Veronica Dress, CSE | The Dress Rehearsal

About Veronica Dress, CSE | The Dress Rehearsal

Sexuality educator, coach, and theater-kid turned intimacy director, I am a sucker for the rehearsal space. In a world of fake-it-til-you-make-it and everyone-knows-what-they’re-doing-but-me, a rehearsal space is a sweet exhale. It’s a space where you get to be curious, imperfect, learn, and try out new ways of thinking + being in your sexuality and relationships. Maybe— just maybe—you’ll discover information and ideas that support you in living a life of sexual and intimate authenticity.

And, believe me, I come to this work having felt the same way. I left high school with no sex ed.
That’s a lie— I went to Chastity day. No, you didn’t misread that. It was a day for all 7th graders to learn about abstaining from sex until marriage using tape, chewed gum, and crumpled flowers as metaphors for our sinful sexual acts.

Cut to: me, crying on the floor of my kitchen in Nashville, TN.

I was 25 years old, in the throws of a break up, and adrift. I was beginning to understand my queer identity and had no idea what I was doing. I only had shamey chewed gum sex ed! This was not going to serve me as I unlearned and relearned what I wanted in my sexual and romantic life.

This was the scene set as I began as a sexuality educator. I somehow convinced them to hire me, teach me all the sex ed I never received, and then teach me how to teach it. It was a tall order, but my commitment to young people, justice, and firsthand understanding of how deeply valuable shame-free sex ed could be secured the role. And it changed everything.

I started learning about sexuality, bodies, pleasure, gender, and queerness for the first time. I was coming home from work and teaching my roommates all the sex ed I was getting at work (because they, too, never got this info in school). A fire was burning in me that knew spaces to be curious and open about sex, intimacy, and love were a part of liberation work.

So, I went back to school. I enrolled in University of Michigan’s Sexual Health Certificate program. I learned from leaders in the field. I read SO many articles. I received hours of supervision. And I lived to tell the tale!

Because I just couldn’t stop learning, I also got my coaching certification and trained to be a theatrical Intimacy Director at the same time. Silly V, doing the most.

Now, as an (overly) certified human, I work with folks exploring their sexualities in countless ways, whether on stage, in the rehearsal room, or in a coaching session.