Prior Season Voices
Season 10 Featured Voices:
EMILY NAGOSKI is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling Come As You Are and The Come As You Are Workbook, and coauthor, with her sister, Amelia, of New York Times bestseller Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. Her latest book is Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections.
Emily earned an M.S. in counseling and a Ph.D. in health behavior, both from Indiana University, with clinical and research training at the Kinsey Institute. Now she combines sex education and stress education to teach women to live with confidence and joy inside their bodies. She lives in Massachusetts with two dogs, a cat, and a cartoonist.
Dr. Justin Lehmiller is a social psychologist and Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute. He runs the Sex and Psychology blog and podcast and is author of the popular book Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It Can Help You Improve Your Sex Life. Dr. Lehmiller is an award-winning educator, having been honored three times with the Certificate of Teaching Excellence from Harvard University, where he taught for several years. He is also a prolific researcher who has published more than 50 academic works, including a textbook titled The Psychology of Human Sexuality that is used in college classrooms around the world.
Annie Liontas is the genderqueer author of the queer-crip memoir Sex with a Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery, which was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross and selected as SELF Magazine’s Book of the Month. They co-host the literary podcast LitFriends. At George Washington University, they helped to secure a Mellon Foundation grant on Disability Justice to bring storytelling to communities in the criminal justice system. Annie lives in Philadelphia with their wife, dog, and Email the rabbit.
Anna Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Lioness, the startup that built the world’s first and only smart vibrator that gives you biofeedback orgasm data through science and sexperiments. Anna was previously a mechanical engineer at Amazon and most recently named one of Newsweek’s 10 Innovators Disrupting Healthcare as well as Forbes 30 Under 30. Anna has made it a mission to expand understanding and research in female sexual wellness.
Company website: www.lioness.io
Newsweek link: https://www.newsweek.com/2023/06/30/magic-mushrooms-1-hearing-aids-medical-marvels-disrupting-healthcare-1805918.html
Cody Daigle-Orians is a writer an asexuality educator. They are the creator of Ace Dad Advice, a social-media based asexuality education project that helps asexual folks and those who are questioning live their best ace lives. Their first book, I AM ACE, is out now and their second book THE ACE AND ARO RELATIONSHIP GUIDE comes out in October.
KUHOO VERMA is a NYC based artist who revels in works made for diverse audiences. Film: Plan B (Hulu), Murder Mystery 2 (Netflix), The Big Sick (Amazon), and the upcoming Space Cadet (Amazon). She previously starred in Dave Malloy’s Octet at the Signature Theatre (Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble). @therealkuhoo
Dr. Tang is a board-certified gynecologist, and minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon, and is an internationally recognized leader in reproductive health, and social media. As @KarenTangMD on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, she reaches millions of viewers across the world each month with her educational videos about period health, pelvic pain, gender affirming healthcare, and reproductive rights. She's the author of It's Not Hysteria, Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health, But Were Never Told.
karentangmd.com
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250350343/itsnothysteria
Lina Lyte Plioplyte is an Emmy, Clio and Silver Lion winning Lithuanian-born filmmaker, currently in California and Mexico. Her work has appeared on MTV, PBS, Venice Biennale, and at film festivals like SxSW and IDFA. Her feature length films include "Advanced Style" on Amazon and "Periodical", now streaming on Peacock and Amazon Prime. An Emmy-recognized cinematographer, Lina is dedicated to inclusivity, supporting women and minorities in filmmaking, and runs quarterly Filmmakers' Accelerator, guiding filmmakers to success in this dynamic documentary landscape. www.lytefilms.com and @lina_lyte
A dynamic sexuality expert who provides a fresh, shameless take on love, sex and relationships and helps women and femmes embrace their sexuality, take charge of their health, and prioritize their pleasure through shame-free and sensible sex education.
Dr. Rebecca Levy-Gantt is an ObGyn in private practice in Napa California who focuses on menopause but at the current time, takes care of girls and women at all ages, 14-94. She is on Linked In, and her practice website is Premierobgynnapa.com
Season 9 Featured Voices:
Amy is a Sex and Relationship Coach, Sex Educator, lead educator for Uberlube, as well as co-owner of a mother-daughter owned online pleasure boutique, and was also voted 2022’s Sexpert of the Year. April is Vice President and co-owner of Hot Octopuss, an innovative pleasure product company, and was voted Woman of the Year in the pleasure product industry. Together, Amy and April combined forces to create the Shameless Sex Podcast, inspiring radical self-love, sexual empowerment, and shame-free intimacy. To learn more, or to pre-order their upcoming book Shameless Sex: Choose Your Own Pleasure Path to Unlock the Sex Life You’ve Been Waiting For, go to shamelesssex.com.
Imani is Editor-at-Large for Rewire News Group, where she covers law and courts and co-hosts the podcast Boom! Lawyered. Imani also began and continues to write the Angry Black Lady Chronicles.
Nick Bettress has been a District Manager with the Lions Den for almost 18 years working with customers and training managers on all aspects of sexual pleasure and products. He completed the EDSE certificate with Ann Hodder-Shipp in 2022 and he's hosted a Kink Q&A seminar at OSU for their Sex week for the last 2 years.
Nadine Jane is an Astrologer, using her background as a digital designer to make astrology accessible, relatable, and beautiful. Through her platform, she works to share the tools of self-discovery and self-knowledge that her astrology practice has given her.
Jess is the SVP and Executive Editor at Rewire News Group and co-host of the Boom! Lawyered podcast. She's also co-author of The End of Roe v Wade: Inside the Right's Plan to End Legal Abortion
Molly McGlynn is a writer and director who has recently completed her second feature film, Fitting In, starring Maddie Ziegler and Emily Hampshire which will have its World Premiere at SXSW in March 2023 and will release on February 2nd in the US and Canada. She directed several television shows including Workin’ Moms, The Wonder Years, Grace and Frankie and the forthcoming Apple series The Big Door Prize and all ten episodes of the award-winning, International Emmy-nominated short form series How To Buy a Baby. She is currently developing her original television series, Penny Cuts Her Bangs (3Arts).
Jennifer Driver is the Senior Director of Reproductive Rights at the State Innovation Exchange or SiX and an award-winning reproductive health, rights, and justice policy and advocacy leader with nearly 15 years in the field. Her work centers on addressing systems that add burdens or barriers to accessing full reproductive health information and services— paying particular attention to communities of color, immigrants, system involved youth, and LGBTQ communities.
Allison Raskin is a New York Times bestselling author and a leading voice in mental health advocacy, in addition to being an accomplished screenwriter and content creator. She co-hosts the popular podcast Just Between Us and created the Emotional Support Lady Instagram and Substack.
Dr. Jen Gunter is an OB/GYN who has written two New York Times bestselling books on reproductive health. Her TED talk on menstruation was the third most-viewed talk of 2020. Her third book, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation, is available on January 23. She blogs at TheVagenda.com and can be found at @drjengunter on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, Threads, and Facebook.
Jamie Raines, named Influencer of the Year at the British LGBT Awards and Author of the Sunday Times Best Seller ‘The T in LGBT’. Jamie is a doctoral researcher and transgender content creator, known for his quintessential quirks and advocating LGBTQ+ rights. Jamie has amassed a passionate community of over 1 million YouTube subscribers and over 250k followers on TikTok, and Instagram.
Shaaba is a Doctoral Researcher and creator who produces vlog, relationships, lifestyle, and music content. Her genuine and intimate life insights make her a universal friend to everyone. Shaaba’s content explores social media and its effects on need fulfilment, mental health, and wellbeing. She promotes diversity, acceptance, and self-confidence with her husband, Jamie, to break stereotypes and inspire love and laughter within the LGBTQIA+ community.
Moe is Hinge’s first ever Love and Connection Expert. They are a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and one of the leading mental health experts in the realm of Transgender Identity. Over the past decade, Moe has worked with LGBTQIA+ individuals, couples, and families on their journey to love their authentic selves and establish meaningful connections. They are also a Diversity & Equity Consultant and former Adjunct Professor at Adler University. Moe graduated from Northwestern University with an MS in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Tigress Osborn (she/her) is a fat rights advocate and the Executive Director of NAAFA, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. NAAFA has worked for over five decades to change perceptions of fat and to end size discrimination. In 2023, Tigress co-launched the Campaign for Size Freedom alongside colleagues at NAAFA and the Fat Legal Rights Advocacy and Education Project (FLARE). Tigress is an intersectional feminist teacher and writer whose fat liberation work has been featured in USA Today and Newsweek, and heard on BBC AntiSocial and ABC News, and seen on Everyday Feminism and NewsNation network. Follow NAAFA @naafaofficial and Tigress @iofthetigress.
Season 8 Featured Voices:
Ev’Yan Whitney is a sexuality doula®, sex educator, and sensualist. Since 2011, their work has focused on decolonizing, unshaming, and liberating sexuality at the intersection of identity, trauma healing, pleasure, and embodiment. Ev'Yan is the author of Sensual Self: Prompts and Practices for Getting in Touch With Your Body, a self-guided journal that will help you prioritize your pleasure and come home to yourself through your senses. They also host a beloved podcast of the same name. For more about Ev'Yan work, go to evyanwhitney.com and follow her on Instagram @evyan.whitney.
Nadine Jane is an Astrologer, using her background as a digital designer to make astrology accessible, relatable, and beautiful. Through her platform, she works to share the tools of self-discovery and self-knowledge that her astrology practice has given her.
F**ks Given, hosted by Come Curious duo Reed Amber and Florence Barkway, is on a mission to break taboos and destigmatize conversations about sex. The pair talk about porn, dating apps, non-monogamy, sex toys and everything between – alongside big name guests who will be sharing their sexual histories.
F**ks Given has over 3 million total downloads, and won Best Sex & Relationships Podcast at the 2022 British Podcast Awards and Best Sex & Relationships Creators at the 2022 Blogosphere Awards.
Dr. Cassandre Dunbar is the creator/host of the award-winning wellness podcast called Be Well, Sis. In her personal quest to achieve holistic wellness, she noted that Black women are often underrepresented or alienated in Wellness spaces despite suffering the worst medical outcomes compared to their peers. Cassandre began her podcasting journey in order to address this lack of inclusion.
Alex Hall is the Chief Bottom Officer in this kitchen. The Bottom’s Digest is his World of Wonder WOWIE nominated cooking show where I share delicious, bottom-friendly recipes in a sex-positive environment.
He wants to empower all you beautiful bottoms to put yourselves first and erase the idea that you can’t eat before sex. Food and sex are my greatest pleasures and he wants you to have lots and lots of both. Stimulate your senses, live a little, and have some fun!
