True Calling Project | Finding Purpose And Meaning In Life And Career

Dr. Lily Zehner, MFT-C, specializes in sex, intimacy and relationships. In this episode, we explore the journey that led her to developing her unique set of skills. “I often tell people that I have thick skin and a tender heart. It takes a tender heart to really work with the people I’m working with and to really understand what is going on and what is felt and what is needed, but thick skin because there is so much shame and so much judgement.” In the household that Lily grew up, sex was considered the devil, dirty and wrong – but she always had a curiosity about sex and sexual expression. She also grew up divided between different identities. She is a first-generation American She is hearing, but her parents’ are deaf She grew up in an upper-middle class neighborhood, but she grew up poor She is a person of color, but surrounded by white people “Understanding how these different parts of my identity intersect and how that impacts how I show up in the world and how I experience things – it really is a big