Category Editorial

Innovator Award 2023 Regalia Jewelry

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Regalia’s Innovative Award winning design “Pin Crimp.”

At this year’s APP Conference, Regalia won the Innovator’s Award for their “Pin Crimp” design. We were fortunate enough to have a chat with the owner of Regalia, Derrick Edward R. and asked him about his latest invention and his beginnings in the industry.

The Point: Congratulations on your win in the Innovators Award. You also won the Best Single Booth award at the APP Conference this year. You all must be very excited!

Regalia: Thank you! It was a bit of a surprise when I got a text message saying we won both awards (we didn’t attend the closing party). To be honest, I think we should have won the best booth award last year; Some people might remember the reliquary that the Regalia crew spent weeks working on with “Sadima” the mummy empress. It was a bit of an upset, so this year, we’d intentionally planned a much simpler approach and wanted to focus on sales and operation. We all kind of joked to ourselves because we thought we were thrown a bone this year because whoever felt bad we didn’t win last year. In any case, it feels good to have hard work acknowledged.

The Point: What inspired you to create this concept and how does it set itself apart from similar concepts?

Regalia: We’d always had the thought of, “Ya know it’d be really cool if there was a specific tool that bent our threadless pins in a way that didn’t sacrifice the integrity of the pin itself so there would be less breakage” Then that turned into… “Imagine if we could get customers to be able to change their jewelry out on their own so they can focus on building their jewelry wardrobe without having to wait in line at their local piercing studio just to get something changed out.”

When the pandemic happened, it became, “All these people with threadless jewelry sitting at home that can’t go into their local piercings studios.” During normal times, we can definitely appreciate the human to human interaction and experience of going into a piercing studio to ogle and jewelry, purchase, and have it put in… But we also have found value in turning the ‘necessity’ of piercer assistance vs. ‘convenience’ of piercer assistance when it comes to having jewelry changed out. While we always recommend clients visit their piercers to make sure their piercings have healed correctly and are healthy, there’s something to be said about giving the power and confidence to the client to work with their own accessories. It also helps facilitate the move toward eCommerce as studios become more open to selling threadless jewelry in their online stores.

The design itself is meant to provide a consistent and desired result. We understood that the pliers could be used by an extremely WIDE range of people, whether piercers or “end-wearers” as we like to call them. The brilliance of our first prototype was that no matter how hard you squeezed the pliers, they would bend the pin in same exact way, the same exact amount. There’s only one other pair of pliers that are currently sold as dedicated threadless pin pliers, but we haven’t seen too much success in our industry with the use of them. Ultimately our goal is to make them so easy to use, that they become a no-brainer in needing to have them if preserving threadless jewelry is important! Many people have used other pliers in non-intended ways to bend pins with success, but we want people not to have to figure anything out. We’ll do that for you. ;D

The Point: We think this design is really neat! Is this tool a one-off creation or do you have plans to create more tools in the future?

Regalia: That’s a really good question. I suppose it depends on the success of this tool. I imagine that there will different versions of the final product of our Pin Crimp. Anyone else have any ideas?

The Point: Regalia has been around for some time and is widely known as a body jewelry company. Tell us more about yourself and the history of your company.

Regalia: Haa! I actually started out as a replacement counter-hire. This was in 2014 and at the time I was working in management at a large cosmetics company. No experience in jewelry whatsoever, other than wearing it, of course. One of my regular customers was Lysa Taylor, who at the time was the main piercer at Industrial Tattoo & Piercing in Berkeley. At this point, I’d already gone up and down and plateaued in the company I was with, so one day when Lysa came in to stock up on some facial moisturizer, I said, “Hey, you guy hiring over there?”… I suppose the timing of everything worked out. I am and have always believed that things happen for a reason. To make a long story short… I went from the top of the totem pole at this corporate company to scrubbing toilets, taking out the garbage, and cleaning up after bums outside of this piercing studio off of Dwight and Telegraph in Berkeley. Albeit, one that I’d frequented for years. I’d learned a lot about the industry in those first couple of years. Safe practices, jewelry types, sizes, materials. It was a HUGE growing point for everyone and everything and the studio and the industry in general. Social media wasn’t even a thing, yet. Nobody was taking good photos of jewelry and regularly posting to platforms like Instagram. Shortly after starting, I took over their social media and started experimenting with composition of how to post jewelry to look good and fun. I became fascinated with how light bounced off certain facets and textures of some of the designs. Having a knack for picking up and learning computer software, it wasn’t long before I’d downloaded CAD freeware to begin playing with 3D shapes and realizing my own designs.

