A pair of Colorado entrepreneurs are fighting the stigma around women’s sexual wellness through their Jamestown-based company Lark Love.

Rainbow Shultz and Corrie Bradley launched the business — which sells personal lubricants, body oils, perfume rollers, face care products and more — in 2019.

The business idea largely started as a joke between friends. As conversations deepened, “we realized we’d stumbled onto this hugely taboo subject,” 47-year-old Shultz said. “Even the most liberated, feminist, older women would get really embarrassed and shy and quiet about it.”

Americans are shelling out more and more money for sex-related products, creating a highly-profitable national industry. In 2021, the U.S. sexual wellness market was valued at $10.3 billion, and is predicted to hit almost $20 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research Inc., a market intelligence firm.

Much of its growing popularity is attributed to sex-positive movements, access to online shopping, a boost in industry investments and increased U.S. government initiatives around contraceptives. In particular, the personal lubricants segment of the market is attracting older consumers — a trend that Shultz and Bradley can confirm.

“It was not only a product that women really needed,” Nederland resident Bradley said, “but it was actually a space for the conversations that have been fully missed for so long.”

Colorado women who served as testers for Lark Love’s products embraced the opportunity to share their experiences around childbirth, menopause and more. “We learned that women didn’t know anything about menopause — even the women that were in it,” 42-year-old Bradley added.

Members of Generation Z are breaking down barriers around sexual stigmatization, and companies are following their lead, Shultz said.

“We’re kind of trying to bridge that gap by making a product that older women really love and embrace and need, but that is being fueled by this shame-free, sex-positive paradigm that the younger women are really showing us.”

Entrepreneurship is nothing new to Bradley, with her professional experience in product formulation and skin care, or Shultz, chef and owner of the Jamestown Mercantile, an establishment that dates back to the 19th century.

Their personal lubricants feature botanicals and hyaluronic acid, with their “Love” organic lubricant priced at $27, their “Romp” serum at $38 and more. The body oils currently sell for $48, the sheet sprays for $24 and the perfume rollers for $18.

“There’s definitely a lot of people who are realizing that it makes a difference to them if what they’re buying is organic and plant-based, rather than synthetic,” Jamestown resident Shultz said.

In Colorado, shoppers can find Lark Love products at:

• Rebecca’s Apothecary at 1227 Spruce St. in Boulder
• Lucky’s Market at 3960 Broadway #104 in Boulder
• Moxie Feed + Seed at 4593 Broadway in Boulder
• Lucky’s Market at 425 S. College Ave. in Fort Collins
• Moxie Bread Co. at 641 Main St. in Louisville
• Moxie Mercantile at 355 Main St. in Lyons

They also sell in Maine and California, but are predominantly available on the company website and at online retailers like goop, the wellness and lifestyle company by actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

“It’s not scandalous to take care of your body,” Shultz said. “The time for it to be a shameful topic really should be over in 2023.”

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