Hi everyone! Doone here - your host and hype girl. Thank you for tuning in to my solo episode this week. 


This week, I’m digging through the archives all the way back to the early days of Female Startup Club to unearth the lessons shared by female pioneers in the controversial, exciting and ever-evolving CBD industry. Since cannabis is progessively legalising across countries and it’s demand has increased multifold, we’ve seen an influx of innovative women-led companies in the space. 


Although, we must note, not a particularly representative one. In 2022, the percentage of women holding these top position has dropped to 22%, down from 37% women in executive-level roles in 2017. Despite this decline of women-power in the space, I’ve had to chance to speak to a number of real hustlers in the space making a profound undeniable impact on the future of CBD, and I’m excited to share their biggest learnings with you here today. Let’s get straight into it. 


The first interview takes us back to the chat that I had last year with Valtina Milanova, the founder of Daye. Valentina is the creator of the first ever cannabis infused tampon, created to help with period cramps. Secondly we chat to Yugenials founder Nia Davies, as we dive into why it’s about time for consumer education and regulation to evolve more seriously in this space. We look back on the time the founders of Equilibria, Coco Meers and Marcy Capron-Vermillon showed us how to look at influencers as a relationship development partnership. 


Ok, that’s all for today! What I love about the female-founded cannabis space, is that the founders work together like a team. It’s a tight-knit community of strong women working together opposed to against eachother in their plight to educate the world on the positive effects of CBD and join forces in battling through those regulations. When you’re starting up a business in CBD as a woman not fighting against competition, you’re joining a team. We can all take a leaf out of that book. We also jump back to the basics on finding that gap in the market and how ​​Sagely Naturals founder Kerrigan Behrens started where I’m a big believer every brand should, looking at consumer insights. Next we reflect on our chat with Kiva Confections founder Kristi Palmer about the importance of packaging in gained consumer trust, before diving into the specifics of how the money piece comes together in building a brand in a high risk category such as this one from our conversation with Prima co-founder Lauren Angelica Myers. Before rounding off the episode with the story of the industries very own Kush Queen, Olivia Alexander, who has shown us like no other how a bad situation can turn out to be a stepping stone for greatness. 

Let’s get straight to it! This is me, for Female Startup Club.

LINKS WE MENTION:

Valentina Milanova LinkedIn 

Daye Website 

Nia Davies Instagram 

Equilibria Website

Coco Meers Instagram

Marcy Capron-Vermillion LinkedIn 

Sagely Naturals Website

Kerrigan Behrens Instagram

Kiva Confections Website 

Kristi Palmer LinkedIn

Prima Website

Laurel Angelica Myers LinkedIn 

Kush Queen Instagram 

Olivia Alexander Instagram

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