About Us
About Rebel Harm Reduction
Rooted in Community. Led by Peers.
Officially founded in 2023 by Phoenix Mohawk Kellye AKA “Mohawk”—known to the online community as The Rebel Educationist—Rebel Harm Reduction was born from a simple, radical truth: those closest to the problem are closest to the solution.
Rebel Harm Reduction is an initiative dedicated to dismantling the harms of the War on Drugs through radical care. We prioritize the underserved and marginalized populations that traditional healthcare systems have abandoned. Through peer-led popular education, socio-political advocacy, and direct community outreach, we empower people who use drugs to reclaim their health and well-being. We don’t just offer services; we offer a way forward built on evidence, equity, and informed decision-making.
Our Projects
While we are uniquely positioned as leaders in New York City’s drug-checking landscape, our work goes far beyond the lab. Under the Rebel Harm Reduction umbrella, we operate three distinct projects designed to bypass systemic barriers and put power back into the hands of the community.
Substance Analysis and Identification Services
Rebel Analytics provides community-led laboratory-grade chemical analysis using gold-standard technology, including FTIR Spectroscopy and high-sensitivity immunoassay tools. We empower the community through radical transparency and accessible chemical analysis.
- The Mission: We provide tools and services as a vital safety check for consumers and marginalized communities, identifying harmful contaminants and adulterants in real-time.
- The Impact: Formerly reserved for research and educational purposes, these services act as a public health early-warning system. We communicate findings through secure alerts and digital broadcasts to prevent accidental poisonings and improve community health literacy.
- The Vision: Our localized NYC collection model is currently scaling to include a nationwide mail-based market monitoring program.
Public Health Literacy & Advocacy
Led by The Rebel Educationist, this branch focuses on the democratization of medical and pharmacological knowledge.
- The Focus: We translate complex academic data on human rights, drug policy, and pharmacology into accessible public health resources.
- The Advocacy: We empower vulnerable populations to navigate systemic barriers through evidence-based data, policy analysis, and rights-based education.
A Guide for Functional Health Integration
The Lightheart Project serves as a bridge where traditional healthcare systems have failed. In an era where adequate medical information is often elusive due to stigma or lack of practitioner education, we provide a peer-led framework for health autonomy.
- The Reality: For many individuals in marginalized communities, self-medication is a necessity for survival. The Lightheart Project offers an evidence-based guide for functional health integration, providing the technical and safety information required to minimize risks.
- The Goal: We shift the focus toward benefit-maximization and risk mitigation, ensuring that individuals have the forensic and medical data necessary to maintain their health and well-being outside of traditional clinical settings.
Nobody takes drugs to have a bad time or make their lives worse. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Phoenix Mohawk Kellye, founder
The Founder
10+ years of harm reduction vigilantism
10+ years of harm reduction vigilantism
Mohawk is a global leader in the harm reduction space with over 10 years of experience in thought leadership, advanced drug testing, and service provision.
Mohawk founded New York DanceSafe and served as the President for 9 years, where they coordinated and staffed harm reduction teams for events, provided medical team assistance, and distributed educational and harm reduction resources/supplies.
Mohawk also serves as a Youth Rise board member since 2021 and has worked as the NEXT Distro Technical Program Manager and Communications Manager.
Strategic Accomplishments & Field Impact
- Mass-Scale Engagement: Designed and hand-coded over 5,000 unique educational assets across cross-platform channels, maintaining a peak organic reach of 4,000+ daily active users without reliance on paid advertising or algorithmic boosting.
- Public Health Surveillance: Published 750+ real-time forensic drug-checking alerts and 2,000+ specialized briefs on pharmacology, substance-specific risk mitigation, and holistic wellness.
- Global Curriculum Design: Researched and redesigned high-visibility drug information resources utilized by international organizations (e.g., New Zealand) and at major global events like Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) Las Vegas.
- Forensic Field Research: Executed pioneering FTIR spectroscopic research in Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone to identify lethal contaminants in response to a declared national emergency.
- Advanced Substance Identification: Conducted over 1,500 forensic tests across 11 countries, successfully developing protocols for substance classes previously deemed “incompatible” with standard field-testing technologies.
- Clinical Collaboration: Provided specialized harm reduction support in coordination with medical teams at major international festivals, including Afrikaburn (South Africa), Panorama, and Dirtybird Campout.
- Global Capacity Building: Formed strategic partnerships with international health collectives, including Unity (Netherlands) and Safe ’n’ Sound (Belgium), to standardize peer-led outreach protocols.
- Workforce Development: As President of NY DanceSafe, recruited, trained, and managed a multidisciplinary roster of 35+ specialists for over 100 high-capacity events.
- Regional Scaling: Architected and bootstrapped the expansion of the harm reduction network across the Northeast, successfully launching subchapters in New Jersey, Western New York, and New England.
- Technical Training: Conducted intensive technician training in South Africa, facilitating the analysis of over 100 substances within a single week of operation.
- Operational Efficiency: Demonstrated an industry-leading ROI, successfully maintaining all global and local services on an annual budget of under $12,000—leveraging lean methodology and community-backed funding (Patreon/Open Collective).
A Legacy of Impact
Over a Decade of Leadership
2012 | Founding of PlurRX: Grassroots Public Health Innovation
Launched as a pioneering initiative to address health disparities within the electronic music community. PlurRX focused on evidence-based pharmacology and sustainable health practices, providing high-risk populations with the nutritional and educational tools necessary to mitigate the long-term impacts of substance use.
2013 – 2022 | President & Founder, New York DanceSafe, Inc.
Mohawk spearheaded the New York chapter of the internationally recognized DanceSafe network. As President for nine years, they built a robust organizational infrastructure to:
Establish Safety Standards
Managed harm reduction “hubs” at major venues and festivals, providing 360-degree health education on substance use, sexual health, and environmental safety.
Operational Leadership
Recruited, trained, and managed a workforce of volunteers whose impact continues today through spin-off initiatives like SafeRave NYC.
2014 – 2021 | Global Consultation & Field Operations
Operating as an independent strategist and service provider, Mohawk expanded their reach beyond New York. During this period, they provided international technical assistance and on-the-ground harm reduction services, collaborating with global health organizations to implement peer-led safety protocols in diverse cultural settings.
2022 – Present | Founding of Rebel Harm Reduction: A New Era of Community Care
Recognized as a David Prize Finalist for their vision of a safer New York, Mohawk’s work caught the attention of philanthropic leaders.
Technological Breakthrough
Following their selection as a finalist, Mohawk was gifted a Bruker Alpha II FTIR Spectrometer—a laboratory-grade instrument—by a private benefactor to eliminate the technological barriers facing underserved communities.
Institutional Growth
With the acquisition of this lab-grade technology, Rebel Harm Reduction was formally established (obtaining 501(c)(3) status in 2024) to scale drug-checking capacity and deliver high-acuity preventative health services to those most impacted by the toxic drug supply.
2019
2023
