Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa Lamas.
Hi Vanessa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We all know 2020 was a crazy ride that we didn’t know where it was going. After losing my job in 2020 due to COVID, I found an opportunity I wouldn’t have otherwise found. I took hold of the creative person I had forgotten I was and started creating again. It was amazing to finally take a break and enjoy what I love to do. Then I noticed my mom was experiencing a lot of pain and it was causing her so much discomfort every day. Rather than her take pain meds, I thought to myself, what if there was a more holistic approach I could take to help her? So I started doing research and creating my own recipe for my cannabis salves. Since then, I’ve created a salve that has helped my mom and so many others as well. Now that it’s been almost a year of starting Hippie Leaf Apothecary, I’m proud of how far I’ve come and how many people I’ve helped! To me Hippie Leaf is more than the salves I sell, I look at how many returning customers I have and the stories they tell me of how much my salves has helped them and it fills my heart with so much joy and it drives me to keep going even when the days get hard.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Since I’ve started Hippie Leaf, I have been the one keeping up with every aspect of my business. From making all my salves, ordering supplies, doing marketing, filling orders to even delivering orders. When customers started telling their friends and family about my cannabis salves and business started picking up big time, I started to get busy very quickly. At first, it was so overwhelming for me to manage my time wisely, especially being a full-time student as well, so I learned how to space out my days to where I wasn’t stressing out about orders. Running Hippie Leaf myself, I get to see every part flourish and see every DM come my way and be the one to personally talk with my customers. It makes it that much more of a personal experience both for my customers and myself and I value that so much. I am grateful that I am the one able to take charge of my business and make it all that I have ever dreamed!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I make small batch handcrafted cannabis salves that help relieve back pain, muscle aches, eczema, arthritis, skin inflammation, and even cramps. I have had so many customers coming to me with what my salves has helped them with, so the list continues to grow! Every ingredient I use is hand-picked by me and I only pick the best that takes my salves a step higher than the rest. I use high-quality organic ingredients that I am proud make up my products. Recently, I have made all my packaging plastic-free and am working to be a more sustainable Latina-owned brand because I want Hippie Leaf Apothecary to be a reflection of what I value. What I am most proud of is that I have helped break down a stereotype for an older generation, especially in the Latino community, that cannabis is a great holistic healing tool. Even with my own grandmother who was hesitant at first but now can’t go with it and I see this with so many others as well and it’s so important that a different light has been shed on cannabis and that it is more accessible to older generations.
What does success mean to you?
For me, success is defined by what you feel for yourself. So many years I spent measuring success by what I thought others would think is successful or comparing my successes to others. What I feel makes me happy, what makes me feel accomplished, and what overall drives me is what makes me successful. To me, success is not the overarching end goal but more of our everyday triumphs that pieces together our happiness.
Pricing:
- Skywalker Canna Salve – $25
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hippieleafapothecary/?hl=en
Image Credits:
Mark Abaigar
