What was my life path that led to my career in the sex field?

What challenges have I had to overcome?

What am I currently focused on, and what am I most proud of?

Was there something from my life that helped set me up for success?

SD Voyager Magazine interviewed me for their “Women Trailblazers” series, and I answered the questions above! If you’re curious about my unusual path to becoming a “sexpert” and sexuality public speaker, check it out! (I’ve cut and pasted the beginning of the article below with a link to the full piece with lots of fun photos!)

“Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jennifer Gunsaullus.

Dr. Gunsaullus, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in a small town in Southeastern Pennsylvania and was a bit of a contradiction — I internalized the “good girl” messaging of our society, but was also confident and opinionated. As an undergraduate at Lehigh University, I joined the Sexual Health Peer Educators. This is where I became fascinated with people’s sexual decision-making and also learned that I could love public speaking (I hated it prior to that!).

In graduate school in Albany, NY, I studied sociology and also worked training sexual health peer educators and got involved with sexual activism through performing in The Vagina Monologues. I moved to San Diego at the end of 2003 to escape the cold and snow of the Northeast and finished my dissertation and Ph.D. from the beauty of Pacific Beach.

In San Diego, I jumped into learning about and experiencing holistic health and spirituality, from meditation and mindfulness to Reiki and yoga and personal transformation classes. I started integrating this mind, body, spirit approach into my work as a sex educator, public speaker, and sex & intimacy coach. And I realized that if folks don’t love themselves and know that they are innately worthy, they won’t take care of themselves.

I’ve been in San Diego for 15 years now, and despite developing a thriving coaching practice, I’m shifting my focus to my deepest passion—big picture education and public speaking. I love traveling around the country and creating spaces for groups of people, from 8 to 1000, to challenge how they think about topics like sex, intimacy, and consent, and teach them mindfulness and compassion skills to be healthier, happier, and more communicative.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?”

Read the entire Meet Trailblazer Dr. Jennifer Gunsaullus interview here.

~Dr. Jenn Gunsaullus, San Diego Sexologist, Sex Speaker, & Sociologist