Spotlight Series

Guest Name: Erica Lemke

Credentials: MA, CSC, ABS

Welcome. Thank you so much for being here, Erica, with us today for our pelvic floor spotlight series, The Best in Utah. And we’re so excited to talk with you today.

And before we get started, I’m going to read a little bio about you for our audience, and then we’ll jump into all the fun questions. Sounds great. Thank you.

Yes. All right. Erica Lemke is a certified sex and relationships coach and board certified sexologist based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

She specializes in working with those who are in a midlife, who are midlife and beyond, helping them to explore, embrace, and express their sexuality with joy, confidence, and pleasure. She sees adult clients of all genders and sexual orientations. Her approach is working with clients is one that is co-creative, holistic, and pleasure focused.

Erica’s passion is helping her clients get in touch with their pleasure and their sensuality, vital components of their overall sexual health and wellness. Erica’s tagline is your pleasure is my passion. She believes that pleasure is our birthright, and this is a genuinely reflected in her desire and commitment to helping others maximize their sexual potential.

Thank you so much, Erica, for being on here today. I’m so excited. Thank you.

It’s a mouthful. I know, but it’s so important. So great.

So, okay. First off of that, what made you decide to get into this line of work? Like, how did this transpire? My goodness. Well, I’m, I’m trained as a marriage and family therapist.

And, um, I don’t know. I also thought that just like people always came to talk to me about sex and I always felt comfortable, even as a, you know, a young adult, maybe even younger than that. Um, and then I was kind of going through a transition, um, if you would say, uh, and, uh, I decided, is there an actual, like, can I actually make a living out of this? Can I actually make a career out of this? And lo and behold, I went down the rabbit hole and, and did a lot of research, had a great program.

And I went in my late forties, I went back to school to basically get a master’s level certification with the human sexuality, um, and sex relationship coaching. So, um, I, it just feels like a natural fit and it feels like something that I want. I know that I want to do for the rest of my life.

So I won’t be, I won’t be retiring from this. I don’t think there’s a reason to do so. So awesome.

Awesome. Okay. Um, what, what do you feel makes you different in what you do and how you do it approach you take? Certainly.

Well, I think there aren’t many of me in Utah. Um, I know there are a lot of sex therapists, but sex coaches is a little bit, um, it’s just not as common, um, in Utah. And, um, I come from a very multidisciplinary approach, I would say.

So I have training in, I have degrees in kinesiology, gerontology, marriage and family therapy, uh, life and wellness coaching, and then also personal training. And I feel that it’s such a beautiful way of a kind of, for lack of a better word, a wellness perspective when it comes to sexual health and wellbeing. Yeah.

Awesome. Awesome. I love that.

You can pull all of those things from your past. And I do. Um, Kate, talk to us about who’s an ideal fit for you.

I know we touched on that a little bit in your bio, but elaborate a little bit more on that for us. Sure. So I would say midlife women and midlife and beyond.

Um, it’s really my focus. That’s my, my sweet spot. I end love that.

I think it’s so beautiful. And oftentimes, you know, I’ll meet with them as an individual and, you know, they’re a lot of it, if they’re in relationship, it ends up being more of a relationship issue. So if their partner is on board and most of the time they are, um, then they come on and it’s just so wonderful when they both can come together and have someone like me, just be, be an observer and be a guide, um, just to help them kind of navigate relationship, sexuality, intimacy.

And I think that’s just such a beautiful way to bring that all together. I also do see, so I’m a telehealth provider for a healthcare company. So I also work with people who are trying to conceive postpartum, and then also perimenopause and menopause.

And I think some of the same similarities similarities exist with each of those transitional stages, if you will, and phases of life. And so much of it is just very common, you know, people want to know that they’re normal. They want to get permission to be able to, to love and to want what they want.

So a lot of the times, that’s a lot of the work that I do is around that. I love that. Hey, talk to us about who is an ideal, um, fit and what the process is to work with you.

Like, what does that look like? Yeah. So how I work. So right now I’m doing mainly telehealth, but I am now launching, I’ve already launched two workshops for this month and next month.

And I love, I love groups of women. And, and I love to see like, the best thing that I can say, like, you know, what I know someone’s really jiving with me is, you know, it’s very conversational, like we’re doing right now, but it’s also very co-creative, like part of my bio. I want people to be a part of the process.

