from www.risingstarpr.com – Simone Thomas is so beautiful that she has found it impossible to get work outside of the adult industry. Every time she found a job, it seemed someone would start Googling her and sooner rather than later they found themselves face-to-screen with her incredible hotness.
It was a distraction. They couldn’t look at her the same way ever again. They’d known she was hot, but after seeing her topless on the internet, they knew she was hot!
So she regrouped and started her own company, EroticCapital, which is one of the UK’s most exciting new online adult toy and lingerie retail companies. Now the former model, who appeared in Playboy, Maxim and more is getting sexy in lingerie to promote the products she sells—and it’s working.
This year she is looking at expanding the company to cover North America. With a stock that is carefully hand-picked, she has become a reliable supplier for both men and women in the UK and by the looks of things, she’ll be doing the same in the US in no time. You can’t keep a good-looking woman down. Not without some rope, anyway, which she sells on her site, www.eroticcapital.co.uk.
Q: How did a pretty, intelligent woman like yourself get involved with the sex industry?
From a very young age I was lucky enough to work full time in Telecoms and also travel and model for various companies, magazines and newspapers in UK, Europe and Vegas. Unfortunately as I got older and started to create a name for myself the companies I worked for did not always like the attention that came with it or should I say some of the women I worked with in the office did not always like it. I must say not all the women had issues as some of them are still good friends with me today. One particular company was the icing on the cake for me and my business management role when my £150,000k a year job was terminated due to a number of females issuing a complaint of me modeling would affect their sales with companies they account management role if I continued to work for the company that they could Google me and find pictures of me topless.
The thing that makes me laugh is a lot of the companies knew and no one had an issue but the company had to do what they did. This then left me with two options either start at another company and most probably this would happen again or set up on my own. I took some time out and did some research into all the things I have a passion for which are lingerie, hair and beauty, shoes, sex toys, cars etc. As a fan of toys and lingerie I decided to look into this industry and then went about setting up my own company EroticCapital.co.uk. The toy and lingerie industry is a billion dollar pound industry so what a great industry I thought to be part of and a industry I would not get judge in like the past.
Q: How does someone like yourself become successful in a business that already offers consumers many options? What does EroticCapital offer or do differently from other companies?
I believe anyone can have an offering but it is about how you deliver the product/offering and how hard you are willing to work for it. I work from 9 am to 12 pm most days and nearly every weekend. I have a great team behind me from Marketing and PR to my amazing warehouse staff. We all work together as a team as we all see the bigger picture and want EroticCapital to become a global brand.
I look at my competitors and their products and make sure that EroticCapital if we are selling the same product that we are always cheaper but never fail on customer service or product delivery. The key to growing is to keep eye on the ball and not to get greedy with revenue and turnover and blow it all away. I am a huge believer of reinvesting back into my staff and the business with better ad campaigns and marketing. I am here to make money like us all in business but I am not here to rip people off and over charge especially these days with a global rescission.
Q: With your blog you really put yourself out there on another level. Before people could Google topless photos of you, but now they can read about your feelings about butt plugs, vibrators, fantasies—you have opened yourself up in a whole different way. Has that been easy for you because of your modeling experience, or is it a completely different experience in exposing yourself?
It has never been easy and still is not, people look at my website and form an opinion before they have even spoken to me or even met me. This affected me during my teenage years. I have a very small group of friends and even now when I meet new people they form a opinion of me but 99.9% of the time I will get an apology and they say wow I got you so wrong from reading about you or seeing your images, this is always nice to get an apology but I wished it I did not have to happen in the first place. I am an intelligent single female with a passion and a dream in life. My dream is to be successful in business and however I can achieve that within limits I will.
I have always enjoyed writing from a young age and also been very open minded when it comes to XXX films, dressing up for a boyfriend, being confident in myself. I love writing and I do have to be careful that I do not come across cheap or tacky with the blog so I go at it in a fantasy story telling kind of way. Some of my stories come from true events which could be from a friend, friends of friends or days/night I have had or even a fantasy night I would love to have in the future when I meet Mr Right.
I write what is on my mind at the time and what I have seen or experienced in that week up to the blog. If I have seen a holiday programme about yachts I will then write about a steamy story about sex on a yacht or make up a short tale about Ibiza after going there on holiday myself last summer. I would like to be able to express my deepest, sensual self in my writing but until I feel I am accepted as a business women I feel I need to be careful not to over step the mark. One day I would love to publish a book on toys, relationship and fun/advice of tips. Who knows what the future holds?
Q: You mentioned limits. What are some of yours?
This is a hard one to answer as I am a very honest and grounded person. I would never lie, steal or hurt anyone to get where I want in business. I don’t play dirty. I am a huge believer in Karma with a capital K. I want to be able to look back in my life and say I did it on my own, not by marrying a rich husband. I want to change my life and stars by working hard and putting the hours in. Some days are good and other are so very hard that I think why me? For example, over Christmas I had serious issues with my server crashing and it affected my business for six days, which is not great. This has never happened before so know I have to invest in bigger and better servers and more IT over the Christmas period from now on.