He was born and raised in Houston where he grew up cooking Mexican dishes with my friends and Cajun dinners with his family. His recipes are influenced by my favorite chefs, many of whom are southern women, like his mom and his queer godmothers. They taught him how to literally impress the pants off someone with my food, and he’ll be forever grateful for that.
Goody Howard is your favorite sex educator's favorite sex educator. She shifts the culture forward by expanding society's understanding of sexuality & health. Goody has been connecting people to pleasure with confidence for over 17 years. When she's not teaching RIDEology, or another one of her sexual skill building class, Goody walks the walk that DEI talks. She takes an intentional approach to sex, gender, orientation, and equity in collegiate and corporate spaces. Get to know Goody Howard by connecting on social media (@askgoody) or joining the FREE Goody Gang email list at askgoody.com.
Ambreen Molitor (she/hers) is the Senior Director of Product at Planned Parenthood's CoLab, where she oversees the teams that run their period and birth control tracking app, Spot On, as well as Roo, a sex ed chat bot for teens. The purpose of her team is to expand sex education and sexual & reproductive health care to Gen Z and millennial audiences, particular those in the Black, Latinx and trans/nonbinary communities, at scale, and in a personalized fashion.
Jennifer Mullan, PsyD, is a major disruptor in the mental health industrial complex. Her work is an urgent call to dive to the root of global and generational trauma to unlock the wisdom of our sacred rage.
Dr. Jennifer Mullan birthed Decolonizing Therapy - a psychological evolution that weaves together political, ancestral, therapeutic and global well-being. She is also the creator of the popular Instagram account @decolonizingtherapy and recipient of Essence magazine’s 2020 Essential Hero Award in the category of mental health.
Elle Deran (they/she) is an actor/singer/content creator committed to creating entertaining, educational, queer-affirming content. Elle’s journey back to the self, catalyzed by the pandemic, has led them to use their voice to encourage all folks to see themselves beyond society’s rules and expectations by honoring their voice of intuition. You can follow them on instagram and tiktok @elle.deran.
Ezra Michel (he/they) is a Los Angeles based multidisciplinary trans masculine artist and public figure. Ezra has released 9 singles over the last 3 years and was featured in Forbes' 30 Under 30 for the 2023 Musicians category. He is also the creator of the trans masculine empowering clothing brand, 'Pussyboy Apparel', for which he screen prints each design by hand at a local trans-owned print shop. You can buy Pussyboy Apparel at Pussyboyapparel.com, follow Ezra on TikTok and Instagram, and get updates from his mailing list by signing up at ezramichelmusic.com
Garnet Henderson is the Senior Multiplatform Reporter at Rewire News Group. Her award-winning reporting on the intersections of health and culture, with a focus on reproductive health and abortion access, has also been published in Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Scientific American, Marie Claire, VICE, Guardian US, WIRED, Glamour, Quartz, The Atlantic, and more. She is the creator, host, and producer of ACCESS: A Podcast About Abortion.
Arielle Greenberg is a poet and nonfiction who writes frequently about sex, parenting, gender, popular culture. Her most recent book is Superfreaks: Kink, Pleasure and the Pursuit of Happiness. She can be found on Instagram at arielle_greenberg.
Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons (www.drcandicenicole.com) is an award-winning associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Kentucky, where she studies sexual wellness and liberation. She has published over 50 research articles and has been featured in the Huffington Post, Essence, Women's Health, Blavity, Cosmopolitan, and the New York Times. Her debut book, Good Sex, will be published by Row House February 2025.
Alayna Joy is an outdoor-loving, vegan eating, LGBTQ+ content creator who brings her frank and funny perspective to a wide range of topics, such as mental health and sexuality, with a focus on the queer community. Across social media, Alayna shares her love for all things sexuality, climbing and outdoor fitness with a positive community of like-minded women and LGBTQ+ folks. No matter the type of content she’s creating, Alayna’s goal is always to keep laughter and education at the forefront.
Dr. Rebecca Levy-Gantt is an ObGyn in private practice in Napa California who focuses on menopause but at the current time, takes care of girls and women at all ages, 14-94. She is on Linked In, and her practice website is Premierobgynnapa.com
Zachary Zane is a Brooklyn-based columnist, author, and sex expert whose work focuses on sexuality, lifestyle, and culture. He's ecstatic to share that my book Boyslut: A Memoir and Manifesto is out now! Through the lens of his bisexuality and self-described sluttiness, he breaks down exactly how sexual shame negatively impacts our lives, and how we can unlearn the harmful, entrenched messages that society imparts to us.
Pidgeon Pagonis, M.A. (Chicago, IL) has worked for over a decade as an intersex advocate, speaker, consultant, photographer and filmmaker to shed light on the human rights violations endured by intersex people. Their goal is to help end the non-consensual irreversible medical procedures meant to discipline unruly intersex bodies. Pidgeon’s accessible advocacy helps people complicate their preconceived binary notions about “biological differences”. Their work has been essential for those who want to show up for intersex people in their lives, but aren’t sure where to start.
Dr. Lexx Brown-James, LMFT, CSE, CSES is the premiere sexologist leading the field of sexuality with #shamefreesexed and innovative sex therapy skills. Dr. Lexx provides education and therapy from womb-to-tomb through her practice, The Institute for Sexuality & Intimacy, LLC . As a multiple time Amazon best seller and creator of Dr. Lexx’s Relationship Tune Up Cards and The Black Girls' Guide to Couple's Intimacy, Dr. Lexx is an international sexologist featured in Essence, The New York Times, Vice, multiple journal publications and books.
Winnie is the Community Outreach and Training Chair for Stand With Abortion Now (SWAN). SWAN exists to preserve access to abortion in central Florida and beyond by defending the Center of Orlando for Women, Orlando's sole independent clinic, which provides services to people locally as well as in other states that have enforced restrictions. Help SWAN reach its fundraising goal here.
Sean Saifa Wall is an intersex activist and rising scholar. When he is not working or traveling, you can find him at home with his dog, Justice. Learn more about him at seansaifa.com!
Season 7 Featured Voices:
Dr. Laurie Mintz is a Professor at the University of Florida where she teaches Human Sexuality to hundreds of undergraduates yearly. She has published over 55 academic works. She is the author of two popular press books—both with published studies demonstrating their effectiveness: Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters and How to Get It and A Tired Woman’s Guide to Passionate Sex. Mintz has a private practice, working with clients on general and sexual issues. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, indicating that her work has had a positive national influence on the field of psychology.
Poppy Noor is a Senior Staff Writer at the Guardian, where she has been for the best part of a decade. https://twitter.com/PoppyNoor
Whitni is a sex educator, pleasure coach, queer, mom of 1 kick ass lil dude (9y), and yoga facilitator. She specializes in desire discrepancy, relational communication, and pleasure based sex. Fine her on TikTok (bdemoves), Instagram (bde.moves), Patreon (patreon.com/bdemoves)
Dr. Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett are the hosts of the Puberty Podcast, where they dish out scientific research, parenting strategies, and hilarious stories to help guide the adults who are raising kids through puberty. Each episode takes on one piece of this messy journey, landing on practical, actionable advice.
Sophie Hyde is a director and producer based on Kaurna Land in Adelaide, South Australia. She is one of the founders of film Collective Closer Productions and makes provocative and intimate films and television. Her feature films include Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated Good Luck To You, Leo Grande starring Emma Thompson, Sundance Award winning 52 Tuesdays, Irish-Australian comedy Animals and limited series The Hunting.
Bow down to your father’s god!! Madame Namio is a dominatrix and stand-up comedian—a dommedian—as well as an artist, writer, model, speaker, and licensed esthetician. From her sharp-tongued takedowns of social media misogynoir to her various speaking engagements around the east coast, this proud pansexual has worked to amplify the voices of Queer, Black, and Brown survivors and sex workers alike.
Jimanekia Eborn is a Queer, Sexual Assault & Trauma Expert, Trauma Media Consultant, and Comprehensive Sex Educator, who has worked in mental health for the past 13 years in sex education and sexual trauma support. Jimanekia is the Founder of Tending the Garden, a non-profit for sexual assault survivors of different marginalized identities and Co-founder of Centaury Co., bringing increased representation to the field of Intimacy Coordination in the film industry.
Dr. Rebecca Levy-Gantt is an ObGyn in private practice in Napa California who focuses on menopause but at the current time, takes care of girls and women at all ages, 14-94. She is on Linked In, and her practice website is Premierobgynnapa.com
Kimberly Huggins LCSW, MPH, MEd and Brittany Brathwaite, MSW, MPH are the co-founders of KIMBRITIVE, the unapologetic sexual wellness platform reimagining the health and wellbeing of Black women and girls. As public health social workers and sexual wellness practitioners with over a decade of experience in sex education and reproductive justice activism, they are innovating and disrupting the health and wellness industry by placing Black women and girls at the center.
Behavioral scientist turned dating coach Logan Ury is the author of the bestselling book, "How to Not Die Alone." She works as the Director of Relationship Science at the dating app Hinge, where she conducts research to help people find love. After studying psychology at Harvard, she ran Google’s behavioral science team—the Irrational Lab. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband Scott.
Twitter
Photographer: Rachael Wright
Nancy Cárdenas Peña is a policy expert and an organizer at heart advocating at the
intersection of im/migration and reproductive healthcare with a desire to see communities
exercise their full bodily autonomy. She currently works at the National Latina Institute for
Reproductive Justice (Latina Institute) as the Texas State Director for Policy and
Advocacy.
Nancy is a board member of the Frontera Fund, an abortion fund that exclusively serves the Rio Grande Valley with practical support and abortion needs. She is also a part of the Texas We Testify cohort, a group of abortion storytellers seeking to advance narratives around abortion access.
Helen Hoang is that shy person who never talks. Until she does. And then the worst things fly out of her mouth. She read her first romance novel in eighth grade and has been addicted ever since. In 2016, she was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in line with what was previously known as Asperger’s syndrome. Her journey inspired THE KISS QUOTIENT. She currently lives in San Diego, California, with her family.
Melissa Strype is a director performer and sexual health educator based in Los Angeles creating at the intersection of comedy and empowerment.
Dr. Fenwa Milhouse is board-certified, fellowship-trained urologist and specialist in Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery (also known as Urogynecology). She enjoys using social media to destigmatize pelvic floor & sexual conditions. She is known by the world as "Your Favorite Urologist" and has been featured on media outlets including Yahoo Style, HuffPost, Essence magazine, Rickey Smiley Morning Show, Insider, MDNewsline, and Blackdoctor.org.
