The Edge of Excellence
KPSA Virtual Summit 2025
Meet the Presenters!
Day 1 Keynote Speaker
Lady Steele
Lady Steele is a femme lesbian Alpha leather slave with multiple neurovariances. She is an international presenter and resides in Atlanta where she is the only open, out, and practicing attorney in the United States that specializes in the issues that arise in the BDSM and ethical non-monogamy (ENM) communities.
Education is her passion and she has taught hundreds of classes over fifteen years both in person and virtually.
She is the founder of the Center of Learning and School of Success (C.L.A.S.S.), the Worthless Bastards (Cigar) Club (W.B.C. – Atlanta), and The Leather Coterie (T.L.C.) and proudly leads all of these groups under the umbrella of the West Inclusive Georgia Socials (WINGS) group.
Lady Steele has held various positions in both the former chapter of NLA - Atlanta and the Leather Leadership Conference. Lady Steele is also a proud Associate Member of the Southern Leather chapter of the Onyx Pearls.
When she is not presenting, Lady Steele has shared her knowledge on the KinkyCast, Kuldrin's Krypt, Dating Kinky, Excite Me, Black to Leather, and Pink Kink podcasts.
Panel & Breakout
Anthony P. Verdino
Anthony P. Verdino (he/him) is a long-time clinical social worker whose current practice focuses
on helping Queer, kink, and poly folks. He is also a Social Work PhD candidate at University of
Chicago focusing his scholarship on Queerness and Queer people’s pursuit of joy, pleasure,
healing, and resistance. He believes that expansive forms of gender, sex, and sexuality reveal
great knowledge and always already do the work of world-making, authenticity, and thrivance.
Anthony enjoys consulting and teaching at the graduate level, including courses on clinical
practice, harm reduction, and sexuality and relationships. No less importantly, he deploys with
animal welfare organizations to support the rescue and recovery of animals from disaster and
cruelty situations.
Panel & Breakout
Mistress Mia Payne
Mistress Mia Payne is a Transformational ProDomme, Sacred Kink Coach/educator, and the owner/Mistress at Payne With Purpose, a self-development dungeon. Her practice focuses on Transformational BDSM, rites of passage work, trauma recovery, shame release, and self development. She has a unique perspective as a once-fundamentalist-Christian-turned Mistress, and can hold space for those who are faith-observing or in the midst of deconstruction. She is located east of Toronto Ontario in Canada, and offers services locally, onsite through travel within Canada, and Virtually. She is passionate about Kink education, and when she isn't holding a whip and a leash, you can find her at her laptop writing, or cuddling with her partner and their Cornish Rex named Cosmo.
Panel Presenter
Marla Renee Stewart
Marla Renee Stewart, MA (she/her) is an award-winning sexologist, author, and sexual strategist who runs her own sexuality education company, Velvet Lips, and is also a Co-Founder of the Sex Down South Conference.
Marla has studied human sexuality for over 22 years, has educated thousands of people in over 15 years, given over 1000 workshops, and have served hundreds of clients in her private practice, all around the world. She has had her influence in the media, as well; she has written over 200 articles, featured in over 100 magazines and books, and has been on over 80 podcasts and independent television shows. She was featured on Netflix’s Trigger Warning with Killer Mike, VH1's Love & HipHop Atlanta, and has filmed as a sex expert for many more reality shows. In addition, she also sits on the Board for American Association of Somatic Sexology.
Day 1 Panel & Day 2 Keynote/Fireside Chat
Joshua & Cat
Joshua is a facilitator, educator, and advocate empowering individuals through self-discovery and intentional relationships. With 15+ years of experience, he guides people—especially men—in navigating modern masculinity, sexuality, and personal growth.
As co-founder of the Kink Collective with his partner Cat, he designs programming that fosters confidence and authentic connection. In 2025, their work with partner Mistress Natalie earned them the Northeast Power Exchange Educational Title, honoring their innovative use of power dynamics for empowerment.
Based in East Harlem, Joshua curates transformative experiences at The Sanctuary, a community space in his childhood neighborhood dedicated to identity, relationships, and conscious evolution. Their philosophy, “People Before Kink” drives his mission: equipping individuals with the tools to build self-authored, fulfilling lives.
Cat is a transformative leader in the kink, BDSM, and leather communities, with 30+ years of experience, mentorship and advocacy. Alongside partners Joshua and Natalie, she earned the 2025 Northeast Power Exchange Educational Title, celebrating her innovative approach to power dynamics as a tool for empowerment.
