 My guest today is Todd Harris a local Chicagoan Todd if you would please tell us about your title and your placement at IML So my title began with running for mr. Chicago leather Which was in January of 2016. I ended up winning that which then put me in the running to go to IML with a Great amount of support behind me. I was able to actually take first runner-up for IML 2016, which was fantastic For many reasons, but mostly because Chicago had never placed and it was great to break the curse after 38 years Truly the 38 specials, right? So where are you from so I grew up in Barrington Northwest suburb It was kind of a fairly rural suburb when I grew up there So spent a lot of times at the barns Riding horses around cattle spent 11 summers of my life at a dairy farm Which was great But a lot of work and a lot of fun and taught me a lot about agriculture and would eventually become my career as a veterinarian So, you know grew up there went to school in Champaign for both undergrad and graduate and then Moved back to Barrington to practice for a little while Okay, how were you introduced to the leather kink scene? So my very first recollection is I was at a Roundup for cattle and When all the cowboys come in They take their boots off and leave them in the boot room and then they go get fed and I was probably eight years old and I Remember slipping into the boot room after all the guys had gone in and putting their boots on And I remember having this moment where I put my foot in a boot that was still warm From the guy who'd been wearing it and I had this Just thing that popped into my head that meant this is important Pay attention, but don't tell anyone and it was probably my first literal Adolescent boner. I Seriously thought there's something here and I've been following it ever since. Why did you feel you couldn't tell anyone? You know, it was one of those feelings that I can't really explain other than I knew I needed to keep it private and It was it wasn't didn't feel icky didn't feel wrong I just felt like I need to keep this very close to the breast for myself So it took me a number of years before I actually Began to talk about it with friends So it was but it was definitive How did that evolve for you? So being around rural Environments you run, you know with tack on horses. So there's leather boots I got into motorcycle riding early with dirt bikes And the gear that goes with it and it just always had that sense of Masculinity the sweat the smell the second skin characteristic It felt good on it felt Protective and yet in that empowering I've always had a thing for boots. I have a ton of them way too many Or never too many which are we look at it? But um, I feel very empowered in them They just have a sense of strength to me and I work now in construction as well So having you know a good set of work boots is always something that's on my body So I kind of live my boot fetish every day. How many pairs would you estimate you have? Somewhere north of 50. Oh, okay. Yeah So you alluded earlier to Having attended veterinary school and now you're mentioning construction. What do you do professionally? So now I own a construction company called Stonewall construction. We've been in business for approximately 16 years math is hard 16 17 years and We do anything from full ground up brand new homes to restoration and renovation Okay, throughout the city. We used to do the burbs, but we're lucky enough that our clients are Local so we don't have to drive a lot and we get to pick who we work for it's been really great Do you do any handy person type work? um, I have a client who can't change their own artwork and they change it seasonally So we go in and move all their art for them. So that is probably the least Work I do for money because it seems so silly, but he just can't do it So we do and then I have another client who literally they can't change your light bulbs. Wow, they're Worried they're gonna break them off. So anytime something goes in their house and then I have other clients who obviously You know, I see once or twice a year for some type of major Renault But been really lucky honestly with terrific clients and really great People who just return year after year after year to do more stuff I'll be in contact. I'll I want some work done on my condo Everyone who has a house needs something done. Yeah, I didn't know this about your your professional world. Yeah, wonderful So and I've kept my license because I felt at some point when I retire I might go back into horse work Specifically breeding because it's only three months of the year. So it's easy. Yeah so Were you mentored in the leather community? so I unfortunately was not I Whether it's a blessing or a curse I've always felt fairly confident about my Interests and what you know, I wanted to go after so I just figured out what I wanted to do and went after it I can remember being 25 or 6 and just coming out And a meet within three months of having my first Kind of sexual experience with a man I came out broke up with my girlfriend told my parents told my friends and then kind of hit the ground a little later than most but still hit the ground running and The first kind of revelation I had was with a guy who was Quite into kink and we had a wonderful three months of just experimentation But I knew what I wanted and I went after it. So what do you want? What did you go after? So this guy was a large built Individual I can remember seeing him for the first time and not looking away So I don't know if we all remember that moment in our lives when we cruise somebody and didn't look away But up until that point. I hadn't really known what it was, but I could tell, you know, there's just that biochemical misfire crossfire electrical short circuit that goes on in your brain when you see somebody you get your you know your growing starts to like Talk to you and you have that just indescribable moment of I need to know more and We looked at each other and he was the attendant to the store that I was buying a suit