Psychedelics for Sacred Sexuality | Psychedelics, Intimacy, & Sex Summit 2.0

Shelby Hartman is the co-founder and CEO of DoubleBlind, a media company and education platform at the forefront of the rapidly growing psychedelic movement. Also a reporter and editor specializing in psychedelics, cannabis, drug policy, and mental health, her work has appeared in VICE, Quartz, the Huffington Post, and Rolling Stone, among others. Hartman worked in broadcast news production for CBS News, covering presidential elections, protests, natural disasters, and other breaking news. Spurred by a passion for print and investigative reporting, she transitioned to magazine writing, working as an editor at Pasadena Magazine and receiving her Master’s Degree in long-form journalism from Columbia University in 2015. Since, Hartman has worked as a columnist at LA Weekly and an editor at Herb with extensive features on the cannabis industry, the psychedelic research boom, the popularization of ayahuasca, and post-traumatic stress disorder in the veteran community.

Liara Roux is a multi-hyphenate sex worker – a high-end escort, writer, indie adult film producer and director, political organizer, and human rights activist. Their political advocacy concerns both sex workers’ rights and the broader issue of freedom of expression, especially for online content creators.

A passionate human rights activist, Liara advocates for the decriminalization of sex work and works with harm reduction groups to provide technical resources and tips to sex workers and survivors. In their political activism, they document the effects legislation has had on members of marginalized communities, as well as coordinate media outreach in the wake of FOSTA/SESTA – a piece of legislation in the US that has harmed sex workers.

They live in NYC with their beautiful dog.

Mistress Wild Iris is a California-based dominatrix and sex-educator. Her approach to her practice is playful, potent, and holistic, and her aim is to guide clients through a cathartic experience that will help them let go and experience their minds, body, and emotions in a renewed way. More information on her process can be found on her website, MistressWildIris.com and by following her on Twitter, twitter.com/mxwildiris.Mistress Wild Iris is a California-based dominatrix and sex educator. Her approach to her practice is playful, potent, and holistic, and her aim is to guide clients through a cathartic experience that will help them let go and experience their minds, body, and emotions in a renewed way. More information on her process can be found on her website and by following her on Twitter.

Nicolle Hodges is an independent journalist, sexual freedom philosopher, author, and entrepreneur. Hodges, a former CTV Vancouver television host, and producer, left her previous life to pursue the world of sex, psychedelics, and shedding shame. Staying true to her media roots, she became the culture editor of Herb—the largest cannabis publication in North America—and now writes for Double Blind and Microdose about the impact and integration of psychedelics into mainstream culture. She is a leading host for the investor-focused media platform, The Dales Media Group, where she interviews the top CEOs of psychedelic and crypto companies. In 2017, she launched Men Who Take Baths, a men’s mental health movement and interview series addressing masculinity, vulnerability, and gender equity—from the bath! She is also the founder of Girls Who Say Fuck, a pleasure-centric incubator for ideas that instigate change, including its signature event, ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ where women are invited to foster deeper friendships within an erotic environment, using BDSM as a healing modality. She launched a viral movement urging people to rebrand “virginity” to “sexual debut,” pushing back against heteronormative, patriarchal ideas of sexual expression. Her debut book, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go Oh Oh,” explores the power of pleasure through Dr. Suess-style rhyme and illustration. Hodges is currently studying to become a psychedelic-assisted therapist and is passionate about exploring eroticism and friendship as a means to instigate positive change in one's life. To learn more about Nicolle, find her on Twitter and Instagram as @NicolleDoubleL, and LinkedIn.

Courtney Watson is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist. As the visionary owner of Doorway Therapeutic Services, a group therapy practice in Oakland, CA, Courtney focuses on addressing the mental health needs of Black, Indigenous & People of Color, Queer folks, Trans, Gender Non-conforming, Non-binary, and Two-Spirit individuals. She manages and leads a team of over 20 therapists, nurses, and physicians within her private practice.

Guided by the wisdom of her ancestors, Courtney integrates psychedelic-assisted therapy into her services, catering specifically to individuals with multiple marginalized identities, and emphasizes the importance of BIPOC and Queer providers offering these services. Courtney's extensive training from several renowned institutions equips her to provide psychedelic-assisted therapy using a variety of medicines.

Committed to exploring the profound impact of psychedelic medicines on marginalized communities, Courtney actively promotes the decolonization process for individuals from the global majority. She recognizes the current gaps in the field and believes in the urgent need to address the unique needs of Communities of Color and bridge this divide. She is currently blazing the trail as one of the few clinics of predominantly QTBIPOC providers offering Ketamine Assisted Therapy to the Queer and BIPOC community.

In her dedication to accessibility and equity, Courtney has founded Access to Doorways, a non-profit organization committed to subsidizing the cost of ketamine/psychedelic-assisted therapy for QTBIPOC clients (currently accepting donations for their first 100 recipients!). When not seeing clients or in meetings for the businesses she leads, Courtney can be found watching Nickelodeon with her kids, working on her dissertation, or making time for self-care with a well-deserved nap!

Artemisia de Vine is a former sex worker, professional dominatrix and somatic sexologist, turned sexual fantasy coach. She offers a groundbreaking new theory about why we have sexual fantasies. Through being paid to live out the fantasies of thousands of people, she noticed that sexual fantasies are the exact story our ego needs to hear in order to surrender into the vulnerability of connection, pleasure and sometimes even expanded states of consciousness.

She then developed The deVinery Method, which is an embodied philosophy, and a set of practices and tools that help people bring the transformational power of their fantasies out of their heads and into their beds, in ways that respect themselves, their sexual partner/s, and honours their primal nature.