FEED Issue 15

33 GENIUS INTERVIEW Andrea Barrica

Andrea Barrica is founder of sexual health site O.school - and people just can’t get enough ANDREA BARRICA OUR MISSION IS TO CREATE THE MOST TRUSTED SEXUALITY BRAND IN THE WORLD

FEED: Can you outline the journey that brought you to founding O.school? ANDREA BARRICA: Growing up, I was told that my worth was dependent on my virginity, and taught a lot of religious, anti- scientific dogma about sex and sexuality. As a queer woman of colour, a lot of this caused lasting trauma — I wasn’t out, but my family knew something was going on, and I really went through a lot emotionally that took me years of therapy to overcome. When I got to university, I really started to understand how wrong most of what I was taught was, and was thrust into an environment that I felt wholly unprepared for. Even after graduation, it was tough. I had co-founded my first company, an online accounting software called inDinero, but was still uncomfortable looking at my own genitals. I knew I wasn’t alone, and I knew the resources were lacking or exacerbating the problems. When I started working in

venture capital investing in internet and technology companies, I did not see any innovative companies doing anything about the lack of resources for people struggling with sexuality. I decided that I should do something about it, which led to founding O.school. ANDREA BARRICA: O.school is a non- judgemental online resource for sexuality and dating. We tackle issues of sexual health, wellness, and pleasure through medically accurate videos, articles, graphics and livestreams. Our mission is to create the most trusted sexuality brand in the world. FEED: What technology platforms and tech partners have you used to build the O.school video platform? FEED: So what is O.school?

ANDREA BARRICA: O.school’s live

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