Skyla (She/her)
Event Engineer
Skyla (She/her) is your friendly neighborhood mermaid. Throughout her time in the scene, she has been involved with many organizations and events. A common theme of her event planning life, is a love for making people feel included and that they matter. Skyla plans events and engineers learning experiences in her vanilla & kinky life.
She got her start in kinky event planning with the New England Dungeon Society as Secretary and Events Chair for 2 years. She planned parties, workshops, and social outings. One of her favorite roles was running new member orientation, helping people feel welcome and demystifying new situations is what she lives for.
Skyla went on to serve as the Volunteer Coordinator for Dark Odyssey (Summer Camp, Fusion & Winter Fire) and the Ion Coordinator (Fusion and Summer Camp) for 3 years. She redesigned the entire volunteer program from the ground up, laying the groundwork for more appreciation for volunteers, compensation that was equitable, and dynamic spreadsheets to tie it all together. She was a volunteer for Bound in Boston from 2012 - 2018, serving on the staff and consent team for a handful of years. In the con’s final year, Skyla served as the co-producer and programming coordinator. Starting in 2019 she paired up with her dear friend, Ozma to co-engineer Tethered Together.
When she isn’t behind the scenes at events, she enjoys rope (tying and being tied), being a cat lady, reading true-crime novels, dancing (especially with her flow wand), and drinking the largest iced coffee available.
Skyla loves meeting new people, so please introduce yourself if you see her!
Ozma of Oz (She/they)
Event Engineer
Ozma, short for Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum, is a community organization enthusiast whose adventures in public kink started in the year 2000 when she walked into her first munch. She put pen to waiver just slightly after her 18th birthday and over the years has both observed and participated in the evolution of BDSM in the public eye and open internet with experiences ranging from tearful pride to open horror and back again.
A scientist by trade and helpful facilitator by nature, she discovered a great deal about herself through her involvement in developing and designing kink events. Between her work as the Director of ROPECRAFT Event and Event Engineering duties with Skyla at Tethered Together, she neither leaves her home nor wears pants most days. That suits her just fine as she carefully blends her exciting professional life with the quiet joys of parenthood home in Kansas with her high school sweetheart, L. Frank Baum.
Ozma quietly holds strong convictions about power and the responsibilities that come with leadership and works to uphold those ideals with humility in all of her projects. You’ll often find her in her natural habitat (buried in spreadsheets), listening and learning to more effectively meet the needs of her community, and/or walking quickly holding a hot cup of coffee.
She firmly believes that the practices of kink and involvement in alternative lifestyle communities can enrich our lives and that community is intentional and is worth the work we put into creating inclusive, welcoming, supported and supportive spaces.
Tethered Together 2022 Staff
Brookeish (they/she)
Dungeon Monitor Lead
Brookeish - owned pet, queer grandpa hag, primal, sadomasochistic switch of rope, doom and woo.
They have been tying for about six years and have been passionate about growing in rope since the beginning of their kinky journey.
A founding member of the New England Rope Education Network (NEREN), they work with other leaders of rope communities across New England to help provide more educational opportunities and cultivate growth in local rope groups.
When not tying people’s faces to trees, Brookeish can be found making art, hiking with their dogs, eating tacos or drinking delicious beer...or any combination of those things!
Liquid (She/They/Them/That Bitch)
Vendor Coordinator
Liquid has been a fixture in the BDSM/Leather community for more than 20 years and a Rope Bottom & Rope model for more than 13 years. She has competed in and won Ms. Henrietta Hudson Fetish 2008/2009. She then went on to be the only Womxn & person of color to compete in the first Mr/Ms. New York City Leather contest.
Liquid has volunteered at events such as Leather Pride Night, and Folsom Street East. She has presented and sat on Panels for Dark Lair, TES’ DW/sm group, and many more. Liquid taught workshops on Consent & Negotiations, as well as Risk Profiles. Liquid has also fundraised for many charities throughout her years in the community. Liquid has gained media attention and has been interviewed and quoted in several kink related books, blogs, magazines, as well as appeared in a number of podcasts.
Liquid is the former Vice President of the Onyx Pearls NY Northeast Chapter and sits on the Board of Folsom Street East. Currently Liquid is the First Northeast Leather Person, where she uses her platform as a titleholder and background in Social Work & Mental Health to educate and empower others both in and outside of the BDSM/Leather & Rope community.
Rina Top (She/Her)
Security Lead
Rina is a queer, giggly, fun loving, sadist. She has a deep love for blood play of all sorts and general impact with various mean implements. Her love for leather is eternal. When she isn’t researching and exploring new kinks you can find her hanging with her dog Zeppelin or tinkering on a new hands-on project.
