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Emily Oberg has always wanted to surround herself with beauty. So much so that she made an Instagram page of aesthetic vintage imagery that grew a cult following (and later turned into her brand). When she wanted to create a line of preppy, playful slogan sweaters, she grew that into Sporty Rich, evolving into Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy–esque knits and updated heritage sportswear pieces—which made $34 million in revenues last year. When her life was led by Pilates, colonics, and the latest wellness ventures, she launched a spa-café space.
“I make products I’m personally interested in using, that I feel like I can’t find until I make them,” Oberg tells Vogue. Her current obsession is sexual wellness—and has just brought her latest brand, Sensual Sport, into being.
Oberg knows this is a fruitful—and busy—business. The market size value of the sexual wellness market in the United States came to $11 billion in 2022, and that’s forecast to reach $20 billion in 2030.
It took Oberg only six months to launch the brand from start to finish, partially because of a personal connection—one of her good friend’s husband works for the biggest sex-toy manufacturer in the US. Having that in made the brand a “no-brainer—their team makes a lot of the products for brands you’ll see the most,” she explains. “It was a full run-through of the market—what was out there, the best-sellers, what’s not working.”
Sensual Sport launched this week with three introductory products, all priced under $100: An elongated egg-shaped sex toy named The Essential Vibrator; a hyaluronic acid–infused lubricant called Pleasure Gel; and Wet Mouth Spray, for enhancing oral pleasure in pineapple, watermelon, and peach flavors. All of the products are designed in smooth-edged shapes and soft tangerine tones.
“I didn’t want it to be too intimidating for people who hadn’t necessarily bought products like these prior to my brand launching,” Oberg explains. “A vibrator is pretty standard, and this is a straightforward one. Lubricant is a universal product—I really focused on the formulation. A lot of lubricants on the market just aim to get the job done. Their ingredients can disrupt your PH. And I wanted one fun, unique product, and that’s the mouth spray. And it’s all in my stance: That sex shouldn’t be taken so seriously.”
In tandem with the 31-year-old’s entrepreneurial spirit, she’s been on a journey with her own sexuality and ideals around sex. She still notices the taboo surrounding buying sex toys among female friends or sharing what they want in the bedroom. “When I was younger, I had experiences where I didn’t feel like I could speak up, or I felt like it wasn’t about me when it should have been,” Oberg says. “Why is my pleasure not as important? Why is my pleasure not prioritized? As I got older, I felt more comfortable stepping into that and speaking up for myself. I feel like everyone should get to feel that way.” The brand’s slogan is “Prioritize your pleasure,” with a campaign also running on OnlyFans to evade Instagram and other social media’s limiting of sexual content. The site’s first blog post is about women resisting the socialization that leads them to suppress their own desires and sexual needs.
Oberg stars in the introductory campaign. It was a challenge, she says, trying to get somebody else to be the model. “Agents just don’t want [models] associated with a sex brand. Which is funny because everyone is half naked on Instagram! I’ll continue to model for it until people can wrap their heads around what we’re doing. We’re not marketing or selling sex—it’s about embracing and celebrating women’s desire, pleasure, and playfulness. I hope that people will be more open to it, but I think for now…I’ll have to rely on myself.” Who would be the dream face of Sensual Sport? Pamela Anderson—an iconic sex symbol who has something to say.
While Sporty Rich began in 2015 and has grown its team with headquarters in Los Angeles and Paris, Sensual Sport is, for now, a solo venture. “It’s really just me: building the website, designing the packaging, doing newsletters, sorting the shipping logistics.” There are ideas percolating to bring it to life in a physical space in the future, as well as immersive experiences and pop-ups. “The category is so fun,” she says. “I’m relearning how to do a lot of things. It’s like being in the early days of Sporty. I’ve got this much more developed intuition that I didn’t have at 21. I missed being super hands on. I think where I’m best is determining what people want, even maybe before they know that they want it.”
