Whitney Beatty, Apothecarry Brands
As my knowledge of cannabis expanded, I became a proponent of the herb…
Meet Whitney Beatty on 5/17/2018 at Ellementa LA! Details here: http://ellementala051718.eventbrite.com
Describe yourself and what you do.
I’m a mother and a curator and a designer and a party planner, and a producer and a lover of all things beautiful. I’m CEO and Founder of Apothecarry Brands, a purveyor of luxury cannabis storage accouterments.
Apothecarry is a purveyor of luxury cannabis accouterments, providing high style and high quality goods designed with the cannabis connoisseur in mind. Our goal is to provide products that help make smoking easier, safer and more reliable than ever before, allowing our customers to get the best smoking experience possible.
In a world of Wal-Mart, we are the cannabis version of Pottery Barn. Our initial offering, the Apothecarry Case, is a sleek and sexy storage and humidor system designed to safely keep cannabis at its freshest, most optimum quality while providing luxury tools and humidity control for the discriminating connoisseur.
In my eyes, Cannabis has grown up. Gone are the days that weed was linked to stoner culture, teen boys in basements and hippies. With legalization and more medical research than ever before, the profile of marijuana users is changing from something elicit — to something to be enjoyed.
As specific strains gain popularity, consumers are now more focused than ever on the quality of their buds — taking pride in a good “stash” in the same way one may pull out a fine single malt scotch or a Cuban cigar. They demand the best smoking experience, and with the Apothecarry Case, that’s exactly what they will get. High style and high quality goods designed with the upscale smoker in mind.
I started on Apothecarry in August of 2015, and we did our MVP launch in 2016. The brand seeks to redefining the image of cannabis users who take pride and pleasure in their stash, while filling a hole in the marijuana paraphernalia market for everyone from the attorneys who tokes after their high powered workday, to the “stiletto stoners” who are hosting ladies night, to the seniors using medication for health benefits and everyone in between who demands the best in all things.
We take pride in representing the millions of men and women across the country take pride in working hard, raising families, and enjoying medical marijuana.
What is your origin story for your canna business?
It’s a crazy story. I was raised in the age of Nancy Reagan and “Just Say No,” and I never ever smoked in high school and only a couple times in college. But after being diagnosed with anxiety, I had a doctor suggest it to me when I was having a hard time on the drugs they prescribed. I extensively researched the benefits of cannabis, shook off the years of stigma and decided to try it.
As my knowledge of cannabis expanded, I became a proponent of the herb, but still didn’t identify with prevailing weed culture perpetuated in the media, nor the goods dripping with tie die, green crosses and bikini clad women targeted at them.
I still don’t understand where all the bikinis came from… its not indicative of any female smoker I know.
But I was very much over that stereotype.
After meeting so many like minded cannabis users who lamented about a lack of good storage system, worried about securing buds away from kids and pets, and who were tired of searching around for their stash to discover it dried out from plastic baggies and non-airtight dispensary jars, Apothecarry was born. Basically, I realized that If my liquor is in my bar, my cigars are in my humidor, and my wine is in wine fridge, why the heck is my weed in a shoebox in the closet!?!
What is your Superpower?
That’s hard – there’s so much of me that’s in Apothecarry. My love of interior decorating & clean design, my love of great content and relatable imagery, my love of cars (the inspiration for the inside of the case is a luxury car dashboard) my obsession with throwing fantastic elaborate parties, my love of all things organized, my tendency to swim upstream….
I think perhaps my power is understanding lifestyles – its what I did a lot in the entertainment industry (I was a tv development executive for 14 years) and was my job to understand how people live, what they wanted and how to bring that to an audience. Well, that and my dogged determination bordering on obsession.
I want this industry to be a place for women, and especially women of color.
What has been your greatest obstacle in this industry or with your business to date – and how have you overcome it?
Fundraising is hard. Fundraising as a black female CEO is harder. I’m still tackling it. The numbers say that on the overall black women startup founders raise only $36,000 on average, whereas white males typically raise over $1 million in startup capital.
In the past few years, black women received just .02% of funding — but the number of businesses owned by African American women has grown 322% since 1997, making black females the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S.
Its an uphill climb in an industry that lots of VC’s and Angels are afraid to invest in. But I say all that to say – Im here anyways. I believe anyways. It’s a challenge, but nothing is impossible. It makes me fight harder for my vision.
What is your vision for women in this industry?
I want this industry to be a place for women, and especially women of color. Communities of color were disproportionately disenfranchised by the war on drugs, and now its this booming industry and there are too few of us setting up shop.
Females have such an opportunity to engrain ourselves, our values, our business acumen in this industry and I encourage women from all backgrounds to do you research, shake of any stigma and explore what your skill set could do for this space.
Connect with Whitney
Instagram: @theapothecarry
Twitter: @theapothecarry
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apothecarry/
WEBSITE: www.theapothecarrycase.com
her canna life: high-minded women 