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Zero to OneTaste

Notes on one of the most bizarre criminal cases in recent memory: Was OneTaste another NXIVM, or the victim of prosecutorial overreach?

onetaste Nicole Daedone Rachel Cherwitz
Allegations range from a former OneTaste employee who says Tinder was used to line up sexual partners for unwilling participants to women within the organization feeling pressured into intimate relationships. Photo: AP Photo/Jeenah Moon
Eriq Gardner
March 11, 2024

Nearly 15 years ago, Nicole Daedone was a rising star among the in-crowd of the burgeoning wellness-spirituality-whatever space. The founder of OneTaste, a business built around the practice of “orgasmic meditation,” she graced a San Francisco TED Talk stage to extol the virtues of what she called slow sex. There was also a fluffy Times story and fawning endorsement on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop podcast for bringing about a new form of female empowerment. Alas, times change. These days, Daedone is facing prosecution for allegedly running a slavery ring, and orchestrating one of the most heinous conspiracies imaginable.