Moderators, & Educators

Elder Beast is a Hypno Switch Sex Dog from San Francisco. A former cult member, he has decided to use his acquired mind control powers for good (making as many people cum as possible). He comes with 5 years experience as a both a hypnosis sub and dom, is passionate about showing people how to use trance to realize their deepest fantasies. Don’t feed him after midnight.

Girl Becky has been involved in the Leather/kink/fetish scene for over 20 years. Along her journey, she has identified as a bottom, a slave, a switch, a submissive and a babygirl. She has finally settled down with her Daddy, Sparkie, and is proud to be his devoted wife and babygirl. She is a Bootblack dedicated to always learning more and was proud to serve as Wisconsin Leather Pride Bootblack 2020-2023.

She is happily married to her Daddy, Sparkie. Together, they co-founded Bootblack Round-Up, an annual Bootblack-centric event, until they stepped away to allow others to take it to the next level. She has more recently served as co-event Producer of Wisconsin Leather Pride weekend. She is now incredibly proud and excited to serve in the role of Director of Bootblack Partnerships at International Mr. Leather, Inc.

If she manages to grab a few minutes outside of the community, you’ll find her reading fantasy novels (a.k.a. fae smut) or playing low-stress cozy video games.

LeFaun is a board member of Chicago Hellfire Club, the longest running gay BDSM club in the world. He enjoys making his own gear (especially rubber) and is always happy to help others do the same. LeFaun is a burlesque dancer, trivia host, and avid board gamer.

"The Limpest Wrist in Burlesque" Willy LaQueue is a darkly dashing dandy and sultry stripper starlet twinkling in the Windy City. He's been working as a dancer, educator, and choreographer for almost 3 decades, venturing into burlesque in 2012, and he has twirled across stages and bar floors in the US, Canada, and Europe. Willy has performed in the Movers, Shakers, & Innovators Showcase at the Burlesque Hall of Fame, and has been named one of the Top 50 Most Influential Burlesque Performers in the World by 21st Century Burlesque Magazine. Willy has been an opening act for musicians Lizzo and Sandra Bernhard, appeared in the Showtime Network’s comedy series “Work In Progress,” and performed at the historic Stonewall Inn in NYC. Willy’s studio, Maison LaQueue, produces debaucherous immersive cabaret spectacles and offers 1-on-1 lessons out of his private boutique studio space in the Newport Theater.

Photo by Chris Nightengale

Zutty came to MIR for the first time in 2018 and has been chasing his rubbery dreams ever since! A recent transplant to Chicago by way of Austin, Zutty brought his business "Established Sartorial Custom Clothing" to the Windy City. As a drummer he’ll be leading Slick Vic and the Vivishines - a 1940s swing band, during the contest breaks Saturday night! He also runs a monthly queer swing dance with Queer Swing Chicago. 

Antoin is the Brand Events Producer for Recon and is known to us as a very keen rubber man of colour. He's been working with the Recon brand and has helped to support parts of the global kink community for over 14 years.

Being the producer of Recon’s brand and promotional events, as well as their play parties, Antoin is very well-travelled, is a well-known face on the scene, and has experienced a lot of the diversity within the scene, globally. As a Brand Ambassador, Antoin is genuinely invested in empowering those he meets within the community to be themselves and live their best fetish life - whatever that means for you. He brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and insight and is always happy to stop and have a chat.

ArtimusPrime (he/they) is a photographer, visual storyteller, and certified good boy from Long Island, New York with over 16 years of professional experience. He loves the great outdoors, chasing a squeaker toy, and being an emotional support puppy for the House of Sharex.

Artimus has a vast portfolio in the world of fetish photography and beyond. In addition to MIR weekend, he also is an official photographer for Folsom Street East, NYC Pride, the Queer Liberation March, the Northeast Pet and Handler Contest, and LI-PAH. He has photographed names such as Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Ross Matthews, the Flatbush Zombies, Iggy Azalea, and Michelle Visage.

Artimus is currently working on his first photography-based book project, highlighting the ongoing impacts COVID-19 had on American protest during a time of severe police brutality against the nations most underrepresented communities. He expects to release this project mid-2026.”

boy Jason is a Chicago resident working on becoming a therapist.  Their pronouns are they/them.   They are non-binary, neurodivergent, and a big advocate for making the world a safer and better place in more equitable and inclusive ways.  They are a collared boy by their Daddy in Dallas.  They have worked all over the country in the world of kink usually in some form of education like teaching about consent or how to engage in healthy dynamics as a neurodivergent person.  They are thrilled to be a part of creating this space for Trans, GNC, and Non-Binary folks this year.  One which will hopefully continue for many MIRs to come!

