A little over a month ago I left a very toxic work environment in Cannabis, one where I was harassed by almost every man I worked with. I walked right out the door because management refused to give me and the women that I worked with a safe place to work. I went to the management to complain about harrassment and point out the need for an HR department. Their response was a demotion and asking me to take an unpaid leave of absence. Deciding that I can not make lateral moves, I left and started Cannabis Consulting and Educating full time. I have been a chef for over 20 yrs, event planner for 10 and a Cannabis educator for almost 3 yrs. I had the experience, and I knew that I had a lot to share with the world, this was just catapulting me into doing that.
This past weekend I flew from Portland to LA to put on an Underground, Pop Up, Cannabis Dinner Party.
This is my life now.
I flew in with some clothes and notebooks, went directly in a Lyft to my partnering brand, Select Oil's office to pick up supplies, then I went shopping at the holy trinity ...Target, Ikea, Marshalls.
I didn't see the space even in pictures until the day before my event, so this felt like a blind date. I was trying to prepare for everything!
I took a bunch of bags and some crazy ideas and turned them into a chic pop up restaurant. Honestly, I still can't believe I pulled it off.
The friends that I was staying with definitely thought I was a crazy bag lady for 3 days, they just saw me coming in and out of their garage with bag after bag and then furiously cooking in their kitchen.
I knew that there were only two electrical outlets on the roof, so I would have to make heaters... Thank God for Pinterest! I Ikea hacked some space heaters, and they WORKED!!
I hand selected each dish and piece of glassware for each course, and a variety of cozy elements to make an exposed roof top feel warm and intimate.
I cooked a delicious 4 course vegan meal, infused the courses with Cannabis, made a kitchen happen (in a few places that it probably shouldn't have) all in the name of making this dream a reality.
I was up at 6am every day designing details for my guests. From making sure that the arrival time was right at sunset so that guests what greeted by the warm pink glow of the Los Angeles Sunset as soon as they stepped out onto that roof to how quickly they would digest their first cannabeverage.
When it came to working out the details of the guest list, out of the requests for tickets that I recieved I selected a group of people from varied back grounds, but all were within the same age range. This was a little bit of an experiment for me, because in the research that I have done, absorption has more to do with age range than weight or height. I wanted to make sure that everyone at this dinner would have a similar rate of absorption so they would all be on the same "ride" so to speak.
I went with a vegan menu was to speed up the rate of absorption. I also chose a Vegan menu because I would be catering this dinner at a remote location, so this would help to eliminate risk of foodborne illness. I also have so many wonderful vegan recipes that I really wanted to showcase.
It took A LOT of help and support from my friends, and community and a lot of risks and hard work on my part but I did it. High In The Sky was something that i HAD to do, not just out of necessity, but because I know that I have a lot of talent to share. With California being on the verge of recreational legality I knew that this was the place to go to share this information. The details of this event have been stuck in my head for so long now, like a song.... I just had to get it out!
I'm so glad that it finally became a reality on Sunday.
