Our Better Half

This episode explores the significance of intergenerational learning and social/racial justice within the sexual health field. We had the joy of interviewing Mariotta Gary-Smith about her experiences of mentorship from Black women/femme elders that also inspired the trajectory of her career as a social justice actionable agitator. Mariotta Gary-Smith (she/her/Queen [reserved]) is a 3rd generation social justice agitator & Oregonian. Her family history of civil rights seeded her interest in social justice - she found human sexuality on her own. After high school, Mariotta earned degrees from Agnes Scott College and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. In Fall 2008, she was one of five nationally selected Fellowship Scholars for the Inaugural Class at the Center of Excellence for Sexual Health (CESH) housed at the Morehouse School of Medicine. In 2009, Mariotta co-founded the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WoCSHN; pronounced ‘wok-shyn’) – an online-based, collective organization f