ChicagoGear has been in the gear and kink scene for 20 years. With an initial interest in all types of tight fitting gear, he met other 'gearheads' that soon expanded into his interests to include power exchange, bondage, and other types or kink play. Years later he found his pup side as Pup Focus. ChicagoGear enjoys attending and coordinating events for the community and is on the Board for both MIR Contest and GearBlast:US. He is also Volunteer Coordinator for IML. ChicagoGear is focused on helping to foster safe spaces where diverse members of the community can continue to gather and learn from each other for years to come.

Daddy Shadi (he/him/his) served as Illinois Leather Sir from 2016-2017. He has served as both a director and secretary of the Chicago Pet Patrol, is a trustee emeritus of Out Bowling, and volunteered for the following: IML/IMBB, Open Shine, MIR, Mr. Leather 64Ten, Chicago Leather Community Outreach, St. James Pantry, The Imperial Windy City Court of the Prairie State Empire, Night Ministry, and Center on Halsted. He believes that volunteerism is core to maintaining our broader community, with service in both kink subcultures and local organizations being critical to the maintenance and development of healthy societies.

Daddy Shadi has also taught classes in kink, heavily promoting active consent as the default power exchange dynamic. He has taught classes on impact play, BIPOC issues, scene negotiation, and his primary kink, fisting. These classes have been held as part of the event weekends of Mr. Chicago Leather, Mr. Nebraska Leather, Mr. Kentucky Leather, and Mr. Leather 64Ten, as well as several standalone classes throughout the Ohio River Valley region. He believes kink education by the skilled is a critical component of serving the community, and that the only educators worth listening to are the ones who keep learning.

Unit 8257 is a pleasure drone fabricated in New Jersey. Its purpose and desire is to be a good and obedient unit. 8257 started its kink journey over 20 years ago with a huge focus in bondage, chastity, and pup play and its list of interests continued to grow through time and experience. Very much into bondage, gimp, objectification, Osiris, Vibrams, socks, and more…drone sees itself more as bondage and kinksexual. 8257 first explored becoming a drone in 2020 and through training, hypnosis, and shared experiences was assimilated into the collective as drone unit 8257. This drone is currently serving a Mastrx from Norway and falls under their guidance and programming as Admin. As a pleasure unit, drone exists to obey, serve and give pleasure to users of 8257. ~Pleasure is purpose. Purpose is pleasure. Obedience is pleasure.

Issa Arden has been a player for over 30 years and a community member for over 20. She serves on the Executive Committee of and as the head of Education for MIR International Rubber Weekend. She is also newly on the Board of American Brotherhood Weekend having been the Contestant Coordinator for the event for 6 years. She previously held staff positions International Mister Leather, Leather Hall of Fame, and Illinois Leather Alliance. Arden is working on various PoC and Bisexual visibility projects, has judged numerous contests, including International Ms. Leather and International Puppy and Trainer, Mr. Midwest Rubber, Twin City Leather, American Brotherhood Weekend, and Mr. Ebony Leather. She has been a presenter on race and alternative gender modes in leather and an educator on topics from corsets to cigars to wax play. She curated Excavating Experience: The Presence of LGBTQ People of Color in Cook County and the Bay Area Leather History pop-up and co-curated the Chicago Leather Contests and Titleholders pop-up for the Leather Archives & Museum. Arden held two Louisiana leather titles, was an NLA-NOLA Board member, and developed and hosted numerous New Orleans fetish parties.

Jade is a pansexual Femdom catgirl from the cornfields outside of Chicago. Although She currently lives outside the city, She frequently attends classes at the Leather Archives & Museum and serves in a leadership role with Chicago Kinky Asians. Her dream is to one day move to Chicago to fully immerse Herself in the thriving kink and queer community and culture. Jade has always carried a kinky spirit, and Her journey has been focused on challenging traditional vanilla society in multiple dimensions: race, culture, representation, visibility, sexuality, and power. In kink, She has found a place where She can honor Her own truth while encouraging others to do the same. She holds a deep belief in the healing power of human connection and sees all forms of play as potential pathways to a sacred experience. She is also a pole dancer, a lyra artist, and an aerial acrobat who hopes to weave dance into kink through both practice and performance. This is Jade’s first time with MIR.

