by Cody Vaughn
Hello dear readers of The Point: Journal of Body Piercing! I am incredibly humbled and proud to introduce myself to you all as the new President for the Association of Professional Piercers.
I would like to start by sharing with you all a little about myself. I was born and raised in Monterey, California. I have an amazing wife, Brittney Vaughn, and we both own and pierce at Vaughn Body Arts. We have three children and a big goofy dog named Lobo.
My love of body piercing started as a teenager while watching MTV late at night. I saw a pierced nipple for the very first time and well, here I am now (thank you, Red Hot ChiliPeppers).
I started piercing in 2004. I became an APP Member in 2009 and have been a volunteer with the Membership Committee ever since. I have also volunteered on other various APP committees on and off throughout the years, and have been serving as a Board Member since 2014. In addition to my volunteerism, I am a dedicated educator. I have been an instructor for The Fakir Intensives since 2011. Over the years, I have also had the pleasure of teaching at APP Conference and Camp APP in the United States, LBP in Mexico, and ruAPP in Russia. During my APP Board terms I have served as Vice President, Membership Liaison, and now as President. Needless to say, things have been very busy and exciting these past five years! But that is enough about me, let’s talk about APP Conference!
A few years ago a survey was sent out to APP Members requesting their feedback for Conference. The overwhelming response was that Conference makes the most sense in Las Vegas from a financial and entertainment standpoint. At the request of the membership, we started looking at other hotels to host our Conference.
Some were too small and couldn’t physically house all our attendees. Others were simply too expensive for the daily room rates. Then we toured Planet Hollywood. Making a very long and work-intensive story short, Planet Hollywood looked like the perfect next step for our growing conference.
Now, I’m one of those people that gets used to things and am fine with familiarity. I was always quite fond of Bally’s. I knew where everything was located. Huge group hangouts at the bar were always a sight to see. So why change it? I walked into Planet Hollywood thinking, “well if everybody wants a change of scenery, so be it, but what was wrong with Bally’s?” I am happy to say that I was wrong. So very, very wrong.
Our Conference at Planet Hollywood was simply fantastic. The overall look of the hotel felt updated and refreshing. The rooms were comfy and felt new and modern. And every room had a fridge!! (It’s the little things.)
The easy walk directly from the elevator to the conference space and Expo was incredibly convenient.
It felt wonderful to travel to and from classes without having to go through all the cigarette smoke on the gaming floor. I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of first-time attendees, long-time attendees, and vendors. The overwhelming amount of positive and enthusiastic comments about the new location were simply amazing.
It felt so good as a Board Member to hear how happy attendees were. Personally, this Conference was truly memorable because of the tributes for Fakir Musafar. Fakir was a friend of mine, my boss at The Intensives, and an altogether fun person to be around. He always seemed to have a new story I had never heard about something he did at some point. Did you realize Fakir was a puppeteer on a children’s television show for a little bit?
The Body Piercing Archive’s Fakir exhibit was breathtaking. In my biased opinion, it is their most amazing exhibit as of yet. Seeing all the amazing pictures and original items from Fakir’s body play journey and photography up close and in person was surreal.
Docent tours were lead by Cléo Dubois, Ken Coyote, Ian Bishop, Jef Saunders, Dustin Allor, Allen Falkner, Annie Sprinkle, Cynthia Wright, Betty Ann Peed, and Paul King; the tours were wonderfully done. Hearing each person’s unique relationship with Fakir was a memorable treat that I’ll never forget.
What a Conference! Smiles, tears, hugs, laughs. It was an emotional rollercoaster for sure.
I don’t want to give away any surprises, but with our next Conference in 2020 being our 25th anniversary, it is safe to say it’s going to be a special one.
Thank you for having me as a Board Member these past five years! I look forward to one more year of service and I look forward to learning with you all at our next Camp and Conference