FLY HIGH WITH KITES

KITES: BY NIMBLE

WRITTEN BY LAUREN LEONE DESIGNED BY JULIA FARIA

While discussing the importance of this edition’s theme, I was determined to find a brand that believed in the cause as much as we did.

I knew the moment I spoke to Joy Hudson, the owner of Nimble, that I had found the perfect cannabis company for this critical issue. Nimble, founded in 2020 by Joy and Marissa Rodriguez, is a one-of-a-kind brand.

Working in the cannabis industry since 2016 for a Southern Oregon farm, Joy was inspired to start Nimble. “We knew the landscape, we knew the players and we knew we could see it right,” Joy said. “We also knew the injustice of what happened with the failed War on Drugs.”

To combat the ongoing injustices of the War on Drugs, Joy shared that Nimble is a second-chance employer, which means that they hire people who have been formerly incarcerated. In addition, Joy sits on the council of Oregon Second Chance Tour, which works towards educating and engaging other businesses about their cause.

“Second chance employment is really hard because postprison integration is horrific. For people that have been incarcerated, it’s like we completely handicap them and then expect them to go out and thrive,” said Joy, speaking on the struggles that previously incarcerated individuals face finding jobs after release.

Nimble offers employees full health benefits, stock options, lunches and a green transportation program that covers the cost for employees who take public transit.

“Being a second chance employer and also being on the council gives us access to help try to change postprison introduction, especially for us in the cannabis space,” Joy said. “We have to do a lot of extra work to get them that handler’s card so that they can be in the space they deserve to be.”

Nimble’s flagship brand, Kites, was created in partnership with Nuproject with the intention of giving back to the Black and Brown communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs. Kites is a box of prerolls with a colorful kite as the icon, which symbolizes the communication system in prison.

“They call it kites,” Joy said, “because it’s when inmates flick notes from cell to cell with string on it.”

On every box of Kites is a small QR code that leads to the Kites’ landing page where consumers can see how many donations have been made on behalf of Kites. Every box sold donates fifty cents to Nuproject. Kites made incredible progress with over 769,210 joints sold, which translates to $38,460 in donations.

“Transparency is really important to us because I think there’s a lot of performative work in the equity space. So we built that fifty cents per pack into the cost of goods while creating the product so it’s built into the framework of our company,” Joy said.

It’s abundantly clear that this was a cause that Joy and Marissa care deeply about. It’s refreshing to learn about a company that is passionate about impacting the lives of its own employees first and then the community outside.

Next time you’re looking to buy a box of prerolls, I highly recommend picking up a box of Kites for a great high with an even better cause!

Designed by Palmer Krais