One of the biggest bottle necks in A to Z shop operation was the amount of time it took to get jewelry from our manufacturers. We were selling jewelry faster than we could get it in our displays. I told Todd, co-owner of Industrial Tattoo & Piercing, “Dude, why don’t we just MAKE OUR OWN JEWELRY”… So we did. And literally, not knowing anything about production or manufacturing, we knew what we needed for our clients, we knew we wanted to work with gold, and we knew we had the energy to figure out the rest. I incorporated in 2015, and it’s been a huge creative endeavor since then. And definitely the most challenging experience of my life. I’ve worked alongside very talented and industrious people in this industry and have done my best to absorb as much as I possibly can. When people say they put their blood, sweat, and tears into something… I quite literally know exactly what that means. I tell people all the time that the main reason why I started Regalia was because I just wanted to make things… What people don’t see or understand is just how difficult it is to start, run, and maintain a gold body jewelry company that doesn’t outsource production to other countries, in the state of California. Proud to say we’re about 99.9% in-house production at the cost of sleepless nights and sound mind. I’ve gotta say, it does make it worth it when people see, appreciate, and share those values with others and go on to wear our designs.

Pin Crimp tool by Regalia Jewelry.

The Point: Regalia has some very interesting and unique pieces. How do you stay ahead of the game when there are so many similar types of companies?

Regalia: I’ve heard we’ve got a distinct ‘look’ from some of our clients. This is a fun compliment for us, for sure. In my mind, staying “ahead” of the game is a little bit of a trap. It’s a type of hamster wheel that we’ve got one foot on and one foot off. Something that I think Regalia has started to achieve, kind of accidentally, is creating a type of new-classic? If I could say that as cliche as it sounds. When I design something, part of me is concerned that it’ll look cheap or that it may in the future “look like its trying too hard”. Timelessness, in my opinion, is hugely important and probably comes from my own rebellion against a system that feeds off of “Oooh whats the next new thing?”, but how do you create something or a brand that isn’t typecast into someone else’s trash box? I actually think about this a lot and realize I’m overthinking it, I shake it off, and just keep moving forward. What you see in our production line is the result of that thought process. Another thing that I consider is what something will look like at different distances and how different textures break up and distribute light. Many designs don’t translate that well depending on where the observer is observing from. Many don’t know realize this, but the designs we have for sale are literally JUST A FRACTION of the designs that most of which haven’t made it to our production line. I have folders and folders and folders of literally hundreds of design files that are unfinished, or have been finished, but that never made it to cast. 

And while yes, there are a lot of smaller gold body jewelry companies popping up every single year, a part of me naturally experiences concern, but then I remember how we started, our principles, how we make things, where we make them, and why we make them comprises the unique fingerprint that is Regalia. Design-led jewelry purchasing is a big hook, but people need to know that they aren’t just buying something that shines a specific way. They’re buying a brand, they’re buying our crew, and they’re buying our values. When I talk about Regalia I notice that I get very passionate about these things as I believe it’s up to us as manufacturers to enrich our industry and educate our clients and their clients to retain the values of what they adorn themselves with. And while it’s very possible to get washed up in these fickle trends, I’ve never wanted for Regalia to outgrow our principles; This has proven to be one of our biggest challenges, but one that is at the core of who we are. These other companies will experience their own hardships like we have and still do and if they’re still around after all is said and done, and they’ve added value to the industry instead of just profited off of it, what more can be said than, “Welcome to the players circle”. I still feel like we’re outsiders achieving our stripes. Not sure if or when that feeling will ever go away, but whenever I see a beautiful photo taken of someone wearing our jewelry in a different part of the world, those stripes feel tiny.

