We recently connected with Robin Denise and have shared our conversation below.

Robin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Since 2018 I have been taking risk after risk after risk. In 2016 I was miserable, overweight, and chronically tired. I was working 2 jobs with wild hours. Trying to pay for a one-bedroom apartment and have some semblance of a life in the DC/MD/VA area. By 2018 I knew that this couldn’t be life. I needed to be happier and healthier. I began to cut out the things that were not making me happy. So, the first risk I took was leaving my full-time job at an environmental health nonprofit to personal train at a gym. I did this for a while. Finding joy in helping people reach their physical goals but at the same time struggling with the way gyms were being ran and seeing how most clients needed more than workouts to reach full love of self.

So, in 2020 when covid hit and all the gyms closed I took the next risk by starting my own person training business. This was rough- training people virtually, using apps to provide their workouts, and seeing them maybe once a week in person. I really began to see how much was lacking from fitness. I kept finding that we would do the workout, do the meal plan but it didn’t make a difference if their emotional wellbeing, mental fortitude, and overall outlook on their body wasn’t in alignment. The people I served needed more than workouts. They needed someone to talk to about their life, about how unfulfilled they were. They needed and wanted support in changing their entire life.

In an effort to provide the overall wellness my clients needed I left personal training. At a time when the economy was weak, and my bank account reflected that- I went to pursue multiple certifications (yoga trapeze instructor, life & health coach, EroSomatic touch, sex doula, sex coach, and reiki) to provide a more holistic and energetic healing business. In 2022 I restructured and restarted my business, another risk. I went from personal trainer to life & health coach to sex coach to now holistic healer with a focus on sensuality and loving your most authentic self fully.

In 2023 I self-published a self-pleasure journal called “Body Bliss: A guided pleasure journal for exploration and self-love”. I published this in a world that was/is literally on fire, where sexuality and self-touch as a healing tool is not readily discussed or even encouraged. We are just learning the importance of self-touch towards the fulfillment of self-love. And to create a journal focused on self-pleasure for 21-days is a risk. However, this journal is the guide to self-love I feel the world needs. The journal teaches how important it is to show your body love daily, through touch, breathwork, somatic’s, ritual and pleasure.

How has it turned out; you ask.
Well, taking these risk has turned out phenomenally. I am my own boss. I answer to myself and my clients. Of course, it’s been a challenge to get my message of self-love through pleasure out there with limited funds and no marketing support. Honestly, if people looked at my financial books, they would say that I’m crazy. They’d say, “Robin, this has not worked out phenomenally, at all.” I’ve faced homelessness, foreclosure, negative bank account amounts, high credit card balances and more. However, I have gained so much from these experiences: personal, spiritual, and emotional growth; new friends, collaborators, and potential business partners; and a level of freedom I would’ve never had or would have reached while working for another.

These past 6-7 years have taught me that when you walk the path of your passion with a love for others and trust in the great beyond you will always be taken care of. Even if it looks different than what you might think. I’ve learned that money isn’t the only form of currency. Money is energy and there are many forms of energy to exchange with. Furthermore, money is not the only litmus test of success. I find success in the victories my clients share; in the comments on the way my journal has helped someone connect deeper with themselves and thus their partners; in the way people leave my energetic healing sessions feeling lighter and more empowered because they have released things that no longer serve them. Yes, I look forward to my business scaling and my finances reflecting that, and at the same time I revel in gratitude for my business and the life I live now.

Robin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a multifaceted sex-trepreneur with a passion for emotional and physical well-being. I am a pleasure empowerment coach, author, health and life coach, reiki master, sensual yoga trapeze instructor, and more. I work primarily with the BIPOC population, singles, poly couples, all genders and gender expressions. My work focuses on empowering individuals to embrace their desires, utilize their sensual power, and to connect with their authentic selves through sensual movement, sound, energy healing, and coaching.

I provide reiki healing sessions and ceremonies. Reiki is an energetic healing modality originated in Japan. Reiki session supports healing by improving the flow and balance of vital life force energy that flows through all living things. A reiki ceremony supplies deep energetic healing both personal and within a lineage (think ancestry).

I also provide Sensual Energetic Healing. This is usually a group of 4 energetic coaching and healing sessions designed to process and release sexual trauma from the body. From cord cutting to discovering and embodying one’s desires, these sessions are powerful and transformative.

I also provide group pleasure empowerment and sex coaching. This is an 8-week coaching program in group format to provide healing through community support. It provides coaching on sensuality, self-discovery, uncovering desires and/blockages and more. There are journal prompts, self-reflection and self-touch exercises, and somatic and embodiment exercises. All who participate can do a 3-day retreat with me at the completion of the program.

As a speaker I can be booked to discuss a range of topics such as grief and pleasure, mindful masturbation, self-touch as self-love, using pleasure to heal trauma, breath a gateway to orgasm, using toys in your pleasure experience, partnered pleasure, solo consent, and more. I am also available to conduct workshops on breathwork, consent, self-seduction, partnered sensual touch, solo sensual touch and more.