Princess Bran (She/her)
Merchandise
Princess Bran was introduced to the kink world in Rochester NY about 6 years ago. While exploring all the new things she attended a local RopeBite hosted by MsElaine and discovered her love for rope. Rope and rigging has fulfilled her need for a technical aspect of kink. She is fascinated by her new found artistic side. The feel of rope, connection to the other person and rhythmic flow make this one of her favorite past times.
Princess Bran has attended local conferences. Tethered Together 2019 was her first event outside of the Rochester area. Being a very helpful and technical human she has always been willing to help out wherever needed. This year she has taken on a Staff position and more responsibility, so be nice to her! Did we mention she’s an engineer!
MsElaine (She/her)
Volunteer Coordinator
MsElaine’s midlife crisis began with a flogger & a chainsaw! Local upstate NY was home base for exploring both back ten odd years ago. She has spent most of those years attending national events to hone skills and meet some wonderful folks. No! not at the same time; well there was this one time in Chicago.
She is a creative person to the core with an enthusiasm to encourage exploration and growth within herself and others. She has explored this on her own and within the BDSM community, sharing opportunities that others may say “I can’t - I don’t”.
Over 15 years of successful poly-living steered MsElaine into facilitating local poly community growth in Upstate NY before learning the ropes. Since then she has led classes for rope novices and those curious at Rochester Erotic Art Festival(REAF). Lady’s Wicked Playground, as part of GRUE’s, Exotic Fantasies Convention and other local clubs.
For 8 years she has been one of the riggers for the Rope Fashion Show that kicks off REAF, creating some entertaining runway pieces with her models.
For two very short years she created and hosted a monthly RopeBite in the Finger Lakes region of New York before her relocation to Georgia. Now MsElaine and her family are mobile in a self converted tiny home aka Skoolie. We never know quite where she‘ll be next but we hear she’s headed to South Dakota to carve before heading to Alaska this summer.
Most recent focuses have been REAF, Ropecraft and with much excitement being able to work with some amazing folks for Tethered Together.
Her presence at events, whether it’s as a volunteer, staff or presenter wards off shyness and fulfills the need for peopling while encouraging others to explore their own creative sides to be the best they can be.
DeJantu (He/Him)
Equipment Manager
Dejantu has been in the kink scene since the early 90’s, and has always enjoyed power exchange dynamics. Over 8 years ago, he met PinkBikerGirl, and together they became active in the local New Hampshire kink scene. He found a love of rope bondage, Kinbaku, and went to nearly every event around to learn as much as he could about the art form. He has helped run rope lounges at the Fetish Flea events, mentored at local area rope groups, and started the Manchester Rope Group. He and PinkBikerGirl, along with a few other leaders in the New Hampshire area, started the MARK group and in the past ran nearly 50 events a year, including multiple munches and many diverse events (both kink and vanilla) with kinky people. In 2014, he became a board member for KinkyCon, and loves being part of a great event that provides quality kink education from lifestyle experts. He enjoys discussing, teaching, mentoring, and participating in BDSM and D/s activities.
NsV (He/him)
Registration Coordinator
NotsoVanillo is a sadist with a smile. He enjoys rough body play and turning his willing partners into piles of gooey happy awesomeness. When he‘s not beating, he’s eating, and loves to cook for his friends and family. Since 2012, he‘s been on the kinky roller coaster of love hand-in-hand with Skyla. He’s been involved over the years in various organizations and events, and is happy to be helping out Tethered Together as your Registration Guru Extraordinaire!
RopeRider (He/him)
Technology & Operations Coordinator
RopeRider is a compulsive social engineer. Inspired and driven by erotic curiosity, he began his journey with rope bondage as a fetish photographer, but quickly discovered that rope can be used to create intimacy, amplify connection, and make a tasty space for sensual surrender. In his spare time, RopeRider enjoys petting cats and building social frameworks that support and encourage perversion.
Tethered Together 2022 Support Staff
Cultlamb (They/She)
Peer Support Lead
Cultlamb‘s turning point into BDSM happened sometime in the mid-’80s when she was innocently asked to wear a bondage/latex outfit to a dungeon party in London. It’s been all weird and wonderful since then. Currently, she identifies as an ethical spiritual switchy Sadomasochist that is pansexual, demisexual, poly, Femme leaning, sometimes androgynous/ fluid, depending on the day. She has volunteered her real vanilla world collaborative, advocacy and restorative justice skills in many different types of settings and her most important kink pursuits is to serve and support safe, intersectional and accessible events, build community, teach communication and relational mindfulness, and empower others to be sex, body, and kink positive. Consent turns her on.
TyrannocervixRex
First Aid Lead
Coming Soon!
Mindy
Peer Support Team Member
Coming Soon!
PETE
Peer Support Team Member
Coming Soon!