Toya Ricci is a Naarm, Melbourne based sexologist and sexuality educator. Toya offers sex and relationship counselling to individuals and couples as well as various workshops and creative experiences exploring art therapy, sexuality education, communication and pleasure discovery.
Originally hailing from Alaska and working as a graphic designer, Toya’s pivot into Sexology came about after dealing with an illness which propelled her on a path to find a career based on creativity, connection and helping people find their ‘aha!’ moments.
In addition to her counselling services, Toya is developing an erotica writing course aimed at self discovery but to also serve as a means to process trauma and past sexual experiences.
In this Colour Box Studio interview, Toya discusses her distinct cultural experience, online course development and tackling a PhD exploring the colonisation of pleasure through art and popular culture.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
I am a Melbourne-based counselling sexologist and educator. I like to call myself a creative sexologist because I believe that sex is an act of creativity and I like to help people explore ways to express their sexuality through counselling or educational workshops. I often use technology and art to facilitate creative experiences to help people connect with their sexuality.
How did you start your creative practice and why?
I have been enthusiastically creative since I was a young child. But, like many people, it took me a while to find my path. I studied psychology, then creative arts therapy and found that while I really loved helping people to tap into their creativity, I wasn’t ready to do clinical work. So, I became a graphic designer! But all along, I was really interested in helping people to find ways to express their sexuality joyfully and creatively.
Learning about the creative process and ways to facilitate creativity really makes sense when it applies to having good sex. I became very ill and as I recovered, I realised that I wanted to do work that was more meaningful, so I went full circle and did a Master of Sexology. I’ve found that I have been able to integrate everything I have learned in my professional and life experience and use it to help people become more sexually fulfilled. Sexuality is absolutely an act of creativity! Being able to joyfully and confidently express sex as a part of who you are as a whole person means that you will automatically have more pleasurable and satisfying sexual experiences.
Where did you grow up and how has it influenced your practice?
I grew up in Alaska, which I used to think didn’t mean much. As I get older, I realise that growing up in a place where it is impossible not to be connected to nature, the people and the land did have a profound effect on me. For a long time, I took that connection for granted and just assumed that everyone had it. I think being a brown person, who is detached from any distinct cultural experience has led me to feel like I belong everywhere and nowhere. This experience may help me understand multicultural experiences and how to use differences as a point of connection. This is particularly important when considering the dynamics of sex, intimacy, and relationships.
Tell us about your current project/ art work?
Currently, I am developing an erotica writing course. I feel like erotica can be and is a powerful tool for self-discovery and creative sexual expression. It can also be a tool to help people recover from trauma or to make sense of their past sexual experiences. I plan to use art, music and various cultural elements to help people really tap into their pleasure and express it in written form. I think finding a way to confidently and joyfully express sexuality is part of becoming a whole person.
Who or what inspires your practice?
I am full of boundless curiosity and wonder, so I am constantly inspired. However, what I have learned is that inspiration is nothing without meaning. So on a deeply personal level, I am very much inspired by my clients and the people who attend my workshops. Everyone’s experiences of sexuality are so rich and nuanced. I also really enjoy seeing the way sex has evolved through art and popular culture. Once you start to see the themes and threads, it’s like: Oh! so, that’s why we’ve ended up here!
Where do you feel most creative and why?
Since the pandemic and the lockdowns, I have had to really work to regain my creative spark, and when it returned it was more meta and abstract. Whereas writing, or crafting, or designing things always got my creative juices flowing, I found that those things had become very much like work, and I lost the joy.
Now, my creativity is the act of co-creation and flow that I have with my clients, or when I am facilitating a workshop. It is the process of teasing out desire and potential and creating a meaningful way to express things that are very difficult to express. There are lots of aha! moments that precipitate growth and transformation. I feel so honoured to witness these journeys. It is hugely inspirational.
What’s the best compliment you’ve received from a show or work?
The best feedback is getting to experience that moment of transformation for my clients. Or even during workshops when things just click into place for people. Essentially, my passion has always been about helping people to facilitate creativity. When people become inspired to look at sex and sexuality as an act of creativity, it is so, so, so powerful.
What future projects are you looking forward to?
I have so many projects on the boil! I am currently refining my workshop offerings and trying to find the sweet spot that combines creativity and sexual expression. I am also beginning my PhD which will explore the colonisation of pleasure through art and popular culture.
Whose work are you digging at the moment?
Audre Lorde. She beautifully exemplifies how one’s sex and sexuality can be integrated to form part of one’s whole self and used as a mechanism for inspiration and compassion.
Where can we find and follow you online?
I am on insta @toya.ricci or my website is toyaricci.com. I always love to connect with new people.