I hold free monthly virtual community events. These events usually align with the new or full moon and focuses on manifesting our desires and/or releasing things that no longer serve us. They usually have a somatic element, along with meditation and reflection through journalling.

I also hold a monthly workshop called Seduction Sunday. In this workshop participants receive exercises for their self-love practice; tools to enhance their self-pleasure practice, with or without a partner(s); and a deeper connection to self, body, mind, and spirit. All genders, sexualities, and human expressions are welcome.

My dedication to sexual and mental health stems from my own personal journey. I have worked and continue to work toward the full release of the heteronormative and religious teachings that hindered my own sensuality and connection to the divine. Along the journey to deepening my understanding of self, I immersed myself in studies of somatic healing, yoga, embodiment, sensuality, health, and personal growth. I’m an avid traveler, having completed my yoga trapeze certification in Barcelona, Spain. From that experience I created couple’s and sensual yoga trapeze poses. I now teach one on one divine feminine yoga trapeze classes and sacred sensuality yoga trapeze classes for couples. I’ve spent close to a year in Costa Rica under the mentorship of Goddess Amina Peterson of the Atlanta Institute of Tantra & Divine Sexuality, where I received certifications in sacred sex coaching, EroSomatic touch, and sex doula. With an MPH from Loma Linda University and certification as a personal trainer, health and life coach, I’ve been helping people connect with their bodies for over 10 years.

What sets me apart from others is my belief that self-discipline is one of the highest forms of self-love. I am consistently working on self-discipline to show myself love. I don’t shy away from the work of shining light on the shadow aspects of myself. Because I believe that the work I do on myself will help someone else. This theory has been proven time and time again as I regularly find that spirit sends someone to me who is facing a similar situation I once did.

My love for others, the earth and all living things also sets me apart. I have an enormous heart and pure intentions for the good of the world. Through my work I want people to see their beauty and their worth. They are loved, and pleasure and abundance is their birthright.

The other thing that sets me apart is that I hold space. I am not afraid of silence. We need silence to hear the depth of our hearts and to feel the emotions in our body.

In my work I combine sensuality, spirituality and ritual, health, emotional wellness, somatic, movement and sound (I sing to my clients during energetic healing sessions). This drastically sets me apart from others because I want to provide a holistic experience and holistic healing comes through spirit and the 5 senses.

I am most proud of following my path, even though it’s been rough and undesirable at times. I’m proud of making the constant choice to love myself and release old programming so that I could have room to hold space for others who are doing the same.

I want people to know that working with me will set them on a path of empowerment. They will walk the journey to embrace and manifest their desires. All who are willing I will guide them to the utilization of their sensual power. My coaching style is a combination of love, science, spirituality, movement, theory, and support. My coaching program is customized and always designed to help the client connect with their most authentic self.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I self-published my journal, “Body Bliss: A guided pleasure journal for exploration and self-love” through Amazon. I also sell the journal on Amazon. I went this route because Amazon made it relatively easy to self-publish. As a first-time author I didn’t have an agent or connections to the publishing world to try and get the journal published the “traditional route.” Additionally, I didn’t want to wait months or even years to get the journal out to the public.

Pros- get your book to the world quicker. You’re in control of what is written, and you don’t have to change a thing if you don’t want to. You get paid monthly from book sales and can see the sell progress in live time (something I’m not sure you have access to with publishers.) Amazon is your primary selling location- helpful as Amazon is widely used and easy for consumers to navigate. You can sign up for Amazon Affiliate program and potentially get an extra percentage on your book sales if the person buys through your affiliate link.

Cons- you don’t have a publisher backing the book to help with marketing and credibility. You must do self-marketing which can be a heavy lift. You don’t have an editorial team to review your book for copy edits and marketability. There is no advance and depending on how you ask Amazon to print your book will determine your proceeds. Amazon will be your primary selling location- could be hard to get your book into other stores.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The Lesson I Had to Unlearn: “Hard work pays off” and “The only way to succeed is to work hard.”

I had to redefine what hard work and working hard meant. Growing up I learned that working hard meant working long hours, sacrificing sleep, and do whatever you need to do to get things done. Hard work operates from an “urgency” mindset. That everything must happen now and get done now! That philosophy is not how I leave my life anymore. That way of working creates burnout, stress and eventually health problems. In my studies I have learned the value of rest. The importance of the body’s need to be in homeostasis, a state of rest, to function properly. In rest we have access to clearer thoughts, creativity abounds, and our body operates optimally. Not to mention being stressed takes the pleasure out of life and my business is all about pleasure.

So, I don’t work hard in the traditional sense. I work from a place of rest. And when I feel my nervous system moving into a stress response. I stop, reevaluate, do some breathing exercises, maybe take a nap, and come back to work refreshed. In the time it takes for me to do that no work disaster has happened, and no problem has blown up. I’ve found my work to be more enjoyable this way. And I’ve noticed that I am more productive. Rest is key!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.robindenise.com
• Instagram: @robin_denise_
• Youtube: @robin_denise_

Image Credits
Brii Camacho, Brandon “Jesus” Jones, Amina Peterson