I was feeling really distracted just and having a hard time focussing so I went outside for a little walk to get a coffee. A couple minutes later, Michelle rung and she was walking right towards me. What are the chances?! We had a little walk & talk, a few laughs, it was just the best thing! Amazing how a little bit of light from a sunshiney person can brighten your day!
Yesterday I stopped in to surprise mum on my way to Stratford. It was so great to see her face light up when I walked in.
Love you mum!
Taking a couple minutes out of your day to do something nice for someone else will instantly turn your day around.
Been a little bit busy the last couple weeks. I’ve been working behind the scenes on some political content leading up to the election. Definitely an eye-opener! I love learning new things and it’s great to see how it all works. The municipal election in Ontario us October 22nd. Are you registered to vote? Check your riding and candidates at elections..on.ca.
Tomorrow I’m heading home to Cambridge to make a speech at my high school and be inducted into the hall of fame. So exciting! Yesterday I was in Stratford and have some great photos and stories to share.
Last week I was a speaker at an exciting event hosted by Jones Media at 1 Bloor. We are T-16 days away from legalization and the world of cannabis marketing is something people have a lot of questions about. The worlds of cannabis and business like an online dispensary canada are really, truly beginning to collide. They are rapidly growing in popularity which is why the need for cannabis businesses is increasing! Anybody that is running or looking to run a cannabis business may want to think about hiring somebody like a cannabis consultant for their company to run smoothly and efficiently.
Specifically, this talk was about cannabis + influencers and what is allowed within the rules of the new cannabis act. The panel featured Chris Nyberg, a lawyer who specializes in this area, Lorilynn McCorrister from Weed Box, and Jen Newton who does the High Tea podcast and comes from an agency/brand background.
We talked about everything from how do you market in a space that’s so highly regulated, how to partner with a licenced producer, how to align with an influencer, and examples of creative marketing we’ve seen.
On Going to the USA
One of the topics we talked right off the bat was can you still go to the USA if you work in, invest in, or post about cannabis on your social accounts? Sorry to say, you can 100% get a lifetime ban if you do any of those things. Safe bet is to scrub your social accounts and make sure you don’t mention your connection to the wonderful world of flower if you don’t have to. On my last trip I remove Weed VR social accounts & email from my phone and didn’t take any business cards. I have cards Director cards from Occupied VR in case anyone asks what my job is.
On Working with Influencers
Another thing I feel is important to share about this new industry is influencer + brand partnerships. This isn’t like a consumer product, it’s much more individual to a person’s lifestyle and habits. Partnering with someone who has social influencer brings a whole new level to authenticity. How does this person use cannabis in their life? What is their history with the plant? Do they know about the vancouver dispensary no card options, or are they new to the scene? Are they willing to open up and talk about it? Does their lifestyle fit with the brand of the licenced producer? It’s not the same as working with something we might all use like coffee, clothing, or beauty products.
About the Legal Stuff
If you are an influencer, before you work with a LP or cannabis wellness company, make sure they are legal to sell their products in your state/province. Another thing to note is it is ok to write about cannabis from an educational point of view but not recreational. You are responsible for your content so if you’re not sure, ask the client or talk to a cannabis lawyer. If you need one, lmk.
Your Social Media Accounts
According to all the social platforms, posting about cannabis *could* be seen as promoting drug use and you risk getting your accounts shut down. As you have probably seen, there are heaps of cannabis-related accounts on social media. Chris aka ‘the fun police’ recommended use discretion and try to be creative, photos of you holding a big bud and smoking joints might not go over that well but an artful post about the lifestyle should be a-ok. Websites similar to www.saveoncannabis.com understand how to do this fantastically and also provide useful products and information.
If you have questions about this topic, I’ve been doing a lot of research and although I’m not a lawyer, I’d be happy to share what I’ve learned.
On Wednesday this week I’m speaking on a panel about breaking down the stigma attached to cannabis. I’ll share details soon. If you are interested in attending, LMK!
Hello and good morning! I’m feeling good vibes today despite not feeling great the last couple days. Spent the last 24hrs inside the house with Sean doing next to nothing but watching Netflix and taking naps. I feel recharged! Watched a good movie called The Angel, a few more eps of Maniac, and a full season of how to Live Mortgage Free (which really got us thinking!).
