Did you know that approximately 2  million Australians have gone through some kind of traumatic sexual experience? The numbers aren’t entirely clear because there is a difference between how often sexual abuse occurs and how often it is reported. It is clear that there is a lot of work to be done - not only in preventing this trauma but in helping the healing post trauma.

This drives today’s guest, Lucy Wark, founder of sexual wellness brand, Normal. On the surface, Normal is a sex toy brand who is reinventing what sex toys look like and are made for. However, as you will hear today their mission drives them well beyond product and into education, research and dare I say it, advocacy and representation.  Normal was founded by Lucy out of a Startmate Mentorship and was soon backed financially by the team at Eucalytus - the team behind Pilot, Kin, Juniper and more. In today’s chat, Lucy shares how she took the leap from her safe consultancy job at McKinsey over to starting Normal. She also shares how attaching education into the product journey has helped her grow Normal beyond a retail business alone. And we hear how she has a vision for working with universities and schools to reshape what sex education looks like for the next generation. 

Links from the episode:

Normal

Startmate Women’s Fellowship

The Modern Guide to Sex

Shopify Plus (sponsored)

Packleo (sponsored)

Questions answered:

• What is the hardest part about establishing a sexual health brand online? 
• In your mission to reinvent the typical sex store, what did you do differently from an online UX perspective? 
• Can you share what the StartMate Fellowship is and how it works?

This episode was brought to you by…  

Shopify Plus

Packleo

About your co-host: Lucy Wark from Normal

Lucy Wark is the founder of NORMAL, an Australian sexual wellness brand launched in 2021 to give everyone the information, confidence and tools to explore their sexuality. NORMAL makes a range of shame-free, beautiful modern toys and essentials, to support the creation of free, inclusive and evidence-based digital sex education resources (their introductory course, The Modern Guide to Sex, is now used in over 40 countries). Lucy studied social science at university and began her career in management consulting at McKinsey before moving into the startup world. She is also passionate about supporting diverse hires to thrive and succeed in the workplace, and recently launched cohort-based courses teaching negotiation skills through the Minnow platform. 

You can contact Lucy at LinkedIn

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