The Point: Where does your inspiration come from when creating your designs? Is there someone or something that inspires you?

Regalia: My inspirations come from really everywhere… pictures, paintings, architecture, the occasional *cough* video game, nature, and of course suggestions from the Regalia crew and colleagues in or out of the industry… there have even been times that the NAME of the design inspired and came before the finished piece. Imagine that. Philosophy is also a huge inspiration to me. There have been moments where the meaning of words have inspired the look of certain designs. There’s literally no shortage of inspiration or creative energy that can be found in this industry, so a bigger challenge is finding the time to dedicate to bring things to fruition. As far as WHO inspires me? The industrious inspires me. There isn’t even one specific person, but more so the TYPE of person that inspires me is the ‘doer’. Anyone can have the next brilliant idea. Those are all a dime a dozen. The type of person that inspires me is the person that can execute their idea and see it through to its completion with intentional focus and vigor. Focus and dedication are two qualities that I consistently find in the people that I’m inspired by. These kinds of people are rare. I’m sure if you’re reading this, you can think of someone in your life that is like this. Keep them close, learn from them, and if you want to help those around you, BE THAT PERSON.

The Point: Do you have any fresh ideas that we might see around the innovators booth at next year’s APP conference?

Regalia: Currently, I’m focused on getting our Pin Crimp re-designed and manufactured. That said, we might try for the creative innovator’s award if that’s being run again. We’ve got some designs up our sleeves.

The Point: Do you have any other plans for the future? What can we expect to see from Regalia next?

Regalia: We do have plans of more limited drops and one-off designs. So keep an eye open for those!

Find Regalia Jewelry on the web!
Website: https://regalia.jewelry/
Instagram: @regalia.jewelry

Point 89: Gentian Violet Concerns & Alternatives

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Piercers in Canada were recently informed by Health Canada that they were not allowed to use products containing gentian violet.1 A recall was put in place due to a link to cancer risk. At least one manufacturer voluntarily discontinued sales of their products and their license was cancelled.

Continue reading →

Point 89: The President’s Corner

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Cody Vaughn

 A lot has changed since I initially wrote this article. Originally I had written about how excited we should all be for our upcoming Conference, and how 2020 was going to be a great year for our piercing community. Little did I know…

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on everybody, and our piercing community is no exception. I understand and sympathize that we are all facing incredible challenges, and the closure of our businesses has been a massive blow to us all.

The Board immediately began working on appropriate responses to the pandemic and how it affects our community. We issued our statement early in March recommending we all discontinue piercing services due to the high risk it could present to our staff and clients, prior to most states issuing mandatory closures. It  was a necessary recommendation, but the economic impact of closures did make it a tough pill to swallow. Each response we have issued regarding COVID-19 has required multiple updates because of how quickly information has been changing, on a near daily basis.

A big question from our community has been whether or not our Conference would still happen this year. The health and safety of our conference attendees, volunteers, speakers and vendors has been our top priority while looking at Conference. The Board put in a lot of work creating protocols and plans for how a scaled back Conference could look given the current situation, and every avenue was investigated as to how we could safely make it happen. Initially there were no Federal guidelines for us to follow and everybody was in a bit of a holding pattern. Information continues to become available about COVID-19; the White House and CDC have begun making suggestions for each state outlining phases to determine when businesses can safely start to reopen. These developments made it clear to the Board that with the current state of affairs our 2020 Conference should not happen.

Prematurely canceling our Conference wasn’t a simple option. Contract negotiations are a sensitive and complicated process and the fiscal impact we could have created by prematurely canceling would have been a heavy financial burden for our organization; a $200,000+ penalty in addition to losing our biggest source of annual revenue.

On a national level, nobody knew how long these forced closure measures would last. A couple of weeks? A month? Our host hotel was initially only willing to discuss options when we were thirty days out from our Conference. But thanks to our Board Members’ decisiveness, and a lot of scheduled meetings, we successfully came to a favorable negotiation earlier than that with our host hotel, which allowed us to cancel our 2020 Conference AND avoid penalties.

