After encountering some less-than-body-safe adult products, Stephanie Elias joined forces with her real-life BFF, Hannah Hutton, to launch Personal Fav, a product collection that currently includes two lubricants that promise the cleanest, most vagina-safe experience ever. Among the pair’s bedroom inventions are Whet, a water- and-plant-based “sex serum” formulated with aloe vera, ginseng, chamomile, horny goat weed and hemp; and Pique, a CBD oil formulated with all of the above ingredients for enhanced sensation and extra moisture.
In proper WIA fashion, Stephanie Elias credits the brand’s success to the business sisterhood she shares with Hutton and the pair’s dedication to serving up healthy, body-friendly pleasure products for both straight and LGBTQ+ couples. This month, we highlight Elias’ ethical mission in our Women in Adult spotlight.
I hope that Personal Fav helps drive sex positivity and empower pleasure for all.
XBIZ: Personal Fav Co. is relatively new to the pleasure industry. Tell us a bit about your business and what you do.
Stephanie Elias: Personal Fav seeks to empower people to prioritize their pleasure with clean, beautiful and effective sexual wellness products as a part of their health and wellness routines. We pride ourselves on making products with no sketchy ingredients that make our customers feel good. I am the CEO and co-founded the business alongside Hannah, my high school bestie from Boston. Working with Hannah is a dream come true since we know each other well and complement each other’s skill sets. We are happy to be here and are learning so much from the legacy brands in the space.
XBIZ: How did you personally become involved with pleasure products? Did you have any business experience or a background in sexual wellness?
Elias: I primarily worked in music and entertainment before I fell into Personal Fav as a sort of happy accident. After that scary UTI situation at Burning Man in 2017 led me to do more research into conventional sex products, I realized most of what you can buy is toxic and not made with vulva owners or LGBTQ+ bodies in mind. This experience made me realize the need for safer, clean sexual wellness products. Everyone loses out on potential pleasure when a vulva owner contracts an infection from a sex product. We are all about keeping it clean so you can get dirty, and ensuring your pleasure products do not potentially hinder an incredible experience.
XBIZ: Tell us a bit about getting Personal Fav up and running. Was it difficult to set up a new sexual wellness biz and get yourself branded, marketed, etc.?
Elias: Building Personal Fav has been the most challenging and rewarding work I’ve ever done in my professional career. The first step in the process was finding a chemist and making sure we could formulate a viable product to launch into the market. We went through many different iterations of both Whet, our water-based sex serum, and Pique, our CBD-infused pleasure oil, before landing on our final formulations. Then, we had to test for packaging stability and with test participants. The entire process was so fun, and I realized how ingredient-obsessed and detail-oriented I am while also learning that I’m low-key a huge science nerd. We then built out our brand, going through four different designers before finding the right one to ideate with to give our packaging, branding, website and logo the look and feel that resonated with us.
XBIZ: Why did you choose lubricants among all the products you could have decided to produce?
Elias: We wanted to start with lubricants because they are the most stigmatized product, yet 30% of vulva owners need lube for penetrative sex. For LGBTQ+ folks, that number is even higher. I felt that if we could create a lube that looks so nice you can leave it on your bedside next to your designer candle and a book, with no shame and not feel weird about it, it would be the perfect first step into being empowered about pleasure. We thought that the existing natural offerings weren’t effective or chic enough to do this with. Also, generic lube gives us the ick, so why not start with the chance to iterate on a product that helps people have better, more enjoyable sex? Our next product coming this year is a collab, and we are super excited about it. It’s our first non-lubricant product, so stay tuned!
XBIZ: How do you foresee the future of sexual wellness? What positive shifts do you think we’ll see in the next few years?
Elias: I foresee some amazing innovation in this space and hope we can bring more open-minded consumers into the conversation. I hope that Personal Fav helps drive sex positivity and empower pleasure for all.
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.