Hailing from Madison, WI, Katie has been a part of the kink scene for over ten years, and this is her 7th year as part of the MIR Production team. As a hobbyist videographer, she is the creative mind behind many of the interstitial videos during the contest. Katie is so excited to lead the first Women and Femmes Meet-up.

As an avid kinkster and bi switch, you might see Katie out as her dominant self Mistress Kat, or her pupself Daisy. Katie is an outspoken presence in puppy spaces, working to bring more visibility to female pups in the predominantly male puppyplay community.

Katie wants people to know that she is a safe, supportive, and empathetic ear for those that have experienced adversity in kink spaces, understanding first hand the impact trauma can have on an individual’s kink journey. Katie is also a published kink erotica author (though she keeps her pseudonym a secret) and fetish content creator. She is beyond thrilled about MIR’s progression into a contest that is now completely gender inclusive, and she will always be an advocate for being yourself.

Aura (Mxtress Polaris, if you are submissive) is a Chicago resident, currently working as a engineer. Fae/they pronouns, and started transitioning in 2019. Fae has been involved in the gear/kink scene since 2008, having worked with numerous organizations, a former MWR titleholder, and has taught several kink classes. Faer has used faers title to spread rubber across the Midwest at numerous leather events. As a neurodivergent Trans person, faer wants to help other individuals feel welcomed into kink spaces.

Ophelia Harkness (She/Her/Ella) known as Phe, is a proud born and raised Chicagoan, Ojibwe and Latin woman. She is honored to be a part of the MIR moderation team. She first got curious about latex after watching the Spice Girls Say You’ll Be There music video as a wee one, and her curiosity with latex and leather continued to flourish. She has been active in the kink scene for 10 years and loves bringing femme bisexual energy to the room.

When not entertaining in latex, she can be found singing along to showtunes, both on and off stage, or nerding out to astrophysics where she is currently pursuing a scientific career. She loves encompassing the identity of Slutty Singing Scientist. Phe gives all her love and worship to Issa Arden, who is a brilliant mentor, inspiration and daddy. She is honored to follow such legacy and looks forward to many more years of learning, yearning and experiencing all the pleasures of life.

Shadow Pup (he/they) began exploring the kink scene immediately after high school in 2010, the mid 20-teens were a time of learning and growing, organizing parties, leading discussion groups and coming out as Bisexual. In the early 2020’s Shadow pup found new purpose in their refreshed art practice, leading to many new opportunities to express themselves and engage with their community. In 2021 Shadow Pup discovered the term 'Demisexuality' online which accurately described an experience they'd been trying to put words to for a long time.

Shadow Pup attended their first MIR in 2023 and is now organizing, along with the other moderators, the first Ace-spectrum meet up at MIR. Shadow Pup aims to create a space that encourages Integrity, Solidarity, Empathy and Generosity as well as an attitude of leadership as community service.

Sylas is a self described "pup/pony/rubbery-thing" hailing from New York City. He's been a part of the community for about 14 years participating in events and teaching workshops. Sylas is happy to share his experience as an ace-identifying member of the community and how that has shaped his journey.

Trooper is a board member of ICON Detroit Leatherclub, and associate member of Chicago Hellfire Club. Trooper has judged MIR21, IML33, 2016 Drummer North America, Illinois Leather Sir/boy, Ms. Pride and Community Bootblack, Great Lakes Sir/boy/bootblack and numerous bar and state contests. He has attended every MIR contest since 2006. Trooper has helped bring pup mosh and Rubber bar nights to the city of Detroit, and he enjoys mentoring titleholders/hopefuls, as well as presenting skills & workshops on many topics and utilizing bootblacking to fundraise in cities across North America.

Matthew Blancett, known as "Sir Matt," has been an active member of the Chicago kink community since 2001. In 2012, he earned the title of runner-up for Mr. Midwest Rubber and currently serves on the board of the Chicago Hellfire Club. In 2010, he co-founded Leatherfolk of Recovery, the first leather club specifically created for individuals in recovery, and served on its board for 10 years.

This year, he proudly celebrates 20 years of being meth-free. An avid motorcyclist and classical pianist, Sir Matt resides in Lincoln Square with his collared boy, DJ Brady Prince.