Meet Reuben & Sherri Johnson | Award-Winning Brand Specialists & Pleasure Activists

We had the good fortune of connecting with Reuben & Sherri Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Reuben & Sherri, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
If forced to pinpoint a single significant factor behind our success, it would undoubtedly be our unconditional support for each other. In other words, “Put us together, how they gon’ stop both us?” Additionally, throughout our journey, the recurring theme in every success story past and present, has been rooted in one or more of these three elements: First, having the courage and sometimes the audacity to show up in every space as our true selves. Second, our willingness to be vulnerable. One day we came to realize just how much of an impact other people’s willingness to be vulnerable and share their experiences with the world had on our own lives and careers. When we made the decision to do the same…no longer lowering our heads in shame, but instead owning our experiences, and openly sharing the lessons we learned, we suddenly became magnetic. “Shame dies where stories are told in safe spaces.” And third, we genuinely care about people and want them to be successful. Whether that be in business or in pleasure. We love connecting people, cheering them on, and supporting them in whatever capacity we can. It just so happens that we have a very particular set of skills in which to do that 😉

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We have two businesses that we are deeply passionate about, each complementing the other. The first has been a labor of love for over two decades, where we’ve honed our expertise and maintained financial stability. The second, while not yet a significant revenue stream, is deeply personal, driven by passion and purpose, and offers us countless long-term opportunities for meaningful impact.

To understand where we are today, it’s important to know a little about where we come from.

When we started our first business in 2001, now recognized as the award-winning brand agency Fly Media Productions, we were newly married, in our early twenties, and navigating life in public housing with a five-year-old, trying to figure out how we were gonna build a quality life for ourselves around disabilities that necessitated flexibility and work-from-home options for both of us.

A very long story short… a friend introduced us to the web, another gifted us a computer, we left the high-control religious organization we were born into, moved to Atlanta where we saw how much Black folks are celebrated, found a professional community that embraced us for who we are, and the rest is history.

It was not at all easy. It was a long, hard, and often lonely road.

The Drake lyric, “Checks bounced, but we bounced back.” sort of sums up our journey rather succinctly, without of course all the nuance.

I don’t think that you can take two individuals living with chronic disabilities, put them together, navigating life as young parents and a newly married couple with aspirations for greatness still working through figuring out their place in the world, and expect an easy journey. But, in many ways, that’s exactly how we arrived at who we are today, and the degree of inner strength we’ve cultivated over the years, enabling us to liberate ourselves from the shackles of conformity and fear.

Unfortunately, escaping the JW organization didn’t immediately lead to the liberated lives we envisioned for ourselves. It took time for us to recognize that we were still clinging to harmful beliefs that were not our own, and our relationship suffered as a result.

After finding our way back to each other emotionally, we committed to doing the hard work of deconstructing everything we had ever been taught about love, sex, intimacy, marriage, and relationships. Our goal was to not only discover our individual identities outside of these preconceived notions, but to also redefine our relationship. By rejecting the narrow confines of what we were taught constituted a healthy relationship, we discovered the freedom to write our own rules and shape our own path.

The more we embraced our journeys of self-discovery and redefining our relationship, the more we found ourselves exploring aspects of ourselves and each other that were previously off-limits. The process was life-changing. Constructing a life guided by our own rules lead to a profound evolution of our relationship. Aspects that once faced crisis were now blossoming into a depth of connection we still struggle to fully articulate. We couldn’t get enough of this new life or each other!

In 2019, after recognizing a gap in the sexual wellness and pleasure market for inclusive and culturally aware design and consulting services that catered to connecting brands with multicultural audiences without diluting their brand or shying away from the industry’s taboo nature, we took another leap of faith and chose to transition our agency to meet this need. And thus began our professional journey in destigmatizing pleasure.

As we were about to go all in on this new journey in 2020, the global pandemic hit. Despite initially throwing us for a curve, it also led to the birth of our newest venture, SexTech n’ Chill.

Fueled by a shared passion for community, sexploration, and the arts expressed through the lens of urban culture, what started out as an idea for a virtual pleasure con unlike anything anyone has ever seen, has evolved into a digital platform dedicated to empowering unapologetic pleasure seekers on a transformative journey of liberation and self-discovery.

By fostering an inclusive and celebratory environment for folks to explore, learn, and thrive in their sexuality, our meticulously curated collection of content and experiences actively promotes open and normalized conversations around sex and pleasure.

What makes SexTech n’ Chill different from other sexual education or pleasure-based entertainment platforms is that we sit squarely in the middle. We see ourselves as a bridge for folks ready to move beyond basic sex education, but who may not yet be ready to indulge in the full smorgasbord of adult entertainment available today. If you’re looking to expand your pleasure palate and explore new flavors of sexual discovery in a safe and supportive environment, that’s us!

As curators still deeply immersed in our personal journey, we bring a unique perspective. We intimately understand the feeling of being a fish out of water—dropped into an unfamiliar world without guidance on how to navigate it; standing at the starting line, unsure of the course’s length or the obstacles ahead; grappling with triggers and learning self-regulation; experiencing shame spirals and navigating relationship challenges—often now related to your healing (talk about a mind-fuck).

Yet, we also know the exhilaration of trying new things, pushing boundaries, and discovering immense joy, pleasure, and confidence in activities once feared. We’re intimately familiar with the complexities of coming out later in life because dissociating from your body was how you once survived. We understand the loss of relationships due to personal beliefs. And we know what it’s like to almost lose each other.

This deep understanding of our followers comes from our shared experiences. We’ve walked the paths they now tread, and in many ways, we continue to do so.

Through Fly Media Productions and SexTech n’ Chill, our mission is to destigmatize pleasure—not just for ourselves but for everyone, including future generations. Because we all deserve to feel empowered to make our own rules, find freedom from stigma and shame, and experience the immense pleasure that sexual freedom affords.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If we aren’t entertaining at home, which we love to do, we might take a friend to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. It’s the perfect place to stroll, chat, and capture lots of beautiful selfies. We’d follow that up with either a plate of mouth watering jerk chicken from One Luv Cafe, or a slice of piping hot pizza from Felini’s. Then take them on a chill tour of the city, sun roof open vibing to our Trap Cruisin’ playlist! A week long trip would be similar: chill vibes, good eats, dope music.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our shoutout, without a doubt has to go to our good friend and colleague, Leslie Camacho. Leslie is a Certified EOS Implementer and a compassionate entrepreneur who has devoted his MBA and years of business expertise to helping entrepreneurs achieve their goals without compromising their well-being or relationships. As our personal EOS Implementer, Leslie has been instrumental in helping us resurface what we as owners really want from our work personally and professionally, as well as how to make room for passion projects without neglecting our primary source of revenue. Leslie was also pivotal in uncovering our long-standing core values, which had been ingrained but never formally expressed in writing for over two decades. Thanks to his guidance, we now have a visualized representation of our beliefs/ethos—and a guiding light for all decision making moving forward!

Website: SexTechNChill.com; FlyMediaProductions.com; xoFlyDuo.com

Instagram: @sextechnchill; @fmpagencyllc; @xoflyduo

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/flyduo; linkedin.com/in/yobigrube; linkedin.com/in/yagirlsherrij

Youtube: @xoflyduo; @sextechnchill