Vanessa’s Story

Vanessa Osage has been actively transforming culture to embrace positive sexuality for over a decade.

In 2009, she created a puberty rite of passage program as a new, healthy way to meet sexual maturity. This effort soon blossomed into the nonprofit Rooted Emerging. Combining meaningful sexuality education with outdoor adventure, talking circles and an overnight solo vigil, she has guided young people and families to revere the transition as worthy of celebration.  

 

To raise awareness, she has coordinated over a dozen community events in Bellingham, Washington.

These include an all-ages Masquerade, Giant Puppet Storytelling events, workshops on Mindfulness & The Four Shields, a Lecture Series on Rites of Passage & Love’s Fool, a celebration of the divinely imperfect journey of romantic love.   


  

  

 

  

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Author Tom Robbins served as Love’s Fool Grand Jester on April Fool’s Day 2017.

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In 2018, she co-created the play, “The Circle Holds It All” with Indigenous artist Meghan Yates (now Meg Vellejos McCoy of Inner Life Creations), which they toured throughout Whatcom County, Washington, middle schools in the What We Could Be Project. With grant funding from the Tulalip Tribe, the troupe brought The Kindness Teachings and more to over 1,000 students and gathered social research on the greatest needs of young people today.

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Since 2012, Vanessa Osage has been teaching “soulful sexuality education” to young people in small groups, homeschool, 4-H and private school settings.

Having trained through Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts in 2006, she expanded her certification to create a fuller approach to guiding for sexual health. She teaches Emotional Intelligence, along with healthy communication, boundaries, staying true to oneself and honoring the body’s wisdom. Her philosophy is most in line with Comprehensive Sexuality Education, as practiced with excellent long-term outcomes in parts of Europe.     

 

                                              Teaching self-love and boundaries to 6-9 year old students

Following great interest in Parent Nights at private schools, Vanessa created a “Raising Sexually Healthy Kids” seminar (now a Coaching Package!), which she has hosted multiple times around Bellingham, Washington. She wrote a 23-page workbook with exercises, research and guidelines for parents, educators and professionals. In 2022, members of Callisto Media/Rockridge Press reached out and asked her to write her second book, Sex Education for Girls: A Parent’s Guide.

From the very beginning, individuals began reaching out for private, one-on-one support in all things intimate, sexual and personally meaningful.

So, in 2009, a practice in consulting was born. Vanessa had been a professional childbirth assistant or doula (DONA) in her twenties, so the role of private support around sexuality and family was a natural extension of her experience. She has worked with teens, young adults, parents, couples, men, women, and people of all genders and orientations.

Today, this practice has evolved to include work as a Certified Professional Coaching (CPC, Relationship Coaching Institute, 2018), with a focus on love, sexuality, intimate connections, and personal empowerment. She is currently a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF), Ellevate Professional Network and other alliances and coalitions. Vanessa also has a specialty in supporting all people to find and own their truth, transforming conflict, starting over, and the entrepreneurial path.

Over twelve beautiful years, Vanessa Osage has advanced love, truth, and justice, both with individuals, and on the larger cultural level. This breadth of experience enriches her work in Consulting & Coaching, Education, and Speaking Engagements.

Read more on the Consulting & Coaching page.

Enjoy interviews, articles & more at Vanessa Osage author website
See an early video  describing Rooted Emerging.