And, and I want their input because they’re the ones who are doing the work. It’s their life. So I want to meet them where they are right, exactly where they are and help them bridge the gap to where they want to go.

And that’s a big part of my focus is following, you know, the, really the client leads. And so my, my job is to help them to the best of their abilities to navigate that. And then, you know, point things out and offer tools and, and resources as needed along the way.

Amazing. Amazing. Okay.

Um, let’s talk about what’s something that most people don’t know that you think that they should know about your services. Um, I think the workshop aspect, uh, I’ve done a lot of one-on-ones and I, and I love that work so much, but I also think what’s necessary is especially in, in where we live in Utah. I, I am starting, so I’m, I’m starting something called the Sensual Salon and I want to go into people’s homes.

I want to get in, in front of their best friends and whether it’s an intimate group of six people or maybe 10 or 12 people, um, come right in, let’s talk about sensuality and pleasure. Let’s talk about connection. Let’s talk about intimacy.

So really doing kind of a hands-on interactive, um, you know, hour and a half to two hour workshop that kind of gives a good framework around that, um, which also even includes, includes anatomy and, um, you know, pleasure focus and what that all looks like and then journal prompts and, and then activities that they do within that. So I’m in the development process of that. So actually next week, I’m going to be doing my first workshop, um, in, on the 20th.

And then I’m having another one, a Galentine’s day, uh, later in February. And I think this is where the juiciness for me is like, I’m really excited about this because I think we do better when we, we learn in community. And, and so when we don’t feel so isolated and alone, we can get that support and encouragement from others.

And I think that’s how we learn best. Amazing. Amazing.

Okay. Um, it kind of leads into the next thing, but is there anything else you want to promote that’s kind of going on in your world besides these workshops? Um, I mean, I do have a book. I wrote a book about four years ago, um, called feel sexy.

Again, the ultimate guide to reclaiming your sexual confidence, uh, that was written during the pandemic. And, and actually to, to be honest, a lot has changed with even in my personal life, when I was writing the book. And so I love it.

It’s a great resource, but I’m also in the, in the throes of writing another. And I know I have others that are, that are going to be in the future, but, um, yeah, it feels sexy again, really is. It’s about mindset shifting.

I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s not juicy and like, you know, it might sound like it’s really salacious when you read it, but it’s really like just getting back to feeling your own sense of self and your, your essence and who you wish to be and really to just embrace that. So that’s it. And I would, I want to offer, I think it’s probably at the end of it, but if anyone is interested and they want a PDF of my book, I would be happy to give them one.

Okay, great. Wonderful. Hey, so we can talk about that later.

Okay. What is the main thing that you want to be known for? Ah, I read this question earlier and I was like, Hmm, this is a really good question. You know, I just, I really want to be when someone hears my name that they said we worked with Erica and she was the catalyst that made a difference in our life.

It’s beautiful. Yeah. Which seems really kind of, I don’t know, I wish it could be more sexy than that.

Like I just, I, you know, one of my values is to make a difference. And, and I really, and I believe that and I, and I try to do that every day in some capacity. And I think this job allows me to do a lot of that.

And I love it when the light bulb goes off for somebody and you know, it’s hard work to change and to do some of these things, but when they take it seriously and they commit to it and then they come back, I get all these little notes from people and Oh, it just, it just melts my heart knowing, okay, I, I mean, I’m a little, just this little fraction because then they it’s, it’s their life and they go and get to do all the rest of it. But if I, if I play a little small part of that, then I think that I’ve done a good job. Amazing.

Okay. Where can we find you? Social media, online website, all the things. Absolutely.

So best way to reach me is either on my website, which is sexcoachslc.com. They can also email me at Erica E R I C A at sexcoachslc.com. I’m on LinkedIn at sexcoachslc. Facebook, I’m really not on Facebook much anymore, but it’s Erica G Lemke. But I, I would say mostly, but if anyone wants to email me and get more information I’m in the process also of revamping my website because I want to do more focus on, on workshops.

So we’re in the process of doing that as well. So, but people can reach out to me and ask any questions and happy to respond. Awesome.

Thank you so much, Erica, for jumping on the spotlight series for us. It’s always a pleasure to talk with you and thanks for all that you’re doing in the community here in Utah. It’s such a pleasure.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the time.