NotQuiteAsian

Let's see... So I've been doing the kink stuff since 2010 when I got back from my first deployment to Iraq, nothing was intentionally Leather at the time nor did I even get exposed to Leather until later down the line it was mostly rough sex, swinging, and impact play. At the time I was especially paranoid about being outed so I kept to my ex and some select few we agreed upon until we divorced in 2014. With a new lease on life and a fuck it attitude, I was PCSed to Washington State in 2015 and promptly got acquainted with the local community and became one of the founding members to set up a local dungeon called Pleasure Bound Studio in Olympia WA. 

I got my first exposure to Leather folk around 2015-2016. I asked questions about Leather and most of the answers were vague so I wasn't sure about all the hocus-pocus because it seemed exclusive to only a certain demographic, but I continued to research on my own. I gave classes to different groups like the CSPC (Center for Sex Positive Culture), PBS, Club Wicked, and a couple of others teaching mostly self-defense and flogging. Right around the middle to end of 2016 I found out I was being Medboarded from the army and in 2017 I was medboarded. 

I continued to support my local community by doing munches, holding events, classes, demos, and the like. I Moved to Alabama in 2019 so that I could be closer to my kid. I got acquainted with the local community in Huntsville Alabama and became part of the leadership of HANDS (Huntsville Alabama Naughty Dynamic Society), met some leather folks along the way still didn't feel awesome about the vagueness of it all. Then COVID happened I started going to some Leather zooms, reading some books, and talking to some Leather folk, and sometime around the end of 2020 I started to identify as Leather but I was still on the fence because I didn't feel like I would have been accepted but I love everything about the values and felt that they resonated with me. 

In 2021-2023 helped TRC's (The Red Chair) E-Sig "ALAFF" (A Loose Association of Fetish Friends) do online munches and vetting for their club. Also in 2021 when I finally got with WOC (Whispering Oaks Community) I found my Leather family and fully committed to being Leather. Throughout this timeline (my overall timeline) I have volunteered a ton of hours, donated money, marched in pride parades, given away toys for fundraising, been auctioned off for fundraising, and given away my whips as gifts in hopes of inspiring others to give when they can, gone to conventions (big and small), presented classes, demos, participated in samplings (tastings, stations, etc), created a Leather group for Asian and Pacific Islands (APRiL - Asian Pasifika Representation in Leather) so that others like me will see it isn't a specific demographic that can identify as Leather. 

Wherever I go I try to be useful. I have shed blood, sweat, and tears for my communities. This journey was never about me but what I can do for my community. I may have not self-identified as Leather for a whole lot of years but I sure did want to and everything I did, I did and continue to do with my best foot forward.

The right side of my vest is dedicated to my military service in honor of those who are serving and who have served because of the values instilled in me from service, I am the person I am today. The left side of my vest is dedicated to various groups, events, and some miscellaneous pins that hold value for me. The very first pin I received was from Insatiable Amazon, they gifted me a Southeast Olympus Leather pin and told me to continue being me and doing good things for the community and so here I am. I have the "Service Top" patch on my back because it's how I started and it is what I continue to enjoy doing, I am my own Leatherman. WOC is my Leather Home and all who come to events there continue to inspire me to do good.