Subject Matter Experts
(in alphabetical order by first name; subject to change)
As we envisioned the SPC Surrogate Partner Professional Training, we imagined building a vibrant community, featuring and celebrating diverse voices and experiences. To that end, we have assembled an extraordinary group of people who will be sharing their expertise. Initially this material was developed for the trainees, but we’ve realized making this continuing education opportunity available to existing surrogate partners would be a major contribution to the profession, especially as much of this critically relevant material has never before been presented as part of a formal surrogate partner training. In any profession, we believe continuing education is essential to evolving, growing, and maturing both individually and collectively. We are grateful and proud to contribute to that effort.
 Akilah Riley-RichardsonLove has a color: Working with couples who experience racism |  Andrew Heartman |  Aubri LancasterAubri Lancaster (she/her) is an AASECT and ANTE UP! Certified Sexuality Educator. As a Greyromantic Asexual, Aubri has lived experience and a connection to the Asexual and Aromantic communities that provides a unique perspective on the issues facing the changing landscape of sexuality and orientation. Aubri's services can be found at MyPassionAngel.com including workshops, consulting, and training. She also offers free content on IG & TikTok at @AceSexEducation. When not working, Aubri spends he |
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 Brian Gibney |  Carlene Ostedgaard |  Carmen De JesusCarmen De Jesus |
 Eileen Chao |  FlyDuo: Reuben & Sherri Johnson-2_edited |  Heart burst for honeycomb |
 Jeannie Miller |  Jess DeVries |  Jules PurnellJules Purnell (they/them) is an AASECT-certified Sexuality Educator and restorative justice practitioner who specializes in LGBTQIA+ cultural awareness, kink/BDSM, sexual violence prevention and response, and ethical non-monogamies. They received training in Sensate Focus from Integrative Mind-Body Therapies in 2019, and have engaged in various forms of erotic labor for over 20 years. Their education work spans many realms, including K-12, higher ed, non-profit, community-centered, and at sexual |
 Kai Wu |  Katherine Yeagel |  Leonore Tjia |
 Ligia Andrade ZunigaLigia Andrade Zuniga |  Linda Thai |  Lou Hanson |
 Michal Naisteter | Heart burst for honeycomb |  Michelle Renee |
 Rachel Yukimura |
Akilah Riley-Richardson is a published researcher, couples therapist and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. She has been in clinical practice for sixteen years and works with couples and persons practicing ethical non monogamy. Akilah specialises in work with sexual minorities and racial minorities. As an educator and facilitator, she has provided consultancy services to organizations such as NASTAD (National Alliance for State and Territorial AIDS directors), andI-TECH (International Training and Education Center for Health). She has presented in spaces such as the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium and the Black Mental health Symposium. You can learn a bit more about her at https://akilahrileyrichardson.com/
Akilah Riley-Richardson
Aubri Lancaster (she/her) is an AASECT and ANTE UP! Certified Sexuality Educator. As a Greyromantic Asexual, Aubri has lived experience and a connection to the Asexual and Aromantic communities that provides a unique perspective on the issues facing the changing landscape of sexuality and orientation. Aubri's services can be found at MyPassionAngel.com including workshops, consulting, and training. She also offers free content on IG & TikTok at @AceSexEducation. When not working, Aubri spends her time with her spouse, her friends, her 6 year old, and her two adorable Chihuahuas.
Aubri Lancaster
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Brian is a surrogate partner and intimacy coach, using his diverse life experiences to help people overcome obstacles to physical and emotional intimacy. His practice is rooted in patience, authenticity, vulnerability, touch…and sometimes a little bit of humor. In addition to working with clients, Brian is a passionate advocate for surrogate partner therapy and regularly lectures at private practices, universities, workshops, and professional conferences. Brian helped found the Surrogate Partner Collective, EMBRACE Resource Group, East Coast Intimacy Professionals peer discussion group, and is currently serving as co-chair of AASECT’s Somatic Sexuality Professionals special interest group.
