Hannah & Stephanie(she/her)/(she/her)
Co-FoundersCalifornia, USA/ Chumash Land
"I am a customer-obsessed operator. I have been in the clean ingredient start-up space for a decade. At Personal Fav, Stephanie and I share a lot in our roles but I am more brand/marketing focused and Steph runs the show in product development and R&D. We both put our heads together daily on strategy and business development. Working with your bestie on something like Fav is a bit of a dream (cheesy! Sorry not sorry!)”
— Hannah
“As a jack of all trades by nature, I wear many hats. I am definitely the product geek, and want to ensure each and every formulation we create is top-tier. Business development and sales are also top of mind for me. Hannah and I work together on a lot of areas of the business as well. It is both challenging and rewarding to work through the ins and outs of building this business together."
— Stephanie
What would you say are Personal Fav Co’s core values — What makes you, you?
We are vehemently allergic to ego, and treat compassion as a superpower. We are loud about intimacy in the sense that we want to empower people to prioritize their pleasure. Let’s shed the shame and stigma around sex and help educate people on clean ingredients!
What was the 'aha' moment to you both deciding it was time to start Personal Fav Co?
Hannah: I was still at The Honest Company when Stephanie asked me to consult for Fav. After about a year of supporting her through that lens, I truly had a moment where I was like SHIT there is not enough information about our own anatomy out there, the ingredients that are in conventional lubes are foul and dangerous, I woke up one morning, met up with Stephanie and said hey, I am all in. We have a responsibility and btw let’s have so much fun doing this.
Stephanie: After experiencing a truly painful and crazy UTI experience at Burning Man in 2017, I did some research as to why and how this happened. Through discussions with friends, it became clear this was a major problem for a lot of people and no one was explicitly talking about it. After doing my due diligence, it came to my attention that most conventional sex products are unregulated and what you can buy in drugstores or the like is highly toxic to our reproductive organs. The initial concept was to make a lube that looks so nice you could leave it out on your bedside and not feel weird about it — a beautiful aesthetic and made with the cleanest ingredients with female and LGBTQ+ bodies in mind. Tapping into Hannah while she was still at Honest was a no brainer. We have been best friends since 9th grade, and I admired the work she was doing with all things clean during her time at The Honest Company. When she decided to come on board as a cofounder I was elated. The rest is history, as they say. I feel so proud every day of the work we do, and that we both strive to help people and each other in the process.
Tell us about one of Personal Fav Co’s stand-out products and how it prioritizes pleasure…
Both of our current products were formulated with pleasure in mind — Personal Fav’s Whet and Pique are made with natural aphrodisiacs like Ginseng and Horny Goat Weed that help to heighten sensation to increase your pleasure. In Personal Fav’s Whet, we also added stevia, so if it gets in your mouth it does not suck. (pun intended). In Pique, the full-spectrum CBD and Bulgarian Rose stimulate blood flow wherever applied topically to enhance your orgasms. They are both truly incredible products — some may even say magical.
What makes Personal Fav Co a Top Shelf brand?
Top reason Fav is a Top Shelf brand is because we are customer OBSESSED. When you think of lube, you think of plastic squirt bottles — that ain't sexy. We created our products in chic, black, glass bottles with a pump and placed them in fun, colorful boxes that feel approachable and genderless. Our tagline is ‘We keep it clean, so you can get dirty.’ and we truly mean that! We have the best ingredients, thoughtful design, all with our sex serum lovers in mind.
Why is it important to support Top Shelf brands?
By supporting Top Shelf brands, consumers are supporting founders that raise the bar, elevate the standard and do well by doing good. Top Shelf brands deserve to win because we are shaking up the space and flipping archaic industries on their head!
What does pleasure look like for you?
Hannah: Pleasure to me, is an incredible night's sleep. Doing NYtimes crossword puzzles with my partner. Morning sex.
Stephanie: Pleasure for me takes many different forms. Dancing with good friends to great music. A really meaningful yoga flow or meditation. Extra dark dark chocolate. Orgasmic manifestation with a partner or myself.
Some parting words: As this community grows, we cannot wait to make the conventional, toxic brands either become irrelevant or better yet- change their standards. Your pleasure is powerful!
