Recent Work
Past and Current Clients / Engagements
Writing & Publications
Writing Prompts for Sexual Liberation Part 1: Self Exploration (zine collaboration with Songs of Ourselves) available in the store
Forthcoming: "10 Ways to Queer Sex Ed" in Geez Magazine.
Forthcoming. Sparks, Tory and Greggor Mattson. "LGBTQ+ Spaces and Places." Oxford Bibliographies in "Sociology." New York: Oxford University Press.
2018. Mattson, Greggor and Tory Sparks. “‘We Have a Gay Bar Here’: You Don’t Need a Coast to be Cosmopolitan.” Published in Red State Blues: Stories from Midwestern Life on the Left. Ed., Martha Bayne. Ohio: Belt Publishing.
2017. Guest Blog for Who Needs Gay Bars “Stop Blaming Millenials for Killing Gay Bars: Generational Absolutism in the Gay Community”
2017. "'This is a Closed Space for Queer Identifying Folx': Queer Spaces on Campus." Undergraduate thesis, Oberlin College.
Testimonials
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.
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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
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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
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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.