Her journey began in San Francisco’s leather scene, where early mentorship ignited her passion for community building and personal growth. As co-founder of theKink Collective, educator, and counselor, she bridges kink with personal development, healing around trauma and grief, and sexual wellness.
Rooted in honesty, integrity, and transparency, Cat creates spaces where people are seen, valued, and empowered—whether exploring identity, grief, recovery or desire. Her work proves that profound healing happens when we dare to own our stories.
Day 1 Workshop Presenter
Lady M
Lady M (M for Monroe) (she/her) is a Lifestyle Domina, coach, storyteller, and practitioner of conscious power exchange with over 8 years of lived experience in authority transfer-based relationships. With a 20-year background in professional coaching and personal development, her work bridges embodiment, relational clarity, and deep energetic presence.
Known for her direct approach and strong grounding in lived practice, Lady M brings both tenderness and structure to the spaces she leads. Her coaching supports individuals and power exchange dynamics in becoming more fully expressed, integrated, and intentional.
She identifies as a sacred disruptor—someone who lovingly challenges systems, roles, and habits that no longer serve. Her work invites others to engage the uncomfortable with honesty, and to meet transformation with discipline, devotion, and self-responsibility.
Lady M is a founding member of the Kink Professional Standards Alliance (KPSA) and serves as an instructor and mentor in the 2026 CPKP cohort.
Day 1 Workshop Presenter
Ghadeer Garcia
Ghadeer Garcia is a dynamic entrepreneur, transformative leader, and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging champion with two decades of experience driving equity-centered innovation across the nonprofit, corporate, and civic sectors. As Co-Founder of Ally Lab, she guides organizations through human-centered design and cultural transformation.
Known for her bold advocacy and strategic vision, Ghadeer inspires action through allyship, community engagement, and change leadership, empowering leaders to reimagine belonging and equity at every level.
Fireside Chat
Ginger's Desires
Ginger’s Desires (she/her)
As a self-suspender, rope artist and founder of Black People Tie Rope, Ginger’s Desires delivers performances that are a visceral blend of catharsis, dynamic movement, and deep emotional expression. Her work transforms rope into a compelling medium for storytelling, exploring themes of resilience, release, and self-intimacy. Each event, workshop or performance takes you on a raw journey that balances strength with vulnerability. Inviting the consumer to witness the transformative nature of sexual exploration. When Ginger is not advocating for black pleasure - you’ll most like catch her snuggled up with her bambino sphynx cat, Osiris. Nuzzled in the Rocky Mountains of Denver, CO.
Fireside Chat
Mistress Gothic
Mistress Gothic (@MzDarkGothic69 on Fetlife) is a Black Dominant Woman with 15 years of BDSM experience. Mistress has been in long-term D/s dynamics with both men and women. She is building a BDSM method for Black Women called Obeah Femdom that is designed to help them reclaim personal and sexual agency and power. Mistress is also an advocate for people with disabilities. Mistress has presented on topics of Self-Care and Healthy Boundaries as well as implemented these techniques in her kink practice. She is the current owner of @LovingTouchCHI.
Contact information: [email protected]
Panel Presenter
Jerome Triplin II
Jerome Triplin II is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and seasoned sex educator who has spent over two decades guiding individuals and couples toward deeper connection, healing, and liberation. With 20 years as a sex educator and 5 years in clinical practice, Jerome bridges the wisdom of therapeutic insight with embodied, experiential approaches to intimacy and relational repair.
Rooted in lived experience as a member of both the kink and polyamorous communities, Jerome brings not only professional expertise but also a deep personal understanding of the complexities, joys, and challenges of alternative relationship structures and erotic expression. His work sits at the intersection of healing, pleasure, and justice—helping people move through relational stuck points, reclaim authentic desire, and practice consent and communication as pathways to freedom.
Drawing from both clinical training and community-based education, Jerome creates spaces where vulnerability becomes strength and erotic expression becomes medicine. As a speaker and facilitator, he brings warmth, depth, and a trauma-informed lens that empowers participants to explore with safety and courage. At the Edge of Excellence Summit, Jerome contributes a vision where kink, care, and ethics are not only compatible, but essential to collective healing and embodied liberation.
Day 2 Workshop Presenter
Leilani Ramos
A retired police officer turned therapist, Leilani Ramos brings a grounded, trauma-informed approach to her work with individuals navigating high-risk professions and alternative lifestyles. With over a decade of experience in the kink and BDSM lifestyle, she integrates clinical insight with personal lived experience to support healing, embodiment, and self-discovery.
