Cindy Lee Alves is a sexologist, educator, and founder of Ascension Institute – offering workshops, consulting, and private coaching centering Black and Indigenous communities of color across system-impacted identities. With over 14 years of experience, they specialize in sexuality education and justice with a commitment to pleasure, wellness, and liberation.
Cindy Lee earned her Master of Education (M.Ed.) and ABD status from Widener University’s Center for Sexuality Studies after obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in both Psychology and Women’s Studies from Stony Brook University. They are also recognized for their contributions as a founding member of the Women of Color Sexual Health Network’s Leadership Collective.
Her downtime involves music, yummy food, and shimmying often.
Nakisha T. Floyd, Ph.D. , M.Ed., M.A., CHES is the Associate Director for Racial Justice in Sex Education at Advocates for Youth and has over 20 years of professional experience in the field of public health with an emphasis on human sexuality education. Her areas of expertise include adolescent health and racial and ethnic health and disparities. She uses a social and racial justice lens, and trauma-informed best practices to develop initiatives and strategies that meet the needs of communities.
Nakisha earned her doctoral degree from Widener University, where she completed her dissertation, “Constructing Man: A Grounded Theory Study on How Black Men Conceptualize Their Own Manhood and Masculinity.” She holds a Master of Education degree in Human Sexuality Education from Widener University, a Master of Art in Health Education and Promotion from East Carolina University, and a Bachelor of Science in Health Education from North Carolina Central University. Nakisha is also a nationally Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).
A veteran of both the civil rights and LGBT rights movements, Dr. Sylvia Rhue is the Faith, Education, and Outreach Coordinator for SisterReach in Memphis, TN. She was formerly the Executive Director to Bishop Flunder at City of Refuge in Oakland. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, a writer, a religious scholar, and Sexologist.
Previously, Dr. Rhue served as the Director of Religious Affairs at NBJC, where she developed and launched the annual Black Church Summit, an unprecedented community initiative to engage mainstream Black religious institutions around issues of homophobia and acceptance of LGBT members.
Her passion for social justice began in 1964 when she met Dr. Martin Luther King and was inspired to become a door-to-door fundraiser in support of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1988, she helped found the Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum with the Black AIDS Institute’s Founder and Executive Director Phill Wilson. She is the co-producer of the award-winning film “All God’s Children”, a published writer, and is an expert on the “ex-gay” movement. She was the Assistant Director of Counseling at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. In 2003, she became the California State Leader on Marriage Equality in her position of Coordinator of the California Marriage Equality Coalition.
A native Californian, she graduated from UCLA with a Master’s Degree in Social Work and received a Doctorate in Human Sexuality from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, becoming the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Human Sexuality.
Cherisse Scott has worked as an educator, advocate, and activist in the Reproductive & Sexual Justice field for over 18 years. Cherisse is also a mother, ordained minister, professional singer, poet, songwriter, and actress. Ms. Scott was introduced to the reproductive justice movement as a woman in need of reproductive healthcare services who was intentionally misguided by religious zealots interfering with her ability to be self-determining regarding her healthcare decisions.
In 2011, Scott founded SisterReach, a Reproductive Justice organization in Tennessee, that advocates for marginalized women, teens, and families, through education, policy & advocacy, culture change, and harm reduction. Some of SisterReach’s notable work under Ms. Scott’s leadership includes their research reports on the need for comprehensive sexuality education for southern youth of color and the impact of the TN Fetal Assault law on drug-using pregnant women. SisterReach is the reproductive justice movement’s pioneer leader in faith and religious-based organizing, advocacy, and training for interfaith leadership, laity, and religious scholars nationwide. Ms. Scott was featured in the NBCNews #31DaysofFeminism campaign, and was a Rockwood Institute Fellow in 2016. Ms. Scott and the work of SisterReach is featured in the January 2018 edition of O Magazine, she was recognized by Essence Magazine as one of their 2018 Woke 100, she is featured in the 2019 premier documentary, PERSONHOOD: Policing Pregnant Women in America, and is a featured contributor in Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change The World, which is a book of essays released in 2020 from some of the leading voices in social change. Cherisse is a sought out national speaker on reproductive justice and other human rights violations experienced by vulnerable southerners, patients, and marginalized families.
Dr. Jaymie Campbell (he/him) is first and foremost a human being – worthy, whole, deserving, and free. Dr. Campbell is described as Black, mixed, queer, and transgender, and agrees with that language for now. He has a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Community Mental Health, a Master’s degree in Education, and a PhD in Human Sexuality Studies. Dr. Campbell is a subject matter expert in cultivating affirming environments for people and populations facing intersecting oppressions, such as: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) people; transgender and non-binary people; and Black and Brown people.
