Jessica Habie spent her early career dramatizing the relationship between art and social change. As an independent filmmaker, she focused mostly on stories of war 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 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. This loss, however painful, initiated a monumental shift in her life. 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. I had no idea how profoundly the Somatica Training would transform my life.”

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

Somatica taught Jessica to deepen into sensation and let go of shame.  “I discovered pleasure was the medicine that kept me healthy. Staying connected to my pleasure helped me through my reconstruction process. I realized my sex life wasn’t doomed just because I was scarred. Quite the opposite. All I have survived helps me to deepen into self love and erotic embodiment.”

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. It gave me the courage to be really honest with my lover. 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.  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 Help us heal, remember the beauty of touch, discover the depth of our vast resilience, and point us in the direction of unimagined pleasure. If we dare.