Juan Aller, Jess Torres, and Mafe Roig: WeedGirls.com
The WeedGirls team is seeking to accomplish a mission that’s been hard-pressed for respect due to years of websites showcasing hypersexualized girls engulfed in smoke. We’d like to invite you to delve into how this team is turning the tables and ‘rebranding’ the cannabis community as being something that stands for something more: Responsible consumption, awareness of well-being, and highly functional members of society. The stigma bombarding our industry is a plight in itself, but the stigma bombarding the individual cannabis consumer is something even more abrasive. WeedGirls.com is standing up to change this and giving the world a glimpse of the soul behind the cloud.
What was the deciding factor for you to join this particular industry?
We wanted to open a new window of opportunity for the cannabis community to express themselves. At WeedGirls, we aim to better understand the cannabis community through their interactions with our website, their comments on our forums, and their social habits. We intend to translate that into a social environment that satisfies the need for a society that has long been ignored and misunderstood. Unlike many who think that the population of cannabis consumers are primarily the ‘high school dropout’ or ‘unemployed’ type, they’re not! Rather, this growing group is mainly comprised of consumers who use cannabis responsibly, whether it be recreationally or therapeutically. This is what motivated us to get involved in this industry: We are seeking to promote this positive image of the cannabis community!
We wanted to open a new window of opportunity for the cannabis community to express themselves.
What were you doing before?
We were originally involved in venture capital for the biotech industry and then for the medical marijuana industry. Now, we are focused on bringing digital marketing to the cannabis industry.
Tell us about the point in the time you realized the coming of the ‘green rush’?
When recreational marijuana was legalized in Denver, Colorado on January 2014. All the dispensaries had run out of weed by the 3rd week and they were forced to implement restrictions about the amount of cannabis consumers could take because there simply wasn’t enough supply for the demand.
Right now, where are you guiding your passion and energy towards?
We are letting the cannabis community decide where they want to go. We welcome them to communicate with us their passions and interests in every aspect cannabis has to offer: Medical, recreational, artistic, educational, etc. We then analyze the interaction with the content we generate. We intend to achieve this with a feminine approach to find out what interests they have without assuming anything.
Describe your work ethic to us in one word.
Feminine.
Tell us about a time in your career that didn’t go as planned and what you did about that? How did you handle it?
We were heavily affected by the financial meltdown that began in September of 2008, but with a year’s delay since it didn’t affect Europe until then. I liquidated all my assets, sold everything I owned, and gathered as much liquidity as possible. Then, I sat for a year studying every emerging market from a humble approach. I penetrated the cannabis industry first as a passive investor, then as an active entrepreneur. Now, alongside with the WeedGirls team, we run an incubator based in Barcelona, Spain. We incorporate existing-successful business models into the cannabis industry. We intend to continue to explore every business opportunity related to the cannabis market first in Europe, then worldwide.
What book have you read that you’ve been inspired by? Any particular read we should put on our list?
First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman.
Tell us about an esteemed achievement of yours.
Becoming the leading gateway for cannabis-related businesses in Europe. Through all our networking, we can help any successful American business model penetrate the European market with the best insight in practical terms.
Through all our networking, we can help any successful American business model penetrate the European market with the best insight in practical terms.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Regardless of how young you feel, be honest with your body about your chronological age.
What is the most important thing for us to know now about the legal marijuana industry?
One step back, three steps forward. It’s not paranoia when they are actually coming out to get you 🙂
If we are sitting across from each other a year from now, how will our conversation about the ‘green rush’ be going?
Wall Street is loving it!
