EP38: Anna Richards, Founder and CEO of FrolicMe, the pioneering female-led ethical erotica platform created for women and couples.

This week Jo sits down with Anna Richards, founder and CEO of FrolicMe, to discuss building a female-led ethical erotica platform in midlife and redefining how adult content can centre female pleasure, consent, and authentic connection. Anna shares how a lack of erotic content reflecting women’s desires led her to start a blog in 2013–14, then launch FrolicMe in 2015 with 20 self-produced films alongside stories and galleries, funded with limited resources and without investors. She explains how she learned production by finding mentors and industry contacts, kept teams small and collaborative, and built growth largely through SEO because advertising options were limited, reaching 1.6 million monthly visitors and breaking even around year three. Anna describes expanding into audio in 2019, banking a year of content post-COVID, navigating age verification requirements, and the challenges of social media bans.  00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro02:08 Why FrolicMe Began04:50 Fear and Going Taboo06:00 Testing the Idea With a Blog07:23 What Women Want From Erotica10:20 From Stories to Films13:34 Breaking Into Production18:00 First Shoots and Self Funding22:23 Ethical Erotica and Consent24:54 Growing With SEO29:21 Competition and Cultural Pushback30:50 Early Website Panic32:04 Organic Growth Milestones33:24 Breaking Even Without Investors35:04 Production Costs Evolve36:45 Location Shoots Aesthetic37:46 COVID Audio Pivot39:30 Fantasy Storytelling Details41:38 Age Verification Challenges46:13 Marketing and Social Media48:15 Family Reactions and Normalizing50:07 Founder 321 Takeaways55:48 Final Thanks and Wrap Visit at www.frolicme.com Follow @frolicme_anna or @frolicme_offical Support the showEdited and produced by Jo Glynn-Smith 2025. Recorded at Eight Works Podcast Studios, 1 Dysart Street, London, EC2A 2BXFor bookings: [email protected] Jo Glynn-Smith is an entrepreneur, professional coach, writer, and speaker from London, she is an expert in career transformation and change. Instagram @jojoglynnsmith and @themidlifeentrepreneurContact: [email protected] CREDIT Easy Money by REX BANNER licensed by Artlist.ioPHOTOGRAPHY by JONATHAN GLYNN-SMITH www.jonathanglynnsmith.com