The past 2 months have been kind of intense. I went on to Portugal and Mexico, had TIFF and Fashion Week, all on top of my regularly scheduled work. I still have heaps to write about. I know from the outside it all seems like fun and vacation but let me tell you, there is a LOT of behind the scenes things you don’t see. Being on all the time is exhausting.
The start of a new month brings renewal and I am excited. We have 3 months left in the year and before we know it, it’ll be 2019! What’s your 2020 vision?
This week I’m speaking at an event on Wednesday and a TV commercial I’m comes out in a few days. Sean and will be spending the weekend at the cottage and most likely repeating our tradition of Swiss Chalet on Saturday and then hibernating till Tuesday.
I’m working out of the office all week and not doing many events so I can focus on getting into a routine. I’ve booked a few sessions with my trainer and evening yoga. Last week I made it to 2 yoga classes which is more than I’ve done in ages.
Today is a great day to make a change in your life. Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Your life is your movie, you’re the director, it can be any kind of movie you like! Make it happen.
Earlier this year I was in Vancouver for a city planning conference and stayed an extra day to pop by the Telus office and have lunch with a friend. I’ve been working with Telus since my days at Much/MTV Canada, about 8 years ago. I’ve had the opportunity to do some really neat stuff like volunteering, videos, city adventures, and making friends.
A couple years ago I helped them with some ideas to create their influencer program and it’s really grown into something awesome. Next month, they’re taking the ENTIRE GROUP of Canadian influencers (including me!) to their HQ in Vancouver.
Fuel for the day
Conference morning
Hotel Carpet
Vancouver Airbnb
Telus Garden
I was really stoked to visit this building. I remember when it started in 2012 and was opened in 2016. The Telus Garden building takes up an entire city block downtown Vancouver, totalling 1M sq ft. It has amazing energy saving features, a fantastic garden, and has won a bunch of awards for the design and sustainability. Unfortunately, I was there in winter so I didn’t get to see the outside areas, it snowed!
[symple_testimonial by=”” fade_in=”false”]“TELUS Garden is Canada’s most beautiful and ambitious LEED Platinum building, and one of the most environmentally-friendly developments in North America,” Darren Entwistle, TELUS President and CEO[/symple_testimonial]
Telus Innovation Centre
I met up with Ana from Telus (check out her IG @msanadouglas) and she took us up to the Innovation Centre where. I was amazed to see a beautiful bright space filled with technology.
One of the coolest features were the doors. Telus has created a set of doors that have screens instead of windows. Hello, why didn’t I think of that!? They’re the only 4 doors like this IN THE WORLD and they’re right here at Telus in Vancouver. A couple of them have cameras where you can host meetings and have the person you are talking with will show up on the screen. Other ones have touchscreen and heat sensors, so they can tell when there’s a person standing in front of them. This blew my mind. Imagine the possibilities? Our guide said they were originally developed for hospitals (Telus Health does heaps in healthcare, telushealth.co).
The space has a number of workstations, fully equipped with pop-up monitors for video conferencing. They pop up OUT of the tables! The card with wifi details doubles as seeds you can plant later at home. As a lifelong lover of tech, this was like being a kid in a candy store!
3D Printing
VR
Seed Paper
Video Conferencing
They also have a 3D printer where they create and test out innovative ways to make our lives easier. For example, this small purple object made with PLA plastic could never be made by hand but it is 3D printed in a way that makes it unique and super strong, you can stand on it without it breaking. It can hold up to 300lbs!
I was really impressed to check out the mock apartment they have to test smart home technology. I’m not just talking a couple smart lights, they’ve got smart home everything. It’s not just the appliances and light bulbs, there’s a laser that reads prescriptions in your cupboard, smart pillows, smart bed. It was like living in the future and tbh, I’m totally into it.
Everything here is smart even the bed, pillows, lamps.
Smartest kitchen I’ve witnessed.
I can’t wait to be back on the West Coast with the #TeamTelus crew. There’s some really rad people on the team, a few I’ve known for years and some I’ve never met. I’ll be documenting as I go next week and fill you in on the details.
Good morning and happy Monday! Spent the weekend at the cottage wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, cooking, reading, and relaxing. The cool Autumn air is a nice change from hot summer. We made a fire at night but it was still warm enough in the day to take Sean out wakeboarding.
The thing I love about Monday is not knowing what the week will bring aside from the things already in my calendar. I’m looking forward to being back to the office after a whirlwind month with Toronto Fashion Week, TIFF, and a trip to Mexico.
