Natalie
Natalie is a native of York, PA. A graduate of York Suburban, she went on to start a successful satellite cable installation company. She stepped down from her position around 2007 to pursue a path that ultimately led to her transition. A decision that embraced her truth, but unfortunately came at the cost of losing family and friends.
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Diving unabashedly into the creative community of York Pa she found her voice and her people. With the help of a friend, she developed an artist’s venue, the Purple Giraffe, giving a voice to poets, writers, and artists in the York community. Unfortunately, the Purple Giraffe was sidelined by the pandemic in 2020. In 2022, she met her wife, and co-fonder of Moxie & Mayhem, Cassie. Her infectious spirit, passion, and zeal for life quickly won Cassie over… it didn’t hurt that she is ridiculously cute.
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In every way possible, Natalie is the Moxie in our brand. When she isn’t being the creative force of Moxie & Mayhem, painting, or designing products. She can be found modeling for art classes at several colleges in the south-central PA area. Nude modeling has been life changing, for her and those she meets in sessions.
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For Natalie, modeling is empowering, allowing her to embrace her body in all its glorious imperfections. Modeling is in every sense of the word a powerful form of advocacy. Natalie, for many, may be their first interaction with an open and out trans person. Making her a representative for transgender people everywhere. It’s a interaction that drives home the fact that trans people exist in all aspects of society.
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Future plans, aside from helping to grow Moxie & Mayhem, are developing her own online modeling class. Which we hope to have a link to soon.
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Regardless of what she chooses to do, she will always be driven by love. Evident in her core belief, that at the end of the day we are all human deserving of the same love, equity, rights, and decency.
This belief transcends every part of her life, making her a true force of nature.
I am not here to change you.
I am here to love you.
Cassie
Cassie grew up in Harrisburg, Pa. until she moved to Md. in her early teens. In middle school she found an interest in writing poetry and short stories. Initially writing was a way to escape the harm of a toxic family environment. Escape soon developed into a passion for all forms of prose.
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In her twenties she turned her writing skills into advocacy for the intersexed community. Her skill set includes grant writing, copywrite, web design, business proposals, poetry, and queer themed stories. Her focus, when not writing fiction or poetry, is advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community.
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Writing is life to Cassie, in every sense of the word. Prose – fiction, nonfiction, and poetry - has given her a voice that she would not know on her own. Between the lines of a poem or story, she finds purpose for her pain, a way to connect with the reader. She believes words, in their purest form, free of hate and cruelty, are more powerful than any physical weapon man has ever made.
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When not writing, she enjoys spending time with her wife and two children. Neuro divergent, like her kids, day to day life is always a work of chaos in progress.
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Queer is the term she most often refers to herself as, it is easier to say then I am intersexed, trans, and lesbian. “Being intersexed, trans, or lesbian is the least interesting thing about me. The most interesting thing about me is my heart. Despite living a life filled with pain, at the hands of those who should have loved me, I still have hope, love, and empathy for humankind.”
Future endeavors include developing queer themed artisan wood and epoxy products. Finding a venue to host a monthly open mic poetry slam. And finally publishing her children’s book and a queer fantasy novel.
Note to self
You are not Da Vinci painting perfection in oils and pastels.
You are not Michelangelo carving David from flawless marble.
You are a woman creating life from broken.
From bruises
From shattered bones.
The corner of your smiles will never be flawless.
Your skin will never be without scars
Your creation will never be perfection.
Perfection is Aphrodite.
It is Pandora’s box.
Filled with insanity and broken hearts.
It is lies and myths.
But you…
Glorious in imperfection.
You are still a woman.
by: Cassandra Bankes