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Well, 2026 is off to a rather horrifying start… F ICE, is all I will say about that. The last year (or two or ten or…) has been rough. It’s not a fun time to be somewhat aware of current events and posses half a brain and a big heart. Staying sane is not easy in late stage capitalist collapse, as I’ve discussed before…
Nevertheless, we persist. By showing up and being there for each other. By surviving and helping others to thrive. And by taking small daily steps to resist, speak out, amplify and build community.
One very special community that I have loved being a part of the last year or two is one that my friend Leah started at a time when she really needed the support. The industry we are in is really hard, and very male dominated. You’d think legal plants would be fun, and it is, but it’s also grueling especially when marketing services aren’t a tax write-off like they are for all other businesses and we are often underpaid.
Leah created NorCal Women in C*nn*bis to create a safe, accessible and supportive space for women in a challenging industry. Her monthly events move around Northern California and are always free and open to women / non-binary folks in the plant medicine community. I’ve been attending as often as I can for the last year or two, and I just helped Co-host a gathering last weekend at the newly remodeled events pace upstairs at Doobie Nights.
This sisterhood has brought me great connections, amazing experiences and a supportive network of brilliant badass women that I now affectionately refer to as my weed witch coven. And it’s not even the only “coven” I’m a part of. So how blessed am I?! I wrote about the monthly gatherings and interviewed Leah last year for an article published by Beard Bros Media.
Good times with my coven!
Each event is a choose your own adventure smorgasbord of activities. We may have a yoga or pilates class led by one of the ladies in the local community, we might make something like bath bombs, infused body butter, vision boards or ornaments, and there may be massage therapists, tarot readers or reiki healers available. Sometimes we do cacao ceremonies, sometimes we tour farms, sometimes we throw pool parties. It depends on what the community offers and the season and venue, but it’s always free, inclusive, and fun (and admittedly, a little girly). There’s usually a few awesome brands and farmers who will hand out samples of their products for us to try. And there’s lots of snacks of course—as you’d imagine, we excel at munchies!
Whether you’re involved in a local organization, get together with friends to play board games, or join a group centered on a hobby or a cause, now is a really great time to flex those in-person community building muscles and gather to support each other. Below I’ll share ideas for creating community locally and online based on my own experience, but I’d love to hear about the communities giving you life right now.
I’m so grateful for Leah and the NorCal Women’s group, my coven, and I know that there’s a niche community wherever you are as well, just waiting to be discovered. If not, then maybe there’s a hole you can fill by starting your own group and getting some folks together for a common purpose. If you’re interested in joining us for the next NorCal Women in C*nna gathering, subscribe to the newsletter.
💕 How to Find Your People & Ideas for Creating Community: 💕
📱 Start Your Search Online: Sites like Meetup can be a great way to find local hobby groups and happenings in your area. Maybe you’re moving to a new area, look for Facebook and Nextdoor groups for your neighborhood and introduce yourself.
🪧 Find a Case to Support: Volunteering for a local food pantry, community center or animal shelter is always a great way to meet neighbors, contribute locally, and ease the existential angst. Keep tabs on local protests by following local or regional branches of groups like 50501, Indivisible, MoveOn or No Kings and support small local businesses owned by marginalized folks. If you can’t volunteer, donate.
👯♀️ Host More Gatherings: Get to know your neighbors, share when you have an abundance, and find more excuses to get together. If you’re more introverted, start small with inviting one or two people over for dinner and a board game. Small dinner parties and potlucks are pretty easy to pull off, or start a book club. These can even be virtual gatherings, cuz sometimes that’s easier! One of my favorites is the Canna Boss Babes Connects that my friend Ishqa hosts on Zoom.
🍲 Share Food or Hobbies (Or Both): When I lived on the Mendocino Coast, my friend Elika started an awesome fermented food group - we would get together once a month and make something fermented that we could all take home (eventually). Everyone would also bring jars and something that they made to share. I definitely need to get that going again in Sonoma County, and I started a Facebook group for it a while back.