New York City stand up comedian and podcast host of How C*m and Diet Starts Tomorro
@remykassimir on all socials remykassimir.com for show dates and merch
Steph Herold, MPH is an award-winning researcher with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), where she studies the portrayal of abortion on television and in film in the Abortion Onscreen program (abortiononscreen.org). She is on the Board of Directors of All-Options (https://www.all-options.org/) and lives in Queens, NY with her husband and two kids.
Faye Keegan is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer and Gina Gutierrez is the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Dipsea, the tech company and story studio behind what The New Yorker called "the audio app transforming erotica." Previously, Faye was a technical product manager and a macroeconomic researcher and Gina was a brand and design strategist. Together they've built a category-defining company, and are proud to support millions of listeners in realizing that their desires, needs, boundaries and fantasies are completely normal—and that pleasure is important.
Dr. Blair Peters (He/They) is an Assistant Professor in both the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Department of Urology at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). He is a plastic surgeon with Dual Fellowship training. In practice he performs facial, chest and genital gender affirming surgery and complex peripheral nerve surgery. A large part of his practice focuses on phalloplasty and vaginoplasty surgery. Outside of clinical practice, he is both a member and a strong advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. He strives to continue to be a strong queer voice in medicine and surgery.
Cindy Cruz (she/ella) is a passionate advocate for reproductive justice, racial justice, and LGBTQ liberation. She is currently the Director for the Reproductive Health Equity Project for Foster Youth (RHEP) at the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), where she works to end inequitable reproductive health outcomes for youth in foster care and support the healthy sexual development and bodily autonomy of young people.
Season 6 Featured Voices:
Steve Way is a 31 year old substitute teacher by day and stand up comedian by night. He was born with Muscular Dystrophy and is an advocate for disability awareness. Steve performs stand up in the NJ/NY area, motivational speeches around the country, can be seen on the Hulu show Ramy.
Courtney Brame is the Founder, Executive Director and Podcast Host of Something Positive for Positive People, a 501c3 Non Profit Organization that connects people navigating herpes stigma to support resources. In 2017 after seeing people struggling with herpes stigma to the point of suicide ideation, he started interviewing people about their experiences from diagnosis to disclosure, learning that there was a major interconnectedness between sexual health and mental health.
Rachel Feltman is the Executive Editor of Popular Science and hosts the hit podcast The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Her debut book, Been There, Done That: A Rousing History of Sex takes readers on a hilarious, inclusive, and compassionate tour through the psychological, cultural, and evolutionary history of getting it on. She lives in Jersey City with some guy she met on the internet.
Cathren is a lawyer and feminist activist living in Los Angeles. She is dedicated to using both legal advocacy and public engagement to fight injustice and promote evidence-based policy. Cathren is particularly passionate about reproductive justice and the rights of LGBTQ individuals. Cathren is a proud graduate of NYU School of Law and UCLA.
Alyssa grew up in New York and was raised by her Italian/Croatian family, she later graduated with a Fashion Merchandising degree which helped her start her career in Fashion & Beauty. In 2020 she began working for a Somatic Sex Educator and began pursuing her own certification in that field shortly after via the Sexual Health Alliance. Just a year later, she was cast in season 4 of Netflix's The Circle where she dominated the strategic game and won over their international audience with her quick wit and open mind.
After surviving the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Brandon Wolf has become a nationally-recognized advocate for LGBTQ civil rights and common sense gun safety reform. He is a frequent contributor on MSNBC, CNN, and print publications and serves as the press secretary for Equality Florida, the state's LGBTQ civil rights organization.
Oriaku Njoku (she/they), is a first-generation, Black, Igbo, Nigerian-American, queer, fat, Southern femme, healing centered coach living and loving in Atlanta, Georgia. As a Co-Founder and Executive Director of Access Reproductive Care - Southeast, she works at the intersection of abortion access and reproductive justice. Oriaku is deeply committed to finding joy and pleasure in everything they do and believes radical love is a core value that can be embodied and operationalized in order to create the change she knows is possible in our lifetimes.
Anja Patten and Hannah Croft are both mental health therapists and sex educators out of Seattle, WA and Denver, CO. Together, they help survivors of sexual violence reclaim their sexuality and use their sexuality as tool for trauma healing.
Dr. Jennifer Lincoln is a board-certified OB-GYN who currently practices as an OB Hospitalist in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Lincoln loves using social media to provide evidence-based, easy-to-digest information while busting the (many) myths surrounding vaginal and reproductive health. She believes that breaking down the shame and stigma surrounding our bodies is the best way to become informed and empowered.
Audrey Aura is a 24 year old wife & mum from Australia. I am a top 0.4% plus-size OnlyFans creator, turned coach for other models to learn how to be successful in the industry, by creating The OnlyHustle: Ultimate Masterclass. All my links for my coaching, socials and OnlyFans can be found at audreyaura.com
Mariah is a Latine, Bisexual Sex Educator working with youth. She runs the Sex Ed Files centering inclusive and pleasure-centered sexual health information. She also shares and answers student’s anonymous sex ed questions.
Sabia is a Black, Queer CEO with a mission of building bridges for a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable world through Reproductive Justice, distribution of financial wealth to BIPOC communities, and investing in emergent and innovative businesses. Sabia is the founder of Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings, For the Village, Inc, and Loads of Pride, Logistics, as well as a soon-to-be-published author of their book, Birthing Liberation: How Reproductive Justice Will Set Us Free. As a self-proclaimed Birth Neoterist, Sabia is executing change in Reproductive Justice to create a new future for birthing people.
Dr. Rebecca Levy-Gantt is an Ob Gyn physician in California, practicing for 25+ years. She is DB's mom.
Dirty Lola is a sex edutainer, speaker, and self-proclaimed dildo slinger. Known for her live sex ed Q&A show Sex Ed A Go-Go and as co-host of New York Magazine’s web series “Sex Probz”, Lola has spent almost a decade working to end stigma and shame surrounding sex and sexuality. Having started her journey sharing personal discoveries with polyamory and kink online, Lola now uses her knowledge, warm candor, and public platforms to teach the masses in-person and to rapt Internet audiences. In addition to her educational projects, Lola is also the creative director of Spectrum Journal an online magazine offshoot of the female-owned online sex shop, Spectrum Boutique based in Detroit, and has brought her unique brand of sex-positive sex education to the Netflix docuseries The Principles of Pleasure and to brands such as B-Vibe, Spencers Gifts, and Math Magazine.
Simone Nicole is a content creator, producer, and actor. Her goal is to inspire other women to do whatever they want in this life with no apologies! She is a host on the TikTok series “Swipe Talk.”
Vic Liu believes that people would be happier and safer if they weren’t embarrassed about their genitals. She also believes in the magic of graphic design to break down complex information and emotions, and make the world a more empathetic place.
Ushma Upadhyay, PhD, MPH is a public health Social Scientist trained in epidemiology and demography. As a person of South Asian descent, primarily raised by her mother who immigrated to the U.S. from Tanzania, she is drawn to reproductive health from a social justice perspective. Dr. Upadhyay has expertise in abortion safety, abortion access in the U.S., medication abortion, and the impact of state-level abortion restrictions.
Maxx Fenning (He/Him) founded PRISM, an LGBT nonprofit in South Florida, at 17 years old. Now 20 and studying at the University of Florida Online, Maxx serves as PRISM's President, where he works to expand access to LGBT-inclusive education and sexual health resources. He's also played a significant role in the fight against anti-LGBT legislation such as the "Don't Say Gay" law, facing legislators head-on at Tallahassee. In addition to his advocacy work, Maxx is active on TikTok, where he discusses hard-hitting topics on gender and sexuality, sexual health, mental health, and LGBT History, all in an effort to prove that safe sex is sexy.
Victoria Nichols (she/her) serves as the Project Director for Free the Pill, a campaign to educate and engage the public in support of making birth control pills over-the-counter (OTC) in the United States. In this role, she engages a coalition of 100+ reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations, nonprofit research and advocacy groups, university-based researchers, prominent clinicians, and youth activists that share a commitment to providing easier access to safe, effective, and affordable contraceptives, especially for those who currently face the greatest barriers. Victoria has a background in health policy and management and has dedicated her career to improving policies, practices, and systems to advance health equity.
Armando Cabbo is a Canadian artist originally from Montreal currently based in Paris. As a response to Tumblr's 2018 ban on nudity, Armando Cabba's erotic paintings were initially created in protest against the online censorship of artists, sex workers, and LGBTQI+ safe spaces. The use of renaissance titles along with Christian hashtags allow his explicit work to be posted without strict screening by major social media platforms.
Isabella Marano is an actor, writer, and comedian from New York currently based in Los Angeles, California. She is the host of the short-form series "Swipe Talk" with over 420,000 followers across TikTok and Snapchat entailing the plights of online dating.
Alex’s passion for telling compelling stories that blend education, advocacy, and entertainment led him to found Herra Productions in 2012. Since then, he’s developed two award-winning YouTube channels focused on sex and drug education, totaling over five million views. After studying molecular toxicology at UC Berkeley and Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting at New York University, he produced video, radio, and print content for NOVA scienceNOW, CNN Health, and San Francisco NPR station KQED.
Angelica Lindsey-Ali aka The Village Auntie™️ is a certified sexual health educator, public health professional, and an authority on intimacy and emotional well-being. She is the founder of The Village Auntie Institute, a global platform for women’s learning. Find her on IG, Twitter, and FB at @villageauntie.
Season 5 Featured Voices:
Dr. Diana Greene Foster (she/her/hers) is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and director of research at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health. An internationally recognized expert on women's experiences with contraception and abortion, she is the principal investigator of the Turnaway Study.
Sophia Yen, M.D. MPH (she/her) is the CEO and Co-Founder of Pandia Health, birth control delivery. Dr. Yen graduated from MIT, UCSF Medical School, and UC Berkeley’s MPH program. With 20+ years in medicine, she is a Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford Medical School and on the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics’s Section On Adolescent Health. Her passion is Women’s Reproductive Health and she co-founded 3 non-profit projects to improve the lives of women: The Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women, SheHeroes.org, and fffl.co (Female Founded, Female Led, B2C awareness campaign, by from a FFFL!)
Kara Laricks (she/her/hers) is the Natioanl LGBTQ+ Matchmaker at Three Day Rule. Kara's matchmaking and date coaching style is rooted in the deep desire for her LGBTQ+ community to experience love, happiness, and fulfillment in healthy, long-lasting relationships. She guides women, men and non-binary people to look within to discover what they bring to the dating and relationship table. When it comes to making lasting matches, Kara pairs those who share the same vision of a life together and often starts by asking her clients, “What qualities in another human feel good to your soul?” Kara thrives on helping people of diverse identities navigate the current dating scene. She's a fiercely loyal wingwoman and an eternal optimist who is always on the side of love.
