Ericka Hart
{{short description|American sex educator, model, and professor}}
File:Ericka Hart for Chromat.jpg in 2018]]
Ericka Hart is an American academic, sex educator, and model.{{Cite web |date=2020-01-06 |title=I Hart Ericka |url=http://officemagazine.net/i-hart-ericka |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804194624/http://officemagazine.net/i-hart-ericka |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=Office Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Sonoma |first=Serena |date=October 2020 |title=Ericka Hart's Mission: To Break Breast Cancer's Connotation With Cis Women |url=https://www.them.us/story/ericka-hart-ralph-lauren-pink-pony-initiative |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804194729/https://www.them.us/story/ericka-hart-ralph-lauren-pink-pony-initiative |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=them. |language=en-us}}{{Cite web |title=The Root 100 - The Most Influential African Americans In 2018 |url=https://interactives.theroot.com/root-100-2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804194928/https://interactives.theroot.com/root-100-2018/ |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=The Root}}
Early life
Hart's mother died of breast cancer when Hart was 13, prompting her family to move from Maryland to Puerto Rico.{{Cite web |title=Why Podcaster & Educator Ericka Hart Defines Beauty As Calmness |url=https://www.roseinc.com/blogs/profile/ericka-hart-profile-interview |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=Rose Inc |language=en}} She graduated from the University of Miami in 2008 with a degree in theater and psychology.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=11 April 2019 |title=Hampshire Names 2019 Commencement Speaker Ericka Hart |url=https://www.hampshire.edu/news/2019/04/11/hampshire-names-2019-commencement-speaker-ericka-hart |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804203054/https://www.hampshire.edu/news/hampshire-names-2019-commencement-speaker-ericka-hart |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date= |website=Hampshire College}} Hart has a Master’s of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University.{{Cite web |last=Sprayregen |first=Molly |title=Sexuality Educator Ericka Hart Talks Dismantling Oppressive Systems In Sex-Ed And Beyond |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollysprayregen/2020/03/24/sexuality-educator-and-activist-ericka-hart-talks-dismantling-oppressive-systems-in-sex-ed-and-beyond/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804203227/https://gum.criteo.com/syncframe?origin=publishertag&topUrl=www.forbes.com |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=Forbes |language=en}} From 2008 to 2010, Hart served as a HIV/AIDS volunteer in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia.{{Cite web |title=BET Her Fights: Breast Cancer 2017 Honorees |url=https://www.bet.com/shows/bet-her/bet-her-fights-cancer/2017/honorees.html?cid=facebook |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=BET}}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
In May 2014, at age 28, Hart received a bilateral breast cancer diagnosis.{{Cite web |title=Ericka Hart Wants to Make Sure Privileged White Women Aren't the Face of Breast Cancer |url=http://www.forharriet.com/2016/11/ericka-hart-wants-to-make-sure-that.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804195033/http://www.forharriet.com/2016/11/ericka-hart-wants-to-make-sure-that.html |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=For Harriet {{!}} Celebrating the Fullness of Black Womanhood}} 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.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-14 |title=Six Breast Cancer Survivors Share Their Powerful Stories |url=https://www.allure.com/story/breast-cancer-survivors-stories |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=Allure |language=en-US}}
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."{{Cite web |last=Truong |first=Kimberly |title=The Amazing Reason This Woman Went Topless At Afropunk |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/09/123724/afropunk-topless-woman-double-mastectomy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804195412/https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/09/123724/afropunk-topless-woman-double-mastectomy |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=Refinery 29 |language=en}}
Career
= Columbia University =
A former adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Social Work, Hart taught human sexuality.{{Cite web|title=The Sex Education Expert Speaking Up About Medical Racism|url=https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2020/02/11/ericka-hart-medical-racism|access-date=2020-11-05|website=Yes! Magazine|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=Us|first=Cosmopolitan|date=2017-09-12|title=Ericka Hart Opens Up About Surviving Breast Cancer as a Queer Black Woman|url=http://www.elleuk.com/life-and-culture/culture/articles/a38495/ericka-hart-i-am-beautiful/|access-date=2020-11-05|website=ELLE|language=en-GB}} She has taught sexuality education to audiences ranging from elementary-aged youth to adults.{{Cite web|title=Ericka Hart|url=https://www.lbbc.org/about/about-us/ericka-hart|access-date=2020-11-05|website=Living Beyond Breast Cancer|language=en}} 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.” Hart was recognized on the Root100 in 2018 for her work as an "advocate for post-cancer body positivity".{{Cite web|title=The Root 100 - The Most Influential African Americans In 2018|url=https://interactives.theroot.com/root-100-2018|access-date=2020-11-05|website=The Root}}
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.{{Cite web |last=Asare |first=Janice Gassam |title=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 |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2021/02/25/academia-is-not-doing-enough-to-support-black-professors-a-black-queer-non-binary-femmes-story-of-being-pushed-out-of-the-ivory-tower/ |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=Forbes |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Responding to Community Concerns |url=https://socialwork.columbia.edu/about/deans-messages/responding-to-community-concerns/ |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=The Columbia School of Social Work |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2021-03-06 |title=Columbia apologizes to activist Ericka Hart after racism, transphobia accusations |url=https://nypost.com/2021/03/06/columbia-apologizes-to-activist-ericka-hart-after-racism-transphobia-accusations/ |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=NY Post |language=en-US}}
= Model =
Hart has posed topless for Paper magazine,{{Cite web |date=2017-12-22 |title=Ericka Hart Turned Her Double Mastectomy into Topless Activism |url=https://www.papermag.com/ericka-hart-double-mastectomy-activism-1-2519169818.html?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6?rebelltitem=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804195528/https://www.papermag.com/ericka-hart-double-mastectomy-activism-1?rebelltitem=6 |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=PAPER |language=en}} Out magazine,{{Cite web |date=2019-08-05 |title=We Need to Decolonize the Body Positive Movement |url=https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2019/8/05/we-need-decolonize-body-positive-movement |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804202811/https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2019/8/05/we-need-decolonize-body-positive-movement |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=Out |language=en}} and on the runway of Chromat's Fall 2018 show at New York Fashion Week.{{Cite web |last=Valenti |first=Lauren |date=12 February 2018 |title=This Breast Cancer Survivor's Runway Walk Was a Fashion Week Game Changer |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/chromat-fall-2018-ericka-heart-breast-cancer-survivor-model-interview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804202923/https://www.vogue.com/article/chromat-fall-2018-ericka-heart-breast-cancer-survivor-model-interview |archive-date=2023-08-04 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=Vogue |language=en-us}} "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."
