The Side Door: How Emily Sauer Built The Pelvic People from Pain, Connection, and Pure Audacity
Credit: The Pelvic People
“I didn’t talk to my partners about it. I talked to my OB-GYN every year, and every year it was dismissed. So I figured if everything points to nothing… I must be the problem.”
Emily Sauer never imagined she'd become the founder of a company dedicated to making sex less painful. But after a life low moment where painful sex collided with a toxic relationship and a hazy outlook for her previous career path in photo tech she did what only any accidental-CEO might do: she made something she needed herself. In Emily’s case it was a silicon donut.
That "donut" — now known as OhNut, a soft, stretchy buffer that allows for shallower penetration — launched a movement. One that’s now grown into The Pelvic People, a full-fledged pelvic health brand with tools for both deep and entry pain during sex. What makes Emily’s story extraordinary isn’t just the innovation — it’s how much of herself she poured into building it. (She literally made the mold for the first one in her apartment.)
She’s Always Been a Side Door Thinker
Emily had to get creative with solving problems early in life.. As a kid with ADHD and a learning disability, traditional academics weren’t built for her brain. But thanks to two entrepreneurial parents and a knack for getting her needs met through relationships, she found her way into Cornell (as an art major, naturally) and later into high-profile photo shoots with the likes of Beyoncé and Oscar de la Renta.
Her superpower? Not just making people look good — but making them feel good. That gift carried her through a decade of freelance success, where she managed egos, gear, and emotions on set. But eventually, she hit a wall. She was working all the time and she didn’t want to expand her business. “I missed the moment when two of my friends made out,” she joked, describing the tipping point that led her to seek a better work-life balance.
From Production to Purpose
The pivot from photo shoots to pelvic pain wasn’t part of some five-year plan. It was her wayfinding based on what was showing up for her personally. “Sex had always been painful for me,” Emily said. But during a particularly low point in a strained relationship, the collective emotional and physical pain became impossible to ignore. That’s when she came up with the idea for a wearable buffer that could reduce penetration depth.
It was wild. It was weird. And it worked.
When she started talking about painful sex — to friends, to doctors, to anyone who’d listen — the response was overwhelming. “I couldn’t believe how not alone I was,” she said. What followed was a Kickstarter campaign, a prototype made in her kitchen, and the start of a company that would not only change her life, but begin shifting the conversation around painful sex.
Validation, Not Vibes
What makes Emily’s approach so compelling is that it’s built on hope and science. While she openly shares her story — a core part of how OhNut launched — she also made sure the product was clinically validated. That meant attending medical conferences (sometimes uninvited), introducing herself as a patient, and showing up with prototypes and a lot of questions.
She saw from the outset that she wasn’t just building a product. She was building a movement to help women feel more empowered to speak up about their pain and find a path to more pleasure. But it had to be legit. She not only needed to enroll customers to OhNut but she also needed the credibility and backing of the medical community.
She built relationships with thousands of clinicians — 8,000 to 9,000 across the U.S. now recommend her products — and she did it all without advertising for the first five years. “We had to grow organically,” she explained. “And honestly, that gave us the most incredible foundation.”
OhNut Was Just the Beginning
Today, The Pelvic People has a second product, Kiwi, designed for entry pain. Unlike most solutions on the market, Kiwi is non-phallic, intuitive to use, and designed with both physiological and emotional safety in mind. And because it’s not explicitly sexual in design, it’s finally allowed the company to advertise — opening new doors for awareness and access.
But Emily knows tools are only helpful if people want to use them. “We’re not just making things you hold in your hand,” she said. “We’re creating a new conversation around sex, pain, and validation.”
A Team That Stays
Emily’s leadership philosophy mirrors her product ethos: human-first, flexible, and hopeful. Her team, mostly remote and many of whom have been with her since the beginning, starts every biweekly meeting with a personal and professional “red, yellow, green” check-in, and ends with everyone thanking someone else for something they did.
It sounds simple. But it’s radical.
This culture of gratitude and care, paired with Emily’s insistence on staying close to the clinicians and customers she serves, has helped The Pelvic People remain not only innovative but deeply grounded in real human experience.
She’s Not Selling Saddles — She’s Selling Horseback Riding
When asked how she defines her business, Emily doesn’t skip a beat: “We’re sparking a paradigm shift.” And she is. Through tools, storytelling, and unwavering audacity, she’s not just making sex less painful — she’s making it more human.
