Rollin’ Up 2020

Some personal words shared with you from the Tokeativity Headquarters women:

“On top of the 2020 pandemic, for me, the last year also included a freak accident that lead to a small stroke and awful brain injury, a divorce from my partner of 13 years, moving multiple times and having my business of 6 years, Prism House, move out of a space we worked so hard to get and had just spent 4 months renovating. Being a mom and running a global business amidst all of these challenging situations was, to date, the hardest thing I have ever done. And you know what? I am leaving 2020 feeling nothing but overwhelmed with gratitude, excitement, inner peace and sheer awe of how beautiful and amazing the Tokeativity and greater cannabis community is. 

In a time where we all felt so isolated at home, I still made connections with some of the most bad ass, inspiring women I have ever met, thanks to our digital events. Lisa and my business partnership and friendship just got EVEN stronger, after countless major challenges over the last 4 years together at Tokeativity. The Tokeativity HQ Team solidified and feels the strongest it has ever been. Lisa, Casey, Wendy and Kia held me up when I needed it most and this year we broke through levels upon levels of ceilings together, within our company and each of us individually.

Tokeativity rolled up 2020 into a big fatty and smoked it so good, all together with thousands of people from around the world who are FEELING THIS SHIFT into a better way of existing in harmony. We can do ANYTHING together.”

– Samantha Montanaro

 

“2020 has been quite the leap year for us all. A year of immense growth in many facets of our lives. Over the last 4 years, we have had to pivot hundreds of times, and this year was no different.

Our year started out celebrating Tokeativity’s 3rd birthday in January and launching our first community event for all on leap year. After picking up my Cultivation Classic judging kit on March 1, a friend and Tokeativity community member was telling me that she had to travel and how nervous she was because of “The Corona Virus”. This was the first time I was hearing about this, which caused me to go on a deep research dive. I knew it was serious and had to inform our team that in person events were probably a thing of the past and that we needed to pivot 100% to digital events. Like most, the initial shock was real, but with 2 years of online events under our belt, this direction was an accessible adjustment. 

The last 9 months, I’ve lead our collective team through an events metamorphosis into the digital. The shift allowed us to deepen our connection with our community more than ever before. We hosted 74 (!) online events after our last in person events on February 29th. We leaned into anti-racism work, launching our “Bridges” events series collaboration with MsKindness Ramirez, assisted in the legalization of psilocybin assisted therapy in Oregon with the Measure 109 campaign, partnered with PAX to host events that celebrate artists of color and their incredible cannabis vaporizers, a global conference for women in plant medicine with 63 speakers from around the world with Women Empowered in Cannabis, increased our membership by 20%, and crossed the 55,000 threshold of our extended global network.

We did all this with an incredible team of 5 bad ass women, dedicated to this important normalization work, who stayed steadfast and grounded in pandemic shifts, juggling life challenges including navigating homeschooling children, holding down multiple jobs, long hours on the computer, mental and physical well being, outside dramas, divorce, devastating Oregon fires, a country on the brink of tyranny, nationwide protests, and a Portland invasion by militarized federal law enforcement, all 100% self funded and driven with heart.

If we can get through this year, we can get through anything. And so can you!

Looking forward to seeing what we can do in 2021 together.”

– Lisa Snyder

 

“Holy FUCK this year has felt like 10 years condensed into one. This pandemic has and continues to change us all, so it’s necessary to take stock of the wins and the lessons this year has bestowed upon us. Professionally, I am proud of the amount of skillset growth I’ve been able to amass in such a small amount of time. This is due in part to the incredibly supportive and empowering Women at Tokeativity HQ. Personally, I stayed true to my resolution of being more creative…and it landed me a job: Chief Creative Officer of Tokeativity!

For myself, key 2020 takeaways/themes are

1.) A deeper understanding of nuance–and making sure that there is room left for it.

2.) Accepting the duality and resiliency of our existence. It’s really helped me to slow down and cherish the highs, and find meaning in the lows.

3.) For accelerated growth, you need a safe place to make mistakes…and you need to get real good at being bad before you are to become any better.

4.)  Imposter Syndrome is real. Remember who YOU are deep down and stay true to that.”

– Kia Delaware

 

 

“Reflecting on 2020 there has been SO much – this year began with one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through, which then gave way to one of the hardest things, we all as a collective have likely ever gone through. To say 2020 has been rough would be an understatement – and we all know that.. but 2020 has also been a beautiful awakening, albeit beauty like that of an intense storm.

-When the whole world stayed home for a moment, the earth was able to breathe and take a moment to heal.

-We all were forced into taking some time to slow down, to reflect and to connect with ourselves – for some, maybe for the first time.

-Though we were all so disconnected from each other in the physical – I found that I became more connected than ever, checking in on those I didn’t ‘have the time’ to connect with, making it a point to facetime with friends and loved ones regularly, interact in the digital space and network with people across the globe, and just genuinely love on people because we all need that right now.

-A collective awakening of consciousness has begun, and the awakening of human decency is coming around.

-2020 may very well be marked in history forever as the year the revolution began, and we are a part of that!

-It has forced me to level up in ways I likely wouldn’t have otherwise, both personally and professionally. Forcing innovation, creativity and emotional endurance as much as learning to rethink, to slow down and to be gentle on myself and others.

This year has truly been a reckoning, for so many of us and in many different ways.. my hope is that we can all find some silver linings from this year amongst the loss, destruction and chaos and look to 2021 knowing that we are resiliant as fuck and all have within us the power to create our realities, despite what the world throws at us.”

– Wendy Mintey

 

“Here we are at the end of the most trying year of my life and maybe yours too, 2020.  Half through this year I could never have predicted I would be feeling more energized than before.  After closing doors to a place we worked tirelessly for I can honestly say that Tokeativity is stronger after having the rug ripped out from under our feet.  I am so proud of our team and our ability to not only pivot into the online event space but thrive in it!  We could have never done it with you, our badass community members. Thank you for all your encouragement, guidance and commitment to Tokeativity.

On a personal level, I wasn’t sure how we would all handle quarantine as a family but I can honestly say it went by a lot faster than I thought it would and we’re coming out closer and more appreciative of each other.  I’ve always felt lucky to have Twins but this year it especially paid off, my boys are truly best friends and it shows. (It’s also helpful having kids in the same class with all this new digital learning.)  I’ve learned a lot as a mother this year and will cherish these extra hours we’ve spent together, every single messy beautifully chaotic moment. Our villages we’re spread out this year and that was painful but I am forever grateful for technology bringing us together for family time.  I know we’ll all be back to big parties, events and family gatherings in due time, but until then – take care of yourselves and others.”

– Casey Wiser