We thank you all for your patience and trust while we’ve worked on this. From the outside I can understand how people would think, “You should just cancel it,” and my goodness how we all had hoped it could have been that quick and simple! As Board Members we have a responsibility to be stewards of the organization, and to look out for its well being. That includes upholding our mission statement of health and safety, and looking out for the financial health of the organization.

I am incredibly proud of all of the tireless work our Board Members, Officers, APP staff and volunteers have been putting in to best address all these issues. Like everybody else, we all have our own family, financial responsibilities, and work/studios to worry about. Even with all that, everybody has truly risen to this challenge and continues to do so.

It isn’t to say we are anywhere close to being out of the woods yet, as there is still a lot of work to be done and planning ahead. How this pandemic will affect our community long-term is not yet known. But I know the APP’s Board, employees, and volunteers will all continue to do the absolute best job we possibly can. I implore all of us in the piercing community to be kind and encouraging to each other in these difficult days ahead. We are a large extended family and now is the time for us to come together and show our support for one another.

I hope all of you reading this stay healthy, stay safe, and hang in there. It will be especially sweet when we are all able to safely meet each other again, and come together with our shared passion for safe piercing.

Point 89: From the Editor

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Marina Pecorino, Managing Editor– The Point

The Point started in 1994 as a black and white paper mailer with a rotating cast of producers. The very first iteration1 stated in its introduction that “we intend [for this publication] to serve as a forum for information; all contributions are welcome.” In Issue 22, The Point producers stated that the publication was intended to “make piercing a safe, positive, evolving craft” and cautioned submitting authors to “expect to be variously disagreed with, challenged, or supported by other subscribers. That’s exactly The Point.”

This will be my final issue as a Managing Editor of The Point: Journal of Body Piercing, and the last consolidated issue to be published in a “printable” magazine format. Over the last five years I’ve helped to produce and publish 20 issues containing various tidbits of industry history; I’m sincerely proud of this professional and personal accomplishment. This unexpected opportunity allowed me to know colleagues and our organization in ways I wouldn’t have otherwise experienced. I feel closer and more connected to the piercing community, thanks to the knowledge I have gained as an Editor for this amazing publication. I am eternally grateful to have had this chance, and to have worked so closely with Kendra Jane B. and Jim Ward during my time with this project.

Moving forward, the publication will be exclusively available at thepointjournal.org in a blog style. We continue to encourage and welcome submissions of body modification and piercing related writing and high resolution images to editor@safepiercing.org. Since inception, this publication seeks to provide a reliable and progressive source of industry information, and a public platform for the diverse set of voices in our field.

The overall theme of this issue was originally planned around the interconnection between LGBTQIA+ and body mod culture; I had untold enthusiasm and personal connection to this theme. Unfortunately, due to a lack of author submissions from our community on the topic, and my own mental hurdles about ending this project (I’m not a fan of endings), the publication date was pushed far beyond our normal quarterly schedule.

Ultimately, I made the difficult decision to refocus the enclosed content around the current state of our industries and communities. Alongside many others, recently my attention and energy have been redirected; concentrating on how we can work together to create a community and support others in these uncertain and ever-evolving circumstances. I am proud of the work that my colleagues and organization have accomplished in the face of this crisis; more information about these labors of love can be found on subsequent pages of this issue.

Unfortunately, like many others, I have very different feelings toward the collaboration, guidance, and assistance offered by my state and national governing bodies. This issue offers a selection of perspectives from different industry professionals on the current COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout this difficult experience, I have been feeling much like Leah Sarah Kent describes later in this issue; “defeated, sad, and ultimately helpless” about the “systemic oppression and inequalities this virus so clearly exposes” and the lack of “major collective action as a people to rise up and fight for a new society.”

Personally, I am ready for a social and structural revolution, with the safety, security, and well being of the nation and world as the cornerstone. Until then, I’ll continue doing what I can to use my platforms to share diverse perspectives, reliable information, and available resources with my local and global communities. I hope that you will do the same. As Caitlin McDiarmid has said: “Stay Positive. Stay Generous. Stay Safe.”

1 “The Point—official newsletter of the APP,” File Archive, Association of Professional Piercers, accessed May 20, 2020,

https://www.safepiercing.org/docs/point01.pdf.