= Media =
Hart co-hosts the podcast, Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast.{{Cite web |date=6 October 2019 |title=Meet The Most Badass Breast Cancer Survivor, Ericka Hart -- Naked, Loud, And Totally Proud Of Her Post-Surgery Body |url=https://www.survivornet.com/articles/meet-the-most-badass-breast-cancer-survivor-ericka-hart-naked-loud-and-totally-proud-of-her-post-surgery-body/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805005043/https://www.survivornet.com/articles/meet-the-most-badass-breast-cancer-survivor-ericka-hart-naked-loud-and-totally-proud-of-her-post-surgery-body/ |archive-date=2023-08-05 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=SurvivorNet |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=15 September 2017 |title=New York Fashion Week's "largest LGBTQ runway show" gets political |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/new-york-fashion-week-s-largest-lgbtq-runway-show-gets-n801636 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805003619/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/new-york-fashion-week-s-largest-lgbtq-runway-show-gets-n801636 |archive-date=2023-08-05 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=NBC News |language=en}} 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."{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Lauren Stockmon |date=2020-06-09 |title=Your Next Podcast Should Be About Racial Justice |url=https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/g32784561/political-podcasts/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805003221/https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/g32784561/political-podcasts/ |archive-date=2023-08-05 |access-date=2020-11-05 |website=Women's Health |language=en-US}}
In December 2022, Hinge hired Hart to offer advice on non-sexual forms of intimacy for asexual people.{{Cite web |date=2022-12-14 |title=Hinge explores how asexual daters can have non-sexual forms of intimacy in latest NFAQ |url=https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/in-partnership-with/hinge-explores-how-asexual-daters-can-have-non-sexual-forms-of-intimacy-in-latest-nfaq/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805002957/https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/in-partnership-with/hinge-explores-how-asexual-daters-can-have-non-sexual-forms-of-intimacy-in-latest-nfaq/ |archive-date=2023-08-05 |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=GAY TIMES |language=en-GB}}
Personal life
Hart identifies as queer and "nonbinary femme". She uses she/her and they/them pronouns.{{Cite web|last=Hart|first=Ericka|date=|title=Ericka Hart, M.Ed. She/They (@ihartericka)|url=https://www.instagram.com/ihartericka/|access-date=2020-11-06|website=Instagram|language=en}} Hart is polyamorous.
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.{{Cite web |last=Sargent |first=Bryan |title=A Funky Wedding at Bat Haus in Brooklyn, New York |url=https://www.theknot.com/real-weddings/a-funky-wedding-at-bat-haus-in-brooklyn-new-york-album |website=The Knot}} Hart and Humphrey divorced a year and a half later.
Hart currently lives with her partner, Ebony Donnley, and their dog, Baguette X, in Brooklyn, NY.{{Cite web|title=Breast Cancer Survivor, Activist, & Sexuality Educator Ericka Hart's Brooklyn Home Is a Celebration of Blackness|url=https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ericka-hart-brooklyn-apartment-house-tour-36659660|access-date=2020-11-05|website=Apartment Therapy|language=en}} Hart and Donnley met on Tinder.{{Citation |title=How Ericka Hart & Ebony Davis Navigate Fluctuating Libidos & Body Insecurities |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeByOzSSUX0 |work=What’s Underneath |access-date=2023-02-25 |language=en}} Donnley is a writer, audio engineer, and Hart's manager.
On February 14, 2023, Hart gave birth to their first child, East Francis Coltrane Hart-Donnley.{{Cite web |title=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." |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CoqMizRu3Gy/ |access-date=2023-02-15 |website=Instagram |language=en}}
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Ericka}}
Category:American LGBTQ models
Category:American non-binary writers
Category:American non-binary artists
Category:Sex education advocates
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American education activists
Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people