His healing-centered, humanistic approach to education is enlightened by his experiences providing counseling, case management, and HIV/STI direct services, and developing social justice training and education programs for multiple organizations. When Dr. Campbell is not consulting or training, he can be found practicing hot yoga, listening to house music, or reading a paperback book.
Mariotta Gary-Smith is a 3rd generation Oregonian & social justice agitator, with a deeply rooted family history that seeded her passion for public health & human sexuality. In 2009, Mariotta co-founded the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WoCSHN; pronounced ‘wok-shyn’) – an online-based, collective organization for women/femme-identifying and gender-expansive sexuality professionals of color.
She’s an AASECT (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors & Therapists) Certified Sexuality Educator, past AASECT Annual Conference Co-Chair (2016-2017), and past Associate Editor for the American Journal of Sexuality Education (AJSE).
Mariotta has built her reputation for offering informative, thoughtful, honest, and challenging experiences (presentations/workshops/trainings) that center racial justice in health, sexuality, equity, and social critique. With over 20 years of experience working in co-creation with people & organizations across various identities and perspectives, she remains committed to curating, facilitating & sustaining spaces for clear and accountable learning on the intersections of social justice, sexual health, health equity, and “actionable agitation”. Her career is grounded in her desire to craft these spaces and deeply enjoys her “passion work” of moving the focus of those most impacted from the margins to the center.
Gabrielle S. Evans, Ph.D. (c), MPH, CHES (she/her) is a sexuality educator and researcher from North Carolina and a proud citizen of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe. Gabrielle has taught comprehensive sexuality education since 2016 facilitating programs for faith-based organizations, providers, and Native American adolescents.
Her research focuses on reducing sexual health disparities among Native American populations and analyzing the impact of historical and present traumas on Native sexual health. As a sexuality educator and researcher, Gabrielle hopes to expand research on Native sexual well-being.
Alicia L. Andrews is the Founder and Visionary of BeFree Wellness Education & Consulting, LLC, based out of Eastern NC. BeFree Wellness intersects theory and practice of public health and human sexuality studies. North Carolina Central University’s Department of Public Health and Widener University’s Center for Human Sexuality Studies were the institutions that built upon her passion to create space in communities for effective health education programming, promoting healthy sexual development and sexual wellness.
Her 15+ year career includes designing and implementing public and sexual health education curricula and lessons for communities across the lifespan, designing and facilitating professional development workshops and trainings, and organizing community health programs and sexuality education conferences. Alicia believes freedom lies in the power of communication and knowledge, and it is her mission to normalize healthy sexual communication to help eliminate public health and sexual health disparities
Sadia Arshad is a board-certified women’s health nurse practitioner. She completed her nursing studies at Emory University. She also earned her Masters in Public Health (dual concentration in Maternal and Child Health and Social and Behavioral Sciences) and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Boston University. She was a former member of Advocates for Youth’s Young Women of Color Leadership Council and is a present member of Advocates for Youth’s Racial Justice Advisory Board.
For over twenty years, Trina has committed her professional life working in the area of human sexuality with a specific focus on HIV/AIDS/STI, community level mobilization, behavioral interventions, technical assistance/capacity building, positive youth development, and racial/social justice.
Currently, Trina works in a research-based biopharmaceutical company focused on communities in Maryland and West Virginia. Trina is also the co-foundress of the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WOCSHN), a collective membership organization with a focus on the sexual and reproductive needs of women and gender-expansive people of color.
She is also a certified Sex Educator and Sex Coach and remains committed to advocate on behalf of & provide safe spaces for open discussion/collaboration that will engage, educate and empower communities of color about intersectionality, sexuality/sexual health education, safer sex behavior practices & sexual health advocacy.
Trina is a proud graduate of Howard University and Univ. of Maryland University College.
Justine Ang Fonte is the child of Philippine immigrants and an award-winning health educator, speaker, and consultant. She received her Master’s in Education in Teaching from the University of Hawai’i and her Master’s in Public Health in Sexuality from Columbia University. She has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, Glamour, and the BBC and Hulu docuseries, Planet Sex, for her award-winning teaching career in health education. She is also in Scientific American’s college textbook on child and adolescent development published by Macmillan this year. On Instagram, she’s known as “Your Friendly Ghostwriter,” composing the texts you avoid sending about setting your boundaries. And according to a Buzzfeed list, Justine is one of 13 sex educators who teaches people what they really need to know when it comes to sex.
The Racial Justice in Sex Education project engages a vibrant group of youth leaders between the ages of 16-24 to advise on the project and provide input on the key components of the work.