for a friend's wedding And when I went back after the tailor was done, I walked into my room the changing room and My clothes were gone so I'm standing there in my underwear having handed the suit back to him and The next thing I know he's standing at the door and he comes in and proceeds to give me a blow job and it happened very quickly and He said you want to do more and I said yes, he said great. I'm off right now. Let's go to my house So I did and it was really a stupid move I didn't know who he was where he lived, but you know, I made a dumb decision, but turned out fine So What are your interests in the leather kink arena so sexually I would describe myself as a Dom top I like I Like impact play heavily because I think it's it's much more about intensive play with your partner. I like the power exchange of communication and feeling so flogging caning even single-tail I Enjoy breath control again because it's a part of letting someone Feel so taken care of that they can let go of their control and give it to you And there's nothing more really titillating to me than that moment where you have someone's trust They know you're going to take care of them. They know you're not going to hurt them Well, not hurt them in a bad way I Do know what I mean, but I mean that you're going to take care of them, right? Emotionally and physically and that they want to take that journey with you to me. There's nothing better, which is Still to this day just as much of a turn on as it always has been Is there anything that you haven't tried that you would like to try? Oh That's a good question. I've tried a lot I Would say honestly at this point. I've pretty much tried everything I've wanted to and So I don't really have any Not to say that there isn't something that I would enjoy that I don't know but I haven't found it yet. Okay, so What are your thoughts about the leather scene here in Chicago So one of the reasons I did the contest was because I had been in a relationship that had been socially Kind of a very small circle my partner at the time did not enjoy big social events So I kind of retracted over the 10 or 11 years that we were together To a small footprint of people and I wanted to do kind of a breakout push my boundaries Push myself moment and I just stumbled into the contest thinking I've been in the leather community since I got here in 91. I can remember bars that no longer exist as we all can and I thought let me jump back in feet first having no clue The contest was on Friday. I downloaded the application Wednesday night I dropped it off at Thursday at 4 the deadline was Thursday at 5 I ended up competing and winning and again. It was such a whirlwind But it was exactly what I needed it was it was a foray back into leather that I had kind of forsaken for my relationship and I've been always amazed at In my experience the ability for leather to be accepting I always describe IML to people as a lid for every pot If you are into lesbian nuns, there's lesbian nuns if you are into You know if you're into anything it's there, right? There's someone else who won't Think you're silly won't laugh at you will support you will want to try stuff with you And there's also people there that will help you understand stuff. You never even knew you wanted to try But now can't do without and to me that's been the amazing thing about the community is it's consistently about Brotherhood sisterhood bringing people together and acceptance and you hear at least I have heard especially through this last title year from people all over the world people from Turkey and the Uzbekistan and just just places that I have not been and probably will never be asking For help asking to understand what they can do fetish wise that their Family or their religion might put them in in harm's way if they express this to their parents and the most fascinating interesting Unexpected thing about the year was those conversations on messenger How did you learn about the contest? Mr. Chicago leather. Yes. I had been to it in the past Like I said, it had been a number of years since I had been into the community actively and I Didn't miss an IML even with my partner who was again trying to not be socially as active as I wanted to be We still went to IML every year from 91 on so been to a lot of them knew about the contest, but never really thought I would run and It was a recommendation of a friend of mine who said, you know what you should run and I thought Damn it. Why not? Let's just try it. What do I have to lose? so and I remember I walked on stage and I didn't have Facebook or Twitter or Instagram had no social media presence. I hadn't really been in the community enough that anyone in the audience knew who I was So over the course of the contest, apparently I became known as mystery contestant number four Because they would look up my name and there was nothing on Facebook and a fair amount of social media Groups if you're not on Facebook, you don't exist. All right, so That part was actually quite funny and again unexpected, but I learned how to do Facebook How did these international People from Uzbekistan or from wherever how did they find you to be able to ask you things? So I think And again, I'm still kind of ignorant about it, but having turned Facebook on and because It's it's just literally this Stampede of people who want to talk with you, which I did not expect And they friend requests and I went from zero to a thousand to twenty five hundred to hitting the limiter at five thousand And of course, you don't know many of these people, but my past MCL's mr. Chicago Leathers had said just accept everybody, you know, try to be as accepting as you can You know, you never know what's going to come out of it And that's exactly what I did and then I started getting questions from people that would just pop up on messenger I also got a ton of butthole shots I never see another one. It's good. I always wanted to ask them I'd be generous to this work for you. Does it work that you send this out and