Margaret Jackson
MJ Brand Insights
Mar 25, 2022
For Tanya Griffin, life is all about sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.
For Tanya Griffin, life is all about sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.
The self-described serial entrepreneur has started businesses ranging from the retail and maternity support center Kangaroo Kids Inc. to a coffee shop and vintage retail store.
After riding out an 18-month noncompete agreement with The Green Solution that prohibited her from working with cannabis, Griffin created oOYes, a Denver-based company that makes cannabinoid-infused sex products designed to deliver a “cannagasmic” experience.
As Griffin puts it, she’s moved from colostrum (breast fluid) to cannabis to cum.
“My dream was always to build a sex brand,” she said. “I didn’t want to own dispensaries.”
Griffin built the brand around the experience of communication. She created a quiz couples can take together to encourage more open conversations.
“I did it so we could get people talking,” said Griffin, who does not have outside investors in the company. “Sex is about showing up and being present. It’s about getting you in the mood and staying present. Everything is designed to be fun. The vagina is a honey pot, and the penis is a disco stick.”
Griffin’s sex quiz, which takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete, is designed to reveal a couple’s “kink” score. It asks 100 questions in nine categories. In “the basics” category, for example, you’re asked to respond “oOYes,” “oONo” or “oOMaybeSo to activities such as “kiss me all over,” “sensual massage,” and “strip tease or lap dance.”
The quiz, which also covers positions, toys, butt stuff, and rough stuff, can be taken with a partner or as a single.
The oOYes product line has a rock ’n’ roll theme. The Start Me Up lickable lube is named for The Rolling Stones song, Roll Baby Roll roll-on sex oils is a nod to The Doors song of the same name, and Love Me Too sensual moisturizer evokes The Beatles.
“I’m obsessed with the ’60s and ’70s,” Griffin said. “I really leaned into sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.”
The oOYes line’s eight products can be purchased individually or as part of a $69 oOBox Bundle that comes in three variations of three products each. The products contain CBD and cannabigerol (CBG), often referred to as the mother of all cannabinoids. Griffin plans to introduce products spiked with THC next quarter.
Most oOYes products, which can be purchased online, contain what Griffin calls the “secret sauce” — the company’s Uh Huh Honey. Uh Huh Honey uses patented technology where Griffin’s free-range bees feed on nectar made from organic hemp on an organic farm in California to produce highly bioavailable, cannabinoid-rich raw honey.
“They become my delivery platform,” Griffin said. “Instead of using other extraction methods, I’m able to get a single ingredient full of cannabinoids that’s nine times more bioavailable.”
OOYes products are designed for vaginal health. Rosemary and CBD, for example, are antibacterial. The other ingredients in oOYes products such as the organic coconut oil and aphrodisiacs are all natural.
“Your vagina is like your mouth — it’s all mucus membranes,” Griffin said. “You have to be careful what you’re putting all over it.”
OOYes works with two female formulators to create the products and uses a Colorado contract manufacturer to produce them. It tests for microbials and stability and gives its products away to hundreds of women to get feedback.
Griffin also relies on feedback from her five sisters and, of course, uses the products herself.
Griffin said oOYes is her last hurrah as an entrepreneur. So, what would Griffin change if she had it all to do over again?
“Maybe get a little cottage in Kauai and fuck all day.”