Discover the Faces Behind the Store: Meet Our Team!

  • Vanessa

    Vanessa is the owner and manager of Please. While her professional background is in photography and marketing, it was her personal life that lead her to Please. She learned about sexual identity and gender fluidity in her formative years. Her parents, 2 women, found each other and have been in love over 40 years. They taught her people should be free to love whomever they wished to love. Vanessa’s children both identify as trans gender. They taught her gender is not a fixed, biological fact, but rather a social construct shaped by cultural and societal norms. These experiences combined with her own sexual journey has resulted in the the curated selection of products at the shop. Her past experiences have also helped hone the educational programing held at the store.

    “Sex is more than biological, it is psychological and emotional. It is also very personal, which can make it feel isolating. The mission of the shop is to have open and informed conversations because when we share, we learn and also teach.”

  • Brandon

    “I’ve worked at Please since 2022. My favorite part of this job is connecting with the wide variety of people who come into the shop, helping them find new confidence and excitement. I believe that great sex start with an open and curious mind set, with fun and safety as the top priorities.”

  • Bernie

    Bernie is a life-long Brooklynite with a passion for sex education. With a background in sexual and reproductive health, he is proud to help foster a welcoming space for curiosity and exploration at Please. Outside of the shop, he studies public health and is a doting uncle to a variety of fuzzy creatures.
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What is "an educated pleasure shop"?

It is rediscovering sensuality, intimacy, and passion as integral parts of the human sexual experience. It is nurturing a belief that sex is intimate, not illicit, aiming to change cultural views of sex for the better. Making discussions about all aspects of sex comfortable and open-- through failures and pleasures, through illness and health, at any age, in every way.

Please is not: your run-of-the-mill adult novelty store.

Please is: your destination for rediscovering and activating your sensuality. For bringing your questions, your curiosities, your excitements and your anxieties. For learning and for sharing. For talking openly, honestly, and comfortably. For re-kindling your fire or igniting it for the first time. For fostering education, entertainment, and discussion through our online presence, events, and workshops. For finding not only toys but books, body products, -- things that excite all senses and the mind itself.

Rather than focusing only on sexual anatomy, let’s also focus on the sexual beings who lie next to us, who are us. Bodies and minds can be sexy, too. Sex isn’t just parts fitting together. Please believes it can and should be a holistic experience where all senses are engaged-- sight, sound, taste, touch, and the mind-- to create a more rewarding experience for all. Let’s bring sex back to where it first sparked a light and made us shiver all over.

Please, rediscover sensuality.