Female Disruptors: Felicia Hershenhorn of Runi On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
My mom always told me haste makes waste. This advice really changed how I approach business and even relationships. I am constantly reminding myself to slow down. In reducing my levels of stimulation, I am able to pace myself and be more intentional and thoughtful in thinking and in action. The faster you go the harder you chase, so I try to savour each moment, coincidentally this is also how I approach eating M&Ms.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Felicia Hershenhorn.
Felicia Hershenhorn is a burgeoning entrepreneur and tenacious CEO/Founder behind the hotly-tipped new sexual wellness brand RUNI. Hershenhorn first made headlines co-founding Imarais Beauty with model Sommer Ray, and then recently quit her day job as a lawyer at only 28 to create RUNI and redefine self-care as a pursuit of pleasure, radically transforming sex lives, and tackle the taboo of sexual wellness.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
As a lawyer turned entrepreneur, my story isn’t terribly unique. I didn’t have an incredible passion for law, I was a sort of romantic dilettante, but I was quite fiery. Soon out of law school, I was the youngest and only female Attorney and Head of Corporate and Legal at a Real Estate Development company. I eventually left law to co-found a beauty company, but when the opportunity presented itself to start something on my own, I couldn’t resist. RUNI is actually my childhood nickname!
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
RUNI is an intimate wellness company that is focused on pleasure but also emphasizes communication. The way sex has been portrayed by industry or even in schools requires some disruption. What we typically see from companies is the ‘male idealization’ of sex, and more importantly, sex education in America is antiquated and insufficient.
21 states do not require sex education and of the states that do, many do not require medical accuracy. Often in the states that require sex education, there is an emphasis on abstinence-only. Within these abstinence-only programs, students are taught to view most sexual behavior as shameful or even harmful and dirty. When people first learn about their natural desires in this way, how can we expect them to understand healthy relationships or boundaries, be comfortable exploring their passions, or communicate and make decisions about their bodies?
RUNI is fundamentally disruptive because we are having conversations based on medically accurate information, transparency, and honesty which is key for people to explore themselves. We are asking people to confront whether their pleasure matters if it’s outside the scope of “normal”? The answer is a resounding yes and this creates a safe space to tackle the taboos, unpack the complexities of sexual desires and discover pleasure in new and exciting ways.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
This happened when I was a summer law student at a firm. I was drafting a notice of motion, which is when you ask the court to make an order to resolve an issue, give direction, etc… We had very little time to draft and appear, so I was moving quickly. We worked off precedents and would fill in the blanks of pre-drafted forms with the requisite facts. For in-person hearings, you are required to specify the place for the hearing on the motion form. The form had either ‘town/city’ to specify the place, and if the motion was being heard in a town you would delete city and keep in town and vice versa. Because I was so rushed instead of deleting town and writing city, I deleted ‘own’ and ‘c’ and wrote tity. The judge read it out loud in open court. Needless to say, I was admonished and never rushed a notice of motion, or anything again.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
My dad is one of my greatest mentors and is the ultimate hustler. Growing up I saw him working almost 24 hours a day 7 days a week. When I was younger the one computer in the house, before laptops, Wi-Fi and iPhone was in my room, and I fell asleep every single night with my dad clicking away on the computer. So, I don’t know if he programmed it subconsciously — but I learned the value of commitment and hard work from him.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
I always say don’t mess with a classic. I don’t want New Coke (Coca-Cola) or anyone to mess with the chocolate chip cookie. Just give me the formula we all know and love. However, the people behind Uber changed the world and they did it without asking permission, knocking down doors before society or legal institutions said it was okay. I think their success comes from disrupting the ‘how’ instead of the ‘what’ and sometimes it’s this nuanced disruption that has the most impact.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
- One of the best pieces of advice I received is that adaptability is one of, if not the most important competitive advantages. In my industry, this advice has been critical to success. It is hard to measure position in wellness because the lines of where one category begins, and the others end are blurred. My prediction is that you will hear ‘holistic wellness’ being used more to account for this blurring. When starting RUNI it was imperative to build into my organizing principles the ability to experiment and expand, because whether or not I like it or account for it, I will need to constantly adapt to the growing category of wellness.
- My mom always told me haste makes waste. This advice really changed how I approach business and even relationships. I am constantly reminding myself to slow down. In reducing my levels of stimulation, I am able to pace myself and be more intentional and thoughtful in thinking and in action. The faster you go the harder you chase, so I try to savour each moment, coincidentally this is also how I approach eating M&Ms.
- Be kind. This was not necessarily advice I received but something I observed working for other people. Throughout university and law school I was a hostess at different restaurants. Some managers were sweethearts, and the others were quite frightening. You can imagine which shifts were more successful. The spillover effects of kindness are compound and when we all felt supported, empowered and generally content we were willing to give that much more effort. As a CEO and leader, I always try to lead with kindness, because I know how the positive effects can cascade and multiply.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
The category of wellness is expanding and the lines between traditional categories are blurring- skin care is as closely tied to hair care as it is exercise or pleasure and orgasms. So, the gap between your sexual wellness routine and your skincare routine is not as vast as you might expect. That’s all I’ll say for now 😉
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
I think even this question exemplifies the biggest challenge faced by women disruptors, we are always introduced first by our gender and second by what we are doing. But what makes us different can be advantageous and be that much more disruptive to help change the dynamic.
The community we are building at RUNI, with our products and our platform, empowers women to not be seen as anything lesser than their male counterparts. We are constantly striving to embody that there is nothing more powerful on this planet than a strong woman who has a great sense of self, who knows what she wants, and exactly how to get it.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
Yes! On Being with Krista Tippet. I love this podcast because it is intellectually stimulating, the guests are some of the greatest academic, religious, political, and creative minds of our time but it can also be comforting. When I left law, I was nervous about how my life would pan out, after all, I spent almost 8 years becoming a lawyer. In listening to On Being, I realized that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. It always reassures me that even though there are lots of unknowns, the world as a place but also as a collection of people — is actually much more gentle and beautiful than we give it credit for.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
When I think about a “movement” capable of inspiring a large number of people, my thoughts go to the notion of greater self-awareness and self-actualization. So many people become anxious or insecure about external things beyond their control, but on a deeper level, it can be their own insecurities that creep into how they feel about so many outside issues. It can be a powerful thing when someone takes the time to really know themselves well and gets comfortable with their foibles, their misgivings, and their mistakes. Our minds open up to new ideas and fresh perspectives if we can remove the negative thoughts that keep us bogged down in regret and insecurity. It is a tricky idea, and not something easily accomplished. But I know that RUNI will always try to create a community for, and provide good guidance on self-love…in more ways than one 😉
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Think big and you’ll be big. The thesis is to believe in yourself because whether you accept it or not, you are always involved in building your own life- so make it as big as you can imagine and go for it.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Felicia Hershenhorn of Runi On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.