In this interview, Blush Sales Account Manager, Denise Young, shares her invaluable insight on the well-established and reputed pleasure product company of over 50 distinct lines of products, and more than 1,000 active SKUs. And though she’s only been with them for seven years, some might suggest she inspired one of its founders, Verna Meng, to venture into the world of pleasure products.
(Note: This story appears in the October 2023 issue of SE Magazine)
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he international pleasure product manufacturer Blush is a labor of love between the engineering-minded Eric Lee and the business-headed Verna Meng. In addition to having what they boast is “the lightest end-of-life impact on the environment of any toy line” in Gaia, and other sustainability efforts that are largely unmatched, Blush has promised “body-safe” since long before the industry required it. Blush also offers invaluable education initiatives for their retailers, which the personable Sales Account Manager, Denise Young, orchestrates.
In this SE Interview, Young details how a single vibrator eventually became one of the most trusted pleasure product companies in the industry. Young also offers a taste of the unreleased Blush collection, the new flagship product line coming this holiday season, which endeavors to encapsulate all that Blush values. And is it true that Young helped inspire Meng’s initial venture into the world of adult products? Keep reading to find out!
STOREROTICA: July ANME marked seven years for you at Blush. What has your experience been like?
YOUNG: If I could encapsulate all my time at Blush in one word, I would say it has been ‘fun.’ I’ve had so much fun on this journey. The people in this industry are the most gratifying aspect: the friendships I’ve made, the retailers I’ve been able to interact with and just constantly learning how our products are impacting their end-user consumers.
STOREROTICA: Why did Verna Meng and Eric Lee found Blush, in 2007, and for what purpose?
YOUNG: The very heart of the Blush story is this perseverance, passion and pursuit of an entrepreneurial dream. Verna and Eric have been both together and partners in business for over 19 years. We’ve become one of the leading manufacturers in the industry because of their combined, yet very unique, strengths. Eric leads the creative visionary, whereas Verna serves as the structured business mind.
Eric has always had a creative passion for technical design and improving product functionality. He wanted to create with a real impact, and he developed an interest in the sexual wellness industry where he noticed a lack of integrity within product design and materials at that time. In 2006, most companies weren’t making the majority of their products high-quality and body-safe. Prop 65 didn’t come until much later, but Blush has always regimented high quality and ensured that our products are legitimately body-safe, long before the industry requirement.
Meanwhile, Verna, was establishing her own business acumen amongst the challenges of being a woman in business. She persisted and really developed an entrepreneurial talent for business.
In 2006, they landed on an opportunity to explore the world of pleasure products together, which propelled their growing business knowledge, and, identifying the true potential of this venture into this industry, together they founded Blush. To secure our place as one of the most recognized sexual wellness brands in the adult toy industry, they worked, I would say, tirelessly to build this vertically-integrated business model. Blush stands out in our industry, due to the commitment to exceeding industry standards, and ensuring quality control from the source. We have over 50 lines that are distributed over North and South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. And we’ve always taken pride in our Blush mission to enhance intimacy with thoughtful products designed to celebrate all body, genders and sexual orientations.
But a little backstory about me and Verna — a lot of people don’t know this story. Verna and I have known each other probably since we were 18. She and I were friends in college, before even Eric was in the picture. We became very fast friends; I instantly loved her. She just had this amazing energy, and she’s probably one of the smartest people I know.
And she and I have history: I actually introduced her to her first vibrator. When we were maybe 18, 19, we were just chatting, just as girlfriends do, and I turned to her, and I was like, “What do you mean, you don’t have a sex toy?”
And she said, “I don’t know, I just don’t.”
We both were going to college in New York City, and I said, “Oh my god, we’re going to a store tomorrow. We’re going to the Pink Pussycat” — which was an adult store right on West Fourth Street — “We’re going to go tomorrow and get you a toy.”
We always say maybe I planted this seed in her head, but I certainly am not taking credit for anything of Blush’s. Eric and Verna, they did so many amazing things to build this company. All I did was take Verna to buy her first vibrator. But she always says that the comfort with which I could talk about sex toys convinced her that I had to be a part of her company. It just made sense. I’ve never had any stigma for the industry, not since we were young.
I loves sales. I love interacting with people. I was a pharmaceutical sales rep for 15 years, with a very different customer base, before I changed careers to join this industry. And for a long time, really from Blush’s inception, Verna was chasing after me.
“Would you like to come join my company now? I really want a good sales rep I can trust,” she would press me.
