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Testimonials

Tory is a rock star sex educator!  With a wealth of knowledge and an expansive scope of educational experience, Tory has the ability to captivate a wide variety of audiences with fact based, relevant information and activities designed to shatter stigma, enhance learning, and strengthen human relationships.  Tory has been a trusted, powerful mentor to staff and students with passion that is undeniable.  
— -Becky Brent, Ann Arbor Community High School: Health Teacher, CR Monitor,  Forum Leader / A2Virtual+ Academy Instructor / Health Educators Learning Network, Steering Committee Member
Tory has provided training sessions for our secondary physical education and health educators for years.  Tory always provides high quality, relevant, customized, and current professional development.  Tory’s training sessions are engaging, and individualized to our needs. Tory was critical in the development and adoption of... inclusive, current, and updated [health/sex ed] materials
— -Kristin Stoops, Ann Arbor Public Schools 6-12 PE/Health District Department Chair
Tory has been a key component to our reproductive and sexuality lessons at Ypsilanti Community Schools...helping review and develop curriculum for all grade levels.  She has facilitated some amazing activities and educational opportunities within our Health classes.  Tory is very engaging and inclusive for all students, especially when educating students with cognitive impairments.  
— - Shannon Hurley, Ypsilanti Community High School Health Teacher and District Sex Education Advisory Board co-chair
[Tory’s workshop] was amazing! I felt safe to participate fully and learned a lot about myself through the exercises. The facilitators were true experts in their respective fields. It was impeccably facilitated, structured in a way that allowed safety, and the writing prompts were transformational.
— - Workshop participant, Writing for Queer Sexual Liberation: A Reflective Writing Workshop for Queer Sexual Self-Exploration, partnership with Songs of Ourselves

About Tory

Tory graduated with highest honors from Oberlin College in 2017 with majors in anthropology and gender, sexuality, and feminist studies. In addition to sex education, Tory has written and contributed to academic work on queer spaces and gay bars, and is passionate about creating inclusive queer spaces wherever they go.

During her tenure at Planned Parenthood of Michigan (2017-2022), Tory successfully designed and launched a remote education program during lockdown, a Statewide Youth Advisory Council, and an LGBTQ+ Employee Group. Tory contributed to the launch of the INclued program at PPMI and the White Privilege Learning Space for employees. Tory also implemented systems for budget and grant management, multiple communication channels for staff and youth, resource lists for clinics and education programs, program evaluation, tools for virtual learning, and best practices for youth engagement and LGBTQ+ inclusivity. She also recruited, trained, and supervised a highly engaged group of teen peer educators each year, consulted with and trained districts, sex ed advisory boards, and community organizations, and taught sex education in 7 area schools.

Tory also worked as a Youth Advisory Council Facilitator at the Michigan Organization for Adolescent Health 2020-2021, facilitating the MY Trans Voice and MY Voice youth advisory councils. Tory also virtually facilitated the Our Whole Lives curriculum with Homeschoolers of Ann Arbor in 2020-2021.

  • Recipient of The Comfort Starr Prize in Anthropology, Oberlin College, May 2017

    Recipient of The Leah D. Freed Memorial Prize in Women’s Studies, Oberlin College, May 2017

    Recipient of The Phyllis Jones Memorial Prize for excellence in Women’s Studies, Oberlin College, May 2017

    Recipient of The Jerome Davis Research Award, Oberlin College, Fall 2016

    Featured Student Speaker, Mary Church Terrell Symposium, Oberlin College, February 2016

    Recipient of Lahaurine-Johnston Prize for involvement & contribution to La Maison Francophone, Oberlin College, May 2016

    3rd place, Book Collection Contest, Friends of the Oberlin College Library, for collection of books in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies

  • Leadership Institute, Brown University Pre-College, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. Leader Fellow June- August 2015 (9 weeks): Resident Assistant in the Residence Hall for the whole summer, including 2 weeks of On-Call emergency response. Served as Teaching Assistant for two classes: Leadership and Global Engagement, and Women & Leadership (classroom help, office hours and advising students on their action plans, study skills, and college plans). Facilitated workshops in Diversity and Leadership Styles, co-developed a workshop on Gender, Sex, and Sexual Orientation and facilitated team-building activities on the LI Challenge Course in Bristol, RI each session.

    In Other Words Feminist Community Center, Portland, Oregon. Feminist Programs Intern January 2015 (3 weeks): Helped expand the network of a feminist community center and bookstore in Portland. Completed library inventory and suggested new books for the bookstore. Planned and suggested events, including feminist discussion groups

  • Allied Media Conference 2018, 2022

    Creating Change 2019, 2020, 2021

    Adolescent Health Initiative 2018, 2019, 2021

    S.L.A.M. (Sexuality Liberators and Movers) 2021

    TPPI PREP Conference 2018, 2019 (featured speaker, “Reproductive Justice: Pasts, Presents, Futures” 2019)

    National Sex Education Conference, Keynote Speaker 2022

In their free time, Tory enjoys being in the woods, all things books, making art, baking, and doing several crossword puzzles a day. Tory lives in Interlochen, MI (which occupies the traditional, ancestral, and contemporary lands of the Odawa peoples) with her spouse, 3 pets, and as many house plants as she can keep alive.