Rebecca Alvarez
Rebecca emerged as a fledgling sex educator in 2004 with the women owned-and-run sex shop Babeland in New York City. She has also shared her well-informed perverted side with the Indypendent newspaper, the Sex Herald, the Penn Sexpert site and the Instant Pleasure WDNR radio show. In 2009, she co-founded ScrewSmart, a Philadelphia-based sex education collaborative which offers sexuality-based workshops, burlesque and drag edutainment, community events and handmade zines for pleasurable public consumption. Her research on creating sexual comfort within the medical community has been presented at the TransHealth Conference, the LGBT Medical Student Conference and Widener University. She currently works as a Gynecological Teaching Associate and as the facilitator-coordinator for the American Medical Student Association’s Sexual Health Scholar’s program while earning her dual masters degree in Social Work and Education in Human Sexuality at Widener University. With two fists enthusiastically thrown into the air, she most recently began working as a satellite educator with The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health.
Derek Andelloux, M.D.
Dr. Derek Andelloux is a Family Medicine Physician who received his MD from Boston University, and will soon complete his residency training at Brown University/Memorial Hospital of RI in the summer of 2012. He has spent a significant portion of his training focusing on sexual medicine and reproductive issues, and is comfortable counseling patients on diverse and various aspects of male and females sexuality. A lifelong Rhode Islander, he is committed to providing quality healthcare here in the Ocean State.
Brian Flaherty
Brian Flaherty went to Tufts University where misspent the first three years of his college education pursuing an engineering degree before bailing out at the last minute and getting an English degree. He went on to work his way up through the ranks of academic law librarianship despite the conspicuous absence of a law degree. He has worked as a legal reference librarian for over 20 years; given the intersection of his personal and professional interests, he has developed a specialty in researching issues related to sex and the law. In 2006 he helped incorporate Partners in Sex Education, a non-profit in the Greater Boston area dedicated to educating young people in schools, juvenile detention facilities and other youth organizations. He currently works as a librarian at New England Law | Boston, and as director of development and administrative factotum for Partners in Sex Education in Newton.
Anita Hoffer, MS, PhD, EdD
Anita worked at Harvard Medical School for over 25 years, where she served as an Associate Professor and Director of Research in Urology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She subsequently worked in the bio-pharmaceutical industry on women’s health projects and worked as a consultant to hospitals and biomedical companies engaged in clinical trials.
Dr. Hoffer is a sexuality educator, lecturer and researcher who leads workshops that address older women’s sexual concerns and sexual literacy; she teaches health care providers about the special needs of this population; she educates lay audiences on female sexuality and aging; and she does sexual coaching. Her degrees are in reproductive biology, sexology and sexuality education.
Dr. Hoffer’s work is based on her belief that healthy sexuality is a life force and an important component of every human being’s personality and well-being throughout the life cycle. For example, she teaches older women about sex positivity, helps them reframe and redefine the meaning of sexual success in mid- and late life, and provides individually-tailored advice to clients with concerns about the changes in sexual behavior that occur at different stages of the life cycle.
She is a Planned Parenthood volunteer and a member of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT), the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), the Society for Sex Therapy and Research (SSTAR) and the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP).
photo credit J.C. Casad
Princess Kali
Princess Kali is a dynamic kink educator that focuses on power exchange, sexual confidence & other pervy fun stuff! Now, with over a decade of experience in exploring sexually alternative lifestyles & professions, her time is focused on running three revolutionary websites she’s founded over the last two years: Kink Academy, Passionate U, and Fearless Press.com.
Aida E. Manduley
Aida received a degree in Gender and Sexuality Studies from Brown University, where she won awards for her leadership and educational work fostering diversity. Originally from Puerto Rico, Aida has also focused her efforts on issues of immigration, digital literacy, and community organizing. Though she is the youngest member on the board, she brings extensive experience and unparalleled passion to the table. In addition to serving The CSPH in multiple capacities, she is also an employee at Sojourner House and the co-chair of the board of directors for the Olneyville Neighborhood Association, an immigrants’ rights non-profit in RI.
Kira Manser
Kira Manser traces her sex education roots from Miko, a feminist run sex shop in Providence, to her current position at The Velvet Lily, a sex shop in Philly. Besides being a retail goddess, she’s coordinated a high school peer sex education program, collaboratively helped to start a sexuality resource center in Providence, and facilitated a college workshop on Female Sexuality. Currently, she can be found working on a dual masters program in social work and education in human sexuality at Widener University. She brings home the bacon working as a Gynecological Teaching Associate (GTA), loves her time facilitating and coordinating the AMSA’s Sexual Health Scholar’s Program, and is ready to chat about her current labor of love, the sex education collaborative ScrewSmart. Finally, Kira is psyched to be recently added to the educator team at The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health.
Nancy Rafi
Nancy is currently the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Crisis Assistance Center (RICAC), a small non-profit organization that supports survivors of domestic violence & sexual assault. RICAC provides immediate assistance for women seeking safe shelter, one on one peer counseling sessions, educational forums in the community and memorial remembrances for victims of domestic violence. She is currently on the Board of Directors of The Silent Witness Initiative, a global organization that works with families and friends who have lost a loved one to domestic violence.
Trained as a peer counselor, she first became involved in sexuality issues by listening to women sharing their own stories of trauma after a performance of “The Vagina Monologues” that she produced in 2001 (she has since gone on to produce 11 annual shows). Herself a survivor of incest, domestic violence & sexual assault, she continues to create an annual Red Tent event, where women are invited to gather in a safe space and share their wisdom, listen in a non-judgmental environment and find support along their journeys of healing.
Because many of her clients are dealing with sexuality issues after trauma, the CSPH has become an important resource for RICAC and Nancy is proud to be a member of the Board.
Joseph Winn, MSW, LICSW, CST
Joe is an AASECT certified sex therapist and clinical social worker. Joe obtained his Masters Degree in Social Work from Boston University in 1995. He has extensive experience addressing issues related to HIV/AIDS, chemical dependency, violence and trauma. Joe has also developed and taught graduate level social work courses on family therapy and community and home based clinical intervention. For the past nine years, Joe has been involved in full time private practice where he specializes in treating issues related to compulsive sexual behavior, sex therapy and chemical dependency.
Joe maintains a sex positive, GLBTQQI, kink welcoming and affirming psychotherapy practice in Arlington, Massachusetts. Joe has lectured internationally to professional audiences on various sexuality topics. He is a member of NASW, AASECT, SSSS, WPATH and a clinical member of The Society for Sex Therapy and Research.
His website is: www.josephwinnlicsw.com
