#metoo

In October I left my job working in Retail Cannabis. I went to management to talk about the sexual harrassment and predatory behavior that was happening from the men that I worked with.

Their response was demoting me from Training Manager, asking me to take an unpaid leave of absence, and writing me up for tweets that I had sent that said I felt unsafe.

This was a place that I had worked for almost 3 years, in that time I had been nominated for multiple awards as the best in my field, and now they were ignoring all of the work I had done because they wanted to just shut me up.

"Shutting up" is not something that I'm generally known for.

I walked out the door with that write up in my hand, knowing that i couldn't go back, knowing that I didn't have a savings or financial back up plan, and knowing that I HAD to use my voice, skills and influence to make a safe and magical space for everyone to enjoy cannabis, ESPECIALLY women.

Normalization and safety go hand in hand in my book.

Seeing @Time Magazine's cover for "Persons of the Year", learning more about #Metoo creator and champion Tarana Burke (@fortyisthenew40) and watching the journey of rebuilding that Ke$ha (@iiswhoiis) has gone through...all of these examples have given me the courage to be more honest about the "Me too" experience that has catapulted me into putting on Safe and Elegant #Cannabis Events as a full time career.

Calling out creeps and not standing for people and companies who don't honor the safety of women (/all people) is a big step in creating #safespaces. I won't stand for it, and I always stand with the whistleblowers and #silencebreakers.