Jerrica Kirkley (she/her/hers) is a trans woman, physician, mom, educator and lover of all things athletics and the outdoors. She started Plume, the first health technology company dedicated to the transgender community, to radically redefine the way healthcare is delivered and to ensure that every trans person in the US has access to gender-affirming care at the convenience of a smart phone. She grew up in North Carolina and now lives in Denver, Colorado. Jerrica loves anything to do with bicycles, hiking, yoga and spending time with her 3-year old. Fun fact - she used to own a bike shop!
FREDDIE (they/them) is a Bay Area-based singer-songwriter, performer and digital activist. Their April, 2020 release of their debut EP Melanin Monroe has amassed over 300,000 streams and has been featured by Billboard, Grindr, them., and The Bay Bridged. FREDDIE is a genre- and gender-fluid artist, often incorporating their love of drag and hip-hop into their work.
Dr Rebecca Levy-Gantt (she/her) is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, then moved to Northern California. She came from a family of teachers, and thought she might follow that same path until she took a serious interest medicine, especially in women's health care. Dr Levy-Gantt worked in various settings until finally settling in Napa, California after meeting her husband, Bill, a California native. She has three children and two step-children who have settled on both coasts, and loves spending time with family, running, traveling and writing. She owns her own solo Ob/Gyn practice and is devoted to her patients and to providing comprehensive reproductive health care to women of all ages. She has recently published a book, "Womb With A View" which is her first attempt at providing a true look into the life of an Ob/Gyn in training and in practice.
M. Ellery (she/her) is the author of A Color Named Love, the first children's book with polyamorous parents represented. As traditional publishers wouldn't want to help her with it, M. Ellery took a leap and did a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter - and it was a success! 600 parents and 177% of the goal reached, all because of an amazing community that supports and respects non-traditional forms of love.
Erica Garza (she/her) is the author of the memoir "Getting Off: One Woman's Journey Through Sex and Porn Addiction." Her writing has appeared in Time, Health, Glamour, Women's Health, and VICE. Born in Los Angeles, she currently lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Her website is www.ericagarza.com.
Amy Gravino, M.A. (she/her) is an autism sexuality advocate and Relationship Coach in the Center for Adult Autism Services at Rutgers University. She is also the President of A.S.C.O.T Consulting, which offers autism consulting, college coaching, and mentoring services for organizations, schools, individuals on the autism spectrum, and their families. Amy is an international speaker who has given TED talks, spoken twice at the United Nations for World Autism Awareness Day, and presented worldwide to audiences on a variety of topics related to autism, with a dedicated special focus and research on the subject of autism and sexuality. Amy obtained her Masters degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Caldwell University in 2010 and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of several autism organizations. She is an award-winning writer whose work has been featured in Spectrum, the leading online news source for autism research, Reader’s Digest, special education textbooks, and other outlets. Follow Amy on Twitter (@AmyGravino) and Instagram (@amy.gravino) and visit www.amygravino.com to learn more.
Joe Vela (he/him) is the CEO and Founder of the Emojibator, international musician & producer, and a 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 finalist. With backgrounds in digital marketing and data science, he founded Emojibator as a side hustle in August 2016 to fund his music career. Since launch, Emojibator has been featured in over 300 media publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Buzzfeed, Playboy, and Cosmopolitan, sold in over 50 countries, and won countless adult-industry and professional awards. Joe, along with co-founder Kris, aims to use education and humor to promote sexual health and celebrate masturbation. He is currently pitching a Sex Tech TV show. Joe is based in Philadelphia, PA.
Louie A. Ortiz-Fonseca (he/him) is the Director of LGBTQ Health & Rights at Advocates for Youth, where he works in partnership with young people living with HIV to combat stigma, and hosts a YouTube series for LGBTQ youth, Kikis with Louie. Outside of the organization, Louie is the creator of The Gran Varones, a digital storytelling project that amplifies queer history.
Dr. Caricia Catalani (she/her) has a Masters in Public Health in Reproductive, Child, and Maternal Health from Columbia University and a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley, focused on innovations to address health inequities. Her post-doctoral studies were with the National Institutes of Health, where she focused on using new media to address reproductive health crises. She teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. She is a Design Director at IDEO, where her work has focused on using public health best practices and human-centered design to tackle the world’s most complex health challenges. During the past 15 years, her work has focused on bringing new programs, technologies, and organizations to life that improve sexual and reproductive health around the globe. During this time, she has partnered with many of the organizations that now support Bloom, including Planned Parenthood, Power to Decide, and the Healthy Teen Network. She is the mom of two girls. Like her partner Anthony, she wants to help build a world where her little girls can expect love, kindness, and equity.
Andrea Flynn (she/her) is a Senior Fellow at The Insight Center in Oakland, CA. Prior to joining The Insight Center, she spent eight years at the Roosevelt Institute, where she was most recently the Director of Health Equity. She is the co-author of The Hidden Rules of Race (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Andrea teaches courses on reproductive and sexual health, public policy and economic inequality at the Mailman School for Public Health at Columbia University. She received her MPA and MPH from Columbia University, and her BA in journalism and women’s studies from Syracuse University. You can follow Andrea on Twitter @dreaflynn.
Simon Taylor (he/him) is a Melbourne-born comedian, who by the age of 24 became a writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in Los Angeles. Since then he has written for Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell on the ABC and Magic for Humans on Netflix. His one-hour comedy special was filmed at the famous Enmore Theatre in Sydney and went on to air on ABC and CBS Australia. Simon has also been featured on shows such as Comedy Up Late and Just for Laughs. His debut novel One-Night Stand was released early 2021.
Latishia James aka Rev. Pleasure (she/her) is working to create a culture of sanctity, pleasure and wholeness for Black femmes, girls, and womxn. Her social media features my advocacy, facilitation, chaplaincy, and pleasure activism work in addition to her writing and public speaking. As Rev. Pleasure, she works with individuals and communities to heal trauma as a result of patriarchal and religious violence. The modalities she specializes in are customized affirmations, guided meditations, and workshop creation to support folks in their spiritual and sacral development.
Steve Way (he/him) is a 29 year old substitute teacher by day and stand up comedian by night. He was born with Muscular Dystrophy and is an advocate for disability awareness. Steve performs stand up in the NJ/NY area, motivational speeches around the country, and can be seen in the Hulu show Ramy.
Leslie Lopez (she/her/ella) is a First-Generation, Black Mexican-American residing in North Texas. She is the host of Tejana Feminist Talks, a podcast centered on learning about social justice topics and unlearning harmful ways of thinking. Leslie is a reproductive justice educator and currently works in the communications and fundraising role at a national reproductive justice organization. You can find her on Instagram @tejanafeminist and the podcast @tftalkspodcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Kris Fretz (she/her) is the founder and chief marketing officer of Emojibator, the emoji-shaped vibrator company. She launched Emojibator in 2016 as a viral marketing joke with her best friend, but they quickly realized a cheeky approach to sexual wellness was just what the world needed. At 23, Kris left her political organizing career behind to disrupt the female pleasure taboo with Emojibator as her first entrepreneurial side hustle. She continues to work full time in NYC leading revenue operations at a FinTech company.
Eleanor Grano (she/her) currently serves as the Program Manager at Jane’s Due Process, where she has significantly expanded a statewide text hotline to support young people navigating parental involvement laws for abortion and birth control. In 2018, she established a leadership program for young people forced to petition the court to get a judicial bypass for abortion in Texas. In 2020, Eleanor hosted a journalism workshop for high school students to write personal essays about their vision for a sex education curriculum that could better meet the needs of young people.
Anthony Veneziale (he/him) has been performing and teaching play-based techniques for social change for over twenty years. He is a leader in teaching, performing, and advancing the scientific understanding of improvisation. Anthony is passionate about the use of improv for parenting. He is a founding member of Freestyle Love Supreme (sold out Broadway run in 2019) and he has used improv techniques to help create endeavors with Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights, The Electric Company), Daveed Diggs (The Freeze), numerous networks (HBO, TBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, PBS) and companies (Radical Media, Google, Salesforce). Veneziale co-founded Speechless, an improv thinking company based in San Francisco that is entirely devoted to designing play-based curriculum and leading research on the importance of play in creativity, communication and leadership. Anthony’s fully improvised TED Talk “Stumbling Towards Intimacy” has been viewed by over 430,000 people to date. A feature length documentary entitled We Are Freestyle Love Supreme will premiere July 17th, 2020 on Hulu. Most importantly, he is the dad of two girls, ages 6 and 9. He wants to help build a world where his little girls can expect love, kindness, and equity.
Sky Cubacub (they/them) is a non-binary queer and disabled Filipinx human from Chicago, IL. Rebirth Garments is their line of wearables for the full spectrum of gender, size, and ability. They maintain the notion of Radical Visibility, a movement based on claiming our bodies and, through the use of bright colors, exuberant fabrics, and innovative designs, they refuse to assimilate and are spearheading a Queer and Disabled dress reform movement. They are the editor of the Radical Visibility Zine, a magazine for Queer and Disabled teens based off of their manifesto.
Ita O'Brien (she/her) is the UK’s leading Intimacy Coordinator and founder of Intimacy on Set, her company set up in 2018, which provides services to TV, film, and theatre when dealing with intimacy, sexual content, and nudity. O’Brien pioneered the role of the Intimacy Coordinator and since 2014 has been developing best practice Intimacy on Set Guidelines, which have been widely adopted in the industry and championed by the TIME’S UP movement and others, advocating for safe, fair and dignified work for everyone. O’Brien has worked on numerous high profile productions including Normal People (BBC3/Hulu), Sex Education Seasons 1&2 (Netflix), Gangs of London (Sky Atlantic), The Great (Hulu), I May Destroy You (BBC/HBO), Brave New World (Peacock/Sky One), It's A Sin (Channel 4) and has been widely covered in the national and international media as the leading spokesperson in this space.
Dave Merheje (he/him) is a cast member on the tv show Ramy on Hulu. He is originally from Canada and lives in Los Angeles now. Dave has a comedy special on Netflix as part of a series called Comedians of the World (Canada) called The Beautifully Manic. His other special is on Amazon Prime USA/UK Good Friend Bad Grammar.
