The Incredible Edible Akynos

Akynos is the founder of the Black Sex Worker Collective, author, performance artist, and an educator in the fields of sexuality, HIV, and rights. As the current director of the Black Sex Worker Collective she has convened public actions in New York City for International Whores Day (June 2, 2018) and for International Sex Worker Rights Day in March 2018 in response to the passage of recent repressive Federal legislation restricting online speech, she has represented US sex workers at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, and has raised funds for marginalized sex workers directly impacted by the current political climate in the United States. She has advised other non-profit organizations including Desiree Alliance, where she has spearheaded the arts track for the national conference, and the Best Practices Policy Project, where she works on UN Policy relating to women at the Commission on the Status of Women and during the Universal Periodic Review of the human rights record of the United States at the Human Rights Council. She is also the founder of the production company little woman. BIG HAIR through which she has developed and presented numerous creative works addressing the intersections of Blackness and sexuality including Darkie: Black Aesthetics (a multi-media variety show), THICK (a variety zaftig revue), Dark, Nude Storytellers (spoken word review) and Koffee (a burlesque troupe). Akynos has performed at the NYC Burlesque Festival, the Berlin Burlesque Festival and in many other venues. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Goddard College and is currently pursuing a Masters in Fine Art (MFA) in performance at the same institution. She has published her work at A Kiss For Gabriela and has a co-authored peer reviewed publication forthcoming in The Handbook of Sex Work Research (Routledge, 2018). Her writings may also be found at Blackheaux.wordpress.com.