someone goes, yeah I want to date you at that. I will never understand but along with those you get these great questions From young people who are in such a different situation That you just don't you know again in my ignorance and my This kind of complacency of being in the US and the ease of which it is in which our lives are now and Thankfully to everyone who came before us You forget and Those are those moments of being reminded that our life here is a gift from the people who came before us And so it is our duty to push that make the space for the people to come behind you Easier every day. I mean that's if I got anything out of this whole series of contests. That's it Tell me a bit about your your feelings on the contest experience for mr. Chicago leather and IML So for mr. Chicago leather Again kind of a whirlwind because I literally put my application in Thursday the contest started the next night So I show up on Friday night and they're supposed to we're all supposed to sell raffle tickets And I had not done this Before and part of it is boots to balls and round the world all things I'm familiar with now, but at the time didn't know about So I didn't realize when I got my tickets the first guy who came up and wanted to have a boots to balls raffle ticket. I Handed him the role of tickets because I expected him to do it to me Not realizing that it's supposed to be the other way around And so but he immediately knelt down and did my inseam I Handed them back and said thank you very much and went on to the next guy through the course of the night a Number of the other contestants had come up to me and said, you know, it's the other way around You're supposed to do them. Why why would I do that? It's it's the idea. They're paying me to touch me right and it was not right, but anyway, that's what I ended up doing so Friday night was fun and again eye-opening Saturday we had interviews so we showed up at the Gerber Hart Museum and had a really interesting all six of us were there the contestants and Then we went in one at a time and had our interviews and we all stayed just to kind of be supportive of each other until we were all done and After the interviews you go home. It's like five o'clock. You have to be back here at L. A. M. At six. Yeah, so again, no real rest. You change clothes come back So for the contest, you know, I had what I knew for was my old gear and it's old It has dings in it and my boots are from 20 or 30 years ago and I like all that but one of the things I didn't have was I didn't have a leather jock and I they talked about doing a jock moment for pecs and personalities for questions So I'm in the back and I Everyone's getting in their jocks and I said a jock is okay, right? so I had a red jock that said fist on it because I'm a fister and It was cloth and I didn't think anything of it and so I walk out on stage do my stuff whatever go off After the whole thing is over Three of the judges came up and said, you know, we had to mark you down because your jock was cloth But then we marked you back up because you just owned it and I said, I think I owned it because I didn't know better So ignorance really helps sometimes and so for that contest it was a like a one and done and and then you really hit the ground running for IML and only with just amazing support from Louise who was my immediate title dad Miguel who was my title granddad all of the other MCL's David Boyer from Touche Christine from the archives as the archivist for all the video stuff and An endless amount of people Leslie Anderson who just was You know unequivocally amazing for getting my gear in shape It was magnificent and You felt so loved and taken care of Again by a community who really didn't know you all that well But wanted to get to know you and wanted to help you and wanted you to succeed and it was Such a rush to get up to IML and then IML happens. We get there Wednesday night To register and everybody there said Turn on the videotape monitor in your head You need to remember every moment because you're going to blink and it's going to be Monday and Even though there were long stretches of stuff where you're thinking boy This is running on and on and on it was very true. You blink and it's Monday and so we went through an amazing amount of experiential stuff and the Thing that I think was most interesting for me was how emotionally it was Our group had been connecting through whatsapp So we had been talking to each other a lot of guys had met each other So there were already nicknames and jokes and private asides and stuff that we shared Which really helped us bond as a group and we had some interesting moments. We had one of my classmates Grandmother became very ill and we stood as a group and cried with him We she eventually his grandmother eventually passed the next day and she had sent him a message saying Stay there. I know this is important to you. I want you to be there and You know, we're just bawling our eyes out. So it's 58 59, you know men in leather You know pretending we're super masculine just bawling our eyes out and that again. It's the juxtaposition of the masculine with the feminine with the emotional with the stoic all of that is to me again What's so erotic about this community We had a straight man who was also in our contest With a wife who we you know loved just with everybody else He got some shaming done on Facebook, which is brutal and as a group in the middle of Getting ready for the Sunday night Main contest where they start to pick top 20 all of us stopped we went into his room again group hug I'm just trying to make him understand that we're there for him and it's those moments That you realize This is the experience. Yeah, right? Yeah, so it was great on so many levels and unexpected which as a 54 year old man at the time There's not a lot that surprises me and I'm fairly settled in my way of thinking Yeah, I've either been through most of this or seen most of this before but that weekend was anything but that and The normal IML experience