Brian Gibney
Carmen is a consent educator and evangelist of the Wheel of Consent® relational framework developed by Dr. Betty Martin. She has been working with Betty Martin since 2013 and the School of Consent since its inception in 2018. Her lens on this work centers consent awareness and education as a practice of decolonization of the body. Carmen's desire is to help others access an embodied awareness of power dynamics, personal agency, sovereignty and responsibility within relationships. Consentisapractice.com
Carmen De Jesus
Eileen Chao (she/her) is a queer, cisgender, kinky, polyamorous, Taiwanese American somatic sex coach. She is also a Certified Surrogate Partner and Certified Sexological Bodyworker. The scope of her practice focuses on helping her clients claim their authentic body, gender, and sexuality away from oppressive systems and cis hetero normativity. She works with clients on becoming more embodied, nervous system regulation, and cultivating a sense of curiosity and creativity with sexuality and bodies. She also offers kink education/exploration, and communication and intimacy skills. You can learn more at eileenchao.com
Eileen Chao
Reuben and Sherri Johnson, affectionately known as the FlyDuo®, are partners in life, love, crime, and everything in between. They are co-founders of the award-winning sex-positive brand agency Fly Media Productions® and SexTech n’ Chill, an independently-owned digital platform dedicated to empowering unapologetic pleasure seekers on a transformative journey of liberation and self-discovery. They’re also co-hosts of the podcast-style web show The FlyDuo Sex Project™.
In addition to their own projects, Reuben and Sherri currently serve as official ambassadors for The Bureau of Digital and Erika Lust’s “The Porn Conversation.”
FlyDuo®
Jeannie Miller (she/her) is a surrogate partner, intimacy and embodiment coach, and platonic touch practitioner. She wrote her undergraduate thesis on transgender people's experiences of sexual embodiment, and has worked as a campus peer sex educator, LGBTQI+ advocate, non-profit consultant, medical patient-instructor, and figure drawing model. After receiving a Masters in social work, she chose support clients not as a talk therapist but through experiential learning. Jeannie co-founded Embrace Resource Group to help educate therapists about this clinical option and strengthen the field of SPT. Based in Washington, DC, Jeannie has trained with IPSA, Cuddlist, and School of Consent.
Jeannie Miller
Jess DeVries (she/her) is a Portland based somatic sex coach and grief worker who primarily serves the queer community and folks who have been harmed by the church. She is trained as a sexological bodyworker and somatic sex educator through the ISSSE. Her approach is gentle and irreverent, bringing joy into hard places and moving folks ever so softly toward their embodiment, choice and pleasure. Jess delights in knowing that each time someone owns a desire, says no (or yes!) with a full heart, or allows their grief to be witnessed and felt, that empire weakens just a little bit more.
Jess DeVries
Jules Purnell (they/them) is an AASECT-certified Sexuality Educator and restorative justice practitioner who specializes in LGBTQIA+ cultural awareness, kink/BDSM, sexual violence prevention and response, and ethical non-monogamies. They received training in Sensate Focus from Integrative Mind-Body Therapies in 2019, and have engaged in various forms of erotic labor for over 20 years. Their education work spans many realms, including K-12, higher ed, non-profit, community-centered, and at sexuality-focused and sex positive events. They hold a M.Ed. in Human Sexuality Studies from Widener University's CHSS. They live in Western Mass, where they host sex+ events and dream of queer communal living.
Jules Purnell
Kai Wu is a love, sex and relationship coach, sexological bodyworker and teacher. This work has been her great love and form of activism since 2013. She is also a trauma resolution practitioner who has trained in somatic and neurobiological approaches including Somatic Experiencing® and is lead instructor at the Somatica Institute, where she trains future sex and relationship coaches worldwide. As a queer "third-culture kid,” her passions include working cross-culturally and supporting folks of the Asian diaspora as they engage in cultural reclamation work and ancestral healing. In her free time she enjoys communing in nature with her partner and studying Chinese ritual arts. More at www.lovebodysoul.com.
