They have been a sexuality, contraception and abortion educator and counselor for the Cedar River Clinics/Feminist Women’s Health Center, and the director of the CONNECT teen outreach and education program in Seattle which primarily served transient/homeless youth and reproductive health patients. Heather is a previous member of the editorial board for the American Journal of Sexuality Education and the Board of Directors for NARAL Pro-Choice Washington; a writer and contributing editor for the 2011 edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves, and their sexuality advice column was previously syndicated at RH Reality Check/Rewire. Heather was also a lead plaintiff in the ACLU vs. Gonzales case, arguing against the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which could have removed young adults’ access to needed sexuality information.

Heather has won several awards in their field. Their work has hailed acclaim or mentions from many publications, including The Utne Reader, The City Pages, Alternet, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Siren, The Industry Standard, The Chicago Tribune, CNN, The Nation, the Oxygen Network, Estronet, Yahoo!, Feministing, The Minnesota Women’s Press, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Boston Phoenix, Ms. Magazine, The New York Times, Bust and Bitch. Their essays, fiction, poetry and photography have appeared in their own publications as well as in Teen Vogue, The Guardian, RH Reality Check/Rewire, Issues Magazine (AU), PIF Magazine, Maxi Magazine, Women’s Studies; An inter-disciplinary journal, On Our Backs,; in the anthologies Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape, Viscera, The Mammoth Book of Erotic Women, The Adventures of Food, Aqua Erotica, Zaftig: Well-Rounded Erotica, The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 1 & 2, Shameless: An Intimate Erotica and Penthouse. Heather has been quoted in many sexuality books, and their work has been used in university, school, community and clinic curricula.

Heather was previously an early childhood Montessori educator. A graduate with honors of Chicago’s Academy for the Arts, where they studied music and creative writing, Heather won a National Academy of Poets Younger Poets award in their teens. They continued their education at Shimer College, studying literature and sociology, and later studied at the Midwest Montessori Teacher Training Center. Heather is also trained as a facilitator for Teen Talking Circles.

Heather is navigating middle age with as much grace as they can muster (spoiler: not much), and currently lives and works in their hometown of Chicago. Outside work, Heather plays with their goofy little dog, hikes and otherwise communes with nature as much as possible, makes and geeks out about music, cooks vegetarian delights and babies their urban garden, including the Monstera Deliciosa showing off on the top of this page.