He and his wife L have been non-monogamous for the past 30 years, and his outspoken ideas on relationship honesty and personal integrity have made him Poly Weekly’s most popular co-host. Coining phrases such as “experience shock” (to refer to unexpected poly freakouts) and repurposing “marking one’s territory” (physical reconnection with a partner after a date with a lover), LustyGuy brings the married male perspective to listeners worldwide. A former pornographer and janitor at the Seattle LustyLady, LustyGuy is currently an actor, director, writer and producer.
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Carol Morotti-Meeker, MS, MLSP
Carol Morotti-Meeker, MS, MLSP is a researcher, activist, speaker and therapist. She works in a community mental health clinic in Philadelphia, Pa. and also has a private practice with adults and families who engage in alternative sexuality and consensual non-monogamous lifestyles. Carol also serves as a Senior Coach with The Earth Moved, LLC (www.affirmativeintimacy.com), presenting the Affirmative Intimacy ™ approach to relationships. She has provided professional education at the 2007 and 2012 American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) annual conferences. She was an Advisory Board Member 2000-2007 for the Institute for 21st Century Relationships and on the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom Board in 2005-7. She has made presentations at the 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015 Poly Living Conferences in Philadelphia. Carol led a professional round table discussion for the Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities (CARAS) in 2011 in Washington, D.C. and co-presented about communication and sex in non-monogamous relationships at the 2013 CARAS event for students and professionals.
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Allie Phelan
Allie Phelan is a librarian, writer, and polyamorous activist. She has assisted in the growth and development of various polyamorous communities in Southern New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Connecticut, and occasionally moderates for the Philadelphia Mindful Polyamory Meetup discussion group. She is a co-creator and leader of the Polyamory Hub of Philadelphia, which helps connect poly communities by organizing various events in and around the city and its tri-state suburbs.
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Robin Renée
Robin Renée is a recording artist, writer, and longtime LGBT and polyamory community advocate. She is one of the organizers of Philadelphia Mindful Polyamory Meetup. Her written work has appeared in Curve Magazine, Transgender Tapestry, Big Hammer, The Songwriter’s Market, Biff Bam Pop!, Black & Poly, That Takes Ovaries – Bold Females and their Brazen Acts (Random House), Blessed Bi Spirit – Bisexual People of Faith (Continuum Press), and many other publications. Her recordings include In Progress, All Six Senses, Live Devotion, spirit.rocks.sexy, This., and All I Am. www.robinrenee.com
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Ben Silver
Ben is a singer, musician and poly and bi activist who has been in an open primary relationship for 26 years. He and his partner started a support group for committed non-monogamous relationships in the ‘80s which met monthly for over 15 years. As a performer, Ben’s music slides through folk, R&B, funk, jazz and back again; he sings about freedom, the environment, LBGT issues, parenting and love. His writing has been published in “Carry it On,” ”Sing Out” magazine and the book “Hearing Everyone’s Voice.”
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Nancy Miller
Nancy Miller is a nurse midwife with years of professional and personal experience with women’s changing sexuality as they mature. Her own experience is that overall sex has gotten better over the years. We can “use it and not lose it” even as our bodies change.
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Robin Goodfellow (Puck) Malamud
Robin Goodfellow (Puck) Malamud is a poet, polyglot, and linguist. Ve is an organizing member of Open Love NY, New York's most prominent polyamorous organization. Ve is genderqueer and uses the pronouns 'they/them/theirs' or 've/ver/vis'. You can find ver hosting Poly Chai, a sober poly mixer, at vis weekly volunteer shift at Bluestockings, or on the Internet everywhere as @theleakypen.
