Tag: Women Cultivating Success

Women's greatest asset and resource are themselves.
Marijuana Businesses, Networking Events, Women Owned Cannabis Businesses

The impact of women throughout the ages reflects how powerful we are when we come together to work towards a common goal. This not only applies to causes – It applies to business.

We are all in an industry with unique business challenges. And, the women in the cannabis industry are unique. We chose to transition our careers and businesses into the cannabis space. We don’t have to be here. We have options. But, we are here. We are in the industry because we believe in the healing properties of the plant and we see the opportunities it affords us as entrepreneurs.

It is imperative that we come together to harness and use our power in an exchange of expertise and resources. Every woman in this industry has had to continually educate themselves on all aspects of the segment they are in. We’ve made business and career decisions with no access to counsel from other women who had to make the same decisions. There are other women, as well as ourselves, who have made the mistakes we are about to make. Each of us has crucial information and resources that affects the success of another woman’s career and business in this industry.

Make every online and in person networking opportunity with other women an open, authentic conversation. This is how we begin building a strong national business community for women in the cannabis space.

Women's Cannabis Chamber of Commerce
Marijuana Businesses, Women Owned Cannabis Businesses

Founding a Cannabis Chamber of Commerce in 2011 in Colorado was not an ah-ha moment. It was based on my decades of experience as an entrepreneur, and member. and ambassador for my communities’ chambers. Chambers of commerce are a group of businesses that support the interests of its members. I felt cannabis businesses would benefit from communicating and working together to find solutions to non-political issues. It turned out to be a hard sell. 

What was not a hard sell was the monthly women’s breakfast. The subjects of conversation were consistent and specific to women working in the cannabis industry. It was obvious that the direction of the Cannabis Chamber of Commerce should be focused on women entrepreneurs and career women transiting into the industry. In 2016 the Cannabis Chamber of Commerce had evolved into and became the Women’s Cannabis Chamber of Commerce.

Six months into 2014 and the legalization of adult use, smart women who had worked in the medical marijuana market in Colorado started coming to me with stories of how they had verbal agreements and sweat equity in medical marijuana businesses that were not honored. I heard stories of women getting their business open but with no money or plan on how to market they found investors. They lost their companies to their investors.

That was the turning point for WCCC. I could not help each woman individually, but I had a platform that could provide networking, connections, resources and business education – the Women’s Cannabis Chamber of Commerce.

The Women’s Cannabis Chamber of Commerce continually evolves, like the industry, to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs and business owners in the cannabis space. My vision in 2011 for a chamber of commerce for the cannabis industry was based on traditional chamber templates. It became obsolete immediately. The cannabis space is complex and multifaceted. 

For me the Women’s Cannabis Chamber of Commerce is not a business, for me it is a passion, an obsession, my swan song, my legacy.