We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bianca Laureano a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bianca , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

Tell us the story of the early days from when you decided to start your own firm/practice to establishing the practice. What were the main steps you had to take, what were some of the key challenges in setting up your own office/practice and would you have done anything differently knowing what you know now? Any advice for a young professional who might be considering starting their own practice?

My decision to create my own projects and organization came from being employed at non-profit organizations, public schools, and universities and knowing something more, and better, was possible. Being told to use certain curricula for students, that was not effective, was a drain and devastating to notice how limited I was for what I could do to get to the goals I was expected to meet. I had to try a variety of other jobs to figure out what I wanted to do and in that process when I did find out what I wanted to do I then focused on jobs that allowed me to do what I wanted off the clock and then still have health insurance and money for basic needs while I prepared.

Steps that helped me included: have a vision and goal. Save some money. Identify how you will receive medical care. Create a plan with measurable goals. Identify why your work is going to fill in any gaps and / or contribute to a phenomena in a particular way.

Reimaging and redefining what success means to me vs. from a capitalist individual perspective. Budgeting for attending conferences and connecting with others. Accessibility: many places are not open to or welcoming of multiple disabled people.

If I could start over I would have tried to do it on my own sooner. Protected my online space and privacy. Stopped gaslighting myself or questioning my brilliance.

Reconnect with your bodymind and trust your intuition / gut / [insert term here that fits for you].

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am Bianca Ivette Laureano Nieves De Jesus, my mother gave me her first name as my second and I am from the isla of Boriken also known as Puerto Rico from where I am displaced due to colonization and its violence. I come to you as a public school educated multiply disabled LatiNegra queer fat femme who has worked in the US sexuality field since 1996. I am someone who is still deeply impacted by colonization, displacement, assimilation, and raised by those who struggled with their own anti-Blackness and pride for the independence of Puerto Rico. I speak from the experiences I have had and not as an expert of experiences I have not had. I am a community scholar who disrupts, questions, and considers daily acts of subversion to colonial expectations that impact me daily, constantly, and that each of us are impacted by in various ways. I speak for myself and for what I know.

I am a sexuality educator and curriculum writer. I write the lesson plans that work for our communities so they welcome all bodyminds into a learning space. From teaching in classrooms to now teaching educators, therapists, medical providers, and other sexuality professionals on how to do our work with integrity, care, accountability, and utilizing a strategic use of our power. I train people to do their work better for the world we are living in because many sexuality educators are still being trained the same way I was in 1996!

The types of support and care I offer professionals is a practice space to try out new language, ideas, and find thought partners. I offer editing support to those writing articles and books in our field. I’ve created a virtual Freedom School where the community guides what they are seeking to learn about and that requires us to communicate openly.

All the courses I teach are live synchronous and online because I know that is where many disabled people can safely access space. Unfortunately a majority of sexuality training programs in the US heavily rely on pre recorded lectures and I do not believe that is a useful way to learn or be prepared to implement the work we are seeking to engage in and offer. The courses I’ve created are updated each time I teach them (which is three times a year), open access (no paywalls for participants to engage with), and fill in many of the gaps that exist in the field. For example, the misuse of the term and Black feminist gift that is Intersectionality really bothers me so I created a class to help people understand how this theory, framework, and practice evolved, when it works, when it doesn’t work, and what’s next? I also teach classes on accountability, abortion, disability justice, and reproductive justice.

I am most proud of witnessing the evolution of those I have mentored and of the mentorship I receive from my youth mentors. I love how my brain works and am proud of being able to communicate in plain language, ways that reach more of our community members.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth has always been the best way for me to reach clients and participants. I know what I offer is at a high level so I price my courses accordingly. This does mean some people are unable to pay full for the courses, and that is why I fundraise and decided on a fiscal sponsor to accept grants and donations. Once people take my classes, understand my open access approach, and how I prioritize accessibility while divesting in a culture of surveillance welcomes us all to rehumanize ourselves as we learn and relearn together. When people enjoy and gain more from the class they tell others. Even if they didn’t like my offerings that complaining is also promotion and marketing. It is a way to also weed out those who are not a good fit for what I offer and yes there are people who think they are ready for the radical revolutionary love approach but when they are in it and experience it they don’t like it because sometimes people are not trained or educated with integrity and care as the focus.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I collaborate a lot, I talk about money openly, even when my palms sweat, I give the information I have to my collaborators and do not hide or keep information from those I am building with. When people are treated with integrity they show up for the experience! When people are trusted they feel it through and through and want more of it because it is such a rare experience. We collaborate on marketing, curriculum writing, reviewing feedback, and practice an economic solidarity approach to move us closer to an anti-capitalist politic.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BiancaLaureano.com and www.anteuppd.com
• Instagram: @LatiNegraSexologist
• Facebook: /BiancaILaureano
• Other: https://anteuppd.substack.com

Image Credits

all self taken images except one of me on stage by G Gomez