For the past two decades, Alicia Sinclair Rosen has built an impressive career in the adult space focused on promoting sex positivity and encouraging sexual pleasure and experimentation as an important facet of an overall healthy lifestyle.
In 2015, Sinclair Rosen founded COTR Inc., under which she launched three cutting-edge sex toy brands: b-Vibe, Le Wand, and The Cowgirl. Later that same year, Sinclair Rosen completed in-depth courses in sexology, clinical and coaching skills, and competency training from Sex Coach U., a program developed by sex coach pioneer Dr. Patti Britton. Along with her extensive career in the pleasure products biz, today Sinclair Rosen is a certified sex educator and sexuality coach, and a member of the World Association of Sex Coaches. She sat down with XBIZ to share thoughts about her career and accomplishments, as well as her vision for the future.
I hope I’ll be remembered for creating truly inclusive brands whose mission to provide comprehensive, sex-positive education has never wavered.
XBIZ: What has your journey been like over the last 20 years and what led you to establish your own company, COTR?
Sinclair Rosen: My journey has been a truly awesome, exciting ride. I’ve worked for some of the most influential companies in the biz, traveled all over the world many times over, made more lifelong friends than I ever imagined, and truly felt that I found the place that I belong.
Timing really was everything when I founded COTR. I had previously worked as a sales director/VP of sales for several companies that had been acquired, and after spending years building those companies, and going through the experience of post-acquisition, I knew it was time to put my passion, commitment and creativity into something that was mine.
XBIZ: Discuss the mission behind the first brand that you launched, b-Vibe. What was your role in the design process and evolution of the brand?
Sinclair Rosen: The creation of b-Vibe originated from the idea of the Rimming Plug, our patented dual-stimulation butt toy. As I started researching the category to bring the Rimming Plug to market, I realized that there was no company that focused purely on anal products for all bodies. I felt that there was a huge hole — wink — in the marketplace and that the category could be completely innovated and elevated. There was a need for b-Vibe, and we had the perfect product to launch it impactfully.
During the time that I was developing b-Vibe, I was also in the process of becoming a certified sex educator. Education has always been a personal passion and I wanted to combine pleasure products with educational materials. I created the Anal Play Advice section on our website and filled it with sex-positive, comprehensive butt sex info. We also created our “Guide to Anal Play,” which has always been included with every b-Vibe item.
XBIZ: What inspired the launch of the Le Wand massager line? What did this brand bring to the table, and how does it continue to set itself apart?
Sinclair Rosen: I have always been a wand person. It was my first sex toy and is still my go-to. I found myself looking through my own eyes as a consumer and constantly feeling disappointed. The products felt stale and old, with many wands looking like copies of products that had been in the market for 50 years. Again, the goal here was to elevate the category and bring it up to the expectation level of today’s consumer.
All Le Wand products are sex toys a person would want to show off. They are powerful, stylish, well designed, made with a variety of unique materials, always certified body-safe, arrive in gift-worthy packaging and they always feel luxurious.
XBIZ: Let’s talk about The Cowgirl, COTR’s third brand. How much demand is there for sophisticated sex machines? Who is your audience?
Sinclair Rosen: There is demand for a sex machine that functions better and is the most sophisticated product on the market. The Cowgirl is more than a product that is pretty on the outside. Every detail has been thoughtfully upgraded, from the user-friendly app to the padded seat, to the handles, and on and on. It’s an all-around better ride inside and out — wink wink.
Our audience is so diverse. We sell to everyone, really — couples, swingers’ events, sex parties, cam models and people who just enjoy full-body vibration. There is no one customer, just like any sex toy.
XBIZ: To what do you most attribute your success? What challenges did you face along the way?
Sinclair Rosen: It’s hard to attribute success to just one thing. I have always had a natural desire to succeed and to accomplish goals. I push myself hard to reach my own personal goal posts and I’m not afraid of hard work. I’ve been incredibly blessed to have wonderful friends in this business that have always supported and believed in me. I could not have done it without their support.
The biggest challenges I faced were believing in myself and finding my place. It took me years to gain the confidence to know that I am good at what I do and that my opinion matters. It also took me a while to find people that truly appreciated me and gave me the confidence to really achieve what I have with COTR.
XBIZ: Over the span of your career, the industry has become more accepting of women in top positions. In what ways are women changing the trajectory of sextech? What advice do you have for women entering the industry now?
Sinclair Rosen: Women are creating products that make sense; they work properly, appeal to a wide range of consumers, are complemented with education and celebrate shame-free pleasure. In my opinion, the last frontier is changing the mindset of sex toy use with the average person. Once we collectively view pleasure as a part of our overall health, we’ll abandon the negativity surrounding sex toy use.
To people entering the industry now, welcome! Your passion and dedication are part of an impactful and important social movement. Don’t settle and follow your passion. It will lead you in your right direction.
XBIZ: What do you see for the future of sextech and the evolution of retail? How do you think the mainstreaming of sexual wellness products will continue to change the way brands do business and connect with consumers?
Sinclair Rosen: I hope that, rather than sex toys being available in “mainstream” retail, our industry will become more socially and widely acceptable. We’ve already started to see this happening as adult retailers have upped their game by making their spaces more shoppable for all genders and couples, while also investing in educational programs for their staff and consumers.
Now that it’s almost become standard for publications like Cosmo, Women’s Health, Maxim, etc., to write about sex toys and provide sex education, we’ll continue to connect with people who may not have thought to walk into a sex toy store. Influencers are widely posting about products and are unafraid to talk about what sex toys they use and how they use them. I think we’ll see this movement of openness and acceptance continue and we’ll connect with consumers who seek our products unabashedly.
XBIZ: You’ve accomplished so much in just a few short years, it’s hard to imagine that you don’t always have something new cooking on the backburner. What’s on the horizon?
Sinclair Rosen: I am all about consistency: consistent stock levels, consistent high-quality customer care, and lots of consistently strong new releases. 2022 will be another year of phenomenal growth. We are expanding our collections into more categories and marketing our brands better than ever before. Let’s just say we have stuff cooling on both our backburners.
XBIZ: What is the passion that drives you to do this work? What do you want your legacy to be?
Sinclair Rosen: I really love what I do, and the passion is natural. At the risk of sounding cheesy, it really doesn’t feel like work if you love what you do. We have built an incredible company, full of many passionate, kind, motivated people who are in the business for all the right reasons. That really pushes me to want to be better every day.
I’d like my legacy to be about the positive impacts I have strived to make within the industry. As a businessperson, it has always been my goal to create high-quality pleasure tools that appeal to modern consumers. I’ve strived to create products that stand out in a retail store and uplift the category they represent. However, on a personal level, I hope I’ll be remembered for creating truly inclusive brands whose mission to provide comprehensive, sex-positive education has never wavered.
