BEND, Ore. — Lora DiCarlo was featured today by Oregon publication Willamette Weekly, after company founder Lora Haddock’s appearance at the TechFestNW event earlier this week.
Willamette Weekly described Haddock’s Monday morning conversation with moderator Yesenia Gallardo Avilia, titled “A Sex Tech Founder’s Battle for Equity,” as an explanation of “the uphill battle of trying to pitch a dual-stimulator sex toy to panels of middle-aged male investors who had dismissed Lora DiCarlo’s product as a niche ‘woman’s issue’.”
Lora DiCarlo, the weekly pointed out, “markets its products toward ‘people with vaginas,’ not just women, since some nonbinary people and trans men also have vaginas.”
The article, written by Willamette Weekly’s Shannon Gormley, also revisited the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) controversy that catapulted Lora DiCarlo into mainstream brand consciousness.
After talking about how some CES officials had deemed her pleasure products “obscene, profane and immoral,” Haddock told TechFestNW that her company and work are “not just about sex.”
“It’s all about pursuing your sexuality and your identity, and how that influences how you show up in the world,” Haddock said.
The company founder’s Oregon credentials were emphasized at the event. Haddock attended Portland State University and originally developed her products through an Oregon State University robotics department partnership.
Haddock also spoke about the COVID-19-related boom in pleasure products. “Sales rocketed when people were stuck at home,” she said. “People were like, ‘I’m going to figure out myself.’”
To read the article, visit Willamette Weekly.
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