Joining the MauiKink Ohana!

I’ve known about it for about a week already, but I’m finally able to share some really wonderful news with the world: I’m going to be working with the people at Maui Kink in a marketing/representative capacity. They’ve got some amazing products and some really neat ideas, and I’m looking forward to working with them.

What, are you selling out?

To quote that rock ‘n roll legend Mick Jagger, “Hell Yes!” Well, ok, not really – at least, that’s not how I see it. I’ve long been happy to represent and promote products that I believed in, especially when they were linked to people I believed in too – hence my advocacy of people like Twisted Monk, Jack Elfrink, Master K, Midori, Douglas Kent, Zamil, Madison Young, the Leather Heart Foundation, Be Knotty, and many more. I’m very much a capitalist at heart, but I’m a “rising tide lifts all boats” kind of capitalist – in other words, even if I don’t get any monetary reward, I’m convinced that helping these people succeed helps everybody succeed.

“Physical love ain’t so bad, either!” –Billy Flynn

People like Emme and the rest of the crew at Maui Kink are going an extra mile. They are foregoing the day job at the office with the supposed job security and working full-time to help the rest of the world have better kink. I would have written better sex, but some people want to separate the two, and more power to them (though that’s not me). If you go to their site – and yes, you should, even if it’s just this once to see what kind of stuff I’m going to be talking about.

It’s detailed leather craftwork. It’s fine wooden impact implements. It’s woven kangaroo whips, it’s luxury handspun ropes (Cashmere, anyone?), it’s nifty toy bags, it’s canes and furniture and oh, yeah, rope, too. If you see me at an event in the next few months, odds are I’ll have a bag of their gear with me – by all means, come and cop a feel of my sack full of fun.

But wait, there’s more!

Does this mean the Ropecast will be only about Maui Kink items? No, not at all. They are going to be sponsoring some ads, and of course I’ll talk about them, but there’s nothing exclusionary about the relationship. In fact, the official word from Monk is “Congratulations! I hope you do well!” My marketing and representing Maui Kink is a separate gig from the Ropecast (did you hear that, other vendors who might want to become individual sponsors?).

Nifty gear is not enough to get me to work for you. In fact, money isn’t even enough – I just quit a nicely lucrative job in the marketing department of a very successful company because I didn’t believe in the company’s purpose. It didn’t help people – well, except the owner and the employees, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, it wasn’t enough for me. I need something more meaningful.

Go to the front page of MauiKink. Past the hot and sexy hula kink lady (yum). You’ll see some of the other things they support – like the NYC Sex Bloggers Calendar, which in turn helps sex-positive causes like the Woodhull Foundation. They support the Ropecast. They support this little online website called “FetLife.” They also sponsor events like Summr Retreat, and others, even though they rarely get to come to the states and actually attend the events or meet the people they support. An exception is that they will be at Folsom Fringe – but guess what? Even there, they’ll be volunteering. And so will I.

Ohana, Aloha and Pono

Somebody asked me recently what I think about building community. That’s what I think it’s all about – not just dressing up in leather, cruising and eating a meal together. It’s doing what you can, when you can, to help as many people as you can.That’s what I see in Lee Harrington, Mollena, Midori, Monk, Karcus, the late Class A Dom, Dossie, Janet Hardy, Laura Antoniou, Claire Adams, RiggerJay, Murphy Blue, Aja Ropes, DemonSix, Cunning Minx, DarkSide…the list goes on.

It’s what I see Maui Kink doing. It’s why I wanted to work with them. Ohana, aloha, pono. Those three words are the principles of their company – their mission statement, if you will. What are they? As tempted as I am to google that for you, I’ll give you the easy answers, some loose translations:

Family of choice. Love and Compassion. Right action and hope.

Those are all values that I can get behind. It means a lot to me that I haven’t been welcomed to the “team” or to the “company” at Maui Kink. No, when they announced that I was hired, along with the talented and beautiful Luna, they welcomed us to the Maui Kink ohana.

It is definitely a good place to be. When you see me, give me a big “aloha!”, ok?