
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Award-winning journalist and author, Ellen Huet, spoke with us about the expose that set off an FBI investigation and the resultant book, EMPIRE OF ORGASM: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult.
Ellen Huet is an award-winning investigative journalist who covers technology and Silicon Valley for Bloomberg News. She writes features for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, and has hosted two seasons of the podcast Foundering… a narrative audio series from Bloomberg Technology.
Her first book EMPIRE OF ORGASM: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult (2025), is about the rise and fall of alleged sex cult OneTaste, and “…explore[s] how the group's former employees and customers alleged it was a sex cult that exploited its members financially and sexually.”
New York Times bestselling author Ashlee Vance said of the book, “This isn’t just a tale of one cultish company―it’s a mirror held up to tech’s dark side, so full of greed and self-delusion.”
Ellen was also featured in a 2022 Netflix documentary about OneTaste called Orgasm, Inc., and her reporting about OneTaste has been cited in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Slate and many other outlets.
Trigger warning: This episode includes some explicit descriptions of OneTaste’s practice of orgasmic meditation (OM).
[This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code FILES at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription."]
[Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm]
[If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen]
In this file Ellen Huet, Milena and I discussed:
Hitting the Crime beat for the SF Chronicle straight out of college
The company at the heart of her investigation dubbed "The Whole Foods of sexuality"
Why OneTaste is different than many cults
What it was like to finish her passion project after six years of work
How to change your mindset about busy work
And a lot more!
Show Notes:
ellenhuet.com
Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult by Ellen Huet (Amazon)
Ellen Huet on Instagram
Milena Gonzalez | Writer | Reader | Book Reviewer
diary_of_a_book_babe on Instagram
Kelton Reid Instagram
Kelton Reid on Twitter
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
By Kelton Reid4.5
222222 ratings
Award-winning journalist and author, Ellen Huet, spoke with us about the expose that set off an FBI investigation and the resultant book, EMPIRE OF ORGASM: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult.
Ellen Huet is an award-winning investigative journalist who covers technology and Silicon Valley for Bloomberg News. She writes features for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, and has hosted two seasons of the podcast Foundering… a narrative audio series from Bloomberg Technology.
Her first book EMPIRE OF ORGASM: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult (2025), is about the rise and fall of alleged sex cult OneTaste, and “…explore[s] how the group's former employees and customers alleged it was a sex cult that exploited its members financially and sexually.”
New York Times bestselling author Ashlee Vance said of the book, “This isn’t just a tale of one cultish company―it’s a mirror held up to tech’s dark side, so full of greed and self-delusion.”
Ellen was also featured in a 2022 Netflix documentary about OneTaste called Orgasm, Inc., and her reporting about OneTaste has been cited in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Slate and many other outlets.
Trigger warning: This episode includes some explicit descriptions of OneTaste’s practice of orgasmic meditation (OM).
[This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code FILES at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription."]
[Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm]
[If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen]
In this file Ellen Huet, Milena and I discussed:
Hitting the Crime beat for the SF Chronicle straight out of college
The company at the heart of her investigation dubbed "The Whole Foods of sexuality"
Why OneTaste is different than many cults
What it was like to finish her passion project after six years of work
How to change your mindset about busy work
And a lot more!
Show Notes:
ellenhuet.com
Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult by Ellen Huet (Amazon)
Ellen Huet on Instagram
Milena Gonzalez | Writer | Reader | Book Reviewer
diary_of_a_book_babe on Instagram
Kelton Reid Instagram
Kelton Reid on Twitter
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3,946 Listeners

1,299 Listeners

1,013 Listeners

469 Listeners

629 Listeners

12,739 Listeners

1,466 Listeners

314 Listeners

634 Listeners

1,477 Listeners

789 Listeners

680 Listeners

429 Listeners

92 Listeners

9 Listeners