Meet Rachel and Claire
Rachel
Rachel Venning is co-founder of Babeland, and is the co-author of both Moregasm: Babeland's Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex and Sex Toys 101. Rachel wrote regularly for Girlfriends magazine, and was an associate editor at On Our Backs magazine. She has appeared on HBO and The Learning Channel, and has been widely quoted as a sex expert in print and radio. She has a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University, and an MBA from the University of Washington.
While a student at Wesleyan, Rachel became interested in feminism and lived in the "Feminist House" her sophomore year. She spent her junior year in Nepal, pursuing an interest in Tibetan Buddhism as a Religious Studies major. She also completed a non-credited, self-directed course of study on sexuality. Upon graduation from Wesleyan, Rachel moved to Seattle, WA. After various jobs as fundraiser, housepainter, cocktail waitress, river raft guide, gourmet candy maker, and marketing intern at Seal Press, Rachel enrolled in the business school at the University of Washington. After graduation, Rachel joined with Claire Cavanah and founded Babeland (formerly known as Toys in Babeland™).
Claire
Claire Cavanah is co-founder of Babeland, and is the co-author of both Moregasm: Babeland's Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex and Sex Toys 101. She has a bachelor's degree from Brown University.
After attending an alternative high school in Vermont, Claire enrolled at Brown University. Brown's thriving feminist community offered Claire a new way to think about the world and led directly to her current career. Her studies were focused in both the Gender Studies and Modern Culture and the Media departments. She was also an active member of the campus Women's Center. After college, Claire moved to Seattle to begin work in the publishing field. During that time, she also worked as a researcher, charting the second wave of feminism for a documentary film. It was shortly after this that Claire joined with Rachel Venning and founded Babeland (originally known as Toys in Babeland).
Rachel Venning and Claire Cavanah opened the first Babeland store in Seattle WA, in the Fall of 1993. Their mutual interest in sex-positive feminism inspired them in this joint venture. In 1998, Claire and Rachel were chosen as "Business Women of the Year" by the Greater Seattle Business Association. In 1996, Claire and Rachel presented their first "Sex Toys 101" workshop. This led to followup workshops, and eventually to the publishing of their book Sex Toys 101 in 2003, followed by Moregasm: Babeland's Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex. Rachel and Claire were chosen by Out magazine as one of the greatest gay business success stories of 2003.