Devyn Simone (she/her) is a renowned dating expert and matchmaker who has been featured on Good Morning America, The Wendy Williams Show, The Rachael Ray Show, and Nightline. Her advice has been featured in The New York Post, Yahoo News, and The Huffington Post, and has served as the inspiration for the dating and makeover show Love At First Swipe on TLC.
Natasha Ramsey MD, MPH (she/her/hers) is a board certified pediatrician who is currently in training to become an adolescent medicine specialist. She has dedicated her career to serving diverse populations and expanding the adolescent medicine workforce both here and abroad in the areas of reproductive health, family planning, HIV and teen pregnancy prevention. She founded Gorjus Doc to provide guidance to up and coming health care professionals and has now expanded to providing health education and resources to youth through art. Gorjus Doc is also a successful online business where Dr.Ramsey sells her artwork centered around activism, diversity, and equity. She plans to continue her work in global adolescent medicine and commitment to diversity with the hopes of becoming a leader and advocate in the global community; fighting to improve the health of teens around the world.
Veronika Granado (she/her) is a Mechanical Engineer minoring in Math at UTSA, as well as a storyteller, activist, and organizer for Reproductive Justice. She is a Leo and a vegetarian!
Victoria Nelthropp (she/her) is the Brand Coordinator for Clone-A-Willy! Clone-A-Willy and Clone-A-Pussy allow anyone to make an exact replica of a penis or vulva into a high-quality, body-safe sex toy at home! She has worked in the Adult Novelty Industry for 5 years and lives in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. Her favorite aspect of their products is the opportunity it gives anyone to get to know their bodies in a new way and practice self love and empowerment through creativity!
Amy Baldwin (she/her) is a Sex and Relationship Coach, Certified Sex Educator, Lead Educator for Uberlube, and Co-Host of the Shameless Sex Podcast.
Diandra Marizet (she/her) is a conscious curator, community builder, writer, and founding member of Intersectional Environmentalist, where she spearheads Business + Resource Development. Diandra uses her work to elevate intersectional sustainability through the lens of social impact + culture. With a background in fashion + community building, Diandra uses her ongoing study to unpack the importance of cultural preservation and eco-feminism.
SEASON 4 FEATURED VOICES:
Maddy Siriouthay (she/her) is a writer, designer and creative technologist dedicated to social good, education and community. She received her Bachelor of Journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism and her M.F.A. in Design and Technology at Parsons in New York City. She is the CCO and co-founder of Ovee, a sexual and reproductive health hub for women (and people with vaginas), which is committed to the re-education and the destigmatization of the body. She also sits on the Board of Directors for the Lao/tian American National Alliance (LANA), a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing, uplifting, and uniting the Lao/tian American community, with recent efforts being addressing recent deportation orders and the 2020 Census.
Pidgeon Pagonis (they/them) has slowly, oftentimes not so quietly risen to visibility in Chicago as not only an activist on behalf of intersex people, but also as a fighter for the recognition of marginalized others in general, regardless of race, sex or gender identity, class or creed. Whether advancing youth advocacy with interACT, producing informational videos that go viral on Buzzfeed, writing for Everyday Feminism or appearing on the cover of National Geographic “Gender Revolution” special issue, Pidgeon has staked out a place at the fore of debates on intersexuality and otherness.
Kimberly Huggins (she/her) is a licensed Social Worker, sexual wellness educator and Public Health practitioner who is passionate about reproductive health and the emotional well-being for people living with HIV and other stigmatized health conditions. She has worked in various capacities to further research and intervention efforts for under-served groups in the areas of sexual and reproductive health. As co-founder of KIMBRITIVE, Kimberly supports the organizations vision for creating real, empowering conversations and sexual wellness workshops and digital content that centers Black women and girls. Kimberly holds a B.A. in Psychology from Syracuse University, a Master of Public Heath from SUNY Downstate Medical Center and a Master of Social Work and Master of Human Sexuality Education from Widener University.
Jessica Diggs (she/her) is a LA-based midwife, doula, and educator. She began her journey as a birth worker in 2012. The trainings, her mentors, and ultimately, her first birth as a doula honed her interest in reproductive justice through doula trainings, childbirth education and holistic practices. Jessica is honored to be a black midwife and to join other reproductive health advocates with a common goal: to provide a safe, satisfying, and autonomous experiences for all people.
Mistress Velvet, MA, ICDVP (she/they) is communist social worker, a sex & pleasure educator, and Chicago’s premier African dominatrix. She is best known for her BDSM practice where she teaches her clients about white supremacy, Black liberation, and the importance of reparations. Velvet has been a sex worker and an organizer for 10 years. Her work has spanned reproductive justice, gender-based violence, and LGBTQIAA+ inclusive sexual health and relationship education for youth and adults.
Eva Sweeney (she/her) is a 37-year-old genderqueer disabled female who works primarily as a sex educator and freelance writer. Her topics include disabilities and sex, gender, and queer culture. She has been doing sex and disability workshops for over 15 years and started doing this work because she found a huge lack of good sex-positive information for people with disabilities. Eva wrote the book “Queers on Wheels” and has traveled the country giving workshops about sex and disability. She continues to give workshops online and in-person through “Cripping Up Sex with Eva”, and she is also available for private consultations.
Daniela Gilsanz (she/her) is a designer, activist, and co-creator of The Period Game - a board game designed to teach menstruation in a fun, engaging way (with spinning ovaries)! She uses her design skills to advocate for comprehensive sex ed, menstrual equity, and ending toxic masculinity through her personal work and her work on campaigns for brands including Trojan Condoms, Axe and Seventh Generation.
Brittany Brathwaite (she/her) is a reproductive justice activist, youth worker and community accountable scholar with a deep commitment to supporting the leadership, organizing, and healing of girls of color. As co-founder of KIMBRITIVE, Brittany supports the organization’s vision for creating real, empowering conversations and sexual wellness workshops and digital content that centers Black women and girls. Brittany has worked to create change in the lives of girls of color through sexual health education, local base building, advocacy, curriculum development, storytelling strategies and participatory action research. Brittany holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Women’s and Gender Studies and Sociology from Syracuse University and a Master of Public Health and a Master of Social Work from Columbia University.
Jessica O’Reilly, Ph.D., (she/her) is a best-selling author, television host, and top-rated international speaker whose award-winning couples’ retreats span the globe from Istanbul to Albuquerque. She has worked with thousands of couples to improve communication, heighten intimacy, and deepen connection before they encounter struggles in their relationships. Her sex and relationship advice is featured regularly by Showtime, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, Men’s Fitness, CTV, CBC, ABC and The Globe and Mail—and now Greatist.com! Dr. Jess is a top-rated keynote speaker for prestigious executive organizations, school boards, social service agencies, universities and corporations and her sessions attract a full house at entertainment and educational events alike. With a background in education, she designs interactive programs with measurable take-home value and participants leave with the motivation and skills to improve the way they think and behave in their relationships. Catch her Tuesday mornings on GlobalTV and Saturdays on PlayboyTV as the host of the reality series, Swing.
Daniel Walker (he/him) is an engineer, YouTuber, and asexual activist. He identifies as homoromantic asexual, which means that he feels romantic attraction to other men, but sexual attraction to no one. Through his YouTube channel - Slice of Ace - and work with the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), Daniel works to educate others about this lesser-known facet of the LGBT+ community.
Adiba Khan (she/her) is a reproductive justice activist, and a recent Sociology & Public Health graduate of UC Berkeley. As a student at Berkeley, Adiba spearheaded a student movement, Campus Action for Reproductive Equity (justCARE), behind California legislation she co-authored to implement medication abortion at all California public university student health centers. Her bill became law in 2019. Currently, Adiba works to advance reproductive justice as an organizer for the Bernie 2020 campaign.
Hans Lindahl (they/she) is an artist, writer, and YouTuber. Growing up in intersex community as a teen, they started out in advocacy by joining interACT Youth, an international collective of intersex activists under 30. Since then they have spoken to doctors, families, sex educators, and state legislatures about intersex issues. They currently serve as Communications Director for interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth.
Da’Shaun Harrison (they/them) is a nonbinary abolitionist and community organizer based out of Atlanta, GA. They work as the Lead Organizer of Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative (SNaPCo)—a Black trans-led nonprofit. In recent years, Da’Shaun Harrison has traveled throughout the United States and abroad to speak at conferences, colleges, and to lead workshops focused on race, sexuality, gender, class, religion, (dis)abilities, fatness, and the intersection at which they all meet. They are now working to complete their forthcoming book, tentatively titled Belly of the Beast, which is set to be published next year. You can find more about them and their portfolio on their website, dashaunharrison.com
Anne Louise (AniLu) Burdett (she/her) is a certified Western Constitutional Herbalist with 15+ years of training and 9 years of experience as a Primary Care Clinician with a dual focus on sexual health and trauma. She is also a certified Sexual Health Educator and medicinal herb farmer. As CEO of TOCA, her newest project, she is creating pleasure products and educational materials combining botanical extracts with high potency CBD. She believes wholeheartedly in being true to oneself, acting from desire, and in individual wellness being essentially and always tied to collective wellness. You can find more information at tocatocatoca.com.
Marla Renee Stewart, MA (she/her) is a Californian native, a Southern transplant, and a woman with passion, charisma and integrity to educate and inspired others. She is dedicated to getting people in touch with their body, mind and spirit and believes in harnessing love and accepting people for who they are and where they currently are in their lives. Her non-judgmental spirit speaks to people from all different backgrounds and she has an innate ability to get along with just about anyone. She is a maven in most everything that she pursues and strives for perfection in everything she does. Mediocre is not in her vocabulary. Check out her website, velvetlipssexed.com, or connect with her on Instagram at @1marlastewart and @velvetlipssxed.
Nina Kossoff (they/them/she/her) is the creator of ThemsHealth. ThemsHealth was born need for health and wellness information beyond the traditional "men's" and "women's" binary. After identifying bodily health, mental health, sexuality, fitness, nutrition, and identity as key areas to focus on, ThemsHealth has become an Instagram-centric resource of suggestions, advice, methods, affirmations, ways of thinking, practices, and broadly information for non-binary and trans folks to see themselves in. ThemsHealth has built in a network of #themfessionals (non-binary professionals in the health and wellness spaces) who volunteer their time to answer anonymous questions directly from the community, based on their experience as nurse practitioners, therapists, nutritionists, trainers, and more. You can find the project on Instagram at @ThemsHealth. Outside of ThemsHealth, Nina is a creative brand strategist and consultant working in the impact and purpose-driven landscape across issues like climate change, education equity, gender equality, and more.
