Our Team
Vanessa Geffrard M.P.H.
Founder & Executive Director
(She/her/hers)
Vanessa (she/her/hers) 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.
Vanessa is the founder of VagEsteem™. Created in 2014, VagEsteem is 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.
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.
Lienna Feleke-Eshete
Chief Impact Officer
(She/her/hers)
Lienna is the founder and CEO of Idget Consulting. She is a social justice advocate, public policy expert, and community-builder with extensive experience fighting for progressive policies and sustainable change in local, national, and global communities. Throughout her career, she has uplifted the needs, rights, and joys of minoritized communities in roles at the White House, the United States Senate, Planned Parenthood, Reproductive Health Impact, Whitman-Walker, the Center for Health and Gender Equity, and more. Lienna is also the founder of Black Girls Love Coffee Shops, a global social club for Black women and femmes that joyfully builds community, advances Black wellness, and supports local, BIPOC-owned businesses.
Lienna’s unique expertise and commitment to liberation and wellness stem from her experience as a first-generation Ethiopian-American, a transnational Black feminist, a lover of art and literature, and a yoga instructor. In her spare time, Lienna loves writing, traveling, liberating her body through movement, and practicing revolutionary rest.
Kimmy Sauer, M.A.
Chief Operations Officer
(She/her/hers)
In 2006, Kimmy served as an HIV/AIDS Counselor and Sexual Health Educator in the Emergency Department at Johns Hopkins Hospital. During this time, she identified significant educational and health disparities affecting predominantly Black and Brown communities throughout Baltimore City.
Throughout her career, Kimmy has been an advocate for policy change focusing on dismantling systemic barriers that disproportionately impact communities of color, sexual assault & violence, human trafficking and sexual/reproductive justice. As a project manager at NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, she successfully secured thousands of emergency contraception (EC) donations for Maryland residents and established a statewide hotline to provide free EC, delivering it directly to hundreds in need during the pandemic.
In 2018, she co-founded Fearlessly Loving Yourself, Inc., a mentoring program designed for girls aged 7-18 in Southwest Baltimore. Kimmy is deeply committed to addressing health inequities and is a passionate advocate for racial and reproductive justice. She holds a B.S. in Psychology from Towson University and an M.A. in Legal & Ethical Studies from the University of Baltimore.