which I've had many times didn't even exist because it was so Focused on the group of men you're with the handlers the support group And all the fans and people who are around who make you feel, you know super important and loved and Just a great experience and then of course being picked into the top 20 you give your speech You do your erotic wear Which again being 54 and walking out on the stage in very little Is fascinating, but I didn't care so it was fine and it was It's really amazing to then be put on that stage again, and then you get called out in the top three and it was Again very much of a whirlwind. I will say that our experience as a class The guys in the rest of my class said we are not taking the buses back until those guys come with us till Tigger myself and Adam get on the bus and The producers had a different concept They wanted to put us in a cab or sorry in a limo and take us back and the guys are like no We we are a class we need to be together and that again was just very telling about what happened and the kind of bonding that happened which again you can't Replicate it So I know this is an experience when they again they say touch you the rest of your life And you want to shrug that off they were totally right it touched me for the rest of my life You're the highest ranking Title holder from Chicago first runner up at IML what are your thoughts on that? I've told Lots of people the same thing there. There's two medals There's a brotherhood medal that you get that's the same medal that we all have and then there's the placing medal I wear the brotherhood medal all the time I wear the placing medal only for formal events where I'm judging and I won't no longer wear that because my second place is done But the brotherhood medal I'll wear the rest of my life There's less than 2,000 individuals who've gone through this experience and You see that medal on anyone and you instantly have something to connect with him about and you talk about their era their time or when it was and it's again, it's this Just a hierarchical event in your life that floats to the top because of the emotions and the connections It changes your life because you understand the impact you can have on others simply for having placed That again comes with a little bit of you know ownership You have to you can't be an idiot try not to be a jerk about stuff You can get a lot of people requesting your time and you realize this is what you do. Yeah, you give them your time Right if they want to talk with you. It's a gift and Even if you're tired and you've been up or you're getting, you know feeling like you're sick and you just want to lay down you realize that you Stand up be present with them answer their questions You know help them out and it's it's super rewarding I've loved every second of it and you know really in our class There was one winner and the rest of us lost Right the rest of us didn't win. So I'm just the same as all the rest of us And our class I think is better for it understanding that that's the way You know really it should be thought about there's one winner and the rest of us are the same So it's been It's been great. I love the fact that we Adam and I place higher than any Chicagoans ever and Personally, I'm very proud of the way everybody helped me and It was you know it if I was the tip of that iceberg There was plenty below water that was helping push me forward and you don't ever forget that What do you think set you apart that that put you out that pinnacle? so comments I got back from a lot of the judges was that I Was comfortable with talking about my fetish That while many people will talk about Philanthropic events and stuff that they do and maybe political statements that seem like would be something people want to talk about it is actually I Mean I'm L and Leather is based in in a fetish Beginning right so once you own that and you come out as gay, and then you come out as a fetish person it really is what all this is about and I Was not afraid to talk about it I was happy to talk about the philanthropic stuff that I had done as well But I owned and was comfortable talking about my fetish too, and I think that's the number one statement. I got from the judges so Whether whether I talk too much about it or not. I don't know What benefits did your IML placement afford you so you're instantly thrown into being known by people Both the bad and the good of that you would have I learned to say nice to see you As opposed to nice to meet you or nice to see you again Because if you say nice to see you again to someone you haven't met They will say I don't I haven't met you, you know or if you say You know nice to meet you wait you've met me before so I learned to say nice to see you it works for both groups Nobody gets upset and you basically take a conversation that needs to move forward into whatever the next statement is going to be about into that next statement so that for me was Probably the the thing it afforded me the most was being able to learn to talk in groups To converse with people you had met or maybe forgotten and just understand that you can't possibly remember everyone you've met right but still open up a dialogue so that you can talk with them about whatever's on their mind and being present to them so that you're looking them in the eye and Letting that you know not looking around like who's that guy or is that guy hotter or whatever actually sitting with them and Being present is what I tried to do with anyone who want to talk to me What are your thoughts and feelings about? Contestant preparation, how do you feel you were prepared for I am all so for I am all I received amazing support from again my title dad Luis Miguel David and this really Leslie Everyone was willing to listen to my speech Everyone was willing to take time to help me take photographs so that I could you know post some things so I could be seen That kind of contest prep I would have never expected But was gratefully accepting and and really wonderfully supported