Janielle Bryan, MPH CHES (she/her) is a public health professional and sexuality educator based in Philadelphia, PA. She has experience in clinical research, health education, community health, and disease prevention. Janielle can be found lecturing or facilitating workshops everywhere from community rec centers to world class museums. Whether it's in the classroom or on social media, she creates spaces that allows everyone to feel safe and empowered regardless of sexual orientation, race, or gender identity. In addition, she's the creator of The Sex Exchange. The Sex Exchange are sexual wellness events that allows attendees to explore the complex subject of sexuality through shame free, pleasure centered conversations. You can find her on Instagram & Twitter at _jbytheway.
Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) is an intersex activist and public health researcher. Born and raised in the Bronx, he attended Williams College and after a short stint in New York City, moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he lived for nine years. He now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his dog, Justice. He is the former board president of InterACT, a legal advocacy organization protecting the human rights of intersex young adults and is a co-founder of the Intersex Justice Project (IJP), a project whose mission is to #endintersexsurgery.
Sam Brinton (they/them) is one of the world’s leading advocates for LGBTQ youth. They are the founder of the 50 Bill 50 States campaign at The Trevor Project to end the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy, first in the United States and then around the globe. As a survivor of conversion therapy, Sam has spearheaded efforts to submit legislation and promote public education in the hopes of ending the practice on minors. They have co-chaired the National Center for Lesbian Rights #BornPerfect Advisory Committee on conversion therapy and have spoken before the United Nations and Congress as well as testified on legislation to protect LGBTQ youth across the country. They have been featured in numerous media including a recent New York Times op-ed as well as The Washington Post, Playboy Magazine, TIME Magazine, USA TODAY, MSNBC, PBS Newshour, Huffington Post, and CTV in Canada. Sam uses they, them, or theirs as their pronouns as a genderfluid person.
A queer auntie & eldest daughter of four from southeast Kentucky, Tanya Turner (she/her) is an artist, organizer, and creator of the Appalachian sexual health project, Sexy Sex Ed. Her work to expand rural sexual health resources has been featured in NewNowNext, Yes! Magazine and on CNN. As co-host of political podcast, Trillbilly Workers Party, she reaches 50,000 listeners a month and is creating an animated comedy series about rural leftist organizing with MeansTV and Appalshop. Tanya, her partner, and their pets live on a mountain top with too many houseplants & guitars. You can connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.
Cecile Gasnault joined sexual wellness brand Smile Makers four years ago when turning 31 and at the time, she had never owned a vibrator in her life. But she was feeling passionate about the brand's mission to normalise the perception of female sexuality. Since then, she has been talking about vibrators, lubricants and female sexuality on a daily basis and with vulva owners from all over the world. To answer questions she was receiving online from the brand's community, she developed together with sexologists a sex education programme called Vulva Talks, focused on female pleasure.
Dr Rebecca Levy-Gantt (she/her) is a Board Certified ObGyn and a certified menopause practitioner who has been practicing for the last 10 years in Napa, California. She is originally from New York City, where she grew up and went to medical school at the NY College of Osteopathic Medicine, graduating in 1992. She practiced on Long Island for 11 years before moving to Napa. Her special interests are menopause management, including hormones and alternative management strategies, as well as vaginal and vulvar pain syndromes. She owns a solo private practice which has been growing for the past 5 years, teaches medical students from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, and spends her free time teaching, traveling, running and writing.
SEASON 3 FEATURED VOICES:
Yveka Pierre is the litigation counsel for If/When/How where she litigates civil and criminal defense cases. She is a former public defender, who has been involved in justice driven work for a decade. She is committed to transforming legal systems, to move powers from oppressive systems, to those they seek to oppress. She is a Haitian born, Florida raised, New York transplant, who is committed to raging against the dying of the light.
Daniel Saynt is the Chief Conspirator of the movement brand New Society for Wellness aka NSFW, a members-only club and a creative agency for sexual wellness and cannabis brands. I’m an activist fighting against censorship, an evangelist for cultivating consent culture and a public speaker on all the things not safe for work. He got his start in the fashion industry, first as a blogger behind the industry skewering FashionIndie. He then became Chief Marketing Officer for a women's lifestyle brand and launched an agency called Socialyte which represented social media influencers. He has worked on campaigns for brands like Vogue and Burberry, but realized that he wanted to use my marketing skills on categories that bring people real happiness and fulfillment. He stopped selling shoes and makeup and began selling sex and cannabis.
The Clubhouse was created as an experience space where people can learn about sex, but also connect with products from brands like Uberlube, Motorbunny and Womanizer. Currently, they work with over a dozen brands in the space and our membership has grown to over 1,800 people including models, artists, photographers and celebrities. Activism and the desire to change perspectives around sex is a major focus for the New Society for Wellness.
Sid Azmi is a self-made social entrepreneur and a kinetic leader within the realm of educated pleasure who is transforming the way we think about sex. Her epiphanic timeline spans growing up a Malay Muslim girl born and raised in Singapore; she was circumcised at birth, disconnected from her body, and then moved to America on her own at 19, and worked as a radiation therapist and taught radiation therapy to college students. Today, Sid is the owner of and the head educator at the beloved Brooklyn-based educated pleasure shop Please. Please is the epicenter of Sid’s mission to change the way people think and talk about sex, and bring it to the mainstream as a daily indulgence for everyone, and anyone, at various stages of life.
Zoe Ridolfi-Starr is an activist and advocate whose work focuses on sex, gender, family, and the law. As Policy Chair of the Sex Education Alliance of NYC and a coordinator of the statewide #SexEdNowNY campaign, she advocates for better sex education policy. She is also a law student at NYU and earned her Bachelor’s at Columbia University. Prior to law school, Zoe led community organizing and legislative advocacy efforts across a number of issues, including LGBTQ youth homelessness, gender violence in schools, juvenile incarceration, and abortion access. She regularly speaks and writes on these topics; her writing has been published in outlets including the Yale Law Journal and the New York Daily News.
Dr Rebecca Levy-Gantt is a Board Certified ObGyn and a certified menopause practitioner who has been practicing for the last 10 years in Napa, California. She is originally from New York City, where she grew up and went to medical school at the NY College of Osteopathic Medicine, graduating in 1992. She practiced on Long Island for 11 years before moving to Napa. Her special interests are menopause management, including hormones and alternative management strategies, as well as vaginal and vulvar pain syndromes. She owns a solo private practice which has been growing for the past 5 years, teaches medical students from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, and spends her free time teaching, traveling, running and writing.
Alix Fox is a multi award-winning broadcaster/journalist/sex educator, who jokes that there are "more slashes in her job description than there are in a werewolf’s T-shirt". She's a script consultant on hit Netflix series Sex Education; co-host of BBC Radio 1's comedy podcast Unexpected Fluids, which uses 'real-life tales of sexual fails' as a springboard for constructive conversation; and has answered listeners' most intimate questions as an X-rated Agony Aunt on The Modern Mann show for almost half a decade. You can also catch her advising patients on Channel 4's The Sex Clinic, and busting myths and misconceptions about emergency contraception on the My Morning After pod.
Alix is a proud Ambassador for Brook young people's sexual wellbeing charity, and Bloody Good Period, who are all about menstruation education. In addition, she's employed as resident Sex Expert at Superdrug; and is a spokesperson for Japanese sex toy firm TENGA, German pleasure innovators Womanizer, and female-founded sex subscription start-up The Sway. She’s a face of National HIV Testing Week campaign, in collaboration with Terrence Higgins Trust.
Janet Lieberman-Lu, Dame Products’ Chief Technology and Product Officer, knows how to get things made. After graduating from MIT with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2007, Lieberman-Lu designed everything from dustpans to 3D printers before deciding to start her own company. She was the lead engineer and project manager for MakerBot’s award-winning Replicator Mini Compact Desktop 3D Printer, one of the first ten employees at the crowdsourcing consumer product development company Quirky, and spent time as quality engineer for multinational soft-goods brand Microdry. After having the epiphany that the sexual aids for women weren’t being developed, manufactured, or marketed the way a quality consumer good should be, while pornography (traditionally aimed at men) has always been at the forefront of technology, Lieberman-Lu founded Dame Products to try to be the change she wanted to see in the world.
Senti Sojwal is a South Asian-American New York native, reproductive justice activist, and co-founder of the Asian American Feminist Collective. She has written widely on feminist issues and politics and identifies as an intersectionality evangelist and bold lipstick aficionado. Senti holds a BA in Gender Studies from Hampshire College and is pursuing her MPH in reproductive & sexual health at NYU. You can follower her on Twitter @senti_narwhal.
Alice Pelton is the Founder of theldown.com, the world's first review platform for contraception. Alice created The Lowdown after she realised that she couldn't find user based data on women’s experiences and side effects from contraception at scale, anywhere. For years, she struggled to find a form of contraception that didn't impact her mood - so she decided to do something to help women like her, and create the 'Trip Advisor for contraceptives'. Since launching in early 2019, The Lowdown has collected over 1,200 anonymous reviews and received coverage from The Sun, Bustle, Pretty 52, Marie Claire and Yahoo. Alice hopes the platform will help to shortcut the trial and error approach many women have to finding the right contraception for them.
Andy Duran is a Bay Area native sexual health educator and the Education Director for Good Vibrations. As a trainer for over 15 years, this California bear cub and proud blue collar dandy loves providing accurate and accessible sex information with hopes to arouse curiosity and spread truth.
When not philosophizing about all things sexual, Educator Andy can be found singing George Michael, blushing, and keeping up his teddy bear figure.
Olive Persimmon (a nom de plume) has been developing a fan base on the internet with her observational and quirky humor everywhere from Elite Daily to SheKnows Media to Reddit. She has performed with the World Champion of Beat Boxing, emceed a TEDx conference, and spoken at the NYC Salon. She is the author of The Coitus Chronicles and Unintentionally Celibate.
Thandi Harris is an avid and passionate HIV activist and spokeswoman of Positive Women’s Network. She is a graduate of the first cohort in the Positive Women’s Network (PWN) policy program who used her activism to help change the old HIV criminalization laws in California. Currently, she does community outreach at W.O.R.L.D (Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Diseases) the only organization in the bay area that supports women living with HIV and their families. She also is an active member of the local Ryan white community council and writes a blog in her free time about health and wellness living with HIV.
Safeena Mecklai is a current second-year student at the New York University School of Law. Prior to starting at NYU Law, Safeena worked as a lobbyist and strategic consultant with the top government relations firm in New York City. As the founder and head of Capalino+Company’s Digital Strategy practice, Safeena co-founded the firm’s flagship mobile application, MWBE Connect NY. Safeena is a graduate of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, a post-graduate leadership training program in NYC, and the University of California, Berkeley.
