They're both reasons for how Lora DiCarlo came to. Not without roadblocks, however.
In 2019, the Consumer Electronics Show presented Lora DiCarlo with an innovation award in the robotics and drones category for her Robotic Massage, Osé. The reward was later revoked when the show's operator decided that actually, sex toys weren't allowed and that even her attendance at the show would be banned. Is now a good time for us also to call attention to the lack of inclusion of women in general in the Consumer Electronic Conference? Yeah... you get the point.
Despite setbacks driven by the stigma around most things related to sex and pleasure, Lora DiCarlo has paved a pretty incredible pathway to normalising pleasure for people with vulvas and we are HERE for it.
This week, we had the pleasure of chatting with Lora DiCarlo directly to understand how they are contributing to a more sexually equitable world.
Q & A with Lora HaddockDiCarlo | Founder & CEO of Lora DiCarlo
flossy: Tell us a little about how you got to where you are today with Lora DiCarlo and what continues to motivate you in your work?
Lora: I started Lora DiCarlo after a decade of working in healthcare. Always wanting to make a difference in the world, I didn’t feel like my career in healthcare was making the kind of impact, considering the trajectory that I was on. Then when I was in my late twenties, I had a life-changing blended orgasm; something I had never experienced before and became just a little obsessed with.
flossy: Was there one aha moment where you thought… this is my calling!
Lora: While in school studying pre-med, I had the holy grail of orgasms — a blended orgasm. It knocked me off the bed and onto the floor! All I could think was, “How can I do that again?” That inspired me to start looking for a device that could replicate that glorious sensation, only to find that what I wanted wasn’t out there. There was nothing on the market that spoke to female and vaginal physiology.
With years of research and anatomical data gathered from hundreds of women, I decided to leave school and start creating a totally new and different way to produce a perfect orgasm. In 2017, I founded Lora DiCarlo and introduced the world to sex tech inspired by the human movement.
I approached John Parmigiani at Oregon State University, which has the #4 robotics program in the U.S., and told him what I wanted to create. He was stunned, but I showed him the list of technical specs and, once he saw it on paper, he believed that it could be developed with some of the engineers in the program.
I don’t think my next and most impactful “Aha!” moment was until a year later while taking the stage for the first time at Forbes in Israel. It was that face-to-face time with the audience during and after speaking that helped me to truly understand the kind of mainstream societal impact that de-stigmatising sexuality and masturbation could have.
flossy: What sets Lora DiCarlo apart from other sex toy brands?
Lora: Lora DiCarlo is a woman-led start-up that is de-stigmatising sexuality and bringing it into the mainstream. Proudly sex-positive and gender-inclusive, Lora DiCarlo creates sex tech products and offers educational resources including wellness coaching that promote femme and LGBTQ+ sexual wellness and empowerment.
The company is driving innovation in the industry through utilising research, robotics and biomimetics to close the orgasm gap, and currently has over ten patents pending. Our premiere device, Ose, was developed in partnership with Oregon State University's Robotics & Engineering Lab.
flossy: If you could wave your magic wand to have every single person understand one thing about sex/pleasure what would you want to leave them with?
Lora: The short of Lora DiCarlo’s mission is to destigmatise the taboos surrounding sexual health and wellness in broader society today. I would like to invite individuals to empower and educate themselves on topics such as sexual health and wellness.