2 “The Point—official newsletter of the APP: Volume 1, Issue 2,” File Archive, Association of Professional Piercers, published January 1995,

https://www.safepiercing.org/docs/point02.pdf.

Point 88: Health Canada Warns about Gentian Violet

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At the beginning of June, Health Canada warned Canadians of potential cancer risk associated with gentian violet. This was concerning to many professional piercers in Canada and internationally, due to the fact that gentian violet is a product commonly used for marking before a piercing. There has been some debate in the piercing community over whether the gentian violet product recall should affect our industry.

In Issue 89, we’ll have a thorough examination of the studies that triggered the product recall and what that may mean for professional piercers and consumers in general. Thankfully, in the meantime, there are non-gentian violet options available in the form of pressure marks and non-gentian markers. It should be noted that when opting for markers, skin specific pens and surgical markers should be used rather than permanent ink pens and markers.

Point 88: The President’s Corner

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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

Point 88: From the Editor

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by Marina Pecorino, The Point Editor

Conference this year featured several sessions on the topic of representation and accessibility. I attended a fantastic discussion from Vanessa Delgado of Eastern Washington University on the topic of Cultural Competence and Inclusion, where the distinction between equality and equity was discussed. I was also allowed to share space with some of my POC colleagues during the POC: The Power of Color and Representation roundtable. I came home more aware than ever of the importance in using our individual platforms to help elevate those around us. Since returning from Conference, I have had more industry professionals than usual reaching out with an interest in volunteering or submitting articles. I love this!

Bring it on.

APP membership is not a requirement for submissions to this publication, although we do encourage Members to submit. We welcome writing, images, and video submissions to editor@safepiercing.org.

Is industry related writing, photography, drawing, and/or videography not your forte, but you’d like to help the organization and industry flourish? Or are you frustrated with an aspect of the organization that you’d like to see change? Maybe you just have an incredibly keen eye for details, fantastic organizational skills, or are particularly tech savvy. If so, I strongly encourage you to email volunteer@safepiercing.org. Julie Taylor has a survey to help identify your areas of skill and interest, enabling the organization to pair you with an appropriate APP Committee or project. There are dozens of people working behind the scenes for the Association of Professional Piercers all the time, sometimes from across the globe. Join us and our companion organizations like, LBP1, UKAPP2, RuAPP3, APPE4, and the brand new AUPP5. You can read about some of their international conferences and contributions later in this issue.

Representation is imperative in all its forms to ensure the diversity and well being of our community. Get involved. Be seen and heard. Add your perspective to our shared history.

1https://www.lbpiercing.com/

2https://www.ukapp.org.uk/

3http://ruapp.pro/

4https://www.appepiercing.org/

5http://safepiercing.org.au/

Point 87: The President’s Corner

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by Jef Saunders

Nate Janke, Derek Lowe, Westin M. Fryar, William Wood Jr., Courtney Jane Maxwell of Saint Sabrina’s

To you readers of The Point, it has been a humbling experience being the President of the Association of Professional Piercers. What I’ve learned in the past three years is that there is an enormous team of committed piercers, jewelry manufacturers, Sponsors, employees, Volunteers, Officers, committee members and Board members who make the effort every day to make piercing safer and spread the word about this wonderful organization.

We are on the precipice of the 24th annual APP Conference & Exposition, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve spoken with instructors, vendors, volunteers and attendees, and we all share a renewed enthusiasm for the learning that takes place at our Conference. One of the most exciting parts of teaching and attending classes is the zeal with which our attendees participate. Make no mistake, even if you are not a volunteer, instructor, vendor, or conference worker, you are a crucial part of this Conference if you are attending classes, asking questions, and coming home a better educated piercer than you left.

So much is new about this 24th annual Conference: our venue is the spectacular Planet Hollywood Resort Casino! We have a revamped and exciting Golden Ticket raffle. We also have a completely new Silent Auction! We even completely overhauled the Banquet into a new Closing Party! Considering our new venue, this year was a great opportunity to innovate, and the Conference Committee and Board have done just that.

