1. Dear Annika, I am very happy that I met you and OH MY! FANTASY as part of our Female Founder Community. Please tell us a little about yourself and your company.
Hey, yes, I'm really happy! I'm Annika (27), I come from Munich and last summer I met OH MY! FANTASY was founded - a real Corona startup, so to speak, with the first office not in the garage but in the living room ;) While I was still studying, I came into contact with the sexual wellness market while working on a project at the CDTM (Center for Digital Technology and Management). was immediately fascinated. This area is growing very quickly and it is my mission with OH MY! FANTASY to create a female-centered product, which is a true alternative to the pornographic depictions of sexuality, which unfortunately still dominate the current discussion. After three years of management consulting, I took the step into self-employment:
True to the motto “Pleasure is your birthright”, it is particularly important to me to create a framework in which female pleasure can fully develop. We would like to start with OH MY! FANTASY encourages women in particular to begin their own personal journey of discovery towards their own pleasure. Our couple fantasies are ideal for trying out a wide variety of erotic adventures: Each couple fantasy comes in the form of love letters and contains precise instructions for both partners for the date night together, if desired also with the appropriate erotic accessories and love toys in our love box. In every fantasy, the focus is always on feeling good, being able to let go and female pleasure.
2. A couple's own sexuality and sex life are very sensitive and personal topics for many people. Have you always found it easy to talk openly about it - and why do you think it is important to talk openly about it?
With OH MY! FANTASY we advocate an open exchange about the topics of sex and desire in a relationship - still a big taboo. I somewhat underestimated how big this taboo actually is, perhaps because I live in a “bubble” that is very open to these topics.
But yes, in the last few months I have spoken to a lot of women and couples and it is not easy for many of them to talk about it openly. At the same time, it is an issue for everyone. Experiencing one's own desires, like rest and relaxation or very basic things like eating, is a basic need of every human being. Due to the taboo nature of female desire, many women often don't even know what they like because there is no discourse or space to discover their own sexuality and preferences - without prejudice and shame! In the USA, for example, the whole topic of sex, love and relationship coaching is much more developed than in Germany - I am convinced that awareness of it is gradually increasing here too.
A fulfilling partnership requires both partners to share their intimate wishes and desires with the other person and to continue to discover each other. If couples manage to clearly articulate their preferences in bed, everyday communication also becomes easier: open and honest communication creates intimacy, which in turn creates trust and closeness - two important ingredients for a happy relationship. By the way, I am convinced that if women can clearly communicate what they want in bed, then it will also work in other areas of life!
3. With OH MY! Fantasy creates your couple fantasies for a very personal journey of discovery of desire. How exactly can you imagine that?
Precisely! Each couple fantasy is designed and developed together with trained sex coaches to enable sizzling date nights for couples. The couple fantasies come in the form of love letters with precise instructions for both partners - from preparation tips to techniques and tips for getting into the right mindset for the fantasy. We also now have the first audio fantasies on offer, which means that couples can listen to the instructions for the fantasy in order to get in the mood in advance or, for example, be guided through various massage techniques on the date night itself while the other person can relax. If desired, there are erotic accessories and love toys to suit every fantasy.
Our current date night range ranges from sensual experiences such as slow sex or oral lip service, to playful erotic adventures such as body painting or hot photo sessions, to more intense experiences such as bondage or an intro to anal play. The range of erotic adventures is constantly expanding. With these tools and tricks, all doors are open to the adventure of pleasure - and all date nights are ideal for at home! In this way, couples can initiate their own personal journey of discovery of desire, try new things in bed, and strengthen intimacy in the relationship.
4. Where do you see your company in 1-3 years?
At the moment our offer focuses on couples, and in particular on female desire in a relationship. In the medium term, the plan is to expand the offering so that OH MY! FANTASY becomes a source of inspiration for discovering female desire - whether in a partnership or solo.
A format that I personally find very exciting are pleasure rituals - a magical place to bathe in self-love and connect with your own desire. Our sex coaches lead these workshops online via Zoom in the privacy of their own four walls. These rituals actually took place offline, but now online due to the lockdown, and this actually lowers the barriers to entry quite significantly: everyone can decide for themselves whether video and sound are on or off ;) There are more and more coaches who offer such rituals online and I would like to help to make this format more popular.
I'm also currently setting up the #PLEASURETALK format on Instagram (@ohmy_fantasy), where I talk to experts on the topics of lust and sexuality - interest in this has been very high so far and I can well imagine that the community will continue to grow quickly .
"Living out one's own pleasure, like rest and relaxation or very basic things like eating, is a basic need of every human being."
5. Whether period, sexuality, postpartum period - there are still many “taboo” topics in our society “that are not talked about publicly”. At the same time, there are more and more people whose companies are pursuing the mission of educating and normalizing precisely these topics.
What tips can you give other female founders on this journey? How can you go about getting your topic heard?
A taboo topic is ultimately always shaped by our socialization - and we can question and reshape this at any time! That's why I celebrate each and every person for having the courage to tackle (supposedly!) taboo topics - it's certainly a process, but constant dripping wears away the stone, as the saying goes.
I have met a lot of like-minded people on my journey so far. Of course, it initially takes courage to simply approach people like that. Instagram is actually a great medium for making contact with many inspiring people relatively easily. And there is a great willingness to support each other - great things can happen!
____________________________
MORE INFO
If you want to know more about Annika and OH MY! If you would like to experience FANTASY, please take a look here: