PROFILE
B y Alison Draisin for northwest leaf | Photo by Daniel Berman
WOMEN OF WEED Continued from last page
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he Women of Weed has become something I look forward to each month. It is a safe place where I feel a sense of love and compassion for the women who are quickly becoming my comrades in this state’s blossoming Cannabis industry. WoW gatherings are a place for companionship and camaraderie in the male-dominated Cannabis world. WoW members often joke about how the Cannabis plant is a female, but most of the people who grow, extract, write about, donate and sell the plant are men. However, that is changing. THE BEGINNING The Women of Weed was formed by Aimee (Ah) Warner and Shawn DeNae when they noted a dearth of women in the business. At a time where female Cannabis business owners were still hiding in the closet, it was wonderful to finally meet other amazing women who shared the same passion for providing quality Cannabis products in a professional manner. It definitely takes a certain kind of woman, one who is willing to risk everything to be a business owner in the Cannabis industry. Women are powerful consumers and business owners and in this burgeoning new business, we are a reckoning force. I sat down with Ah and Shawn to discuss their vision of WoW. Ah shared the mission statement of WoW: “Building a safe community of like-minded women to support and nurture our individual goals.” She notes that we are like-minded to a point. Weed and sisterhood are the common thread that binds WoW members. Based on her education in women’s studies, Ah’s motivation is that we support each other’s goals. When conceptualizing WoW, Ah had felt solitary in her first 10 years in the industry, and again, when she re-emerged in the male-dominated Cannabis industry a couple of years ago. Ah met Shawn at a Cannabis Coalition for Standards and Ethics meeting and immediately bonded with her. Shawn, having been a part of women’s groups in the square world, acknowledged how powerful the potential is for such groups.
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It’s not as though you can go to your children’s PTA and talk about how you work in your marijuana garden or that you made pans of medicated edibles that day. After decades of being quiet about what we do in the weed industry, we have found a safe place to share our experiences with others who have been on a parallel path.
getting organized, united They discussed building a community in the industry for women who have been cloistered for so many years. They had no idea just how much of a need existed for such a group. At a time when people seemed unwilling to make the bold step of inviting relative strangers into their homes, Ah
28/dec. 2013 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
Delta 9 Seattle is owned by WoW member Stephanie Heart