Kaya Spicer

they/she

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Robin

she/they/he

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M NKOSI OSA

they/them

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I AM: Gender Expansive Panel

On Gender, Identity & Becoming

Saturday, November 7th

11:00 am

Room: Brickyard

We arrive in bodies and inherit names, expectations, roles, and definitions of who we are supposed to be. Some we keep. Some we remake. Some we bury. And some selves are still arriving.

I AM is a conversation about gender expansiveness and the lifelong practice of becoming.

Rather than treating gender as a destination at which we finally arrive, this conversation makes room for certainty and uncertainty, continuity and transformation, inheritance and invention. It asks what we carry forward, what we reclaim, what we relinquish, and what remains unfinished.

At its heart is a simple declaration—and an open question:

I AM ________.

Who gets to complete that sentence?

Who has tried to complete it for us?

And what becomes possible when we answer for ourselves?

Moderated by M. Additional facilitators listed are panelists.

Kaya Spicer, LICSW, LCSW-S is a licensed clinical social worker, licensed clinical supervisor, certified sex therapist, and pleasure activist based in Texas. She is the founder of Infinite Zen Therapy, a practice specializing in the integration of sex and couples work with a focus on gender, erotic, and relational diversity. Kaya brings a uniquely intersectional lens to her work, drawing from Internal Family Systems, somatic psychotherapy, Tantra, and trauma-informed practice to support individuals, couples, and polycules in reclaiming their bodies, their pleasure, and their wholeness.

A sought-after speaker and educator, Kaya has presented at universities, medical institutions, and national conferences, and has been featured as an expert in Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Psych Central, and The Knot. She is a recipient of the Health Equity Leader Award from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and is a member of the American Board of Sexologists and the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists. Through Zen Collaborative, her consulting and training LLC, she is developing a clinical curriculum rooted in sacred sexuality as a healing modality, with the intention of training clinicians and publishing a clinical text that brings this framework into the broader therapeutic community.

Robin Swails-Thompson (Any Pronouns) is a community minister focus on justice, liberation, and building solidarity between marginalized identities. Robin serves as Resource Coordinator at the Damien Center in Indianapolis. Their role primarily focuses on social support groups for various communities, including trans, non-binary, intersex, polyamorous, non-monogamous, HIV+, sober, and recovering people. Robin has been practicing ethical non-monogamy for over ten years, and facilitating an ethical non-monogamy group for three years. They have degrees in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Sociology, and Social Change. At home, they spend their time watching horror movies while cuddling with cats.

M NKOSI OSA (they/them) is a Black, queer, trans and gender expansive creative strategist and erotic poet based in Indianapolis. They practice solo polyamory, ethical and consensual non-monogamy, and participate in community conversations on a range of topics including food justice and relationship anarchy.

M brings nearly three decades of experience in design and storytelling, including six years as a Lecturer in Visual Communication Design at Herron School of Art and Design. Their life’s work involves innovation, questioning assumptions and helping people develop ideas, find language, and communicate with intention.

Their poetry explores desire, devotion, and the vulnerability of being seen, while their prose centers on racial justice.

They approach conversation with curiosity and candor. And often over a bowl of soup.

M brings that warmth and attention to language and lived experience to their role as moderator of I AM — On gender, identity & becoming.