Meet Rora

How Rora is Revolutionizing Intimacy For the Queer Community

I had the fortunate opportunity to interview two co-founders of Rora, Avery Lash, and Sonja Kleven. I’ve known both of them through school at the University of Minnesota and have been in awe of the solution they’re building in the sexual wellness market. While this sector is set to hit $80B in revenue over the next five years, some groups still don’t have the right products to address their needs. Over a thoughtful conversation with Avery and Sonja, we began to dissect a significant gap in the market, specifically for the queer community, and how Rora is developing a solution to address it.

Sonja Kleven recognized a need in the queer community, identifying that women did not have sufficient intimacy products in the market to experience pleasure with their partners. Existing products are also built to look like human anatomy, which does not translate to an enhanced experience, and have a narrowed focus on internal stimulation.

After Sonja pitched the idea to her class and recruited a few peers, she quickly started prototyping. Having no experience with building a physical prototype, she spent her entire Thanksgiving weekend using Gravity Sketch to create a digital mockup of the prototype. This led her to delve into the maker space at the University of Minnesota to create a minimum-viable product using a silicone mold. Sonja continues prioritizing product development by adding features and iterating based on user input.

Eventually, the team landed on the name for their company: Rora. Avery says it’s short for Arora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights. The team’s goal is to not only shine a light on the queer community but also create a brand that fosters a sophisticated representation of intimacy. Currently, the team is initially targeting individuals in the women-loving-women community (WLW)

Avery spends most of her time making sure Rora runs smoothly on the backend. She is all things operations, touching multiple functions of the business. Right now, she is working on negotiating insurance rates and exploring manufacturing options for the business to consider in the future.

Sonja and Avery are not just founders; they have other career responsibilities such as part-time work and internships. So, they meet with the team every week for an hour to check in and each member strives to embed tasks for Rora throughout their schedules to ensure progress. Both Avery and Sonja are grateful for the University of Minnesota’s incredible resources and mentors that have enabled the successes they’ve experienced as early-stage founders. Right now, Rora is a Minnesota Cup semifinalist, competing in September for the grand prize of $50,000.

Follow along in their journey!!

Instagram: love.withrora

Tiktok: lovewithrora

Website: loverora

Thanks for reading,

Sanjana