Ashwini Hardikar (she, they) is Director of Grants Administration at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. She is an advocate for relevant sexual health education and access to resources across the lifespan. Ashwini previously ran sex education programs in NYC public schools in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. She is a member of NYC’s HIV Planning Group, and Mayor DeBlasio’s Sexual Health Education Task Force. She loves reading, watching TV, running, singing, playing guitar, cooking, and eating (often in that order).
Julie Ae Kim (she/her) is the Co-Founder of the Asian American Feminist Collective. A native New Yorker raised in Queens, her day job is in New York City politics as the Director of the Women's Caucus. She is also a writer focusing on themes of sexuality, family, and Asian America.
Less McCullars (He, Him) is a HIV case manager at The LGBTQ Center in Manhattan. His work is centered around HIV prevention as well as advocating for people living with HIV. He’s a member of NYC’s HIV Planning Group as well as the New York Knows. He loves queer art, working out, cooking, singing, house music, and Beyoncé.
Jaclyn Freidman is a writer, educator and activist, and creator of four books including Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape (one of Publishers’ Weekly’s Top 100 Books of 2009) and her latest, Unscrewed: Women, Sex, Power and How to Stop Letting the System Screw Us All. Her podcast, also called Unscrewed, is paving new paths to sexual liberation, and was named one of the Best Sex Podcasts by both Marie Claire and Esquire.
Friedman’s work has popularized the “yes means yes” standard of sexual consent that has been made into law in several U.S. states and has been codified on countless campuses around the country and the world. Her commentary has appeared in outlets including The New York Times, Vox, Time, The Washington Post, Glamour and The Guardian. Friedman is a founder and the former Executive Director of Women, Action & the Media, where she led the successful #FBrape campaign to apply Facebook’s hate-speech ban to content that promotes gender-based violence.
Ellen H. Blais is One Love’s Executive Director of the New York Tri-State Region, leading initiatives to increase educational programming and partnerships in New York, New Jersey, and southern Connecticut and empowering communities to end relationship violence through education and awareness.
Una Aya Osato aka exHOTic other aka Norms is a performer, writer and educator from NYC, who dynamically merges her art and politics. She’s been featured in the New York Times, Teen Vogue, NPR's CodeSwitch, NowThis, HuffPost, MSNBC, to name a few. Una’s been performing in NYC for over three decades. And she’s been writing, performing, and producing her award-winning original work for over fifteen years, performing nationally and internationally for tens of thousands of people in theaters, festivals, universities, conferences, community organizations, classrooms, and prisons. She is also a co-founder of the renowned troupe brASS: Brown RadicalAss Burlesque, who have a queer POC monthly show called "Compost Bin!" in Brooklyn. Una and her sister Michi Ilona Osato's written work can be found in adrienne maree brown's NY Times Bestseller book "Pleasure Activism" in their chapter: Burlesque and Liberation. | www.UnaOsato.com |
Mia Davis is the Founder & CEO of tabú, a revitalized approach to sexual and mental health care. Prior to starting the company, Mia earned a BS with a focus in Product Design from Stanford University and pursued a career building out a CRM-powered community platform as a UX Designer at Salesforce. Due to her personal experiences with sexual trauma and pelvic pain, she was inspired to apply her design background to create meaningful, approachable tools for people to take care of the more "tabú" aspects of their overall wellbeing. Mia is constantly thinking of new ways to democratize comprehensive sex, relationship, and mental health education for the masses and make it easier for all of us to advocate for ourselves in the bedroom and beyond!
Amelia Bonow is the Founding Director of Shout Your Abortion, a movement dedicated to broadening the discourse surrounding abortion through art, media, and real life events all over the country. Bonow's writing has appeared in The New Republic, The New York Daily News, BUST Magazine, Salon, and she coedited SYA's eponymously titled book, which is currently in the waiting and recovery rooms of over 250 abortion clinics. Bonow proudly serves on the Board of Directors of the Abortion Care Network as well as Dr. Leroy Carhart's AbortionClinics.Org, and has been honored by Abortion Conversation Projects, numerous Planned Parenthood affiliates, filmmaker Michael Moore, and the Webby Awards. Amelia loves abortion providers, has the best friends in the whole universe, and she believes that we are going to win.
Robin Marty is a freelance reporter and the author of the new book "Handbook for a Post-Roe America," a guide for what to do if and when Roe is overturned and states make abortion illegal. She is also the co-author of "The End of Roe v. Wade" (formerly "Crow After Roe"), an updated account of 12 different abortion laws meant to provoke challenges to Roe v. Wade, to be published in August of 2019. Robin specializes in abortion rights and access and the anti-abortion movement and figures, and is a regular columnist on reproductive rights issues at DAME Magazine. Robin has been covering the state based actions to limit reproductive health access since 2009 ,and her work is frequently published in Cosmopolitan, NBC, The Guardian, Politico and other news outlets.
Fatmata Bah is a Peer Health Educator at The Door - A Center of Alternatives. In a space dedicated to approaching youth development in a holistic sense, they relish in the chance to broaden young people's ideas around sexuality. Moreover, in working with youth within The Door and across the city, they're able to promote discussions around comprehensive, inclusive sexual health, healthy relationships, and gender and sexuality.
Additionally, in the future Fatmata hope's to combine their interests of history, sociology and anthropology with their love of being an educator; teaching students a curriculum from a decolonized lense - reflective of themselves and their heritage.
Samantha Hanson is an Engagement Coordinator for One Love Foundation working to bring Escalation to schools in the tri-state area as well as assisting on the Campus Ambassador program.
Tracy MacNeal is an engineer, a healthcare innovator, a mother, and a champion for women’s health. Fueled by two decades in medical innovation, as CEO of Materna Medical, she maintains a focus that is both personal and universal. Her leadership empowers women to protect and restore their pelvic health. As women experience health and healing, they and their partners live fuller, happier lives. Serving as the national Chair for Advamed’s Women’s Executive Network, Tracy is a “head to heart” trailblazer who inspires the next generation of women leaders to create the future of healthcare.
SEASON 2 FEATURED VOICES:
Polly Rodriguez, CEO and Founder of Unbound
As the CEO of Unbound, Polly Rodriguez has always been drawn to turning terrible experiences into great ones for customers. With a background in strategy consulting, she started her career at Deloitte specializing in customer experience.
She went on to scale the YCombinator startup Grouper which focused on the worst experience of all: dating in New York City (and subsequently globally). But there was always one shopping experience that she found to be the worst - buying your first vibrator as a woman.
Years later, she’s now the CEO of Unbound, a sexual wellbeing company that is making sex better for women everywhere by providing a sophisticated, reliable, and affordable shopping experience.
Ligia Andrade Zuniga, MA
Ligia Andrade Zuniga is a Director at Sexability and passionate Disability Advocate and Leader. She has been a change maker working in the area of sexuality and disability since 2009 advocating for the transformation of sexual freedom, reproductive rights and services for women of color and other marginalized underrepresented individuals in the area of sexuality and disability rights.
Caleb Luna, Ph.D. Student at UC Berkeley
Caleb Luna is a writer, activist, teacher, performer, fat babe and Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, where their work broadly explores the intersections of fatness, desire, white supremacy and colonialism from a queer of color lens.
Their current project focuses on the mutually constitutive relationship between bodies and discourse. You can find more of their writing on Black Girl Dangerous, Everyday Feminism and The Body Is Not An Apology."
Nadya Okamoto, Founder/ED of PERIOD
Nadya Okamoto, who grew up in Portland, OR, is 20-years-old and a Harvard sophomore. She is the Founder and Executive Director of PERIOD (period.org), an organization she founded at the age of 16.
She is also the Co-founder and spokesperson of Next Fellows (nextfellows.org). PERIOD is now the largest youth-run NGO in women’s health, and one of the fastest growing ones here in the United States.
In 2017, Nadya ran for office in Cambridge, MA. While she did not win, her campaign team made historic waves in mobilizing young people on the ground and at polls. Nadya recently signed with publisher Simon and Schuster to write a book to mobilize the Menstrual Movement (coming Fall 2018).
Connie Sobczak, Co-Founder of The Body Positive
Connie is the author of Embody: Learning to Love Your Unique Body (and quiet that critical voice!), her book in which she skillfully and lovingly reconnects readers to their bodies, life force, and beauty.
Connie’s experience with an eating disorder in her teen years and the death of her sister Stephanie inspired her life’s work to create a world where all people are free to love their bodies.
In 1996, she and Elizabeth Scott co-founded The Body Positive, a nonprofit organization that teaches people to value their unique identities and become liberated from self-hatred so they can optimize their energy and intellect to make positive changes in their own lives, communities, and beyond.
She has been featured in numerous national media, including USA Today, Media Planet, Rebellious Magazine for Women, the Lady Brain Show, the Bay Area’s local Fox news, and more. In 2015, she and Elizabeth were chosen by La Repubblica, Italy’s leading newspaper, to be on their top 10 list of badass women for their role in founding The Body Positive movement.
Connie’s passion is watching the light that emerges when people recognize and embrace their magnificent, authentic selves.
Cindy Gallop, CEO/Founder of MakeLoveNotPorn
Cindy started up ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty New York in 1998 and in 2003 was named Advertising Woman of the Year. She is the founder of www.IfWeRanTheWorld.com, co-action software (and Harvard Business School case study) that enables brands and consumers to implement the business model of the future: Shared Values + Shared Action = Shared Profit (financial and social).
She also founded www.makelovenotporn.com, launched at TED 2009 – ‘Pro-sex. Pro-porn. Pro-knowing the difference’ - and in 2013 launched social sex video sharing platform https://www.makelovenotporn.tv/ The Social Sex Revolution (the revolutionary part isn’t the sex, but the social) for which she has just raised $2million to scale. As a global sextech pioneer and champion, she is also raising the world’s first and only sextech fund http://www.alltheskyholdings.com/ .
She speaks at conferences around the world and consults, describing her consultancy approach as ‘I like to blow shit up. I am the Michael Bay of business.’ Follow her on Twitter @cindygallop.
Luna Matatas, O.School Pleasure Professional
Luna Matatas is a sex and pleasure educator based in Toronto Canada. She's been teaching and facilitating safe and inclusive spaces to have sexuality conversations for the past 10 years.
She loves navigating what's normal and what's not, championing shamefree pleasure and leading body acceptance conversations. She teaches individuals and groups in person in Canada and the US and online at www.o.school.
Haylin Belay, Witch and Sex Educator
Haylin Belay is a sex educator, holistic health professional, and witch living and working in New York City.
