BERKELEY, Calif. — Bay Area pleasure product entrepreneur Nenna Joiner, founder and owner of Feelmore, is one of three business leaders featured by the Berkeley Office of Economic Development for their "Discovered in Berkeley" online magazine series, in a special edition "showcasing Black-owned businesses that are innovating through the COVID-19 pandemic."
Joiner explained in the "Discovered in Berkeley" story, published by free paper Berkeleyside, that they "want to make sex a normal household conversation topic."
“As the founder and owner of Feelmore,” the article continues, “they sell dildos, masturbators, custom candles that double as massagers and a host of other sex toys. They opened Feelmore with the intention of spreading sex-positivity in the Bay Area to everybody, including Black and brown people.”
“I wanted to have a store that also kept brown people in mind,” Joiner said. Since talking about sex can be stigmatizing in general, but especially for people of color, “I wanted to change that narrative, and to do that, I had to work in the adult business.”
The feature — which highlights Joiner alongside clothing retailer Ifafunke ‘Lola’ Oladigbolu of Lola’s African Apparel, and Spiral Gardens Non-Profit Nursery and Community Farm Co-Director Kanchan Dawn Hunte — delves into the Feelmore founder’s background as a sex shop owner and adult filmmaker.
“In traditionally brown communities, you don’t see a majority of people who look like us working in those spaces. We wanted to be inclusive from the beginning,” Joiner explained.
The article also covered Feelmore’s business strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic, including switching to online orders.
Still, the article explained, “they continue to prioritize relationship-building and exceptional customer service: Joiner often makes personal deliveries to homes in Berkeley.”
“It doesn’t cost anything to be kind, to show people they’re appreciated. The barrier to acceptance or openness comes down a little more,” they said.
Joiner recently participated in XBIZ’s Town Hall on Race in the Adult Retail Industry.
To read Nenna Joiner’s profile as part of Discovered in Berkeley’s “Black-Owned Businesses in Berkeley Demonstrate the City’s Economic Resilience,” click here.