Kai Wu
Leonore Tjia offers sex-positive, kink- and polyamory-affirming therapy to recovering perfectionists, people pleasers, and Highly Sensitive People. Her writing, workshops and online offerings help people transform patterns, heal trauma, and access the inner wildness that helps us feel erotically alive.
Leonore Tjia
Ligia Andrade Zuniga
Ligia Andrade Zuniga, M.P.A. is committed to provide access to individuals with disabilities around sexuality, reproductive justice, and disability justice. Ligia acquired a spinal cord injury in 2009. She became a Sexuality and Disability Educator through Sexability in 2013 and co-founded the Bay Area Sexuality and Disability Network in 2018. Ligia is also a local elected official and serves on many different boards and commissions in her county. She currently chairs the California State Living Council. Ligia is a member of the North American Spinal Cord Cord Injury Consortium, an active Peer Supporter through Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Peer Support Program, as well as serves on the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Northern California Spinal Cord Injury Model System of Care Advisory. Ligia has two adult sons, and resides with her partner and their two cats, Simon and Garfunkel.
Linda Thai (she/her), LMSW, is a trauma therapist, educator and consultant who specializes in brain- and body-based modalities while incorporating issues pertaining to the impact of oppressive systems upon identity, mental health and wellbeing, and the invisibilized wounds of racial and attachment trauma. Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia, and now living in Alaska, Linda is a former child refugee who is redefining what it means to be wounded, whole, and a healer. She is passionate about breaking the cycle of historical and intergenerational trauma, and deeply believes in the healing power of coming together in community to share stories, sing, and grieve.
Linda Thai
Lou Hanson (she/her) has been an active surrogate partner since her training in 2015 and is also a licensed therapist. Lou is excited to have transitioned to private practice where she now also supervises SPT for her esteemed surrogate colleagues. Based out of Hyattsville, MD, Lou serves the greater DMV area. She is also co-founder of the Embrace Resource Group, supporting SPs and Supervising Therapists, as well as fundraising to diversify the field of SPs and increase access to services for low-income clients. A self-proclaimed sex nerd, Lou is always seeking knowledge through books, trainings, and interpersonal connections.
Lou Hanson
Michal Naisteter has a passion for connecting people, fostering healthy relationships, and educating on human sexuality. She's more than just a matchmaker; she's a super-connector. Michal earned her Bachelor's degree from Penn State University and a Master of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University. With over five years of experience helping clients find loving relationships in Philadelphia, she's dedicated to helping her clients find loving, lasting relationships.
Michal Naisteter
Michelle Renee (she/her), based in San Diego, started her professional touch career with Cuddlist in 2015 and as a Cuddle Party facilitator in 2016. She added Surrogate Partner Therapy in 2018. She considers herself an experiential intimacy guide for hands-on learners.
Michelle loves building community. She is the co-chair of AASECT's Somatic Sexuality Professionals SIG, a co-founder of Embrace - an SPT resource group, and a co-founder of both West and East Coast Intimacy Professionals - peer to peer virtual support groups.
In 2022 she launched SoftCockWeek.com and in 2023 she was named Director of Training for Cuddlist.com.
Michelle Renee
Rachel Yukimura has been a full-service escort since 2014 and a Surrogate Partner Therapy practitioner since 2018. She is currently studying to become a Somatic Sex Educator. Some identities that are important to her include queer, polyamorous (the “kitchen table” variety), kinkster, Leftist, Pagan, polytheist, animist, and mixed-race (Japanese and Polish-Jewish). She is a teacher and organizer in the Reclaiming tradition/ community and a co-founder of Pleasures of Beltane. Rachel was born and raised in the Cascadian forest (Coast Salish territory) and currently lives in Oakland, California (Lisjan Ohlone territory) with her nesting partner, two dogs, and a boa constrictor.