For those that don’t know Like A Kitten, tell us about your company?
Like a Kitten is a sex toy manufacturing company that specializes in women’s empowerment. We started with subscription boxes and online retail but have now converted over to designing, manufacturing and distributing our own toys. We found that creating our own brand of toys was a clearer and creatively freer way of getting our message of empowering women out there. We are now about six years old and have two lines of toys with more to come in 2025!
Why don’t you talk about the origins of Like A Kitten, how it got started and what was the genesis of wanting to start a sex toy company?
My mom, Natalie, and I started this company together in 2018, when I was just 18 and beginning college. She and I went to the same college 30 years apart from one another. When I started there, we quickly realized that not much had changed. Women were still falling into hookup culture, using their bodies as commodities and relying on male attention as a way to feel love, acceptance and self-confidence. In these scenarios, women usually aren’t advocating for their own pleasure but instead are focused on pleasing the male – the old attitude of once the man is finished, the whole thing is finished. Little had changed in terms of education than had been 30 years before when it came to advocating for your own pleasure and safety in the bedroom. This is what inspired the message behind Like a Kitten. We wanted to create a company that wasn’t just focused on sales but was built on furthering the conversation around women’s empowerment.
Looking at your products, website and marketing materials, there’s a strong message around female empowerment and women taking charge of their sexuality.
You are right on the mark! As I stated before, we view this company as a vehicle to get our message out about empowerment. Women feeling confident enough to take charge of their sexuality takes form in many ways, but especially in the adult retail market.
When creating our toy lines, we consider what is going to make our female customers feel comfortable and excited enough to walk up to a product display. This starts with product selection, packaging and branding. Our toy lines always start with a photoshoot and a model assigned to represent each toy. The models we use have little modeling experience and are usually people we know personally! At Like a Kitten we feel that you do not need to look like an adult film star to use a sex toy or even to be on a sex toy box. This comes across in our packaging. Additionally, we NEVER photoshop our models. We stand by that. Each woman is featured in her natural beauty on the inside flap of the box, along with a quote from the model herself about women’s empowerment.
The theme of the real woman with her toy is carried throughout our entire brand! Everything plays into this message, from the fun whimsical toys down to the packaging design. Empowering women through every aspect of our brand is crucial to our process. We strongly believe that if you can empower a woman in the bedroom, you empower her in all aspects of her life.
My understanding is that Like A Kitten is a family business. Can you speak to how that came to be and has worked out over the years?
Yes! Like a Kitten started with my mom and me. We were always pretty open about sexual education and questions in our family, but it really blew the doors off the conversation once we got further into this company. My younger brothers took a bit longer to come around as they were in high school when we first opened. They were very clear that they did not want to be known as “The Dildo Family”. Now they help with photoshoot days, warehouse duties and occasionally packing a dildo or two. My fiancé, Tyler, also works for Like a Kitten. When he and I met in college, he began interning with my mom on the finance side of the business. He now works here full time in the finance and sales department. There are positives and negatives to working with family but the positives much outweigh the negatives for us! We are very in tune with what one another is thinking and feeling so it makes for a much easier collaborative process.
How is Like A Kitten able to differentiate its brand in such a saturated sex toy market?
When creating our Natalie’s Toy Box line in particular, we wanted to market more toward the younger generation. We used a lot of inspiration from trends within the Gen Z and Millennial category. This led us to choose toys that were much more discrete in nature and toys that played on the trend of cuteness and nostalgia. For example, one of our toys, the Lick and Stick, resembles the art style of certain video games. We get many comments from people comparing it to their favourite video game characters growing up! The toys themselves are definitely unique. We style them as fun little character studies, rather than phallic, realistic looking sex toys.
Within our marketing materials and photoshoots, we also play on a lot of trends. The TV show Euphoria was big at the time of designing this line. With that, lots of things blew up such as glittery, colorful makeup and distinctive clothing styles. This is reflected in what the models are wearing on the boxes as well as the spot glitter and colourful foil featured around the box. Because we went hard into the younger demographic, it naturally differentiated us. The style of our packaging is quite different from other products as well, as we cater it towards more of a boutique style.
What are some of the biggest challenges or misconceptions about owning a sex toy company/manufacturer?
It’s surprising and frustrating as a company that the adult industry has so many overreaching regulations. Payment processors and insurance companies may randomly drop or refuse to work with adult companies, leaving them to scramble for a new option. Social media advertising is also incredibly challenging and hard to manage. It’s especially aggravating when we see something like the nipple bra being advertised like crazy when many adult companies will get flagged or have ads removed for much less. All of these things have affected us in one way or another. Learning all the tips, tricks and loopholes of this is difficult to manage but it’s something that every adult company has to deal with. While it can be disappointing at times, it always reminds us of the bigger fight and strengthens our resolve around what we have to do to move forward!
What have been some important milestones for Like A Kitten over the years?
Releasing our first major line of toys, Natalie’s Toy Box, was a big milestone for us. This line has been our baby for the past couple of years, so it’s a great feeling to see that people love it as much as we do! Because of that line, and during our first award season, Like a Kitten was nominated for 13 awards! It was truly such an honour for our company to be recognized by the exceptional people in this industry. We’re excited to release some new products and continue with our love for creating fun and innovative toys!
Can you speak to your partnership with Planned Parenthood and any other charitable activities LAK is involved with?
Each quarter Like a Kitten donates a portion of sales to a nonprofit that focuses on women and girls in the sectors of healthcare and education, one of those being Planned Parenthood. We very much support the work that Planned Parenthood does in educating the public and creating a safe, judgment-free environment for women. It’s even more important to us with the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade and the uptick of government involvement with female bodies. We also sponsor healthcare and education in developing countries where there’s a lack of resources for parents to do so.
What are your plans for the company in the near future?
We will continue to create products that are new and interesting and will present them in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing and appealing to this younger demographic. We have a very exciting product assortment coming out before the holiday season, so keep your eyes peeled for that!
lWe’ll always remain a mission-based company focused on promoting equality and showing support to women and girls. We’re currently working on a campaign to get young men more involved in this conversation as wel. Men having a clearer idea of women’s sexuality from a physical and emotional standpoint is needed. We cannot grow to achieve true equality without the participation and education of young men as well as young women.