A couple weeks ago I sat down at a cafe near our place for a chat with Kate Robinson for Lift & Co. Magazine. We were discussing coming out the ‘cannabis closet’ and my story. Read my story on Lift & Cohere or click on the image below!
This week I’m moderating a panel for influencers and agency people about working together in the new cannabis industry. The panel will feature a few experts and you’ll learn creative ways to partner with brands, produce content, and work within the regulations. Before you shop marijuana seeds online in the hope that you can start your own marijuana operation, it may be worth finding out more about the regulations involved with the ever-growing industry. Once you’ve done that, then it’s probably smart to start researching different strains that you might want to grow, such as this gdp strain from Royalseedbank. For some people, there is no fun in growing it and they simply want to enjoy the end product. If you would prefer to purchase weed rather then grow it yourself you could easily use something like weed online ontario to sort yourself out. Just make sure that it is legal first where you live.
A panel discussion with Cannabis experts, covering influencer marketing and what to expect within a highly regulated cannabis landscape. We’re talking about how influencers can partner with Cannabis brands while being cautious of Bill-45 and the impact it may have. With the legalization of Cannabis in Canada, how will marketers and brands be able to work with Influencers?
Semi-permanent tattoos provided by Inkbox. Beer provided by Lost Craft. Munchies will be provided.
Who is Biome Grow and What a Good Business Plan Means to Cannabis Investors
Earlier this year a Canadian Licenced Producer acquired Weed VR, a company started by the team at Occupied VR (Sean’s company). This article has some great info about the current CEO and what Biome Grow Inc. is bringing to the growing cannabis retail industry.
There are some high profile board members behind the team at Biome including Steven Poirier, former president of Moosehead Beer, and George Smitherman, former Health Minister for Ontario. The article mentions Biome plans to go ‘public on the Canadian Securities Exchange soon through a reverse merger with a company called Orca Touchscreen Technologies Ltd. (CSE:OAA).’
Exciting times ahead, stay tuned for what’s next!
“Biome already has a license to grow with more to come, the production capacity, the technology and most of all, a solid business plan. Does this mean Biome will be the next major player in Canada’s marijuana industry? I don’t know, but from an analyst’s perspective there are not many missing variables.”
Sean took these of me when we were walking over to the MOCA Grand Opening on Friday. The mural is right by our house. Love having this great new gallery in the neighbourhood, the area is changing in so many beautiful ways. Go visit MOCA then stop by the Drake Commissary or Henderson Brewing. So fun!
If you’ve been near Queen West and the Ossington area lately you’ll probably have noticed a big blue building at 9 Ossington. Until September 30th it’s the home of the San Rafael Experience popup, a time warp that takes you back to 1971 where ‘4:20’ started in San Rafael, California. I went for the opening and honestly, it was really cool! Cannabis companies are being super creative with their marketing in order to try and drive sales of their products like a nitro cookies strain, for example. This is another great example brought to you by the same company that did the Altavie event in the spring.
Scratch Bastid DJ + Kelly from MedReleaf and I in our matching Hendrixroe X San Rafael ’71 Jackets
Once you step through that blue doorway, you enter a 70’s themed record shop with a bar, dj, living room, screen printing, vintage shopping, and plenty of photoopps. There’s live music every night in the basement and can use your San Rafael token to can peruse and pay for real records the shop. Scroll down for some pix and the list of artists performing this week.
Melani in Hendrixoe
Courtney
Carly
San Raf token
Record shopping
Old magazines
Old books
San Rafael ’71 Strain info on a record
San Rafael ’71 Strain info on a record
My fav Coup de Tête hat
Local shops pop-up
Screen printing
DJ Scratch Bastid
70’s living room
San Rafael ’71 Strain info
San Rafael ’71 Strain info
San Rafael ’71 Strain info
San Rafael ’71 Strain info
San Rafael ’71 basement, stage on other side
Thanks to the San Raf team for the invite and I’ll be back this week for live music & retro hangs! FYI there was no cannabis at the popup but if you have questions about anything before legalization, they’ve got answers. ??
You walk past a group of beautiful, stylish ladies outside a cute and classy coffee shop in a quiet neighbourhood. Everything looks normal until you get a little closer and see a cloud of smoke big enough for a rap video and realise what’s up! ? So much so you might be tempted to grab your TONIC rolling papers and join us!
The other week I had a really cool experience of attending an event called ‘See You Next Tuesday‘ hosted by the fine ladies of the High Tea podcast (listen here). It was a rolling salon and flower side chat where we had an in-depth lesson on rolling the perfect joint and talked about cannabis. As you can imagine we also spoke about some of the lesser known cannabis infused products out there such as moonrock canada. We each took home a few goodies and fresh cut flowers. It was fun!
Over the past few months, I’ve spent more time having great conversations with amazing women over cannabis vs. late nights with too much wine. It’s so much of a healthier lifestyle, I’ve cut down my drinking significantly and even lost weight. The side effects of cannabis are much more positive including increased creativity and less pain/anxiety, instead of a hangover. When talking about the effects of cannabis, many often wonder, “are cbd terpenes important?” When it comes to people’s experience with the drug, it does look that way.
There are lots of different reasons why someone might use cannabis. For example, a good friend of mine who lives in Canada uses cannabis to boost her mood which, in her experience, makes living with depression a little easier. She orders her cannabis from bc buds online and gets it delivered directly to her door which is incredibly convenient. As with any natural remedy, if you are considering using cannabis, remember to do your research first.
Looking forward to their next event and more interesting cannabis events. A couple weeks ago I went to a cannabis brand launch at a strip club, Monday there’s another in a warehouse, and there’s a popup right now on Ossington hosted by San Rafael ’71 (details here!).
It’s an exciting time to be alive with legalization just around the corner!
It’s amazing what a few days away will do! This week I was on a client project in Cancun, Mexico and it was so great. In between the things we needed to get done I made time for some self-care. I read my book at the pool, drank piña coladas in the sun, and went to the spa. I walked along the beach, ate great food, made new friends, and danced at the disco.
I landed today in the crazy wind storm and it’s nice to be home. I’m excited to share more about this project over the next few weeks but for now, I’m looking forward to some family time. I’m feeling refreshed, inspired, and ready for the weekend!
We stayed at Riu Dunamar (via Sunwing) in Costa Mujeres near Cancun and it was so great!
Sending you love and sunshine through the internet!
A lot of my experience comes from making mistakes, wrong decisions, with the wrong people. I’ve learned a lot of street smarts this way. A lot of my business smarts comes from school.
I was really into business as a youngster when I made gym bags and sold them to students in grade school. I went to college and university and have no doubt that those experiences gave me the skills I need to do great work. I’m not saying everyone has to go to post-secondary but there you learn a foundation to build on when you’re out in the field.
When I was a teenager, I started a publishing company with a friend, published a book, and was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the city. I’ve done a lot of things since then but what I learned from my business teachers in high school, college, and university is with me every day. When I won that award my high school got a donation to go towards computer equipment which was pretty cool given the internet was just getting started.
Yesterday I got an exciting email. I’ve been chosen as the Preston High School Hall of Fame inductee for 2018. Me! An old friend from dance, who’s a teacher there now, sent me the nicest email about my career and life since PHS. I’m kinda in shock!
The PHS Hall of Fame recognizes and celebrates Preston graduates who have made a successful impact in our world and exemplify the spirit and ideals of the school. Well, lady, you have certainly grown yourself, your business, your brand, and your spirit into something really worth celebrating!
I’ve been asked to say a few words at the commencement ceremony next month. I’m excited to be recognized and am looking forward to sharing some words of wisdom with the graduating class. If I only knew then some of the life lessons I know now, who knows where I’d be?
I want to tell them to follow their dreams but not just in their minds, to do something each day that guides them in that direction. Not to worry too much about what they want to ‘be when they grow up‘ they might end up working in an industry or job that isn’t even invented yet. You have to believe in yourself and not let other people stand in your way. Sometimes you might be able to see something that they can’t so they’ll try to discourage you. Don’t let them. There have been countless times in my career where I’ve chosen to do things my own way or different than ‘the others’ and that’s what made all the difference.
I was looking up some of the most famous commencement speeches of all time and Steve Jobs did one at Stanford in 2005 where he’s quoted saying the title of this post. Some good ones here if you’re looking for inspiration.
I love this weather and the sunshine. It’s so nice to be out on the lake. Next week I’m going away for a few days and it feels like never-ending summer. ☀️?✌?
