Ti Chang - Founder of Crave

Ti Chang is the definition of an innovator. Product innovator. Industry innovator. Innovation activist. After a successful career in corporate design, Ti started noticing several trends in women’s pleasure products that just didn’t sit right with her. Women’s pleasure products perpetuated the stigma and shame around women and their own pleasure. Upon further research, she realized that almost all of these products were being designed by men, with nearly no women in the room to create FOR women. She set out to change that by founding CRAVE alongside entrepreneur Michael Topolovac.

The team at Crave believes everyone should own their pleasure. They use modern design and manufacturing to create a range of sophisticated sex toys that make pleasure accessible and approachable. Crave also uses its product and platform to create opportunities for meaningful conversation around pleasure. They are one of the few brands that have bridged the gap between secret sex toy shops and the general public and you can find their products in mainstream retail stores such as the Standard Hotel, Uncommon Goods, and Goop.

Crave products have made a splash in mainstream pop culture. They are regularly seen, featured, and mentioned in top-tier media spanning women’s interests, men’s lifestyle, LGBTQIA+ publications, and more. They appear regularly in women’s lifestyle and fashion magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Allure, and Marie Claire. Celebrities including model and actress Cara Delevigne, singer Janet Jackson, and Carole Radziwill from The Real Housewives of New York City have also worn Crave products.

Crave products have also appeared on television programs such as Ellen and T-Pain’s School of Business, the 2019 movie Wine Country (directed by Amy Poehler and starring Tina Fey and Maya Rudoph), and have even featured as trivia show answers on shows in America and in the UK.

Activism has been a natural in Ti’s line of work since she decided to fight the gender gap in design and her industry with the founding of Crave. Hear a bit from Ti about how design and her activism go hand in hand:

“We are in the middle of another civil rights movement. As an Asian-immigrant, I want to do as much as I can to combat the racism and gender bias that runs deep in our country, particularly in the design community where designers can create new products and experiences that impact our society in a profound way.

Unfortunately, like many industries, it is also heavily male-dominated (specifically 81-95% male in industrial and product design). To highlight how we can solve these issues, I co-founded Design Allyship, which provides a free guide that is for anyone who wants to be a better ally in the workplace but doesn’t know where to start.

The guide is called How to Be a Better Ally to Women in Industrial Design and it is just a starting point to begin to learn and recognize micro aggressions that women and marginalized people commonly face.”

Learn more at: https://www.designallyship.com/

Favorite motto or quote that keeps you inspired?

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”— William James

Book(s) that inspire you/your company?

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

Ruined by Design by Mike Monteiro

Is there any other content, music, anything that is inspiring you right now?

Books & videos by Alain de Botton, the Swiss-born British philosopher, and author.

He founded The School of Life — a series of books that tackle practical matters like love, confidence, and work through the marriage of psychology and philosophy and humor. To give you a sense of his work, he wrote an essay for New York Times titled, “Why You Will Marry The Wrong Person.”

How do you hope that your company can create a better world?

I hope that CRAVE as a brand will continue to normalize conversations about female pleasure and that pleasure products will be viewed as everyday consumer products that support people’s well-being. The way I see it, sexually satisfied people means happier relationships, which means happier couples, marriages, and children, and eventually... world peace. That is my humble little hope.

“Uplift another woman or someone from a marginalized group by taking a chance on them, spotlighting them, or connecting them with someone who could be of help in their endeavor. ”

— Ti Chang

In your personal life, what is one daily practice or habit you have to keep you centered and grounded?

Before bed, I take a moment to be grateful for all that I have, yet at the same time recognize that this is all changing because change is the one thing that is constant, so enjoy the moment.

Who or what was the biggest motivator for you when you started your business?

I couldn’t understand why in 2007, the vast majority of vibrators for women were low-quality phallic-shaped products when less than 18% of women can orgasm penetratively. (Hint: It’s in the clit). Also, from a design perspective, why the products continue to perpetuate shame and embarrassment in a woman’s self-pleasure experience by being so awkwardly designed. So when I learned that the “novelty industry” was dominated by men and created by men but marketed at women, it was clear that this was a job that required a woman’s perspective.

Your favorite other women-led businesses we should know about?

Aplat — sustainable culinary goods founded by Shujan Bertrand

Nixit — reusable menstrual cup founded by Rachael Newton

Slash Objects by Arielle Assouline-Lichten

Morrama Design — industrial design consultancy led by Jo Barnard

Mlouye — leather goods by Meb Rure

Juno Bio — at-home vaginal biome test kit, cofounded by Hannah Janedbar

Favorite business tools that your company uses?

Canva, Slack, OnShape, Adobe Suite (Illustrator, photoshop, rush, InDesign), Apple Notes

What has been the biggest highlight of running your own company?

The biggest highlight for me is reading the reviews, feedback, and love notes we get from our customers. I read about the transformative effect our products can have on individuals and their relationships and that is exactly the reason why I became a designer in the first place.