Marissa Nelson

Meet the Founder

Marissa Nelson is the CEO and Founder of Fertility Haven, Marissa is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT), Certified Sex Therapist (CST) and Certified Sexuality Educator (CSE) and Facilitator for the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Women's Business Circle. She is also a gifted public speaker who will be delivering her first TEDx talk at the University of Santa Barbara on April 16, 2023.

Marissa has been a practicing therapist helping individuals and couples for the past decade. Her focus on reproductive mental health stems from her love of therapeutic work and her own experience with infertility and IVF. For four years prior to conception, she endured the pain and challenges of infertility, suffering in silence. She chose to transform hopelessness into empowerment by speaking on mental health panels at fertility conferences and creating reproductive mental health educational programs and content for leading fertility providers - such as Kindbody, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Maven and many more - to support all couples during their fertility journey.

She is also a champion for equality, reproductive and social justice, particularly for communities of color where there continues to be challenges such as implicit bias in healthcare, treatment disparities and barriers of access to reproductive care.

Marissa is also well-known as the founder of IntimacyMoons, the premier luxury retreat experience voted “Best Couples Retreat” and featured in the New York Times, Vice News, Elle Canada, Fodor's Travel Women’s Health, Bustle & Black Enterprise Magazines. She has been featured in over 150 media spots worldwide.

Marissa holds a Master's degree in Education Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a Master's in Marriage & Family Therapy from Drexel University and a B.S. in Sociology from Florida State University. She earned her Certificate in Sexual Health & Sex Therapy from the University of Michigan. She is a member of American Association of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), Resolve: The National Infertility Association, American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors & Therapists (AASECT) and American Association of Marriage & Family Therapists (AAMFT). Marissa lives with her husband and daughter in Washington, D.C.

“When I work with fertility patients and their partners, I’m so passionate that I become excited about the possibilities of helping them thrive. You have to hold hope for them, and create a sacred space for them to flourish.”

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