Nicole Daedone

Some Lesser Known Facts About Nicole Daedone

• Nicole Daedone was raised by a single mother.

• After completing her formal education, she started Minna Street Art Gallery. She worked there from 1995 to 1996.

• After that, Nicole Daedone worked as a waitress in a pizza restaurant and then worked as a stripper and an escort.
  

• She has studied yoga and Buddhist meditation.
  

• Nicole Daedone also studied under Ray Vetterlein, who was influenced by Lafayette Morehouse, where she later became a member. Lafayette Morehouse is a community focused on sensual living.
  

• Some former students of Baranco (linked to Lafayette Morehouse) started a group called The Welcomed Consensus, where she lived for two years.
  

• Both Lafayette Morehouse and The Welcomed Consensus claimed to be experts in refined sexual experiences.
  

• According to Ken Blackman, who was in The Welcomed Consensus and later joined OneTaste, Nicole Daedone had bigger goals than those communities.

• In September 2001, she founded Fill Up America in San Francisco and worked there till 2017.

• Nicole Daedone was a former sex worker and grew up in a troubled and abusive home.

• In 2002, Nicole Daedone co-founded a nonprofit organisation called Unconditional Freedom in San Francisco. The organisation runs programs across the United States and parts of Europe.

• Its goal of the organisation is to help marginalised people, like the imprisoned and homeless, so that they feel valued and human again.

• They believe that when people are treated with dignity, they naturally want to give back and help others.

• One of its main programs is called the Art of Soulmaking, which is especially designed for prison inmates. The program includes meditation, self-reflection, writing, art, and a pen pal system.

• It helps in converting the prison experience into something like a spiritual journey.

• Reportedly, more than 55,000 prisoners in over 1,000 prisons have taken part in the program.

• In 2004, she founded OneTaste in San Francisco along with Robert Kandell.

  

• Before starting OneTaste, Nicole Daedone said that she learned about orgasmic meditation (OM) from a man whom she described as a Buddhist and a monk.

• Later, her company, OneTaste, trademarked the orgasmic meditation (OM) technique, which was taught in their classes.

• The company first opened two communal urban retreat centres, one in the district SoMa, San Francisco and the other in Lower Manhattan.

• Later, it expanded to Los Angeles and London.

• OneTaste offered media content, workshops, weekend retreats, and a coach training program.

• In 2012, Nicole Daedone published her first book titled Slow Sex.

  

• Nicole Daedone often compares ‘slow sex’ to the Slow Food movement which was started by chef Alice Waters. According to her, like with food, people can overdo sex without real satisfaction or go to the other extreme of complete self-control.
  

• Her ideas are explained in her book Eros Sutras, Volume 1: Principles.
  

• This book is the first in a 5-part series called The Eros Sutras.
  

• The other books in the series included Volume 2: Tumescence, Volume 3: Orgasmic Meditation, Volume 4: Relationship, and Volume 5: Justice.

  

• The series focuses on what she calls a feminine path to personal freedom.

• Apart from the Eros Sutras series, Daedone has written five more books based on the Eros philosophy. These books are Play: A Path to Genius, The Age of Eros: A Manifesto of Connectivity and Consciousness, Erotic Justice: Making Social Change from Love, Art of Addiction (co-written with Kate Feigin), and From Guards to Guardians.

• Nicole Daedone also co-authored The Art of Soulmaking for the Incarcerated (co-written with Beth Wareham), The Art of Soulmaking: A Path to Unconditional Freedom (co-written with Beth Wareham), and The Prison Monastery (co-written with Kate Feigin), Caryn Roth, and Marcus Ratnathicam.

  

• In 2014, OneTaste was named one of the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies.

• In 2017, OneTaste made $12 million in revenue.

• The same year, Nicole sold her share in OneTaste for $12 million, one year before the company was criticised for its marketing and labour practices.

• It was then rebranded as OM Foundation.

• In June 2018, according to a media report, OneTaste faced serious misconduct allegations against the company and its owner, Nicole Daedone.

• The same media article claimed that in 2015, the company paid $325,000 to settle a labour dispute with a former employee named Ayries Blanck.

• It was also reported that the FBI had started an investigation into OneTaste and was looking into prostitution, sex trafficking, and labour law violations.

• In 2018, the company closed all its U.S. branches and stopped in-person classes.

• In 2022, Nicole Daedone was featured in a documentary film titled Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste, which aired on Netflix.

• In June 2023, a U.S. court accused Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz (former head of sales) of conspiracy to commit forced labour.

  

• The government said that the company claimed that they were helping people heal from sexual trauma, but rather manipulated victims into debt.

• Former members of OneTaste claimed in the media that the company felt like a prostitution ring, and the managers reportedly told staff to have sex with customers.

• According to a noted media house, staff were told to do sexual acts which they found uncomfortable or disgusting.

• These acts were shown as part of getting ‘freedom’ and ‘enlightenment.’ It also showed loyalty to OneTaste and Nicole Daedone.

• According to the charge, refusing to take part was not allowed.

• The staff, who became workers, were sometimes not paid the promised wages or commissions.

• In 2024, Nicole Daedone was the subject of an NBC News profile, which was written by Chloe Melas.

• In December 2024, her lawyers said that an FBI agent manipulated a journal that was supposed to be used as evidence.

• In March 2025, the government dropped their main witness, Ayries Blanck, after she admitted that her handwritten journal was partly copied from typed notes.

• Nicole Daedone’s lawyers argued that the case was faulty and asked for it to be dismissed. The trial continued, and the journals were removed from the evidence.

• During the court proceedings, a noted media house reported that Nicole Daedone hired Juda Engelmayer, a crisis communications expert.

  

• Many witnesses said that they were told to have sex with Nicole Daedone’s boyfriend, who was a tech entrepreneur and was funding the company. They were also made to take part in BDSM acts with him, such as walking him on a leash.

• Engelmayer had earlier worked for Harvey Weinstein, a convicted sex offender.

• The article claimed that Engelmayer and Daedone’s legal team acted cheerfully and confidently, as if they were proud to fight against people they viewed as woke and whiny.

• Many former female employees of OneTaste testified against Daedone in court. These females stated that they were forced to do sex work with investors and household chores like cooking.

• A video presented in court featured Daedone speaking that rape could be avoided if the woman turned on 100 percent. It suggested that full engagement would not be a rape.

• On 9 June 2025, a jury found Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz guilty.

• Joseph Nocella, Jr., Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said that they were con artists who took advantage of vulnerable people.

• He said that they promised sexual healing and empowerment, but used people for their benefit. He also thanked the victims who spoke against Nicole Daedone.

• He hoped that the verdict would bring closure to the victims and warned others not to exploit people.

• After the trial, a hearing decided that Daedone could not be released while waiting for her sentence. She was placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

• Another U.S. Attorney, Breon Peace, said,
  

  Under the guise of empowerment and wellness, the defendants are alleged to have sought complete control over their employees’ lives, including by driving them into debt and directing them to perform sexual acts while also withholding wages.”

• After that, Nicole Daedone was kept at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, where her inmate number was 63699-510.