Within the lifestyle, she is known as Ms. Frey, a Pro Practitioner who approaches domination as a practice of self-study, transformation, and ritual. Her work is rooted in the belief that power is not performance, but a sacred language, one that speaks to desire, shadow, and the unconscious, offering a profound path to integration.
Her fire play artistry was featured in the film Lucky 7, and her work was highlighted in After Dark BDSM/Erotica Magazine (April 2023, Vol. 10). As an educator and mentor, she offers Fire Play Intensives, Body Blueprint sessions, lifestyle mentorship, and hosts The Social, a community gathering for kink-aligned individuals seeking connection and growth.
Panel Presenter
Mxter Xero
Mxter Xero (they/them) is a multidisciplinary educator, hypnotist, and holistic kink doula specializing in Safe, Sexy, Sacred, Shame-free, and Satisfying erotic practice. With mastery in somatic experiencing, shibari, and psychedelic integration, Xero weaves together trauma-informed care, cultural context, and spiritual reverence to create transformative spaces for exploration. Their work invites participants to navigate the edges of consent, rupture, and repair with curiosity, skill, and compassion, making them a sought-after voice in conversations at the intersection of kink, healing, and personal liberation.
Panel Presenter
Kat
A mother of 3, analyst, and also the creator of The Meow University, a pleasure education organization that seeks to provide experience and learning through inner work, techniques, and entertainment. Kat is constantly looking to improve human connections through communication and understanding.
Panel & Breakout
Heather Shannon
Heather Shannon is a Certified Sex Therapist and host of the top 1% podcast, Ask A Sex Therapist. With over 19 years as a counselor, Heather helps people in committed relationships who have lost their sexy spark to feel close and passionate again. Heather has been featured on Bloom TV, in publications such as Cosmopolitan and Women’s Health and on podcasts including Shameless Sex and The Horny Housewife. She is a sex and relationship expert for the Peanut app, which serves 3.5M+ women throughout all stages of life.
*If people are interested in consulting with me, I'm also an AASECT Supervisor In Training and they can just reach out via my website https://HeatherShannon.co
Breakout Session Presenter
Robert Carlston
I am a highly successful, though also highly challenged, Autistic adult, who was diagnosed very late in life. I am an Autistic parent of 2 Autistic children…one diagnosed, & one who ran into the gender-blindness of diagnosis. I’ve been kinky all my life, though only accepting & successful with that in recent years.
I work as an Autistic coach & mentor, an Autistic advocate, & an Autistic board member with Neurodiversity Foundation, Life Guides for Autistics/Neuroguides, & Autism Kids. I am an AANE certified IACT Autistic coach, & a Certified Executive Coach. I’ve been a coach & mentor throughout my career as a technologist, as a multicultural change catalyst, a business founder, & as an Autistic adult coach.
Breakout Session Presenter
Mistress Mia
Mia is an independent scholar, kink educator, and professional Dominatrix based in South New Jersey and Philadelphia. She is currently a select research fellow with The Community Academic Consortium of Research on Alternative Sexuality. She studies the role of disgust and stigma in the formation of alternative sexualities. In 2018, she founded the Power Exchange Roundtable, a social, support, and discussion group focused on Dominant/submissive dynamics.
Her teaching spans from university-level workshops to private one-on-one coaching with individuals exploring or deepening their kink identities
Your Host
Doc Yu Roc
Dr. Yulinda Renee Rahman, Ph.D., LCPC, is a pioneering voice in the intersection of kink, mental health, and somatic healing. As the founder of the Kink Professional Standards Alliance (KPSA), she is setting the bar for ethical and professional standards for kink practitioners, educators, and clinicians worldwide. Under the KPSA umbrella, she has developed multiple groundbreaking initiatives, including the Therapeutic BDSM Collaborative Network™ (TBCN), the Certified Professional Kink Practitioner (CPKP) Program, the Journal of Kink and Community, and the Applied Therapeutic BDSM™ training.
Her latest book, The Edge of Excellence: Therapeutic BDSM & Beyond, brings together her research, training models, and the collective wisdom of the field to redefine what professional kink-based care can look like.
Let’s Build Something That Lasts
This is the beginning of something bigger. A space where we do it differently, on purpose, with care, and in community. Come to learn, come to contribute, come to remember who you are in the work.
Pricing Plans
Ticket Options
All tickets include access to both days, the full attendee workbook, and session replays.
CEUs are being explored and, if approved, will be available as an optional add-on. We'll share final confirmation by August.
Early Bird
$127
General Admission
$147
Late Admission
$167
© 2025 Kink Professional Standards Alliance (KPSA) - All Rights Reserved.