Empire of Orgasm - Discussing OneTaste with Ellen Huet

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In this episode, Kacey interviews Bloomberg investigative journalist Ellen Huet, author of Empire of Orgasm, about OneTaste and its founder Nicole Daedone.

Huet explains how Daedone rebranded a partnered clitoral-stroking practice into trademarked “Orgasmic Meditation” in 2004 and marketed it through Silicon Valley-era mindfulness, wellness, and “girlboss” culture as a life-transforming cure-all.

Huet describes her reporting process, including interviewing 125+ people over five years, and alleges former members reported financial, psychological, and sexual exploitation, communal living, social isolation, and “assignments” tying sex to sales. She discusses Daedone’s shifting personal narrative and teachings rejecting victimhood, which former members found harmful. Huet recounts the FBI investigation, a 2023 forced-labor-conspiracy indictment of Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz, their 2025 Brooklyn trial and guilty verdicts, and their subsequent prison sentences.

Ellen's Website - Ellen Huet