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. As the Vice President of Education and Outreach at Planned Parenthood of Maryland, Vanessa wears a multitude of hats. In her role, she leads a mighty team of health educators in implementing education workshops and across the lifespan- from middle school series, to adults trainings, to community workshops in senior centers. Her specialty areas include creating a new generation of life affirming sex educators, consent, pop culture and sexuality, body confidence, 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.
In 2015, she traveled to Nigeria to engage in a learning exchange with health educators and providers on best health outreach and education practices and global access to reproductive healthcare. She chronicled her journey and was featured in xojane. Vanessa’s specialty conversations on consent and healthy relationships was also featured in For Harriet.
Vanessa 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 Master’s program, Vanessa focused on health policy, specifically researching the positive impact of web-based interventions as they relate to decreasing the risk of HIV/AIDS among young women of color.
Vanessa has been awarded The Daily Record’s Leading Women Award. She loves to travel, words of affirmation, Chinese and Mexican food, spending time with her amazing and supportive family and friends, and her dog, Buttons.
