We got to feel the vibes and chat all things sex, tech and lockdown self-loving with Vibio co-founder Alma.
Alma, CEO of Vibio sex toys. Tell us about yourself?
Thanks for having me! I consider myself an activist for sexual liberation and gender equality. For the past two years, I’ve made a career of my passion by building Vibio together with my childhood friend Patricia.
Our mission is to break the stigma around sex through innovative designs inspired by human anatomy and app technology.
How did you get into the world of sex tech?
Prior to Vibio, I worked in business development for startups in the tech industry. I’ve always found it fascinating how tech can be applied to every aspect of our lives and bring (when done well) many benefits and improvements.
I came across the sextech space a couple of years ago and thought: ‘this is awesome! We’ve been applying tech to better other areas of our wellbeing for years and now finally we’re using it for sex.
My take on it was that there’s a lot to be done in terms of opening conversations around pleasure so our focus is on making the experience shareable through our app.
Vibio – Where did you get the idea from?
I bought a couple of app controlled toys and even though I had a lot of fun using them, I was left thinking that the app could bring more value beyond solely controlling the vibrators.
The notion of connectivity and shareability of the masturbation experience is groundbreaking, a great opportunity for everyone to be more open about what they like and making their partners part of what used to be a very private moment.
Who’s involved?
We’re two co-founders, Patricia and I, running operations and business development respectively, and our superstar app team, Elana and Vijay, who are working on the design and implementation of screens.
Your current launch product, The Frida is a wearable tech piece with long distance controls. What’s the best review you’ve had so far from buyers?
I can only name our testers’ reviews as we’re just starting to ship our first units this month but my personal favourite was: ‘I love it’s design and how soft it is. It’s also very versatile, I used it as a wearable and as a bullet, and loved the build up of the orgasm. I felt no rush to take Frida out after climax.’
You have a blog post giving your top 5 tips for sexting, asides from the obvious what else do you think can help spice up people’s sex lives virtually if they’re apart from their lovers?
My top tip is to make time for it. Schedule a weekly date night, set the mood and put on clothes that make you feel good and sexy (whether that is your baggy shirt or your favourite outfit).
Have a good time, flirt and drive the course of the night to a steamy destination – as you would do face to face. Consistency is key and one night a week comes a long way, you’ll be left looking back at that great night and forward to the next one.
We’re loving your ‘Vibe Tribe’ feature on your site that promotes sex-positivity for all sorts of bodies and sexual orientations. But your designs at the moment are only made for vulvas, so how do you plan to make your future designs more body / gender or non-binary inclusive?
Correct! We had to start somewhere so we started with what we knew best, given that Patricia and I are vulva owners. So far we only have one toy but we expect to grow our offering to cater for other bodies and needs.
The more we grow our community the more opinions we get, and this ultimately reflects on what we’re able to produce.
With the rise in online sex positive communities, especially during 2020, how helpful do you find them?
Keep them coming! We need more online safe spaces for people to express how they feel about their sexuality and exchange experiences. The fact that it’s a growing trend means that we’re in need of it, and it will surely contribute to normalizing sex.
And how can our readers join the tribe?
Super easy, they can join by signing up with their email here and we’ll keep them in the loop of any developments, testing opportunities and community offers.
With your VT you say you firmly believe that there’s no one-size-fit-all for toys to keep making cool products with customer feedback. How’s that going?
It’s more labor intensive than just designing and producing a toy, but in our opinion it’s worth it. We actually loved the testing phase of Frida and thought it was very interesting that some of the assumptions we had made were wrong.
What can we expect in the pipeline for Vibio in 2021?
We’re working on our complimentary line of lubes, oils and sex toy cleaner. We’ll also start testing our next toy, so we’re super excited for 2021 and encourage everyone to join our journey and give their input though our Vibe Tribe.
Thanks for chatting with us and giving us the lowdown on Vibio’s sex toy and future plans. We’re buzzing (yes I went there) to see what you come up with next.
Alma Ramirez-Acosta
She / Her
Sextech entrepreneur, currently challenging the approach to pleasure and sexuality. Together with her childhood friend Patricia, they started vibio in 2018 to create a range of app-controlled sex toys to encourage their community to discover and try new experiences.
Alma was interviewed by Lucy Everett
