Today we’d like to introduce you to VANESSA CUCCIA.
Hi VANESSA, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I developed Chakrubs in 2012 when I realized there were no products on the market that offered a more emotionally supportive way for people to explore sensuality. At the time, I was living in LA pursuing a life in the arts and reckoning with the fact that I had spent six years in a sexually and emotionally toxic relationship. I was working in an adult store while also deepening my spiritual practice, and one evening the name “Chakrubs” popped into my head. I knew then that creating this brand was my purpose.
Since then, I’ve published my book Crystal Healing & Sacred Pleasure, which expands on the philosophy of working with our erotic selves to deepen self-love. My business was recently acquired by Dame Products, and I now serve as Brand Director while continuing to pursue music, writing, and acting here in Detroit.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As I was developing Chakrubs, there were many times when I felt the road was revealing itself to me. People wanted to help and were excited by the concept. I felt open at that time in my life, like anything was possible. I wasn’t thinking about much else other than the fact that this was something I wanted to make real. And not just the product, but the conversation.
But during that time, I was still very much a struggling artist, living in a kind of unofficial musician’s residence. When that fell through, along with a record deal, I had to move back home to New York. I was heartbroken, both from love and from watching a dream slip away. In New York, I was reckoning with broken dreams and dealing with depression.
Still, through that depression, I did one small thing each day to move the business forward. Whether it was jotting down a sentence of an idea or calling LegalZoom to ask what I needed to become legitimate.
Once I finally had a product to sell, I was introducing something people didn’t fully understand yet. And over time, as it became more accepted, even mainstream, new challenges emerged. People began copying my designs and selling their own versions, including some I had previously collaborated with.
In recent years, Chakrubs went through so many changes and it was difficult to keep up with the fluxes. Aside from that, I felt that I wasn’t needing the same thing from Chakrubs anymore. What was once a way for me to explore my own sense of autonomy became something that I felt pressured by. Which is what led me to explore an offer to sell my business, and now I feel much better balanced, and a way for me to continue to expand what Chakrubs can be while also still pursuing the arts.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I consider myself a conceptual artist. My work moves through different forms whether it be writing, performance, music, or product design. The common thread is emotional and energetic experience. I’m interested in how environments, objects, and stories make people feel, especially in the realm of sensuality and self-perception.
I’m the founder of Chakrubs, a line of crystal intimacy tools that introduced a more conscious approach to sexual wellness. I’ve designed products like the original collection and the Forest Line, and I wrote a book called Crystal Healing & Sacred Pleasure, which explores the emotional and symbolic dimensions of eroticism. Chakrubs was recently acquired, and I now serve as Brand Director – helping to guide the future of a brand I built from the ground up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vanessacuccia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanessa_cuccia
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings?trk=d_flagship3_profile_self_view_public_profile
- Other: https://www.chakrubs.com
