OneTaste Owners: Anjuli Ayer, Amanda Dunham, Austin Ayer
(A version of this statement was originally issued on June 8, 2023.)
OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone and former sales director Rachel Cherwitz were indicted on Tuesday, June 6th, in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) on an unfounded allegation of conspiracy to commit forced labor. Given OneTaste’s culture of empowerment, choice, and consent, this is both inconsistent with our core values and utterly unjustified.
Five years ago, the FBI began an investigation into OneTaste that was wholly based on an error-riddled Bloomberg Businessweek article that contained false and since-debunked accusations of harm and wrongdoing. The EDNY subsequently followed through, basing their work on the Bloomberg Businessweek piece and relying upon reporting from other copycat media stories, culminating in the indictments that were just unsealed.
We have cooperated with federal prosecutors in the EDNY throughout the investigation. We are appalled by the outcome of what seems to be a long-term, misogynistic endeavor designed to tear down a feminine empowerment project and the women who built it.
OneTaste is a women-led organization that has devoted itself to wellness, healing, inclusion, personal growth and has always had female empowerment at its core. The practice of Orgasmic Meditation (“OM”) has been misunderstood and maligned despite ever-expanding scientific evidence demonstrating its beneficial impact.
OneTaste, under its current ownership, has strived to improve, listen to criticism, adjust, and evolve in ways that bring those myriad benefits to many more people. They practice OM on their own time and on their own terms. This is our continuing mission. We remain undeterred even as we commit to fully defend ourselves and the practice that has transformed our lives in the face of a multi-year, media-instigated campaign.
If you would like to discuss anything further, we welcome hearing from you at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Anjuli Ayer - Amanda Dunham - Austin Ayer
Owners, OneTaste Inc.