And then, in 2016, I was going through a lot in my own life, saying ‘yes’ to a lot of things that normally I would have said ‘no’ to, and I decided, “You know what, let’s talk. I’d like to hear about what’s going on in your industry. I’m ready for a change.”
“When we were maybe 18, 19, we were just chatting, just as girlfriends do, and I turned to her, and I was like, ‘What do you mean, you don’t have a sex toy?’ And she said, ‘I don’t know, I just don’t.’ We both were going to college in New York City, and I said, ‘Oh my god, we’re going to a store tomorrow.’”
– Denise Young
STOREROTICA: What is Blush primarily known for now?
YOUNG: I go back to our customers — why do our customers tell me they love Blush? And I’m happy to share with you those reasons. One is our high-quality products, in our performance and in the field. We select the highest quality raw material to start with. Because we own our factories, we are able to control a lot of different factors that other companies don’t have the choice to. And equally important is the “body-safe” promise, as I mentioned earlier. We third-party test our products in a rigorous process to make that promise.
Our amazing engineers create some of the most powerful and rumbling motors that this industry has to offer. And I know that there is a myth that all products made in China are of lower quality — and low-quality products can certainly be made in China — but the safety standard for pleasure products made and sold in China is actually incredibly high. All of our Blush products meet and exceed the safety standards in China and also undergo additional quality control in the US.
Another thing about Blush that really sets us apart from other companies is our packaging. Each of our collections really has their own personality. We have some stores that are huge Blush fans, and they bring on many of our collections, but if you were to walk through them, you wouldn’t even know that some of these collections are from the same parent company.
And then the third thing that customers often tell me is why they love Blush is our accessibility. Because we own and operate two factories, we are able to minimize costs while still providing high-quality products. These savings are passed on to our customers with the ultimate goal of making our products accessible to all consumers. Whether a consumer wants a higher-end product or an inexpensive cock ring, we cover the gamut.
STOREROTICA: Blush’s revolutionary sex toy line Gaia was the first-ever made of plant-based plastic, is relatively green in production, releasing fewer greenhouse gases, and has the lightest end-of-life impact on the environment of any toy line. How does Gaia and other sustainability initiatives such as the Go Green and your solar-powered Hunan factory represent Blush’s sustainability mission?
YOUNG: Sustainability is one of Blush’s core values. We are constantly seeking out ways to become more eco-friendly as a company and to take better care of our planet. Gaia is the first collection of sustainably-made vibrators. It’s made of our proprietary material, called ‘BioFeel,’ a non-petroleum plant-based bio-plastic. I’m going to get kind of nerdy here: It’s a polymer compound, mixed with plant-based material. And, more recently, some of our new additions into the Gaia collection use something called ‘BioTouch,’ which is a natural rubber material with what they call ‘hot, great high-tensile strength’ and ‘tear resistance for long-lasting durability.’ Those are the rubber sleeves that we put on our bullets in the Gaia collection. They’re fabulous. In spite of the rubber, it’s latex-free, because again, body safety is essential. So the non-petroleum-based materials, such as our natural rubber and the BioPlastic, are a far better choice for the environment than your classic synthetic rubber or plastic. These materials are also mindfully-sourced from sustainable and responsible farmers.
Additionally, Gaia’s new packaging is made from craft paper without any spot UV or foil, which are petroleum-based and processed, making those papers more difficult to recycle. The ink we use on our Gaia packaging is soy-based, so it’s natural ink, and that whole packaging is recyclable, too. And then to top it off, the Gaia charging cord is also wrapped in cotton instead of plastic and has a BioPlastic head on the charging port.
We started including this eco-friendly charging cord with some of our new recyclable products, and we’ve tried to incorporate it into some of our other product lines, as well. It’s a process that’s not going to be accomplished overnight, but we’re heading there, and Gaia is leading the way.
Additionally, initiatives as large as converting our Hunan factories to solar power, and as small as encouraging recycling to our New York office, are all just steps we’re taking to be an example of a sustainable business in our industry.
STOREROTICA: Another one of Blush’s values I wanted to talk about is the importance of sharing your extensively-accrued knowledge. Why is education so important to Blush and how do education initiatives like Blush U promote a comprehensive sex-positive education?
YOUNG: At the core of your question, I think, is that it’s truly important for a salesperson to arm themselves with knowledge, as that leads to confidence on the sales floor.
