How Éva Goicochea Brought Vibrators to Sephora, Raised Millions, and Overcame Imposter Syndrome

In ELLE.com’s monthly series Office Hours, we ask people in powerful positions to take us through their first jobs, worst jobs, and everything in between. This month, we spoke to Éva Goicochea, the founder and CEO of Maude, a modern sexual wellness company that counts Dakota Johnson as an investor and co-creative director. The brand’s products (think: an unassuming vibrator that comes in chic colorways) are simple and beautiful, an apparent callback to Goicochea’s time working in social media during the early days of Everlane. Throughout her career, she’s also raised more than $10 million in venture funding, a notoriously difficult feat for female founders, and led Maude to become the first sexual wellness brand carried in Sephora stores. But, she says, don’t assume she has all the answers. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to people being like, ‘Well, you’ve got it figured out,’” she tells ELLE.com. “No, I don’t. Not at all.” Below, Goicochea pulls back the curtain behind being a CEO—and shares what she’s learned along the way.

My first job

I started working, illegally by the way, when I was 14. My mom’s friend had a coffee shop, and I really wanted to make my own money, so she let me work there as a barista. I was a baby; I cannot believe I worked there. But it was good to be in a public-facing role where you’re dealing with a lot of personalities. In the morning, people are rushing, and you get some good ones, some bad ones. That was a good lesson at a very young age.

My worst job

I took a gap year between high school and college, and I sold Volkswagens, which was fun, but I’m not good at making things up. I wasn’t going to tell people that this car was going to fly; I just wasn’t good at overselling. I realized early I’m too honest to be in car sales. I got fired for being late, but I drove 40 miles every day, so I was like, “I’m 10 minutes late, I should be an hour late.” I was very incensed that they were so hard on me, but I was just young. And being a woman in an all-male environment was not great.

How I learned about sex growing up

I went to a Catholic high school, not because my parents were very Catholic, but because they wanted me to go to a good school. So I went every day and learned about abstinence-only [sex education]. They sort of treated it like you were delivered by a stork. Then I would go home and have real conversations. My mom was an arts educator, and she was very matter-of-fact about the topic. I had two views in my life at all times. I felt very prepared to be in high school, but I was surrounded by people who had never talked about [sex] with their families.

The way my sex education informs how I approach Maude

I’m very aware of how many levels of comfort there are. Some people are very comfortable, have always talked about [sex] with their families or their friends, and some people just aren’t. That’s really informed how we think about being inclusive, because inclusivity is not just an age or gender; it’s also inclusivity of thought. We try to create language that makes people feel comfortable. It is absolutely part of the fabric of what we do, based on those experiences.

What it’s like to raise funds as a Latina woman in the sexual wellness space

There are two sides of being in a category that’s so stigmatized. The benefit is that people who have become investors really believe in what we’re doing. They think this could be world-changing, culture-changing. The hardest thing is not having a roadmap. It was like, I’m a Latina, and all odds are against me. I’m a female. We’re in sexual wellness. It toughened us. It made us super resilient. It made us really believe in what we’re doing.

My advice to others is to recognize that the norm is “no.” We hear all about the success stories, and even now, people say to me, “You’ve raised money, blah, blah, blah.” Yeah, but each round probably took, on average, six to nine months. It was painful. It was difficult. There were tears. It was just really hard. The “no” is more a part of it than the “yes.” If you can recognize that and wake up knowing you still want to build this business, you’ll be okay.

Why I don’t want to be the face of my brand

It can be really reductive when you’re out in front as a female, which sucks. But mostly, I think about: Is this business best helped by me shepherding it, or is it best helped by me being in front? For us, it’s shepherding. It’s facilitating conversations, helping drive the business to be inclusive, speaking on our behalf, and advocating for us. But I am not the poster child for Maude. Though weirdly, I have been married a long time, and I am a Maude customer in that way. I think it just depends on the business. Are you the perfect spokesperson for it, or are you really just doing it a disservice? Sexual wellness is obviously a very sensitive topic. I really think it would be inappropriate for me to insert my own life into Maude. Not to mention, who cares? They need to be able to have a relationship with the products that is their own. I don’t need to be in there talking about my own life.

The one part of being a CEO that I’ll never get used to

For some reason, the more your business grows, people think you know everything. I find that to be really strange. I can go and stand in front of people and talk about Maude, and I feel really comfortable doing that, but that doesn’t mean I have the answer to everything or I feel like I’ve succeeded. The reality is that businesses change and grow and require different things.

On the dangers of “imposter syndrome”

I’ve had so many jobs, and I’ve been exposed to so many types of people. It’s allowed me to realize people are just people. They go home and feed their kids, or they walk their dogs, or they watch TV, and they’re not everything that they appear to be online. So I feel like the term “imposter syndrome” needs to go away. Even the tenor of my relationships has changed over time, because they’re like, “Oh, you have Maude now.” But that doesn’t mean anything. I still can’t boil an egg. I hope that that changes, and there’s more of a narrative around how we are multifaceted creatures.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.