Each month, 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.
From tantric sex to retailer education to the business of buying sex toys in B2B, Amy Baldwin plays a holistic role in the pleasure industry. For more than a decade, sex toy and lubricant brands, sex journalists and proponents of spiritual sexuality have sought out Baldwin for her unique blend of business experience, practical sex-ed teachings, and natural curiosity for all things related to sensual pleasures.
Sex is a hot topic, and people seem to be getting more comfortable and curious around learning about it.
Baldwin has truly done it all in her decade-plus career. She struck gold early on in her path by co-opening a brick-and-mortar California sex shop, Pure Pleasure, alongside her mother. The store now operates exclusively online with Baldwin still curating its products. She currently represents silicone lubricants brand UberLube as the team's lead educator, a role to which she brings over 10 years of sexuality and relationship teaching experience for both private clients and pleasure product brands.
In 2021, Baldwin is probably best known for the “Shameless Sex” podcast, which she co-founded and co-hosts with fellow industry veteran, all-around sex expert and Hot Octopuss head of global sales April Lampert. There’s no topic Baldwin and Lampert find too taboo, new age-y or out-there to tackle. Since 2017, these industry besties have been broadcasting “Shameless Sex” weekly to thousands of listeners, who've trusted Baldwin and Lampert's advice and enjoyed their antics enough to make them mainstream-famous in the sex podcasting scene. This month, XBIZ is honoring sexuality’s favorite holistic guru as the latest inductee to Women in Adult.
XBIZ: What composes your educational and career background? Was a career in sexuality always on the table?
Baldwin: I went to SFSU for psychology with a minor in human sexuality, as I thought I wanted to be a sex therapist. However, a class field trip to San Francisco’s premier, sex-positive sex shop inspired my mom and I to open our own pleasure boutique in my hometown of Santa Cruz, California. Shortly after opening Pure Pleasure, I decided to take training through SFSI.org to become a certified sex educator, and I spent the following 10-plus years teaching pleasure-focused sex-ed workshops while working as the buyer for our store. During that time I met Shaye Saldana, who brought me on as a brand ambassador/sales trainer at his company, STEME, representing brands such as Uberlube, Crave, and SpareParts.
I continued on to various trainings including a tantra professionals training through Barbara Carrellas, a somatic sex and relationship coaching training through Somatica, and most recently a holistic psychotherapy training called Hakomi. In 2019, my mom and I sold the brick-and-mortar Pure Pleasure store while continuing to run PurePleasureShop.com online, and I now work with clients privately for my sex and relationship coaching practice while representing Uberlube as their lead educator — all alongside my latest endeavor as co-host of the “Shameless Sex” podcast, co-created with my industry colleague and best friend, April Lampert.
XBIZ: By now, you're probably most industry-famous for “Shameless Sex.” How did you and April Lampert turn your unique takes on sexuality and sex-ed into a podcast?
Baldwin: The “Shameless Sex” podcast is an educational, sex-positive podcast full of unabashed real talk about sex and relationships with a playful twist. Our mission is to inspire radical self-love, sexual empowerment and shame-free intimacy, teaching people to make their own rules for who they are as erotic beings. We release a new episode every Tuesday and can be found on all podcast apps or at ShamelessSex.com.
The beginning inspiration for “Shameless Sex” began during Somatica’s sex and relationship coaching training I took in 2016 as that is where I officially got to know Emily Morse of the “Sex With Emily” podcast. Emily invited me to come on her show, and we decided it would be more fun if April joined as well. April and I had so much fun guesting on Emily’s podcast, and we also received a lot of positive feedback about our dynamic, and therefore we decided we were onto something special. We began working on the concept of “Shameless Sex,” and released our first episode in early June of 2017. I think one thing that sets us apart is the different yet complementary dynamics we offer — me as the sex educator and sex and relationship coach, and April as the high-energy, boss queen sex-toy mogul who also brings in more playful, real-life experience.
XBIZ: What's the backstory on the creation of “Shameless Sex”? Who inspired your journey?
Baldwin: “Sex With Emily” is one of the leading pioneers for podcasts focused on sexual pleasure and wellness — particularly in the realm of sex-positivity. She started her journey in this field right around the time when podcasts came into fruition over 15 years ago. We attribute much of our inspiration to the episode Emily invited us to guest on, titled “Orgasms, Squirting, and the Year of Anal Licking.” Not only was it a huge hit, but we also loved the podcasting experience so much that we decided we would start our own. We really cannot thank Emily enough!
Dan Savage of “The Savage Lovecast” also deserves a big thank you for helping to pave the way for the sex-ed podcast niche. Like Emily, Dan started his podcast in the early days when they were starting to become a thing, only with more of a political focus.
XBIZ: As a veteran podcaster, how has the sex-ed genre grown and evolved throughout your time in the pleasure industry?
Baldwin: The sex-ed genre has grown in popularity over the years in so many areas within the field of sexuality. Sex toy brands are hiring educators and consultants with the intention of weaving sex-positive sex ed into their brand’s marketing and manufacturing. Podcasts with a focus on sexuality are on the rise including new podcasters who are just getting their start, as well as experienced non-sex-ed podcasters who now want to include conversations around sexuality. Sex is a hot topic, and people seem to be getting more comfortable and curious around learning about sex, so naturally there is both an increase and a need for pleasure industry folks to include sex education in their offerings.
XBIZ: How did the past and current lineup of podcasters influence how you’ve chosen to run your podcast and its topics? How did you find a way to stand out?
Baldwin: As I mentioned before, Emily Morse’s podcast had a huge influence on the creation of Shameless Sex. Her approach is playful yet informative, and she is highly educated in the field of sexuality. April and I wanted to offer something similar but with our own unique twist. Before starting our podcast we wrote out a mission statement to better understand the purpose and intention of our offering, and it was clear that our passion was in decreasing shame around sexuality while offering a fun, sometimes sexy, and — most importantly — an informative sex-positive experience for our listeners. We wanted to inspire people to break through the social constructs of what society told them they should be as a sexual being while making their own rules around sex and relationships. I believe this, along with our playful and complementary dynamic, is what sets us apart from other sex-ed podcasts.
XBIZ: How far will the sex-ed podcast niche run in the near future? What do you believe will change and improve?
Baldwin: It seems like more and more sex educators and therapists are getting into the podcast game these days, and in my opinion — as long as the message is only contributing to the betterment of the world — then the more the merrier. I believe the sex-ed podcast niche will evolve similarly to the sex toy industry where we will see an increase in ethics and standards around sex-positivity, inclusivity, and honest, accurate information that actually helps people. Listeners are hungry for it as so many of them have been raised in a sex-negative culture that leaves them with so much confusion about sex, so naturally the podcast industry will likely (well, hopefully) continue to grow while supporting these needs.
XBIZ: Will sex-ed podcasts begin to influence mainstream trends and schools of thought?
Baldwin: Yes, they already are. Podcasts are global. All you need is a smartphone or a computer with an internet connection and you have access to podcasts. There are already millions of people listening to sex-ed podcasts, and that number will only continue to grow as populations increase and technology advances. These listeners often regard podcasts as an educational platform where they are the students and the hosts and guests are the teachers. Considering the massive growing number of listeners, along with the way they soak up just about everything they hear, there is no doubt that sex-ed podcasts are shaping mainstream ideas about sexuality.
