Each month, industry news media organization XBIZ spotlights the career accomplishments and outstanding contributions of Women in Adult. WIA profiles offer an intimate look at the professional lives of the industry's most influential female executives.
HiPleasures CEO Brittani Feinberg is a sexual wellness advocate who became interested in education early on in her youth. According to her bio on HiPleasures.com, Feinberg began studying radiology at the age of 16 at Keiser University, where she attained her Associates Degree in Science.
Honestly, I don’t know what it means to give up, because I never do.
As a young adult, Feinberg became an exotic dancer and delved deeper into a “taboo fantasy world.” At 22, she opened her own shop — The House of Intoxicating Pleasures, which sold everything from glass pipes to kinky costumes to unique sex toys. Despite the shop’s success, Feinberg says she decided she wanted to create her own brand, HiPleasures, which she believes will ultimately become an empire.
In this month’s edition of Women in Adult, we profile Feinberg as she discusses her continued dedication to sexual wellness.
XBIZ: What inspired you to launch HiPleasures?
Brittani Feinberg:When I was 22, I opened a store that was a combo smoke shop and adult store called The House of Intoxicating Pleasures. The store did well, but it wasn’t what I really wanted to do with my life. I wanted to create my own brand, and this is how HiPleasures was born.
XBIZ: How (and when) did you get into the business?
Feinberg: That’s a very interesting story. I was in college with the goal of becoming a doctor. At the same time, I was an exotic dancer. For three years, I danced and really got in touch with my sexuality. I always had an interest to be in the adult industry, and that’s why I learned, explored and made a business out of it. So many people are scared to talk about sex and what turns them on in the bedroom, and that needs to change.
XBIZ: What challenges have you confronted in your career and how have you overcome them?
Feinberg: There are always challenges, it’s just how you deal with them and make them into a positive. I think the biggest challenges with HiPleasures have been financial. Starting a company and eventually finding a backer were pretty daunting. It was also a huge feat to get Sugar Cum in Spencer’s retail stores around the country. There was a lot of hoops to jump through, but I never gave up and it’s happening right now.
I know nothing is impossible and I can figure it out. That’s what I live by every single day. I have trained myself to understand that as an entrepreneur there will always be unexpected surprises. I just have to handle them like a champ, learn the lesson from each obstacle, and keep moving. Honestly, I don’t know what it means to give up, because I never do.
XBIZ: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Feinberg:When customers email me and thank me for creating this product and tell me it has changed their sex life for the better. Everything I do is about empowerment and helping people.
XBIZ: What is your personal motto or mantra that you live by?
Feinberg: “All will be well.” I say this a lot to myself and apparently Oprah does too. It means that everything will work itself out, and it does, but not always in the way you thought it would. Things happen for a reason. My mantra also alludes to how my product can make people well and change their sex lives and overall health.
XBIZ: What career accomplishment are you most proud of?
Feinberg: Our product Sugar Cum has received multiple nominations, including a few from XBIZ. It’s great to be acknowledged. Also getting our product into Spencer’s.
XBIZ: What are your professional goals for the rest of 2016?
Feinberg: Right now, I’m in the process of finishing my first book about an unexpected love story. It’s always our goal to educate people on sexual wellness and now we’re adding in overall wellness. New York’s Wellness Warrior Natalia Maldonado is helping us out with that and has just joined the HiPleasures team. We’re also launching a new HiPleasures product very soon, but that’s top secret … for now.
