Jessica Habie spent her early career documenting the relationship between art and social change. As an independent filmmaker, she focused mostly on stories of war, genocide, and human rights abuses in the Middle East. Her feature film Mars at Sunrise (2014) starred Golden Globe-winning actor Ali Suliman, her short film Mandatory Service (2008) won Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival and her documentary Meet Me Out of the Siege (2008) won at the Cannes Short Film Corner.

“I was just about to do it again. Tell another experimental, sad story about men trying to kill each other, when I had full-body ‘NO.’ I want to do something different,” she recalls from her (former) Berkeley studio. “I want to tell stories about something positive. I want to tell women’s stories. I want to look at stories of pleasure.”

Pleasure and the body’s ability to heal through pleasure is something that Habie has grappled with since she was first diagnosed with breast cancer at age 29. A year after she underwent a double mastectomy operation at age 34, Habie found herself studying at the Somatica Institute for Sex and Relationship Coaching.

The Somatica Method was created by Danielle Harel, Ph.D. and Celeste Hirschman MA. They created Somatica to fill a gap in the fields of therapy and adult sexuality education. It is an experiential and relational coaching method that helps people transform their emotional and erotic connections. Through mutually vulnerable practice, Somatica coaches help their clients overcome shame, embrace their desires, heal attachment wounds, and have extraordinary sex and relationships.

“I finally made it to the Somatica Training because I wanted to work with women who were survivors of breast cancer, and to use the Somatica Method to help these women get back into their bodies. But, as the first training started, I realized there was a much bigger story to be told. I want to address the whole nation. It just opened up in front of me! This is a TV show.”

She conceived of a workplace romance dramedy about sex coaching, titled Here She Comes. The show is incredibly entertaining, exceptionally educational, and wildly erotic.

Habie, who has participated in the Somatica Training twice, sees the method as a map toward transformation and revolution. “It just blew my mind — the connections being made between sexual empowerment and social change, sexual expression and politics, erotic freedom and liberation.”

“I want to show people doing this deep self-awareness work – and coming out of it with stronger relationships and more resilient families while triumphing over shame and fear,” says Habie. “ We need to dream up stories that are big enough to show the potential of this work. I want to see it go global!”

While developing Here She Comes, Habie and her producing partner Z, also created the documentary series Somatica Sessions, showing Celeste and Danielle’s’ actual one-on-one sex coaching sessions. Somatica Sessions offers a behind-the-scenes look at the real life work of sex coaches, and offers a window into the inspiration for Here She Comes.

“Somatica gave me a language to speak about my own sexual story. And that has been a very powerful journey to take as a mother, as an artist, and as a writer. I want to bring those teachings to living rooms around the country. I want to create a world in which going to see a sex coach has no more stigma than going to see a personal trainer.”

“There is a need for this imagery in the world now,” she says. “This show has the ability to bring us back into our bodies. Both Here She Comes and Somatica Sessions offer timely perspectives on sex and relationships. Both projects have the potential to change the way we think and talk about sex in America.”

Here She Comes is ultimately a celebration of love, intimacy, and resilience. “I hope it will bring us closer together in these uncertain times.”

Our protagonists, Emma and Rene, lead with their vulnerability and teach with their hearts and bodies. They put it all on the line every time they show up to do their work. These characters can take us down uncharted pathways to intimacy and connection. Help us heal, remember the beauty of touch, discover the depth of our vast resilience, point us in the direction of unimagined pleasure. If we dare.