Q: The book seems like a natural progression. I’m curious if dating for you can be a little unnatural in that you blog about your situations; do your partners come into the relationship aware that they may be part of your public discourse?
I was in a long term relationship for 6 years and since then been very much single so my blog is fantasy from my side or memories of old. I would never expect a partner to want to be in my blogs as we all like to keep our private life private but as I am trying to grow my brand which is sex related I am more open with my personal life and always have been.
Q: Sex toys don’t face the same scrutiny that some other products do, which means sometimes vibrators can be made with carcinogens that are harmful to one’s health. How do you deal with that as a retailer?
In August of 2011 I did a post about this exact issue. Back then I announced that most sex toys and accessories contain a petroleum by-product which contains Carcinogens. Carcinogens can alter the body’s natural hormone production and it has been researched and said this can lead to fatal conditions like CANCER.
These harmful chemicals have already been banned in children’s toys but to date they have not been banned from toys in the adult industry. So a night of slap and tickle with a loved one or by yourself could be causing your body more damage than good. Using certain toys can put you or your partner’s long term health at risk. Now this is not a thought that will turn you on between the sheets!
EroticCapital.co.uk has looked into this problem and researched various toys and products which are free from dangerous plastics and chemicals. All of our products come with an online description and also provide details on the material used to make the toys in question. I’ve been looking into the safer side of sex for some time now and working with the best suppliers across the globe to bring safe sex into toys that are Paraben and Phthalate free.
Q: Looking at the Simone’s Picks section of the site, are all of those pictures of you?
Yes they are all me, taken in October 2011. I used a blonde wig for some of these images. I had a relaunch of the website and redesign of the brand after a first successful year of trading. The launch of the new website was the 5th of November and these images and products were used for the new site launch.
Q: What items are hot today? Lingerie is a staple, but are today’s women experimenting more with items they might not have in the past? Are men buying mostly for women or are they making purchases that more directly enhance their sex lives, too?
Men and women are both experimenting more than they used to in the bedroom department. Men are also buying more online these days for their women and for themselves. When men tend to buy for their partners the normal for an order is a strap on, some sort of rubber outfit, waterproof toy and a baby doll or bar set so a very mixed order but I think men like to try a little bit of everything. The top seller for guys buying for themselves is the Fleshlight, which is a brand of sex toys designed for penetration and marketed primarily to heterosexual men. When women buy they tend to go for lingerie and a selection of toys normally a rabbit or g-spot vibrator.
Q: What was the last product to come in that shocked you?
I think it would have to be the Cock and ball board. We sold out within days off these.
Q: If you were a manufacturer, what product would you be working on that isn’t yet available or perfected?
In lingerie I would like to work on the sizing still. A plan I would hope to have turn into reality is to have my own underwear range which is done by bra size. You find in the fantasy style underwear that everything comes S/M/L/XL and now days there are so many different shapes and sizes out there that there do not always cater for all. I am 5ft11 and struggle even with tights that are meant to be for taller women the crutch on them is still too low and the leg length is never long enough. In regards to toys the rabbit was such a huge hit and still is after sex and the city I would love to create something new, not sure what and would not want to say if I did in case any manufactures stole my idea One thing that has always appealed to me is doing a range for the younger women so the starters age 18 – 23 which comes with a basic good safe sex guide.
Q: Five-feet and 11-inches? That’s a whole lot of hotness! What is your height minimum for men you’ll date?
Well I have tried to date guys my height or smaller but it does not work for me. I am a romantic and love to get cozy and snuggle on the sofa and I feel weird if I am cuddling someone smaller than me. I want to feel protected like I am a cuddling a big bear. Also as a woman you want to feel protected when you go out and having a tall guy to look up to always make me feels secure and safe. Its hard though because when I have heels on I I’m over 6ft which I love being tall and would not want to be any other way.
Q: With such a wide variety of toys and outfits out there, do you have the time or the desire to test them all? Is sex less exciting for you because it’s also your job?
I am lucky to have a good bunch of friends around me who are open minded like me that test toys and underwear. I also have a couple that are sex toy testers for me as well. I am in charge of all the products I sell, I get sent a list weekly of new items and then I select the items I like ad that I would sue myself.
I did have over 5,000 products originally when I started the business in 2010 but I have worked hard to really only sell toys and items I believe would sell and women or men would want to use. I would love to try more of the outfits out myself but with just me in my apartment I don’t think my teddy bears have the same opinion as a real man would so until I meet a partner it will have to be my friends and their feedback and my only personal opinion.
Sex to me is very important but also important for me not to just jump into bed with every guy that offers to take me out for drinks and dinner. I am a very private person when it comes to me and my life. I know people can read about my business but that is one side of me but my private life I keep private. I have always had a rule when it comes to dating and that is the 30 day rule, if the pass the 30 day rule I might then consider taking it to another level as people I meet assume to much when it comes to me and that I must be easy because I own a sex toy and lingerie business.
For more on Simone Thomas and Erotic Capital visit www.risingstarpr.com/news/?page_id=3595.