For much of her adult life, Allora Dannon carried a secret she thought made her a social pariah. Her first kiss didn’t happen until she was 32, and now two years later she’s not only embracing her late start in romance but speaking openly about it — hoping her story can reassure others who feel like they’re behind.

“I spent so many years worrying about what people would think about me,” Dannon, a Rochester resident, told SWNS. For years she had expected romance to simply arrive — a chance encounter, a “meet-cute,” someone hitting on her at a party. But those moments never came.

So, in January 2023, she gave herself a challenge: go on as many dates as possible in a month. It worked. By the end of that experiment, she shared her first kiss. That kiss soon led to other milestones: her first boyfriend, her first sexual experience, and eventually, her first breakup. Today, she’s in a new relationship — and she’s also begun sharing what she’s learned.

“I want it to feel like advice from an older sister,” she said. She even has tips for kissing. Her number one rule: keep it simple, or as she put it, “keep it in your mouth.” She likens kissing to gently taking the top off an ice cream cone. One of her earliest lessons, she admitted, was learning that moaning during a kiss isn’t unusual, but another way of showing pleasure. “It’s like giving a tip,” she said.

For Dannon, kissing became a way of easing into intimacy. “I needed it for the nerves to thaw,” she explained, adding that something as small as a partner’s hands in her hair created new sensations. Even without sex, she said, “a good make-out session can be a confidence builder.”

She encourages curiosity, whether someone’s tastes are “spicy” or “vanilla.” She even kept a list of experiences she wanted to try — a hickey, for example — and found that asking made the process less intimidating.

Now she’s putting her experiences into a book, Who Is She?: A Late Bloomer’s Survival Guide, set for release on October 7, 2025. Part memoir, part self-help, the book is meant for anyone who feels isolated by shame or fear of being different.

“People go through adulthood with shame and think they are the only one,” Dannon said. “I didn’t know anyone else like me before I turned 30. It’s for people to know you can come to any experience at any age.”