so I think that was probably unexpected on the first hand, but but Necessary I think the ability for whoever is the title holder that's then stepping up to I am all You ultimately need to be yourself and that when I've judged contests and as have you you know The statement I always make first is show us who you are Don't tell us what you think we want to hear because we can smell that So tell us who you are what sets you apart? What makes you the kinky little fucker that you are and why is that? You know your thing and then people bloom you ask them about some fetish that floats their boat and they instantly light up and Then you're engaged and when we were talking about speeches and stuff in mind I made a joke about a Statement that Eleanor Roosevelt had made and then I followed that comment up with aren't lesbians smart Which all the girls in the audience rolled right they laughed at it And I I was afraid that wasn't gonna go over well and it went over great So much so that I had to cut some of my speech because when you run out of time Right in the mic off right but again glad to do it But those moments of being able to practice and have someone spend their time because anytime You know people offer you Their time. I mean it's the most precious commodity any of us have So to be able to give that back is really I think what the this work is about Wow, that's a refreshing point of view Well, again, I think that's what has always made this community Strong and different like people can walk into a leather bar And I've talked to many people who had the same conversation For whatever reason they weren't accepted. They were a different shape or a different size Or a different look from what that was expected at the stand-in pose bar They didn't get the time of day They walk into a fetish bar and people will see them and really I mean all anyone wants is to be seen Yeah, right. They want to be know that they're on the planet that they're in place and people have different Comfort levels of how they talk and how they deal with that and some people are very skittish some people are over talkative myself included But but I mean I think that's what the work is about Fascinating Were you romantically involved at the time you were competing? I was not when I started initially the the role of What got me to think about going into the contest was wanting to break out of what had happened from my past relationship But I had begun to see a guy who was from Los Angeles. His name is court Lane and he was Very instrumental in being supportive like yeah, you should go do this you should go do this you should go do this Because I think he wanted me to be open to the opportunity now. He also knew The current IML at the time Patrick Smith they worked together so he was familiar with the contest concept much more than even I was so it was It was something that grew as the year went on Relationship wise we became Engaged in a relationship and it was some Wonderful because again super supportive super friendly very very Engaging in trying to do the best for me and in relationships I've always heard there's a gardener and there's a flower and I've always tended to be the gardener So to have someone garden me Was different? Yeah, I'm refreshing But it's it's just my nature really to be the gardener. That's just what I like to do Fascinating How did that how did being so highly placed Enable you to access more of the community sexually romantically playfully well, so Sexually there is the opportunity to do a lot I will say personally for myself. That wasn't really my deal I fell into the ability of having a secondary person in my relationship status with the concept of actually trying polyamory and that was with Steve and It was Refreshing frightening scary. It was it was something I'd never done because I had only ever done monogamy And so the openness of the possibility of other sexual experiences was The open possibility of being sexually open to all of the possibilities was Sometimes deafening in the fact that it would and I told you about the butthole pictures, right? You'd get all kinds of other photos too and people were saying I'm in love with you And I want to meet you and come I'll come visit and that was a Part of this that was difficult to really get a handle on how to control it because I didn't want to be rude I will tell people face-to-face if they come up to me. I'm I'm flattered, but no, thank you It's just not my thing And I've had no problem doing that over the years, but trying to do it online felt almost Too rude, so I just wouldn't initially or originally just say I'm in a relationship Thank you very much. I'm not interested and then it was I'm in a Polyamory relationship, and I'm not interested. Thank you very much And for the most part I would say 98% of people were respectful of that. Good. Yeah, good What was your greatest accomplishment during your? tidal year so There is one particular guy that I spoke with From Turkey and there is one particular guy that I spoke with from South Carolina That I would never have known Never seen never had a chance to meet and they had I think Forks in the roads for lack of a better word. They were in a decisional process of I think one was actually Considering suicide because he talked about this a lot and just he was in a place where His religion wouldn't allow him to honor his fetish His family was coming down on him hard for even the inkling of being gay He had no real recourse for getting out of the country to get to a place that's safer and I talked with him quite a bit and Ultimately he has now left Turkey and is in London The other gentleman from South Carolina Also had you know a lot of Input and was interested in like meeting and talking and I just said I'm happy to talk with you but I can't offer you more, but I'm happy to talk and Sometimes that worked and sometimes that doesn't work But that's what I could always do and again being present with people I think was the greatest lesson for me and my hopeful greatest gift that