Happy Friday, Cowes!
This week’s #ShesTheBoss feature is an intelligent and passionate queen who did not let the pandemic hold her back but instead used it to create something to provide relief to herself and those around her. Meet Katrina Thompkins, Founder of K’dara CBD. K’dara CBD offers a wide range of hemp-derived CBD oils, creams, gummies and most recently, pet products.
Katrina’s brand ethos is everything our #GRLGNG believes in, “a brand built on the foundation of strong, aspiring women.” Katrina is a a traveling cardiovascular nurse currently working in intensive care in New York, relieving people of their pain is second nature to this goal-getter. “For a long time, I’d really been contemplating a more entrepreneurial path (than nursing) — this was the perfect opportunity to do something I really care about.” In 2020, Katrina took her passion and experience to develop products sourced using the best ingredients and even brought in an expert pharmacist who helped formulate a variety of organic CBD products.
Since day one, Katrina’s Grandmother Clover had instilled a passion for health and healing in her and she has run with it ever since. Grandmother Clover’s life was cut short in her mid-eighties due to breast cancer and Katrina passionately believes that if her brand existed then, her Grandmother could have benefitted from K’dara CBD’s relief. K’dara CBD prioritizes healing above all, whether that be due to sleeplessness or the debilitating effects of chronic pain. Each product provides relief in a gentle and natural, yet effective way.
Katrina is paving this obstructed path for women and people of colour looking to break into the cannabis space. Can we please take a minute to acknowledge just how difficult it is to break into this industry, nevermind being a black female.
Katrina Thompkins proclaims in the The Story Exchange:
“Simply put, it’s an unsettling backdrop for starting a business in cannabis if you’re Black. “There’s a lot of interest, and a lot of people with brilliant ideas who’d love to get into the cannabis industry. But we need, as (Black) people, a whole lot more opportunities.
One of the biggest pain points is funding — it’s a challenge for women and minority entrepreneurs in general, and the cannabis industry is no exception. CBD is a very capital-intensive industry, there are no federal loans or funds — it’s either people self-funding or getting private investors.”
Katrina did that, Cowes. AND during a global pandemic! Today we raise our glasses to more women like Katrina breaking barriers and creating room in spaces where they feel like they don’t belong.
xx
The Cowe