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Julio Cortés
Julio Cortés is a trainer and consultant who specializes in building long-term mutually beneficial relationships using a blend of modalities from eastern and western philosophies and spiritual practices. A graduate in East Asian Studies with a focus on Chinese and Japanese Philosophy from UCLA, Julio has dedicated his life to finding simple yet powerful ways to assist people in becoming more effective and fulfilled, as they find the bigger picture in their lives. Julio teaches workshops and seminars on effective communication, relationship skills building and sacred sexuality. He has studied with such teachers and masters as Dan Millman, Mantak Chia, Wang Fu-lai, Jibiki Hidemine, and Jim Tamm and has been teaching and in practice since 1991 in the United States and Japan. In addition Julio is also a licensed Tai Chi instructor with additional extensive martial arts training in other systems (Jeet Kune Do, Zong Nan/Cheng-Ming Internal Kung Fu, Systema). Finally, Julio has had in-depth intensive training in energy work and is a master healer and teacher in several modalities (Reiki, Johrei, Sekhem, Qigong, Light Body). www.bigpixenterprises.com
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Rebecca Hiles
Rebecca Hiles is a dating, relationships, and sexual wellness coach called The Frisky Fairy(www.friskyfairy.com ). She is a writer who addresses issues of polyamory, cancer, sex education, and sex toys. She has contributed to Sexpert.com, xoJane.com, and has had her writing featured on EverydayFeminism.com discussing her life as a polyamorous cancer patient, among other things. She has spoken at CatalystCon East, West, and Midwest, Poly For All Seasons, AwesomeCon, Rocky Mountain Poly Living, Atlanta Poly Weekend, InfinityCon, The Geeky Kink Event, Sex Down South, DragonCon, and Woodhull Sexual Freedom Summit. She is a member of the Poly Leadership Network, and is certified as a sex educator through Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. She was voted one of the Top 100 Sex Blogging Superheroes of 2014 and 2015. She is a member and contributor to the Gentle Perverts Social Club podcast. She is co-writing a book on coming out as poly (comingoutpoly.co) and you can help by submitting your coming out stories there.
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Jens Wennberg
Jens Wennberg is a retired Physician Assistant. He and Nancy have had a responsible non-monogamous relationship for over 35 years, and each have long-term relationships lasting over a decade. He is willing to share the joys and sorrows of his aging process.
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Amanda Ananda
Amanda is a radiant inspirational speaker, alternative healer and self bliss guru. She encourages people to live a blissful existence in our intense world by taking care of self FIRST. Amanda is the founder of Experience Ananda, a community center intent on teaching that everyone is worthy of L-O-V-E and that blissful living is easily obtainable and your birthright! Experience Ananda is a safe space where spirituality and sexuality can meet and play together. Amanda is a passionate leader, who is not afraid to speak up for what she believes in and who is committed to serving her community. She is a life long learner, full of strength and ambition, who aims to positively impact the world by spreading light, love and bliss through the incredibly transformational experience of true connection. Amanda is responsible for bringing Cuddle Party to the Connecticut area. She is ecstatic and honored to support the quickly evolving local Cuddle Monster community. Learn more about Amanda by going to www.anandajunkie.com or follow her at https://www.facebook.com/anandajunkie
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Marina Reiko
Marina was raised in polyamorous family from birth. As a young teen Marina identified as polyamory and bisexual. At age 15 she began assisting in organizing Loving More events from Poly Living Conferences to Pride Fest Booth and Parade in Colorado. In2013 she co-facilitated a presentation on children and raising sex positive kids at Poly Living Philadelphia and at Woodhull in August 2014. Recently Marina started a Teens in Polyamory Facebook page, a place for teens exploring polyamory or those raised in poly families to be able to connect and learn from each other. An aspiring actress Marina performed in the play “Journey to the West” by OpenStage Theatre in Fort Collins in the fall 2014, her first performance with a professional company. Marina is an honors student from GOAL Academy, a statewide online high school currently participating in concurrent enrollment at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, CO and will graduate this spring. She plans to attend college at the University of Northern Colorado and major in theatre, and hopes to expand from stage acting and modeling to film in the near future. www.facebook.com/polyteenagers/
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Max Rivers, Elise Rivers and Jilsarah Moscowitz
Max and Elise Rivers are life partners who opened up their monogamous marriage six years ago. They used their training as mediators and NVC Trainers to make that process graceful and growthful. Max had been mediating marriages for 10 years and now mediates nontraditional and poly relationships and helps couples open up their marriages. Elise is an acupuncturist and runs Community Acupuncture of Mt. Airy here in Phila. Since forming TheMarriageMediator.net, Max and Elise have been interviewed for radio and newspapers on their work as Couples Mediators. They have run workshops on Poly and ENVC from Maine to Hawaii at New Culture and Poly conferences. Jilsarah is a mediator, focusing on workplace disputes. Her training in dance informs her embodied form of communication. She met Max and Elise in 2014 and a close part of their lives since. themarriagemediator.net
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Christopher N. Smith
Christopher N. Smith is a doctoral student at Howard University pursuing his PhD in Sociology with his research centering on consensual non-monogamous relationship trends in current and historical contexts. His prior education includes a Master of Arts in Religious Studies with a concentration in Religion and Society and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Anthropology form Howard University. Mr. Smith has extensive experience within the education, human services and criminal justice and laying the ground work for The Tenability Movement; an education and arts based advocacy organization. He is an educator, community builder, father, relationship advocate and passionate about increasing awareness of and support for non-monogamous relationships structures in the United States.
