Amy Baldwin and April Lampert want you to be uninhibited, radical and unabashed in the bedroom — in a word, shameless. Since its inception earlier this year, the Shameless Sex podcast, hosted by pleasure products industry veterans Baldwin and Lampert, has exploded onto the pop-culture sexual health scene.
Inspired by life, love and the pursuit of incredible orgasms, this weekly podcast explores every aspect of human sexuality and our insatiable desire for pleasure. The dynamic hostess duo pepper the show with personality, laughter and grounded advice to reboot your sexual mojo. For these goddesses of sex talk, when you're naked and fully present in your sensual self, you can open yourself up to the power of Shameless Sex.
Our goal is to create podcasts with helpful information the masses can access to improve their lives while keeping it playful, relatable and informative.
Spirit sisters Lampert and Baldwin have weaved their way through the sex toy industry for almost a decade. Lampert resides with the team at Hot Octopuss as global head of sales after a successful career as Fun Factory's director of sales.
Baldwin practices as a certified somatic sex and relationship coach while co-owning Pure Pleasure boutique with her mother, Janis Baldwin, and representing well-known lubricant manufacturer Uberlube. Needless to say, these ladies are rather qualified to teach the world a thing or two about sex.
“It’s extremely fulfilling to educate folks on pleasure and their bodies as well as to help take the shame out of the masturbation game,” Lampert said. “Education and sex positivity have always been a part of my practice.”
Baldwin and Lampert's antics began innocently enough while working together at a restaurant in Santa Cruz, Calif. — at least until Lampert's second day on the job.
“[April] shamelessly shared a story about how she got a sexy spanking at a party the night before, and I knew she was my soul sister right then and there,” recalls Baldwin.
Shortly after, Lampert ditched the food service gig and joined Baldwin and mom Janis at the Pure Pleasure shop. Lampert was excited and anxious to try her hand at selling vibrators for a living, but as Baldwin suspected, the pair quickly became a dynamic force on the sales floor.
After a year at Pure Pleasure, the tides of change led Lampert through a series of travels across the world, all the while keeping close ties with her sister from another mother. Lampert eventually landed in Los Angeles, and the duo picked up right where they left off — which was, appropriately enough, at the ANME trade show.
Baldwin was working as a brand ambassador for the pleasure industry consultants at STEME, representing boutique companies like Crave, SpareParts and Uberlube. In need of a partner-in-crime for the big event, Baldwin pulled Lampert back into her calling in the sex toy industry, and this time, everyone was playing for keeps.
“For some reason, I had a feeling that April would get hired at that show,” recalls Baldwin. “I’ve always thought of her as a social savant, and I had a feeling that her high energy and authentic charisma would land her a job.”
Baldwin's intuition was spot-on, and Lampert joined the Fun Factory team full-time. From there, the real adventures began.
“It was a serendipitous match made in (sex toy) heaven, one which could never be duplicated,” says Lampert.
Under the wings of their respective sex toy gigs, the pair traveled together to train retailers and educate the masses of adult boutique staff every month.
“We did this for a few years, which was such a blessing as we lived on opposite sides of California, and this allowed us to spend time together regularly,” Baldwin said.
Come 2016, Baldwin completed a training of her own as a sex and relationship coach and was asked to appear on Dr. Emily Morse's popular Sex with Emily podcast after the two became acquainted during the coaching course. Baldwin, of course, had to bring Lampert along for the ride, and that fateful first podcast episode was just the start of Baldwin and Lampert's shameless endeavors.
“That episode is what inspired us to create the Shameless Sex podcast,” recalls Baldwin. “Aside from being a really fun experience, April and I also received a lot of positive feedback about our dynamic, and we decided that we were on to something special.”
Baldwin and Lampert had found their calling, and the collaboration came as effortlessly as their friendship.
“It was as if we were made to do a radio show (or in this case podcast) together. Our flow is natural and our dynamic is perfection,” says Lampert. “[We're] never scripted and always real, as if we were having the conversations we always did together behind closed doors, but for everyone to be a part of.”
Baldwin and Lampert were always those girlfriends — the ones you'd immediately call up when you needed sex and relationship advice. Launching Shameless Sex was a “passion project,” according to Lampert, albeit one with a purpose.
“People were constantly reaching out to Amy and I for sex advice, and [the podcast] really was inspired by our everyday conversations with one another, along with our goal to continue learning, developing and bettering ourselves to be the best possible humans we can be to ourselves and each other,” remarks Lampert.
The show has already struck a chord with listeners, namely those from morally conservative areas throughout the U.S. Shameless Sex preaches an almost uniquely Californian attitude towards self-love, obviously due to Lampert and Baldwin's laid-back West Coast roots.
“We have received lots of emails from men and women living in the South and Midwest who have said listening to our podcast has helped them to work through sexual shame and changed their lives,” says Baldwin. “[One] listener says she’s been ‘steeped in Southern shame’ and eternally grateful for the SS podcast.”
Insightful anecdotes from the hostesses are mixed with an eclectic group of guests. The ladies keep the topics intentionally broad and have welcomed anal aficionado and Ph.D. Charlie Glickman, Sacred Sexual Priestess Natalie Martin, and queer and trans-centered certified sex educator Jamie Joy.
“Our goal is to create podcasts with helpful information the masses can access to improve their lives while keeping it playful, relatable and informative,” Lampert said.
Living shamelessly goes beyond the bedroom. For the Shameless Sex creators, it's about improving yourself from the ground (and orgasm) up, and applying your newfound sexual confidence to every aspect of life.
“We’ve never been in it for anything except to help people live an empowered, shame-free existence. Remember, it all starts with you,” concludes Lampert.
And, in typical Baldwin and Lampert, best-friends-for-life fashion, both ladies chime in: “Oh, and we are looking for an amazing wine sponsor!”
