Marla Renee Stewart is a renowned sexologist, an intimacy, relationship, and sex coach, a sexual strategist, an educator, and an author. She is also the woman behind the Velvet Lips sex education company and the co-founder of the Sex Down South Conference. She has many identities, including Black, Queer, Cisgender, Upper-Middle-Class, Monogamish, Kinky, and Feminist, all of which inform her work. She has been featured in shows such as Trigger Warning with Killer Mike (Netflix) and Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta (VH1). Her first book, The Ultimate Guide to Seduction and Foreplay (co-authored with Jessica O’Reilly) was published in 2020. Her second book is entitled An Intersectional Approach to Sex Therapy.

Stewart enjoys recognition for her work in both the academic and popular fields. In the former, she is a faculty member of Clayton State University, lecturing on Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies. She is also the author of more than 200 articles for journals, magazines, and websites. In the latter, she has built a substantial social media presence, including more than 14,000 followers on Instagram and become a must-have guest for podcasts and independent shows galore.

Stewart’s work embraces diversity and social justice as much as it does sex and relationships. To this end, she sits on the boards of both the Diverse Sexualities Research and Education Institute and SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW! Her innumerable workshops have helped to educate and empower more than 13,000 people in intersectional sex and social justice matters, helping to promote much-needed authentic sexual liberation across the south of America and beyond.