Krissy Leahy

RME Intern

Krissy

Krissy worked at Sonke Gender Justice with the Research, Monitoring and Evaluation team through the WORLD Policy Analysis Center’s 2017 Hilton Global Summer Scholars program through the University of California Los Angeles. Krissy graduated from Occidental College in 2011 with a degree in Urban Environmental Policy. Since graduation, she has participated in different fellowships including being a proud CoreAlign Generative Fellow of the Blaze Cohort which provided a space to address reproductive justice issues through utilizing design and innovation theories and tools. Her fellowship programs have supported her work in various community projects from working in the volunteer and education department at the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles, to her work overseas in the small community of Taifa, Ghana where she collaborated with students to start a health education program at a public high school. Besides working for over 5 years within community based education and the non-profit world, Krissy has worked at a Planned Parenthood health center in San Francisco where she supported in providing family planning and abortion clinical services and coordinating the flow of the health center.

Krissy connects to her passion for storytelling through the sisterhood project SexSpeaks. SexSpeaks is a storytelling platform that involves live storytelling events and creating and sharing health education through social media platforms to create safe(r) spaces for Black women to share their stories on sexuality, health and relationships. SexSpeaks’ mission is to empower Black women and girls to create community, break stigmas and eliminate sexual and reproductive health disparities in a safe(r) space via innovative performing arts practices.

Krissy is grateful for the Reproductive Justice training she received from Black Women for Wellness which ignited and strengthened her vision of justice and education work. Krissy currently is pursuing a Masters Degree of Public Health at UCLA and coordinates reproductive and sexual health education programming at St. John’s Well Child and Family Center in Los Angeles.