With nearly a decade of experience in the field of health promotion and sex positivity, her expertise lies at the intersection of health, identity, and pleasure for people of different ages, sexual orientations, genders, racial and ethnic backgrounds, relationship styles, and more.
Rafe Eric Biggs, PhD CMSC
Rafe Biggs is the founder of Sexability, an organization committed to transforming sexuality and disability. He is a sexual health educator working with people with disabilities and healthcare professionals who support them.
He earned his Masters and Doctorate in Organizational Psychology from Alliant International University and is a member of American Society of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (ASSECT). He is also a certified Master Somatic Coach (CMSC) from the Strozzi Institute.
Rafe is a quadriplegic paralyzed from the chest down from a traumatic spinal cord injury. He has spent last decade helping to make sex accessible for people with disabilities and organizations who serve them.
Toni Guy, Former VP of Education at Planned Parenthood, San Mateo
Toni Guy has spoken on issues of sexuality and reproductive health for over 30 years. During her years with Planned Parenthood she rose from Community Educator to Vice President of Education.
She speaks on a variety of topics including: puberty, sexuality education, reproductive health including birth control methods and sexually transmitted infections, abortion and the politics of reproduction.
In 1992 she was recognized as a “Champion for Choice” by NARAL and was chosen to receive the Seventh Annual Next Generation Award by the YWCA of San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo in recognition of her work with young women.
She continues to advocate for choice and to speak out about the importance of access to contraception and abortion services in the lives of women.
Dr. Rebecca Levy, OBGYN
DB’s amazing mom, Dr. Rebecca Levy-Gantt, has been a practicing Obstetrician and Gynecologist for 20 years, now pretty much specializing in the 40+ crowd which includes PMS, perimenopause, hormones, sexuality later in life and menopausal issues.
She still delivers a baby here and there, and does a LOT of writing, lecturing and traveling. Check her out on Medium and other publications!
Kristen Mancinelli, MS, RD
Kristen Mancinelli is director of education and partnerships at Extend Fertility. She educates women about fertility and egg freezing, partners with organizations supporting women’s reproductive health, and advocates for putting an end to the taboo surrounding the subject of female fertility.
Kristen holds a master of science in public health and nutrition from Columbia University and a bachelors in chemistry from NYU.
Andy Duran, Educational Outreach Manager at Good Vibrations
Andy Duran is a Bay Area native sexual health educator and the Education Director for Good Vibrations. As a trainer for over 15 years, this California bear cub and proud blue collar dandy loves providing accurate and accessible sex information with hopes to arouse curiosity and spread truth.
When not philosophizing about all things sexual, Educator Andy can be found singing George Michael, blushing, and keeping up his teddy bear figure.
Rachel Gelman, DPT, Pelvic Floor Specialist
Dr. Rachel Gelman is a pelvic floor physical therapist who has received her bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Washington in Seattle and her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Samuel Merritt University.
Rachel practices as a clinical specialist at the Pelvic Wellness & Physical Therapy clinic in San Francisco. She specializes in the physical therapy management of numerous pelvic pain disorders, including sexual dysfunction.
Rachel is passionate about women's and men's health and strives to promote quality education regarding sexual health both in the clinic and in the community.
Mia Little, Adult Performer and Educator
Mia Little is an adult film performer and sex worker leading sex education workshops at universities and online. She is sex worker rights activist and current president of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee.
Her YouTube channel focuses on destigmatizing sex, sex work, and self exploration. Mia is also a pleasure professional for O.School, a shame free sex and pleasure education platform that aims to provide inclusive, trauma informed, and easy access courses online.
Her workshops range from consent with medical professionals, ethical sluthood, sexual health management, and more.
Ivy Chen, Sexuality Professor at San Francisco State University
Ivy is back for another season! Ivy Chen, MPH is a sexuality health educator, and has been working with Bay Area communities for 21 years.
She teaches students ranging from the 4th grade through college age, as well as parent groups, community based organizations, teachers, and other health professionals. Topics covered in her workshops include puberty, healthy relationships, body image, consent, sexual decision making, sexually transmitted infections, birth control, and increasing communication about sexuality within families.
She is also a lecturer for the health education, sexuality studies and psychology departments at San Francisco State University and has taught two large human sexuality courses for the last 15 years.
Overall, she strives to make learning important information about sensitive topics as accessible, comfortable and fun as possible.
Menashe Bezalel, Owner of PlanetScape
DB’s incredible dad, Menny (Menashe) Bezalel founded Planetscape Inc. in 1997. Planetscape is an E-Commerce company that provides various database and E-Commerce/Internet applications for Business to Business.
Menny was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in the late 1950’s and is one of eight siblings. At age 12 Menny and his family immigrated to Israel to escape religious persecution -- he and his family were Jewish in a predominantly Muslim country.
After graduating from high school, he went to the Israeli army for 3 years. After his services in the army, he went to Tel Aviv University to study Electrical Engineering.
In 1982 he moved to New York and continued his higher education at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, NY; he has a Masters in Electrical Engineering.
Andre Shakti, Founder of IAmPoly.net
Andre Shakti is a journalist, educator, performer, activist, and professional slut living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is devoted to normalizing alternative desires, de-stigmatizing sex workers and their clients, and not taking herself too seriously.
Andre is the reigning "polyamory pundit" at her non-monogamy advice column, "I Am Poly(amorous) & So Can You!", which you can visit - and submit questions to! - via IAmPoly.net.
You can also find her as a pleasure professional on the exceptional #SexyEd platform O.School.
Q Wilson, O.School Pleasure Professional
Q is a self-identified queer, gender independent, polyamorous leather boi. It’s well known that flirting is Q’s default mode of communication. He can often be found with a charming smile on his face or looking mischievous with the other bois. On rare occasions this boi might even be found dancing on a table, for the right amount of money…for charity of course!
A social justice activist for more than 20 years, Q consistently strives to bring together the various communities to which he belongs. He continues to seek avenues to actively serve as a bridge for the leather community’s kinky newcomers and it’s more established members, as well as those outside of the community, whenever possible.
Dr. Karen A. Scott, MD, MPH, (c), FACOG
Dr. Karen Scott is currently a Professional Fellow and Visiting Instructor in Women’s and Gender Studies at Kenyon College while she completes her thesis as a MPH graduate student in applied epidemiology at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.
She is a clinician scientist and feminist intersectional scholar and activist with board certification in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She centers intersectionality and reproductive justice in the design and delivery of sexual and reproductive healthcare, education and training.
She is particularly interested in the ways that historical, institutional, and structural factors mediate the relationship between provider bias and sexual and reproductive health care access, acceptability, availability and utilization.
Sarah D'Andrea, M.Ed., Sex Educator
When Sarah was 5 years old she believed that she invented masturbation. Today Sarah holds her M.Ed. in Human Sexuality from Widener University. She has taught courses and lead workshops with the American Medical Student Association, the College of Nursing at Sacred Heart University, and to middle and high school students and their parents.
Sarah has spoken at multiple events including SexX Philadelphia and Cycles + Sex Los Angeles . While her background landed her a job talking about periods and leading events at The Flex Company, she also enjoys using her degree in human sexuality to start deep conversations at dinner parties and in line for the bathroom.
Era Steinfeld, RAPP Facilitator
Era Steinfeld is a queer and trans facilitator and student, passionately studying and practicing ways of talking to young people about healthy sexuality.
At work, she manages and lead discussions about dating violence prevention for a group of energetic high school peer educators.
At SF State, Era fuses her interests in gender and sexuality with studying education in the context of equity and social justice.
When not working or studying, Era can be found listening to music, playing with their cats, collaging, performing in drag (recent addition), and spending time with family and friends.
SEASON 1 FEATURED VOICES:
Ivy Chen, MPH
Ivy Chen, MPH is a sexuality health educator, and has been working with Bay Area communities for 21 years. She teaches students ranging from the 4th grade through college age, as well as parent groups, community based organizations, teachers, and other health professionals. Topics covered in her workshops include puberty, healthy relationships, body image, consent, sexual decision making, sexually transmitted infections, birth control, and increasing communication about sexuality within families. She is also a lecturer for the health education, sexuality studies and psychology departments at San Francisco State University and has taught two large human sexuality courses for the last 15 years. Overall, she strives to make learning important information about sensitive topics as accessible, comfortable and fun as possible.
Ivy Chen
Ingrid Ochoa
Ingrid Ochoa, MPH, CHES has served in several key roles in the public health field at San Francisco State University. She is currently the Undergraduate Program Coordinator and Clinical Faculty at the Department of Health Education. Formerly a Sexual Health Educator with SFSU Health Promotion &
Wellness unit and Family Planning counselor at the Student Health Services (SHS) and Program Director for the Sexual Health Peer Educators Advocating Campus Health (PEACH) wellness program. Her passion and concentration is to serve the diverse campus student community by promoting health equity at the individual, community, and structural levels, facilitate retention and increase graduation rates, and to reduce systematic health disparities which value diversity, engage communities and are grounded in cultural humility.
Ingrid Ochoa
Dr. Rebecca Levy-Gantt
Dr. Rebecca Levy-Gantt is DB’s loving mom and an Ob Gyn physician in the North Bay with a private practice, seeing women from aged 14 to 94. Her special interests are contraception, fertility management, hormonal management, and healthy living. She is also a writer, contributing advice and information to health magazines and online websites.
Dr. Rebecca Levy-Gantt
Pristine Shin
Pristine Shin has been living in the Bay for about 7 years. She first moved up here to attend UC Berkeley, and graduated in 2014 with a BA in Public Health. Since graduation, Pristine has been working with Study Smarter, a local tutoring and test prep company, and currently serves as a Director of Education and Scholarship Program Coordinator. When not working with tutors or students, Pristine enjoys surfing, cooking up a storm, listening to audiobooks, and hanging with her incredible community and loved ones.
Pristine Shin
Era Steinfeld
Era Steinfeld spends her time talking with queer and trans high school students about activism, oppression, sex ed, and healthy dating. Era is also a a graduate student studying Education at San Francisco State University, and continues to find ways to learn about sexuality to benefit themself and the people she educates. When not working or learning, Era loves spending time with her family and cats, reading fiction, and putting on makeup.
Era Steinfeld
Imani Wilson and Ella Zalon
Imani Wilson and Ella Zalon are recent graduates from the Oakland School for the Arts as well as RAPP (Relationship Abuse Prevention Program) Alumni. They both identify as queer and have taken steps to ensure that sex education become the norm in their personal lives.
Imani Wilson and Ella Zalon
