Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kate Kincaid. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kate, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Every year at SWLF feels a little bit like taking a risk and that started with our very fist year. Sara and I had traveled to another conference on polyamory and it was great but we thought, we could do this and add our own spin on it. Neither of us had ever run a conference and we didn’t know what we didn’t know but we decided to go for it anyway. We wanted to start small but this conference has a mind and heart of it’s own so it had other plans. Every year feels like it starts to plan itself. For me, this is not my primary income and is more of a side passion project. Every year we question whether or not we have the time or energy to run it again. But people start reaching out and the next year starts to come into form so we just try to keep up! Planning this conference has challenged me in ways I didn’t see coming but have helped me grow so much as a human. And every year we take new risks that feel scary but easier to decide to take the risk! It’s been a really rich and interesting process.

Kate, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m the co-creator for Southwest Love Fest, an annual conference on ethical non-monogamy, relationships, identity, community, and psychedelics. Our vision is to serve our non-monogamy community as a whole. Our community includes all genders, ethnicities, sexual preferences, and varying levels of ability, ages, and experiences.

We seek to strengthen our non-monogamous community through relevant educational topics and discussions on non-monogamy, examining privilege and inequality in non-monogamy. We want to create fun and interactive spaces with activities for people to meet, play and be seen in an inclusive and affirming environment.

I’m also the founder of a large group psychotherapy practice called Tucson Counseling Associates where we serve a lot of the same population and specialize in psychedelic assisted therapies.

Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?

I’m currently looking to sell my business to the employees and become an employee owned co-op. It’s rare for businesses to do that but it feels aligned with my values of sharing with community. Sharing the rights and the responsibilities of being a business owner and having people truly invested in our shared project feels important.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think just consistently providing a quality service was the main thing. People heard about it and are interested but are sold and committed once they’ve attended a Southwest Love Fest conference or received services from a therapist at my practice. Attention to detail is important as well as trying to center people who are historically (and currently) marginalized. For example, at SWLF we make sure to get chairs that can hold larger bodies comfortably, ensure that our bathrooms are gender neutral, that we have a diverse lineup of speakers, that we offer sliding scales, that we provide free childcare so no one feels excluded but even beyond that, people feel actively included.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.swlovefest.com
• Instagram: @southwestlovefest and @okatekincaid and @tucsoncounselingassociates

Image Credits
Rachel Marie Castillo, Raising Flowers Birth