Perhaps the conference event dearest to my heart is the celebration of the life and work of Fakir Musafar. Fakir was a mentor, boss, spiritual guru, and friend of mine, and I am looking forward to sharing memories and hearing new stories in the classes devoted to Fakir. The Body Piercing Archive has been working for well over a year to present the largest exposition of Fakir’s work ever. This exhibit will be like nothing we’ve ever seen before, and I cannot wait for our conference attendees to experience it.

As I leave the office of President, I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped me throughout my term; there are not enough pages in The Point to list everyone. Thank you to our Members, Corporate Sponsors, Volunteers, Board Members past and present, and our conference attendees. Thank you Marina. Thank you Caitlin. Thank you to the staff of The Point, who do an exemplary job (and deal with my penchant for missing deadlines). Thanks to everyone who puts work into promoting safe piercing, and supports sharing and education in our community. You inspire us all. Excelsior!

Point 87: From the Editor

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by Marina Pecorino, The Point Editor

Vivi Madero & Lally Bagdon

Well, this is my first issue as a solo Managing Editor. Thankfully, I work with a wonderful Art Director, Jim Ward, and together we have created another stunning issue brimming with pre-Conference content. If you  have  expertise  in grammar,  syntax, and the written word, and spare time on your hands, we may have a place for you on The Point Committee.

Deeper within this issue, you’ll find some important updates regarding the 2019 APP Conference & Exposition. Not only have we moved to a fresh, modern venue inside Planet Hollywood, we’ve also updated some of our Conference procedures and events.

This year, your odds of taking home a grand prize from Vegas have gotten even better; check out a quick summary and the official rules for the new Golden Ticket Raffle and Silent Auction.

We’ve also refreshed the process of certificates. Conference attendees can now receive Recognition of Attendance onsite, and travel home with tangible proof of their amazing week in the desert. Transcripts with course titles (similar to what a college graduate would receive) will be digitally available shortly after the event as further proof of an attendee’s dedication to continuing education.

The 2019 Body Piercing Archive is devoted to the extraordinary Fakir Musafar. Visit this unique exhibit with art and Body Play artifacts never before publicly displayed. Don’t forget to schedule time to view the exhibit with the guidance of a docent or four; visiting this rare presentation is one thing, but attending a guided tour lead by a personal acquaintance with firsthand accounts is another thing entirely.

This year, our Banquet has also been reinvigorated. Come join us at the Gallery Nightclub in your best Moulin Rouge themed attire for our Closing Party. Make sure to wear your dancing shoes and bring your appetite for socializing.

Details about these new programs and events are available on the Conference website and in the subsequent pages of this issue. This is an exciting year and I can’t wait to see you all. Let’s get to work!

Point 86: Office Update – Meet Our New Board Members

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Cale Belford

In addition to being an educator at the annual Conference and annual Members’ Only Retreat, I put in a lot of my free time volunteering for the Association. I’ve been the head of the Social Media Committee for over three years, and am part of the Outreach Committee and the Al D. Scholarship Committee. Two years ago, I took over the Mentor Program and have worked diligently to expand and strengthen the program to better reach first time Conference attendees and piercers of all levels. I also do various other tasks for the Association, have written articles for The Point and have been featured in many educational podcasts. I excel at multitasking, am highly organized, and I especially enjoy working with new Conference attendees. It’s time for me to move forward, and am excited that my next step is to join the Board of Directors!

Becky Dill

After nearly ten years as an APP Member, I am thrilled to be at a point in my career where I know I am ready to serve on the APP’s Board of Directors. While it is an honor to be nominated, I understand that the   position   on the Board is not about status, it’s about hard work.

Deciding to finally run was not a decision I made on my own. I am very fortunate to have a team of people supporting me. What that means for the organization is that I have the stability in my personal life and career to work hard for our organization. I have the ability to commit to a dozen hours a week of additional work, to jump on a plane, or rush to the phone because there are people I work with and live with that also believe in the APP’s mission.

Willingness to work is only half the equation. Below are some of my relevant qualifications.

