Ericka Hart

A kinky, poly, cancer-warrior, activist, and sexuality educator with a Master’s of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University, Ericka Hart has taught sexuality education for elementary aged youth to adults across New York City for over 10 years, including serving as a Peace Corps HIV/AIDs volunteer in Ethiopia from 2008 to 2010. She has also shared her expertise as an adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Social Work, where she taught human sexuality.

Diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in May 2014 at the age of 28, she realized that neither her identity as a queer Black femme, nor her sex life as a survivor, was featured prominently in her treatment. She decided to do something about it: going topless (and viral) in public, bearing her double mastectomy scars to end the lack of Black, brown LGBTQIA+ representations, and visibility in breast cancer awareness. Her activism extends to attending Afropunk topless and posing topless for Paper magazine, Out magazine, and on the runway of Chromat's Fall 2018 show.

Dismantling the ways that systemic patriarchy and anti-Black standards of beauty affect our everyday lives, Hart is shifting ingrained cultural modes and attitudes on chronic illness and posits visibility as vital to any radically inclusive movement toward equity. She co-hosts the podcast "Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast" to further amplify marginalized voices. Recognized on the Root100 in 2018 for her work as an advocate for post-cancer body positivity, Hart continues to influence with her advocacy and activism.

Audiences around the world admire Hart for her ability to challenge anti-Blackness everywhere it rears its head–from the front pages of magazines and fashion week runways to the lectern. She is dedicated to empowering students to make a difference in the world and with each other, opening up a robust discourse that connects sexual health and wellness to systemic issues at the root of social injustice. Alongside her partner, Ebony Donnley, and their child East Francis Coltrane Hart-Donnley, Ericka resides in Brooklyn, continuing her fight against social injustices and for representation.