By Daniel Wu
Some wanted to improve their sex lives. Some wanted to build confidence or learn how to cope with a trauma. Others were just curious to join an eclectic commune.
That led them to OneTaste, a sexual-wellness company whose co-founder Nicole Daedone led retreats centred on female orgasms and a practice that she dubbed “orgasmic meditation”.
In speeches and company videos, Daedone cast herself as a radical guru promoting sex positivity and connection. Federal prosecutors allege that she instead manipulated and abused those who joined the OneTaste community, according to an indictment.
Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz, OneTaste's former head of sales, are accused of pressuring participants into building their lives around the company’s insular communes.
Some worked for the company and allegedly went unpaid or were pressured into performing sexual acts for OneTaste investors and clients. Daedone and Cherwitz were charged with operating a forced-labour conspiracy.
An attorney for Daedone did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An attorney who previously represented Cherwitz said they were not currently representing her.
OneTaste CEO Anjuli Ayer called the allegations against Daedone and Cherwitz unfounded in a statement and decried a “long-term, misogynistic, media-driven campaign to tear down a feminine empowerment project”.
Daedone co-founded OneTaste in 2004, court records state. It began as a commune in a bright, wood-panelled San Francisco warehouse where Daedone hosted retreats for participants to experiment sexually and learn “orgasmic meditation”, during which a partner methodically stroked a woman's genitals.
The company was featured in a New York Times profile in 2009, and Daedone gave a TED Talk about orgasmic meditation in 2011.
Cherwitz joined OneTaste in 2009 as its head of sales, according to the indictment. OneTaste expanded and, at its height, operated at locations in New York, California, Colorado, Texas and the United Kingdom, it adds.
But those who joined OneTaste's communes were co-opted as unpaid employees for the company and abused, prosecutors alleged.
Between 2006 and 2018, Daedone and Cherwitz intentionally recruited people who had suffered trauma to join OneTaste, claiming that the company’s teachings could heal sexual trauma, according to the indictment.
They allegedly pressured members to incur debt or open lines of credit to attend retreats and other company events, which in 2018 cost up to $60 000 (about R1.1m) for a yearly membership, Bloomberg reported.
Those living in OneTaste's communes were subject to constant surveillance, prosecutors alleged.
Daedone and Cherwitz allegedly assigned participants to shared beds and encouraged them to limit contact with those outside of the OneTaste community.
Daedone and Cherwitz then co-opted OneTaste members as employees, promising wages and commissions for work done for the company that ultimately weren’t paid, prosecutors said.
As part of their employment, OneTaste members were pressured to engage in sexual acts with OneTaste investors, clients and employees for the company’s benefit, according to the indictment. Those who refused were allegedly harassed and humiliated.
The indictment did not list specific examples of the alleged abuse but follows a June 2018 report by Bloomberg that first aired accusations against OneTaste.
The report described over a dozen former OneTaste employees and participants who claimed they became tangled in an abusive, cultlike community headed by Daedone.
Those encouraged to work for the company were often tasked with recruiting others to sign up for OneTaste lessons and faced steep sales targets, according to Bloomberg.
A former OneTaste employee told the outlet that he racked up $30 000 in debt after joining OneTaste and went unpaid for two months as a part-time employee.
He also said managers encouraged employees to sleep with potential customers to encourage sales.
OneTaste paid $325 000 in 2015 to settle a labour dispute with another former employee who alleged that Cherwitz ordered her to sleep with customers, according to Bloomberg.
OneTaste denied the allegations raised by Bloomberg in an extensive series of blog posts. The FBI opened an investigation into OneTaste in November 2018, Bloomberg reported.
Daedone had stepped down as CEO in 2017, and Cherwitz resigned in 2018 after receiving questions from Bloomberg.
The company stopped leasing communal homes and instead operated teaching centres in London, New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco with plans to expand to additional US cities, Bloomberg reported in 2018.
In 2022, Netflix released a 90-minute documentary on OneTaste and the allegations against the company, citing Bloomberg's reporting, which OneTaste also rebutted.
OneTaste relaunched under new ownership in November with a talk in New York hosted by Daedone, according to its website.
OneTaste’s website no longer lists a catalogue of courses in orgasmic meditation but advertises – alongside its rebuttal of the allegations against the company – a one-day retreat in Philo, California and an official orgasmic meditation smartphone app.