The more you know about any given topic, the easier it is to assist that end-user traversing through a retail shop in finding the right product for them. It can be a little overwhelming, if you’ve never been to a retail shop. There are just so many choices. Where do you begin? And for employees that have never been in this industry, it’s overwhelming for them, too. That’s why, in my trainings, I try to direct them to Blush University to just explore. There are so many topics on our platform, and if you want to learn about cock rings, or pumping for pleasure, or squirting, or any of these things, they’re all very easy-to-digest topics at your fingertips. I always say that the salespeople at these retail stores, or the salespeople in any company, will learn if they want to. Blush University makes it so easy to take what they want, and leave behind what doesn’t speak to them. Most of the videos average 30 minutes long, and they’re available at any given time, just at the click of a button, at any speed, with features like rewind and replay, which makes that learning accessible.
We recently launched our newest education initiative, which is our Blush ‘Lunch and Learn.’ This is where retailers can participate in a super-fun virtual event comprised of learning about Blush products with actual samples to touch and feel during lunch, all courtesy of Blush. Participants are invited to click play when it suits them during the time period that the event is taking place. Having that freedom of being able to press play at any time of the day, versus being present at a scheduled in-person training, opens up so much flexibility for our retailers to be able to have a fun and fruitful training for their team. Granted, this program has limited participant availability, as there are only so many spots per ‘Lunch and Learn’ event, but it is open to all retailers, they just have to apply. Once we hit that max amount of invitees, we keep the others on a list for the next event.
STOREROTICA: What are some of Blush’s other core values and how have you seen them incorporated into Blush’s manufacturing and operating over the years?
YOUNG: One of our strongest is innovation. We are constantly seeking out the latest and greatest advancements in technology, and creating modern products. Our product development team, both in China and stateside, in New York, is always researching and learning new ways to serve the community with innovative pleasure products. We also are extremely receptive to feedback and suggestions from our customer base, and strive to find creative ways to meet the needs of our retailer customer, to get their end-users what they’re looking for. I mean, there’s not a better problem and equation than that, right? So we take that feedback wholeheartedly.
STOREROTICA: Is there anything more you want to share about your relationship with retailers?
YOUNG: Interacting with retailers is one of my favorite parts of this job. Talking to them, whether in-person, in virtual trainings or even just a phone call to catch up, I can’t express how much I learn every time I have one of these touch points with an owner, buyer or their sales team. The type of excitement that this industry always exudes constantly impresses me.
Blush’s relationships with retailers has always been really important to us, and lately, it has been stronger than ever. This is primarily why we launched our Brand Ambassador Program. We have highly-knowledgeable brand ambassadors all over the country, and through their visits to areas, we’ve gained more exposure in the retail space, offering in-store training, education and also marketing support to our customers. With this program, we’ve been able to cover more ground and to learn what can we do to help our retailers in this ever-changing environment that we’re in.
STOREROTICA: And you’ve mentioned how many collections you have, but how many SKUs does Blush currently have?
YOUNG: It’s funny because, when I was in pharma, there was a time in which I thought having 10 products in my bag was a lot of products to sell, but really that’s nothing compared to the knowledge I have now regarding our over 1300 active SKUs.
STOREROTICA: And so, in your seven years that you’ve been there, and all the time you’ve known about your college friend’s company, what have you seen change with Blush over the years?
YOUNG: Over the last few years, during and after the pandemic, Blush has recognized that our industry has evolved. We have shifted our focus in response, to continue to fulfill the needs of our retailers. We’ve made it very easy for our customers to have access to content, because social media is such an important part of business now, and some of these retail shops may not have the bandwidth for an employee whose job is exclusively to create content on social media. We are able to provide those types of assets for our customers so that they can easily download and utilize carefully created beautiful content from Blush’s amazing art team. We recognize the fact that some of these stores don’t have as many employees as they used to, and we want to make it as easy as possible to sell Blush products.
STOREROTICA: What’s coming for Blush in the remainder of 2023 and beyond?
YOUNG: You know I can’t tell you that. We can only tell you what we have actually released. But the holiday season is coming up, so we’ve got a lot of fun things to come.
Retailers can especially look forward to seeing the ‘Blush collection,’ our exciting new flagship collection, which will feature some of our most beloved existing products. Plus, we are obviously going to be adding some exciting new additions. There’s going to be a lot of new Blush products priced accessibly for retailers. As a representation of Blush as a brand, the Blush collection aims to reinforce all of Blush’s core values, especially to remind us all that pleasure is our fundamental right, free from guilt and shame, redefining the perception and experience of pleasure, while fostering self love and empowerment. Prior to the launch, I can’t tell you exactly what’s going to be in the collection, just know that when that high time of the shopping season comes, the products and all the gorgeous new packaging for the Blush collection will be coming in time for the holiday season.
For more information, visit www.blushlove.com.
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