Join Jeff Rowse for his chat with cannabis creative and educator, Kristen Williams. Kristen has been working as a designer and content creator for the Feel State team since 2019 (you’ve probably seen her face before!) — but she’s been doing cannabis wellness education with her own company, Hempsley, since 2017. Recorded live on 6/6/22 in Florissant, Missouri.
0:00 BTS of The Feels
1:50 Welcome & Thanks
4:18 Kristen’s First Time with Cannabis
6:07 Is there a specific cannabinoid or terpene that’s best for you?
8:23 What inspired you to create Hempsley?
12:27 What did Version 1 of Hempsley look like?
13:23 When did you bring products into Hempsley?
15:13 What are three habits that help you achieve success?
17:01 What’s a typical day look like for you?
18:35 How did you partnership with Feel State begin?
20:15 Where does inspiration for your content come from?
21:04 How do you stay on top of current cannabis industry trends?
22:12 What are some of your favorite cannabis resources?
23:32 What are some challenges you’ve had to overcome?
27:54 What’s your favorite thing you’ve learned about terpenes?
29:13 What’s your favorite terpene?
32:03 Can you overdose from THC?
Our favorite quote from Kristen Williams’ interview about Hempsley and Feel State:
Kristen (9:47): “I was studying design and I was like, “You know what, maybe the way I can help is by doing cannabis design, and help give these companies coming onto the market a professional face and lend them credibility through the power of design, because I really believe in the power of design. So I started doing freelance work for companies all over the country and traveling, and the more I traveled and experienced these events the more I realized there was this HUGE gap between legal and prohibition markets, especially in Missouri, because not even CBD was allowed to be sold in Missouri at that time — I mean, we’re talking 2014. So as I was learning, I really wanted to help bring this education back to my own community in Columbia, MO and essentially, I was trying to get involved in legalization efforts was through fundraising or gathering petition signatures and I tried both, and I failed miserably and it was terrible, and I was like “What’s another way I could do this?”
Jeff: “There’s not a lot of designing in gathering petition signatures, either…”
Kristen: “No! There’s no creativity in that and I tried — I tried! I decided that maybe how I can help is by educating so that when it does come to a vote, people maybe… know how to vote — they’re more inclined to vote to legalize it, at least for medicinal use at first. So I was like, “How do I educate?” And at the time, there weren’t any resources that I felt comfortable sending my grandma or my neighbor down the street to that weren’t going to make me look like a ‘stoner’ or a ‘pothead’ — it was all High Times and Dope Magazine. So I really created Hempsley just as this way to communicate.
I designed it for the Midwest. I also noticed in designing that there were not really any brands for the small town lifestyle — it was all geared towards mountain people, or beach life, or big cities — like that’s what all the marketing was around because that’s where cannabis was legal — it made sense — but how do we show how cannabis can look in a healthy, responsible lifestyle in the Midwest? And that’s really what I wanted to bring forth. So I focused Hempsley on CBD specifically because I thought it was this really beautiful bridge for that gap, and now we’ve started talking about other things — and the partnership with Feel State has been so beneficial because it allows me to go deep into cannabis stuff without having it be just Hempsley because Hempsley is REALLY about the endocannabinoid system…I mean, that was the thing that changed how I viewed the entire plant.”
Click here to catch our next episode of The Feels live on Facebook!
Catch our last episode of The Feels with Mary Armstrong here
Disclaimer: The information presented here is meant for educational purposes only. Medical decisions should not be made based on advertising. Consult a physician on the benefits and risks of specific medical products. Visit our website to schedule a free consultation.
