The Oregon Public House Inteview

How did you come with the idea of opening the first “philanthropub” ever?

Really it came about as a dream to start a nonprofit.  Not a pub.  The pub idea just came as an answer to a question: “What does the community need?”  There were lots of things we thought we could do, but we realized there were already dozens of nonprofits across the city trying to meet the needs of the community.  But they were struggling.  Finances are always the most important, and simultaneously least important departments of any nonprofit.  Their challenge is to accomplish the mission of the npo, but they are often hindered by the task of raising funds simply to keep going.  This is where the idea of the business came in.  Why not start a business that could raise funds and awareness for these organizations, simply by running a successful business?  Allowing the nonprofits to focus on their mission, and we can focus on the fundraising.  This is where the idea germinated from.

The Pub idea came about because…Portland.  Portland, Oregon is “Beervana”.  We have more breweries than any other city in the world.  For us, it was simply connecting the dots.

Melyssa Hubbard Interview

 

How do you start being involved in the BDSM community as a dominatrix?

 
Thank you for being the first in Europe to interview me. I will be interested to hear what a European audience thinks of my story. 

In the year 2000, I was introduced to the lifestyle via a boyfriend who showed me the early Internet societies on AOL (America On Line). My initial education of the D/s arts (dominance/submission) also took place in early underground chat rooms where I met a few amazing individuals in real life.  I was never keen on the American BDSM societies, but did try to work within them for a time after I was first outed in 2003 by local media.  I learned the vicious world of politics in underground kink societies before I practiced above ground in the real political arena where it matters. 

There’s a fun section in my book detailing the first time I visited a BDSM club three hours away from Indianapolis, Indiana in Chicago, Illinois. My book details many of my other early lifestyle D/s (Dominance/submission) adventures and how that journey led to my decision to go pro against the many internal moral obstacles I would have to reconcile to do so.