PHOENIX - In 2003, entrepreneur and artist Lisa Lawrence decided to start her own business out of strong needs for two things: a good massage and a better career.
"I got stuck at the keyboard one night and couldn't turn my head at all," she explains. "I'd been at that computer for hours on end and had a deadline to meet, so I had to keep going. I needed a really hard massage in one spot on my shoulder, and I just couldn't get enough pressure behind it to do myself any good."
Lawrence tried a handheld massager but wasn't able to apply enough pressure, so she decided that she needed to find a way to mount the massager onto a wall, where it could stay in place.
With the help of a friend who builds race cars and an aircraft engineer/mechanic, Lawrence developed the design for the Lean on Me Link. The Link connects a HoMedics massage device to Lean on Me's T-flange grab bars, giving the user a hands-free massage.
"Sometimes, 30 seconds in the right place is all it takes," Lawrence says. "Anywhere there is mental or physical stress, this gizmo comes to the rescue-perfect pressure, where you want it, when you want it, for as long as you want it."
In the two years since Lawrence finalized the patents, she has discovered that many users apply her product to more than just their back muscles.
"There has been so much discussion about the alternative [uses] for this system [that] it just seems right to start out by exhibiting the product at a trade-show level at the Adult Entertainment Expo," she says. "It seems that Lean on Me products nationwide are being used by women for sexual pleasure, specifically clitoral stimulation."
After first sharing the product with a few friends and family members, then selling more than 200 units sold, Lawrence will launch her company, Lean on Me Independent Massage Systems, into the adult-novelty market at the AEE show in Las Vegas in January.
"It's time to let the monster out," Lawrence says. "The AEE Vegas show this January will be the coming-out party."
Contact information:
Lean on Me Independent Massage Systems
602-275-1049
