“You may not know where you want to be in five years because your job may not exist yet.”
My best friend sent me these words from an inspirational Instagram post. She said the quote reminded her of me, and it was refreshing to feel understood at that moment as a female at the forefront of the cannabis industry. I thought about what my last five years had been like and what the next five years to come would entail; I was clueless, but ready for anything. This same drive was evident in the other Asian entrepreneurs working in the cannabis industry we interviewed in this story. I remember that quote as it relates to each of us today as Asian and Asian Americans embarking upon the exciting and uncharted world of legalized cannabis.
My parents are first-generation immigrants from the Philippines. As such, I firmly believe they would have never expected me to end up in this industry. In fact, I hid my interest in it at first. Even when cannabis was legalized in the state of California, I still thought it best to not share my career with my parents until I could prove its merits as a profession. Looking back, I’m not sure what I was more afraid of: that my parents would find out I was working with a taboo drug, or that they would deduce that I enjoyed smoking it. I don’t know which was more shameful because similar to my peers, I kept my habit a secret. We consumed cannabis behind closed doors because we feared our families could never understand. Yet the power of the plant had already made its impact on us. The results were real: cannabis not only helped us live mindfully and with more balance, but it also …
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Author: Geraldine Mae Cueva / High Times
