Leeza Mangaldas
Indian podcaster and sex educator
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Leeza Mangaldas is an Indian sex educator and sports reporter. Her work focuses on female sexuality.[1] She authored the 2022 book The Sex Book: A Joyful Journey of Self Discovery. Mangaldas has also worked as podcaster and occasional actress.
Early life and education
Mangaldas was born in Bangalore, India.[2] Her father is an architect and her mother is an interior designer and photographer.[3] She grew up in Goa and attended high school in Kodaikanal.[3] She studied English literature and visual art at Columbia University in New York, including in classes taught by Gauri Viswanathan, and graduated in 2011.[3][4] After graduation, she moved to Mumbai.[3]
Career
While based in Mumbai, Mangaldas worked as an actress and was a co-founder of Evoke India,[5] an organization curating speaker events.[6][7] She had a lead role in the 2014 film W, about sexual violence against women in India.[2][8] She also wrote a 2013 opinion article noted by The Indian Express to address themes in the film about shame and self-blame by survivors.[9]
While working as a newscaster, and with experience as a reporter that included the Indian Super League,[10][11][12] Mangaldas began independently posting sex education videos in 2017 on YouTube in English to help address what she felt was "a lack of easily accessible information and non-judgemental platforms to share questions and experiences, and obtain facts and resources pertaining to sex, sexuality, gender, sexual health, relationships, and the body."[13][3][4]
After success creating content on YouTube and Instagram, this became her full-time occupation in 2018.[4] During the COVID-19 pandemic in India, she also began creating videos in Hindi.[14] In 2021, she began the podcast Love Matters, produced by The Indian Express and Deutsche Welle.[15] In December 2021, she began the Hindi sex education podcast The Sex Podcast with Leeza Mangaldas on Spotify.[16][4][17] In 2023, Meta, the company operating Instagram, restricted several Indian sex education content creators' accounts—including that of Mangaldas, who then deleted some of her content to avoid restrictions after an unsuccessful appeal.[18]
In 2022 Mangaldas founded a sexual wellness brand called Leezu's which sells massagers and lubricants.[19]
Mangaldas is a first-cohort Pleasure Fellow with The Pleasure Project, an international education and advocacy organization that has worked alongside the World Health Organization to make a case for pleasure-based sexual health.[20][21][22]
The Sex Book
In October 2022, Mangaldas published her first book The Sex Book: A Joyful Journey of Self-Discovery with Harper Collins, and released an audio version on Audible.[23][24] Scroll.in described the book as "scientifically oriented"[25] and The Hindu described the book as "an invaluable sex-education manual that helps readers navigate and celebrate their bodies, identities and relationships."[26] According to Vogue India, "Far from the grim scientific jargon and convoluted infographics of a biology textbook, The Sex Book is a breezy read. Mangaldas is like a good friend [...] No question is too stupid, no concern too small."[24]
Honors and awards
- Hindustan Times HT Brunch Social Media Star of The Week, 13 March 2021[27]
- GQ India 25 Most Influential Young Indians 2020-21[10]
- Cosmopolitan India Blogger Awards 2021-22: Sexual Health Influencer of the Year[28]
- GQ India 30 Most Influential Young Indians of 2022[17]
- 2022 Spotify AmplifiHer initiative[29][30]
- Rolling Stone India Women in Creativity list for 2023[31]
- Femina Fab 40 for 2023 list[32]