Image credit: Tabercil

By Herb Green

12 years ago I met Martha Stewart while guiding the CEO of a bio-pesticide company through his very first media tour of New York City. Bio-pesticides were a hot story at the time and we sold it all over town – the NY Times, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company and Martha Stewart Living (MLV). No, that’s not a typo. Since this company was also producing a consumer version of its bio-pesticide in addition to the version sold to farmers we had the opportunity to speak directly to ‘woke’ consumers. MSL wasn’t the only lifestyle pub we met with, but it is the only meeting from that tour that I’ll ever remember.

After checking in with the front desk, the CEO and I were whisked into a conference room where an old contact of mine from the tech beat, Suzanne Kantra, was waiting for us. She controlled a couple of very important operations for MLV – the gardening section and oddly enough, technology – and so going in I felt really confident about this meeting’s potential. A story in MLV would be a huge win for the client.

Then Martha walked in. All six feet of her (she had heels on). Suzanne hadn’t warned us.

Suddenly I felt so small and my spokesperson had nothing smart to say. Martha was Martha though; inspiring, polite, strong and ever so cordial. She didn’t stay for the meeting itself, but wanted us to know that she knew we were visiting, and couldn’t wait to hear the report later from Susan. She left us all with a glow that must have remained in Suzanne’s office the rest of the day. Her presence, no matter how brief, had the CEO and I skipping throughout the rest of that day. For dinner that night the CEO went nuts at a 5-star Michelin joint. $500 bottles of wine flowed endlessly through a ridiculous 4-course meal. Martha had infected him deeply.

Fast forward to the Martha Stewart we know today – after a forming a highly publicized partnership with the Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth last week, she is now the new queen of the CBD business (though I would argue that Canna’s Maryam Mirnateghi isn’t far behind). Millions of conservative baby boomer Americans were likely taken aback when Martha partnered on a cooking show with Snoop Dog a few years ago that may or may not have involved weed.

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Now those same baby boomers represent the target audience for CBD products as they enter their golden years. The irony is thick like Béarnaise, but who could possibly be a better fit to lead this audience down a trusted path than Martha Stewart? She is not only a brilliant business mind and (I think) a solid human being, but she is also one of their peers. She literally feels their pain! That being said, she is pragmatic. Canopy and Martha are going to launch a line of pet CBD products first, and then work on the humans. Why pets? Do you need to ask?

In terms of Canna West Culture Shop’s THC-free CBD product sales, the pet specific CBD products it offers are flying off the shelves. Why? Because they work. Is your dog in pain? Scared of fireworks on the 4th of July? Just plain old? It might be worth a visit to Canna Culture, West Seattle’s best place to not only purchase expertly-sourced pet CBD products (not all CBD is legit!), but to also get an education on how they work and how to administer them to your little buddies. Someday soon you will be able to find Martha’s CBD products for sale there as well! In the meantime, your pup might want you to check out some of the wonderful pet CBD products being produced locally.