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Why I Started Hard Press (And What It’s Really About)
I didn’t start Hard Press in a moment of pleasure — I started it in a moment of pain.
I had just been laid off from a corporate job that I thought would give me stability, but it had been quietly draining me for years. On paper, I had it together — career, wife, family. But inside? I was unraveling. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was depressed. And it wasn’t the kind of depression that screams. It was the quiet, creeping kind — the one that numbs your body, your joy, your desire.
I took a break from corporate America to work on my mental health and my marriage. That decision cracked something open. I started therapy, where I was officially diagnosed with depression. Finally, things started making sense — why I couldn’t get out of bed, why I didn’t want to have sex with my wife, why we felt miles apart even when we were sitting side by side on the couch.
And to make matters more complicated, the medication I was prescribed to help my depression? It made our sex life even more nonexistent. My body felt off. I gained weight. I didn’t feel sexy or confident. I was avoiding my wife, shutting down without realizing I was even doing it. Every touch felt like pressure. Every kiss felt like a reminder that I wasn’t who I used to be.
But I wanted her. I wanted us. I just didn’t know how to get back to that place.
So I started reading. Researching. Deep-diving into mental health, sexuality, intimacy, and the way they’re all connected. I started learning that sex isn’t just physical — it’s emotional, psychological, even spiritual. I began exploring ways to connect with my wife that weren’t strictly sexual: the kind of intimacy that looks like holding hands in silence, cooking together, or telling the truth even when it’s uncomfortable.
That shift changed everything.
As our communication deepened, so did our desire for each other. The intimacy came back, and eventually, so did the sex — but it was different this time. It wasn’t about performance. It was about presence. It was about understanding each other, holding space, and slowly rebuilding our connection from the ground up.
And that’s when I realized what I really wanted to do.
I’ve always loved writing. And before all this, I was a UX designer — I knew how to build experiences, create connection, and tell stories visually. So I took everything I was learning, everything I was living, and I poured it into a space I called Hard Press.
At first, Hard Press was just for me — my creative outlet, my safe space, my personal experiment in healing. I nurtured it the way I was nurturing my marriage. I started treating my relationship like a case study, applying everything I learned from therapy, research, real-life trial and error. And slowly, something beautiful grew.
My marriage started thriving — we started thriving — and I knew I couldn’t keep this to myself. I had to share what I was learning. Because I knew I wasn’t alone.
There are so many women out there who feel what I felt: disconnected from their partners, from their bodies, from their desires. Women who are doing all the “right” things but still feel like something’s missing. Women who love their partners but don’t know how to find their way back to passion, or who are afraid they’ve lost it forever.
I want Hard Press to be the place those women come to feel seen, heard, and turned on by life again.
At some point during this journey, I started reflecting on all my past relationships — with men and women. I traced the patterns, the self-sabotage, the emotional distance I used as armor. I looked at the kinds of people I was attracting and asked myself why. I started healing from the inside out, and I poured that work into Hard Press too.
Because sexual wellness is not a bonus. It’s not just about orgasms and lingerie and toys (though those are fun). It’s about the way we see ourselves. It’s about confidence, boundaries, connection, expression, healing. It’s about understanding our wants and needs, and believing we deserve to have them met — not just in the bedroom, but everywhere.
Sexual health is mental health. It’s emotional health. It’s a form of self-care that’s often dismissed, downplayed, or shamed — especially for women. And I wanted to create a space where that shame couldn’t survive. Where curiosity is celebrated, where vulnerability is sexy, and where pleasure is power.
I’m naturally a curious person. I’ve always loved sex — not just the act, but everything it encompasses: the psychology, the power dynamics, the communication, the exploration, the pleasure, the healing. And when I combined that curiosity with my love for writing and storytelling, Hard Press was born.
This blog is for the women who want to feel confident again — in their bodies, in their relationships, in their own damn skin. It’s for the ones who are tired of faking it, tired of shrinking, tired of not knowing where to start. It’s for the curious, the healing, the pleasure-seeking, and the powerful.
And I’m just getting started.