My APP experience:

  • Member since 2009
  • Attended Conference since 2006 (I’ve missed only one)
  • Speaker at Conference since 2013, and have earned the title of Senior Instructor
  • Volunteered at Conference
  • Attended all four years of Camp APP, and have led workshops since 2016
  • I am a founding committee member of the Body Piercing Archive. While preserving, learning, and presenting our history, my duties and skill sets include program planning and goal setting, management of volunteers, proficiency in Excel, Photoshop, Illustrator, Powerpoint, and also in Google Suite (Google Suite is the APP’s preferred management software.)

My Bay Area Piercers’ Group experience:

I’ve been a body piercer for fifteen years, and I come from humble beginnings. My thirst for knowledge and community has always been strong. In 2009, I founded the Bay Area Piercers’ Group. This group has brought the local piercers in our area together so that we may learn and inspire each other without ego or competition getting in the way. The formation of this group also inspired other communities to get together; now you can find piercer groups across the U.S. and other parts of the world.

My Fakir Intensives experience:

I have also been serving the industry as an Instructor for the Fakir’s Body Piercing and Branding Intensives in San Francisco.

When I found out about my nomination, I spoke with some of our current Board of Directors as well as sent an email to the Oversight Committee. My initial concern was that there may be a conflict of interest because of my nine year working relationship with APP Treasurer, Paul King. Thankfully I have been given a green light to proceed. I will also recuse myself from participation in decisions that involve the Treasurer.

Working on the Board will be no easy task. I think it’s important to have stability and a strong work ethic. These jobs are done best by leaders in our community. I want to be a Board Member, not because of the impact it will have on my career, but because I want to work hard for an organization that changed my life and created the person I am today.

Monica Sabin

I currently serve as the Membership Coordinator for the Association, and am honored to have been elected to a seat on the Board of Directors. I hope to further my long-running involvement and contributions to the APP. I have to say, this has been a dream of mine since the beginning of my career.

Some of you may have seen me working a booth or door at Conference over the years, seen my name answering posts on the APP Non-Members and APP Members Only forum on social media, as well as my email responding to questions pertaining to membership. Almost 8 years of my piercing career has been spent volunteering my time to the APP.

I have been a:

  • Professional piercer since 2010
  • Proud recipient of an Al D. Scholarship, allowing me to attend Conference and start volunteering for the APP in 2012
  • Business Member of the APP since 2014
  • Member of the Membership Committee since 2015
  • Membership Coordinator since 2017
  • Volunteer to represent the APP at ACHA & NEHA Conferences in 2015
  • Conference volunteer from 2012 to 2017
  • Mentor to first time attendees at Conference multiple times
  • Speaker at Conference 2017, 2018, and will be again in 2019

 As the Membership Coordinator, I help to run the Membership Committee, alongside the Board Member assigned to the Membership Liaison position, which has been Jef Saunders followed by Cody Vaughn.

My current position was created a couple of years ago in response to the exponential growth in membership (around 300 Members in 2014, to around 700 Members in 2017) and increasing number of piercers aspiring to become Members. Heading our hard working committee has become such a large task that it requires the attention and dedication of more than just one person, and that is amazing!

My current workload involves processing applications, answering all emails and communications directed to the Membership Committee, as well as managing membership documents received during the application process. I’ve also headed and assisted with many projects with the committee.

I believe that I have been an integral part of the growth of our organization. I stepped into the Membership Committee during a time where there was tremendous growth, but a need for direction, organization, and improved communication. These are my strong suites and led to me rapidly taking on more responsibility. I believe that through this position I have gained insight and experience into the inner workings of the organization and the workload required of a Board Member. I am ready for this commitment.

I have helped bring on new Membership Committee volunteers that have a strong drive to help, as well as positively shape the organization. I have helped many Members through their applications. We recently launched MemberLeap and an application system that offers a more streamlined process of applying for and maintaining membership records. The future and vitality of the organization is dependent on new energy and a fresh perspective, which I strongly believe that I will provide. There is also a need for more diverse representation of our industry through the Board Members of our organization. Amongst many things, my main goals as a Board Member are to open a dialogue, while respecting and representing the interests of our growing diverse membership and industry, to continue furthering the reach of the organization while maintaining the quality and integrity of membership, as well as carry on the hard work of those who have led our organization and committees previously.