Vanessa Geffrard is…the child of Haitian immigrants,the “brown sugar jr.”fierce lover and defender of women and femmes,mommy, partner, wanderer,and a life affirming sex educator.Vanessa has been a health educator since she was 4 years old, starting her career rallying to get her dad to quit smoking. From lunchtime anatomy lessons at her all girls high school to bringing cookies and condoms to people at bars- Vanessa has never shied away from taboo discussions. In non-profit spaces, she manages and implements sex ed programming across the lifespan from ages 9 to 99! Her specialty areas include creating a new generation of life affirming sex educators, consent, pop culture and sexuality, body confidence, parent/child communication, inclusive and safe classrooms, adolescent sexuality, teen pregnancy and abortion stigma, and healthy relationships.Vanessa is the founder of VagEsteem™. Created in 2014, VagEsteem was founded as a platform for sex education for folks looking to understand and build up the “esteem” of and in their vulvas. In 2016, VagEsteem launched a podcast to encourage folks to engage in courageous conversations about sex, love, relationships, and everything in between. Vanessa is also the creator of “Sex Ed for Black Girls and Femmes”, barbershop and hair salon sexual health interventions, and sexual health educator incubator programs that are designed to train and mentor people of color interested in the sexual health field.Vanessa’s work can be found in The Baltimore Sun, Google Arts and Culture, Ms. Magazine, For Harriet, Good Morning Washington, Cosmo and she’s been awarded The Planned Parenthood Global Fellowship and the Daily Record’s Leading Women Award. She earned a Bachelor of Science Community Health degree from University of Maryland, College Park and holds a Master of Public Health degree from Morgan State University. In her free time- she’s learning to sew, loves to travel and hang with her family.