Ericka Hart

Ericka Hart is an American academic, sex educator, and model.[1][2][3]

Hart advertising for Chromat in 2018

Early life

Hart's mother died of breast cancer when Hart was 13, prompting her family to move from Maryland to Puerto Rico.[2][4] She graduated from the University of Miami in 2008 with a degree in theater and psychology.[5] Hart has a Master’s of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University.[6] From 2008 to 2010, Hart served as a HIV/AIDS volunteer in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia.[7]

In May 2014, at age 28, Hart received a bilateral breast cancer diagnosis.[8] She did not have access to health insurance at the time and worked for a year and a half while doing chemotherapy. Hart had a double mastectomy in June 2014 and went back to work two weeks later.[9]

Hart went viral for attending Afropunk topless, showing scars from her double mastectomy. "We don’t go to the doctor because of historical trauma, institutionalized racism, so on and so forth. And we die faster because if you find cancer later on, your rates of survival are less." Hart explained, "I wore my chest out because I wanted to raise awareness, but I also...still feel really sexy with my body this way, and I want to be received as sexy, not just as a survivor."[10]

Career

Columbia University

A former adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Social Work, Hart taught human sexuality.[11][12] She has taught sexuality education to audiences ranging from elementary-aged youth to adults.[13] A difficult experience trying to learn about sex as a child inspired her to become an educator. She told Forbes, “I didn’t understand how I could ask questions about anything else, but when it came to sex it was just quiet, and people skated around the issue…I started to get that this has a lot to do with people’s discomfort and I just wanted to make people feel comfortable with asking about this topic.”[6] Hart was recognized on the Root100 in 2018 for her work as an "advocate for post-cancer body positivity".[14]

Hart told Forbes she was pushed out of her teaching job at Columbia because she expressed concern about a student who made rape jokes in class and was transphobic and racist towards Hart. When Hart brought her concerns to Dean Melissa Begg and Associate Dean Julian Teitler during the spring 2020 semester, she was told her contract as an adjunct professor for the fall would not be renewed. Over 1,300 people signed a petition circulated by a student group calling for the resignation of three deans involved in the case. Hart spoke out against Columbia’s lack of support for adjunct professors —  a larger percentage of whom are Black or Latino than full-time faculty. Hart demanded the school release the demographic information for adjunct and full-time faculty. In response, Begg posted stats to the school’s website showing 18 percent of full-time staffers are Black or Latino, while 36 percent of adjunct faculty are Black or Latino.[15][16][17]

Model

Hart has posed topless for Paper magazine,[18] Out magazine,[19] and on the runway of Chromat's Fall 2018 show at New York Fashion Week.[20] "Being a part of the QTPOC community, and seeing how little information is geared towards us [in the media], breast cancer is literally killing us and my hope is to inspire many people across a spectrum of gender identities," she told Vogue. "The societal assumption is that having a double mastectomy would somehow make my body abnormal, or that not having nipples must signal a descent into shame or discomfort around my body image, but my relationship with my body hasn't changed."[20]

Media

Hart co-hosts the podcast, Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast.[21][22] Women's Health wrote, "Hosts Ericka Hart and Ebony Donnley allow their listeners to take part in an intimate conversation, sprinkled with comedic relief, glowing personalities, and radical seeds of self love."[23]

In December 2022, Hinge hired Hart to offer advice on non-sexual forms of intimacy for asexual people.[24]

Personal life

Hart identifies as queer and "nonbinary femme."[11] She uses she/her and they/them pronouns.[25] Hart is polyamorous.[26]

At age 29, Hart married Emily Humphrey, a 30-year-old health coach she first met while they were both serving in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia.[27] Hart and Humphrey divorced a year and a half later.[9] Hart currently lives with her partner, Ebony Donnley, and their dog, Baguette X, in Brooklyn, NY.[28] Hart and Donnley met on Tinder.[29] Donnley is a writer, audio engineer, and Hart's manager.[28]

On February 14, 2023, Hart gave birth to their first child, East Francis Coltrane Hart-Donnley.[26]

Notes

    References
    1. "I Hart Ericka". Office Magazine. 2020-01-06. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    2. Sonoma, Serena (October 2020). "Ericka Hart's Mission: To Break Breast Cancer's Connotation With Cis Women". them. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    3. "The Root 100 - The Most Influential African Americans In 2018". The Root. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    4. "Why Podcaster & Educator Ericka Hart Defines Beauty As Calmness". Rose Inc. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
    5. "Hampshire Names 2019 Commencement Speaker Ericka Hart". Hampshire College. 11 April 2019. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04.
    6. Sprayregen, Molly. "Sexuality Educator Ericka Hart Talks Dismantling Oppressive Systems In Sex-Ed And Beyond". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    7. "BET Her Fights: Breast Cancer 2017 Honorees". BET. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    8. "Ericka Hart Wants to Make Sure Privileged White Women Aren't the Face of Breast Cancer". For Harriet | Celebrating the Fullness of Black Womanhood. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    9. "Six Breast Cancer Survivors Share Their Powerful Stories". Allure. 2020-10-14. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
    10. Truong, Kimberly. "The Amazing Reason This Woman Went Topless At Afropunk". Refinery 29. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    11. "The Sex Education Expert Speaking Up About Medical Racism". Yes! Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    12. Us, Cosmopolitan (2017-09-12). "Ericka Hart Opens Up About Surviving Breast Cancer as a Queer Black Woman". ELLE. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    13. "Ericka Hart". Living Beyond Breast Cancer. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    14. "The Root 100 - The Most Influential African Americans In 2018". The Root. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    15. Asare, Janice Gassam. "Academia Is Not Doing Enough To Support Black Professors: A Black Queer Non-Binary Femme's Story Of Being Pushed Out Of The Ivory Tower". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
    16. "Responding to Community Concerns". The Columbia School of Social Work. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
    17. "Columbia apologizes to activist Ericka Hart after racism, transphobia accusations". NY Post. 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
    18. "Ericka Hart Turned Her Double Mastectomy into Topless Activism". PAPER. 2017-12-22. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    19. "We Need to Decolonize the Body Positive Movement". Out. 2019-08-05. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    20. Valenti, Lauren (12 February 2018). "This Breast Cancer Survivor's Runway Walk Was a Fashion Week Game Changer". Vogue. Archived from the original on 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    21. "Meet The Most Badass Breast Cancer Survivor, Ericka Hart -- Naked, Loud, And Totally Proud Of Her Post-Surgery Body". SurvivorNet. 6 October 2019. Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    22. "New York Fashion Week's "largest LGBTQ runway show" gets political". NBC News. 15 September 2017. Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    23. Brown, Lauren Stockmon (2020-06-09). "Your Next Podcast Should Be About Racial Justice". Women's Health. Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    24. "Hinge explores how asexual daters can have non-sexual forms of intimacy in latest NFAQ". GAY TIMES. 2022-12-14. Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
    25. Hart, Ericka. "Ericka Hart, M.Ed. She/They (@ihartericka)". Instagram. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
    26. "Ericka Hart, M.Ed. on Instagram: "On February 8th via emergency c-section, East Francis Coltrane Hart-Donnley made their entrance into the world, born 6 weeks early."". Instagram. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
    27. Sargent, Bryan. "A Funky Wedding at Bat Haus in Brooklyn, New York". The Knot.
    28. "Breast Cancer Survivor, Activist, & Sexuality Educator Ericka Hart's Brooklyn Home Is a Celebration of Blackness". Apartment Therapy. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
    29. "How Ericka Hart & Ebony Davis Navigate Fluctuating Libidos & Body Insecurities", What’s Underneath, retrieved 2023-02-25
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