I’m really excited about today’s topic which is exploring a woman in tech whose fortitude and dedication to sexual wellness has unleashed a million orgasms! Today, we’re talking about Lora DiCarlo, founder, and CEO of sex toy and sexual wellness company Lora DiCarlo. Unafraid to take on the challenge, she has revolutionized the sex toy industry with micro-robotics and biomimicry.
Biomimicry is a practice that learns from and mimics the strategies found in nature to solve human design challenges — and find hope along the way. -biomimicry.org
Lora’s Story
Even though she just launched her first product in January 2020, Lora DiCarlo has taken the sexual wellness industry by storm. As founder and CEO, DiCarlo is completely upfront about how her multi-million dollar company came to be. “I had an orgasm and I started a company," she told Forbes.
In 2017, in partnership with Oregon State University's Robotics & Engineering Lab, she developed a sex toy that would go on to win an innovation award in robotics at the famed Consumer Electronics Show. When the award was revoked a month later – the Consumer Technology Association called the toy “immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA's image” – DiCarlo decided to fight gender bias in tech. She started with the very people who’d taken her award, educating the CTA on their double standards, which prompted CTA to add SexTech as a category beginning in 2020 (and reinstate her award).
The Prodigal Toy
That same year, DiCarlo launched her self-named company and the first toy, the one that started it all – the Osé. The Osé was revolutionary in its design: a hands-free device using micro-robotics to provide ‘blended orgasms’, or capitalizing on two ways women reach orgasm. On one end is a clitoris-stimulating ‘mouth’ that simulates a human mouth. At the other end, a G-spot stimulator uses ‘come hither’ movements to induce pleasure.
With all the hype around DiCarlo the person and DiCarlo the company, she was quickly able to gain investors and customers, closing out 2020 with $7.5 million in revenue. With no time to rest on her laurels, the company then launched a whole suite of toys using their biomimetic engineering that replicates human sensation (more on those in a moment!).
Shifting the Conversation
Alongside selling a tremendously successful toy, DiCarlo realized that judgment-free education and coaching were often lacking in the sex toy industry. While younger generations have helped remove sexual stigma, often by positioning conversation around sex in wellness, there’s still a large gap that DiCarlo identified.
As a result, her team is in the process of obtaining sex educator certification in a bid to holistically assist customers and potential customers with a wellness coaching service. Anyone interested can easily sign up for a free web conference on the website.
"We take a very gentle approach to education, we leverage different people who bring their own personal experience to the conversation and we never look down on anyone for being curious," says DiCarlo.
Her belief in the importance of sexual realization doesn’t get left in the bedroom. “Sexuality is directly tied to how we identify in the world, how we show up. So, the more confident you are in your identity, the more you are going to show up confidently every day in everything that you do. Sexual exploration really feeds that identity and it feeds that confidence. That's the kind of competence that allows people to go out into the world and make great change.”
With each toy, the website provides a detailed fit guide as well as a section on how to use them for maximum pleasure.
Playing with DiCarlo
It’s been a wild couple of years, but today Lora DiCarlo’s brand has expanded to include eight toys and a few lubricants and massage oils. Let’s take a quick peek at this year’s toys:
Baci Clitoral Stimulator: The small silicone device has ten intensity settings using airflow technology to simulate stroking and sucking from a focused partner.
Sway Dual Stimulation Warming Vibrator: This self-warming dual-headed wand provides G-spot and prostate massage with seven intensity settings.
Drift: A warming bullet vibrator with seven intensity settings and three vibration patterns.
Onda Robotic Massager: With four different stroke positions, the Onda uses ‘come-hither’ stroking motions and can deliver a deep, rumbly vibration boost.
Tilt Warming Vibrator and Plug: This one ticks all the boxes: clitoral and g-spot or prostate and perineum stimulation with warming and rumbling features.
Carezza Clitoral Massager: Using PercussionTouch technology, the stimulation pad of the Carezza strokes and pulsates at ten intensity settings. It comes with a removable Air Sleeve to provide a sucking sensation.
Filare Clitoral Stimulator: The Filare differs from the Carezza with its two stimulation beads that move in a clockwise, counterclockwise, or back-and-forth swirling motion.
Osé 2 Dual Stimulator for Blended Orgasms: Improving on the original Osé, this second iteration is fully adjustable and has a wider range of settings for a customizable experience.
It’s exciting to consider DiCarlo’s impact on the future of sex toys and women in technology. While her current models may be a bit of an investment, the technology behind them can only improve and become more accessible with time. She’s paving the way for more women to get involved in sex tech, both as creators and as enjoyers.