🗣️ Be Open and Vocal: Sometimes you’ll get what you ask for, but you have to ask. Put yourself out there a bit if you’re trying to build more intentional community in your life and look up some classes offered by a local community college, find a hobby meet up group or start leading neighborhood walks. And post on social media that you’re interested in finding local groups and gatherings.
🤝 Trade & Barter: I love how creative my friends are, and I’m often open to trading services for something I want or need (usually one at a time since I gotta pay the bills, too). I miss my barter fair days when I’d make a big batch of soap and trade it for produce or handmade anything at these little harvest season swap meets in Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. Turns out, soap was pretty good currency!
👩💻 Go Multi-Channel: Mix up your outreach and don’t be afraid to just call someone that you want to catch up with, or send them a postcard. Start a group chat to plan a dinner party and just kinda keep it going. Call your mom. Ok I know I need to do that one more (hi mom 👋). Start a newsletter or a blog (check out beehiiv with my partner link if you are looking for a cool platform), or – can we bring back zines?
💪 Share the Load: Nothing brings people together like a common goal or a project. Working together on a community garden, neighborhood beautification project, or to plan a fundraiser is a great way to meet new people and improve your surroundings. This can be done on a small scale by friends getting together to help each other out with home improvement or garden projects, or neighbors sharing lawn care equipment.
When community building becomes ingrained into your everyday life, it becomes a mindset and a mission. I used to help produce and promote festivals, and now I forever get a thrill out of event production (yes, I realize this might mean I’m nuts), mostly because I love getting people together and doing something (or eating something) together. Now is when we need each other more than ever.
When the political climate is so divisive, coming together is a radical act of defiance. I choose US. All of us.
Other Recent News & Timely Highlights
More on Community Building: I expanded on my recent newsletter about partnerships in marketing, with a focus on successful collaborations between plant-touching brands and retailers, on my blog. In this post I pull from my experience building campaigns and loyalty with brands we carry at Doobie Nights, and getting creative with small budgets and other challenges.
Take Action on Hemp: My friend Ishqa and I recently launched our email marketing services, and as part of our launch we are offering a Hemp Advocacy Toolkit - because it’s One Plant, and we have until November to get edits made to the farm bill updates. In it you’ll find templates for turning your emails into advocacy engines. Want two industry pros to handle your email marketing head-to-toe? Hit us up now while we have openings!
Help Us Throw the Mendo Cup: I have been helping on the planning committee for The Mendo Cup, taking place early May 2026 in Willits, and I’ll also be helping judge the competition. As my home for a decade, Mendocino is always near and dear to my heart. This event and competition is by the community, for the community and celebrates (and shares profits with) the small sungrown farmers. We are looking for sponsors! Here’s the deck.
Planning Your Strategy for 2026?: Now is the time to get your Marketing Strategy planned for the year! If you are an entrepreneur, business owner or have a personal brand and you want to get your content game on point, make next year your b*tch and PLAN it. My secret sauce is in the spreadsheets - plan your Marketing from top level on down with my Ultimate Marketing Calendar & Content Planner. I will also send it as a perk to all my paid subscribers. Become an Awesome Supporter and I’ll send you a special email with a download. 📆
Pru's Ultimate Marketing Calendar - Spreadsheet Template
Plan and Track ALL the Marketing Things, from high level campaigns to social posts and tracked links.
Support My Work by becoming one of my Awesome Supporters. It’s only $5 a month, less than a fancy matcha latte! Or you can share this newsletter with a friend - look for your unique referral link below to earn Rewards. I publish on beehiiv, which is a great platform if you’re looking to start your own newsletter (use my recommendation link). I will be coming up with some fun perks for my Paid Subscribers like marketing templates, checklists & guides. I’d love to hear your ideas, too - what would get you to put $5 on it and Upgrade to Paid?
Open to Work: I’m wrapping up two bigger client contracts this month and will be looking for more marketing or design work. Whether you just need a quick consulting call, a marketing strategy for a new venture, someone to manage your email marketing, social media, or blog content, or even smaller one-off video or graphic content creation projects, hit me up! If I can’t do it, I probably know someone who can. See some of my past work, and my services.
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