While pleasure businesses tried not to rock the boat this past COVID-riddled summer, Shani Hart was busy making waves.
Hart is a triple-threat CEO as a certified sex educator, right-hand-partner in the Hart's Desires retail brand, and founder of The Noir Leaf, a new line of intimate CBD care.
In 2021, I plan to scale [my CBD pleasure company, The Noir Leaf’s] product line, work on more collaborations with other brands, and dip into the wholesale market.
Perhaps most notably, though, Hart became an industry pioneer nearly overnight when she rightfully called out the entire sex toy manufacturing biz last May in 2020. In a private Facebook group for pleasure industry professionals, Hart asked manufacturers, distributors and retailers to “do better” in representing black people and other people of color in product design and marketing.
Since that pivotal move, Hart has emerged as a shining resource for BIPOC — especially black people and femme-identifying persons, says Hart — seeking sex education and pleasure retail from a trusted member of their own community.
Hart and her business partner-slash-husband, Mike, remain undaunted by the craziness of the COVID market. The pair plans to continue growing their reputations as shamelessly sexual black educators, retail experts and community figures.
Hart's contributions to all Women in Adult encompass so many important facets of the fight for sexual freedom. As a black, queer and femme woman at the helm of myriad businesses, Hart embodies the modern, female sex toy CEO.
And as for the businesses who refuse to see the future? Shani Hart is coming for you, and this woman won't be stopped until we've achieved sexual and social justice for all.
XBIZ: It's been one hell of a year to say the least! How are you feeling about the state of the pleasure industry as we head into 2021?
Hart: As we head into 2021 I think the pleasure industry has a new swag. You know how you felt the night before the first day of school; your clothes laid out, ironed, matching to the “T” and [you] said to yourself, “Imma kill 'em tomorrow!” That’s how I feel about 2021 with respect to this industry. So many of us had a fantastic 2020, business-wise. Now it’s clear who will continue into 2021 with that same energy: the ones that paid attention to the shift in our industry. We’ve aired out all the dirty laundry and it’s time to see who is going to have on their best outfits.
XBIZ: What initially caught your eye about the sex toy biz and prompted you to open a business with your husband?
Hart: It’s funny; many people think that I started Hart’s Desires. I indeed did not. Mike, aka Tony Hart, my partner in life and business, started our company — from selling items out of his trunk, to toy parties, to opening up his first store — before he even knew I existed.
When he and I first started dating, I didn’t bat an eye at him owning an adult store. I thought, jackpot! Free toys! What I did notice was all the women calling his phone and talking in the background when I called him at the store. I have no shame in saying I would “pop up” on his ass all the time. Eventually he figured since I was going to be there all the time I might as well learn how to be a cashier. I loved being a cashier at the store and being an extrovert, [and] I loved the customer service aspect of the store.
The only part I didn’t love was all of the questions I was asked about sex-ed in general, by customers that I had no answers for. We have a primarily black customer base and I felt that not educating the community was doing my community a disservice. I decided that Hart’s Desires needed a sex educator to host workshops and do more education, and who better than me to do it! In 2017, I entered into a vigorous sex educator certification program and spent a total of a month on the West Coast and many more hours completing online classes.
During this time, we rebranded Hart’s Desires, opened up a second location, and moved our flagship location into a space three times its size.
XBIZ: What kind of sex education did you receive as a kid or teen? Did your upbringing play a role in your adulthood passion for sex-ed?
Hart: I just giggled. I had absolutely no comprehensive sex education. I made a post on Facebook last year asking my high school classmates the same question, hoping that they remembered something that I didn’t. Everyone remembered the same wack abstinence and STD talks given by our gym teacher. This lack of knowledge really fueled my desire to educate and especially focus my efforts on black people.
XBIZ: What do you hope to bring consumers through your retail biz at Hart's Desire? What makes your retail brand stand out and build loyalty with customers?
Hart: In 2021, we’re upping the ante on our form of education, primarily, in the words of Dirty Lola, “edutainment.” We’re also going to be keeping our ear super close to the street so we always carry the current, hot, quality brands that our customers deserve. In a nutshell, the Harts are the brand. Lawd, I’m talking in third person! Having a black couple-owned pleasure brand really resonates with our customers. They love us. They appreciate our super transparent — I’m sure my mother thinks too transparent — brand of sex education. When anyone goes to our social media pages, YouTube channel, or website, there’s no doubt who you’re buying your goodies from.
XBIZ: You're also a flourishing sex educator yourself who blends sex toy expertise with practical sex-ed knowledge. How do you bring this knowledge to your consumer audience?
Hart: My background as a sex educator is definitely part education, part experience. Between my sex educator training and my training as a sex coach I still don’t try to claim that I know everything, but I’m super passionate about what I do know. I weave in stories of my relatable past escapades and current sexual triumphs. I did a [Facebook Live] one time about meeting a long-distance partner for the first time and finding the smallest penis in America, while I faked an orgasm. I brought that story to a lesson about using your voice to make sure you get the pleasure you deserve. I received DMs for days laughing about that one. Sex should be fun, talking about sex should be fun, so any presentation, video, or workshop is going to be humorous and filled with relatable nuggets.
XBIZ: What are your plans for the coming year for your retail and sex-ed businesses? How will you be branching out and continuing to build your business?
Hart: I currently have three main businesses. Hart’s Desires, my sex educator and coaching business, and my CBD pleasure company, The Noir Leaf. The latter is my baby and something that I’m overjoyed about how much it’s grown in a year. I specifically talk to black women and femmes about how CBD can help with the physical and mental blocks to desire and sexual pleasure. The emails and messages about how my products have helped them with intimacy and pleasure is a feeling that I never want to give up. In 2021, I plan to scale that company’s product line, work on more collaborations with other brands, and dip into the wholesale market.
XBIZ: Where can your pleasure industry colleagues and friends find you in the New Year? If COVID permits, will you be out and about and back at trade shows/events, or will you be sticking to Facebook for the foreseeable future?
Hart: I miss being live and in-person. I really have been loving the virtual trade shows, and have made a lot of business relationships I’m not sure that I would have made at the busy in-person trade shows. But who doesn’t love a vacation that you can write off? The first trade show that is planned when the world opens up, my face will be in the place!
Each month, industry news media organization XBIZ spotlights the career accomplishments and outstanding contributions of Women in Adult. WIA profiles offer an intimate look at the professional lives of the industry's most influential female executives.
