Judge 7
Sandro Cossero - MisterLeatherBelgium 2017
Sandro, MisterLeatherBelgium 2017 is a crazy and energeticItalianLeather man thatlives for the last 11 years in the heart of Antwerp, homebase for the Leather and fetish Pride Belgium. During the dayheisteaching the fifth grade and tries to stimulatehis kids to learn and educatethem. In the eveningheisworking as a gym instructor and if hehasn'tgotenoughenergyleft, in the weekend you can findhimworking as a danceron a stage or in a club as.
Sandro has put his first stepsinto the gayscene about 17 yearsago in one of hisfavourite clubs Red and Blue Cargo Antwerp.
It becameprettysoonclearthathewasattracted to the smell of leather, the hairy and rough leather men from the scene, the touch of leather on his skin. After a few yearshe met aleather couple whointroducedhiminto the leatherscene. On thisday on they are still best friends. The time went by and the first purchases of leathergearwas a fact. It all startedwith a few leatheraccessories and...... well the restisprettyobvious. In 2017 hebecameMisterLeatherBelgium 2017. He wouldnever have participated if itwasn't for the support of his good friend Georges Peeters (MLB 2016). It was Georges whoconvincedhim to participate and behis mentor.
Duringhisreigningyear of MLB, Sandro has done a lot of things for charity. His first action was to create a group on Facebook called Amalgamation of communities. On this page hewants to show thatitisperfectly possible for all communities to hang out witheachother and exchange stories, ask for adviceorjust to have a chat.
Pretty quick afterhisvictoryhehelped Joe King (MLE 2016) withhis campagne called Chechnya100. With a lot of national and international mistersthey all raised money to help the LGBT people fromChechnya. This action was a big succes and togetherweraised a lot of money.
As a teacher Sandro couldn'tresist the projectcalledJonga. Hans and Eddy weretwoguyswhoneeded help to built a school in South Africa. Togethertheysucceeded and the schoolisfinished.
Anotherprojectwasorganised by Mister Bear Belgium 2017 Kriss and himself. With the project« A heart for Europe »theywanted to show thatrefugees are welcomehere!!
And last but not least Sandro's main goal was and stillis to rais money for Sensoa.Sensoaworks on the basis of the World HealthOrganisation'sdefinition of«sexualhealth.
Till the end of april 2018 Sandro iscollecting money for this organisation.
Europe has no secrets any more for Sandro. In hisyearhewenttwice to Amsterdam and Berlin but also to Paris, Vienna, Madrid, London, Finland, Nice, Italy, Manchester and Dublin. In Belgiumhewasmainly active in Brussels and in hishometownAntwerp.
In Amsterdam hebecame first runner up in the MisterLeather Europe election.
Sandro is not yourtypicalleather BLUF man. Hiscrazy and funnyapproachmakeshim a bit goofy but thatiswhoheis. You can recognizehimfrom miles on hisred sneakers and hisbuddy in crime Elmo, the redpuppetfromSesame Street.
Since the beginning Sandro stayedtrue to himself. He danced on the beats of Madonna duringhiselection. He alwayskept on wearinghis sneakers, eventhoughitwasn'talwayseasy. Elmoneverlefthisside and are now an inseparable duo.
He alwayssays :«Alwaysbetrue to yourself! No matterwhatother people are saying, you must do whatfeels right and even if itis not always the best opinion according to others, neverbetrayyourself!»
MisterLeatherBelgium’s last words are very simple :«Enjoyevery minute of youryear, becausebeforeyou know it, itwillbefinishedsoyou can better life it to the fullest»
MisterLeatherBelgium 2017
Sandro & Elmo