I could give back Was I'm happy to talk about whatever with whomever if they want to share What's been your greatest challenge? I Think the time commitment because I have my own business Which can sometimes like now in the summer season, you know we can work 75 to 80 hours a week So to do that and then to also have to try to travel to do judging to be present for fundraisers That was hard and there were a lot of times when I Did too much and just got run down, you know and I'd feel sick and you know I just there times like I just I do not want to put my boots on and go back out I just don't want to do it, but you did because you I realize It's a year. It's a year in your life It's just get your ass out there and do it because you're not gonna have this chance next year So, you know you have to be out there every chance you can to try to like move the ball forward really just Make the community better make people understand that what you're about is trying to Make everybody float a little higher right raise the bar for everybody so that we all you know can hold their heads a little higher Was there anything you wish you had done that you weren't able to do Um Other than just be available for more people at the time, I really feel I'm very happy with with what has Transpired over the year. I'm sure there are people that weren't particularly Super happy about how I handled some things, but they haven't been very vocal about it if they were I will say that I know that there's a lot of backlash talk that happens and For some reason that never happened with me. I never had anybody that I know of post anything negative About me and I take great pride in the fact that I hope that's because not because I'm scary But because I actually you know did right by them and that's my hope That's the goal and I'm you know fingers crossed if that's the case any advice for Upcoming title holders First of all do it Find other people who are out in the community and get them involved as well and then I think just the best thing you can Best advice I can give anybody is check yourself Check your ego check your you know a time commitment Check why you're doing this, you know check yourself, you know figure out why you're doing this for yourself and You know, but still do it. I just really believe that it is such a Centering event because you are going to be pulled in many ways that you will never be pulled It will challenge the sense of who you are in ways that you will never be challenged it will challenge you to Drink too much not drink anything do this not do that and and it allows you to get a better Focus and more clarity on who you are and By being more focused on who you are and better about who you are and more centered on who you are You're then just that much better for everybody you touch So it's a win win win for me if you look at it that way fascinating What are your thoughts on Old guard versus new guard leather? So I had this question a couple of times. I feel I'm old guard Tom of Finland that kind of concept That is the fetish for me. It's my Demographic it's where I play in my head But you know, I'm 55 now There is a group of us that were my age and older that aren't here Right a lot of them aren't here and what we lack from that missing group of men is The mentoring that went to the guys beneath us and by not mentoring them who are now in their 40s They didn't meant to the guy in their 30s and what is amazing to me is That what transpired is the concept of puffiness Puppy play I believe came out of the younger generations need to have a hierarchical fetish And they did it all on their own. They don't have Dom's and slaves or Dom's and masters and tops and all this they have Handlers and they have alphas and they have betas. So it's still hierarchical it's More in a playful sense then maybe old guard would have liked where puppies can just be completely off the You know mark out of control because they're puppies and that's their excuse. I've never done that play I don't really have a connection to it But I fucking applaud it because it has brought in a whole generational a Whole new generation of people that would never have been here and they did it all on their own and it has exploded And I did get one question once that said You know, you're standing in your bar in your bluff gear and in walks a young guy in a Kelly green harness with flip-flops You know, what do you do? I'm like, well You know, I have nothing but love for this kid if he's doing his own thing if that's what turns him on Great. I mean, I don't have to enjoy what he's doing Physically to not respect him and support him So, you know as far as I'm concerned everybody's welcome if we ever get to the point Which I think sometimes we do where you're not enough of my type of fetish to belong in this bar. I Think we're just shooting ourselves in the foot because just go back 10 years go back 20 years go back 50 years Where all we got was you're not welcome Yeah, yeah, and how we can even have those words come out of our mouths To me is really striking. You know, we have to be leading in our expectation of Acknowledgement and acceptance and if we aren't doing that we're really doing a Tremendous disservice to the men who are dead Because they aren't here so we have to do it What are your future plans? this year is a little bit of vacation and I have two contests that have asked me to judge and I'm still deciding if I'm gonna do that or if I'm just gonna step back and Try to just be a little more private this year What's the biggest misconception about you? I Hear a lot that I'm Intimidating and that's not a misconception. I'm kidding He's modest right No, I hear that a lot that I use you're super intimidating. I don't want to like Talk to you are afraid you're gonna bite my head off and I'm not you know come talk to me So happy to share Thank You Todd. Oh, yeah, it's been an amazing interview. I'm So thankful to be asked and I love the fact that you just continue to do this and bringing it worldwide. It's awesome