Cait Curley is quickly becoming a name to know among hemp enthusiasts and cannabis fans of all kinds. We noticed that whether she’s exploring the potential of hempcrete or winning hearts and minds at hemp expos, Curley seemed to be everywhere we went and interested in the same topics we were. In November, she created a “Women of Cannabis” photoshoot, highlighting the diversity of the industry. Now she’s expanding her hemp media brand and, after years of partnering with other hemp companies, getting more involved in self-driven hemp projects.

She told us she sees hemp as key to solving our environmental crisis.

“This plant can overturn the synthetic world we live in, and save our planet,” Curley declared, when we caught up with her by phone.

Impressed by her passion and energy for hemp in all its forms, we wanted to know how she got involved and how other people can support hemp too.

Cannabis Brought Freedom from ‘Burnout’

“Until 2005, I believed all ‘drugs’ were dangerous and dirty,” Curley recalled. “I got high one night, for the very first time, and changed my perception on cannabis right then and there.”

That night, Curley realized she’d bought into the social stigma around cannabis without learning the real facts about the plant. That moment set in motion a major journey of discovery and transformed her into a hemp and cannabis advocate.

“If you have a connection to the plant, then you already are involved and part of the community.” — Cait Curley

Curley was always drawn to entertaining and inspiring people from a young age. She even participated twice in the world championships for Irish dance. In 2010, she moved to New York to pursue acting and modeling. However, she wanted to find ways to help people on a deeper level.

She switched to a career in audiology, the science of studying hearing and treating hearing disorders. The position she took led to a corporate style job. Success meant good money but also working incredibly long hours.

“I understood what the term ‘burnout’ meant.”

Move to Colorado Allowed Full-Time Support of Cannabis

Although she hid her recreational use of cannabis for a long time, due to the stigma around it, her experiences changed her life.

Just spending time in nature while high helped Curley gain a new perspective. She decided she needed to get more involved, and become someone that could openly support cannabis access and legal reform. She also wanted to leave her corporate job.

In 2015, Curley packed up her life and moved to Denver. She started attending meetups and networking and immediately found herself part of an incredibly welcoming group of cannabis/hemp supporters. Now, in addition to creating cannabis/hemp-related media, Curley works with the NoCo Hemp Expo, Southern Hemp Expo, Tree Free Hemp, One Planet Hemp, and Let’s Talk Hemp Media. She also appears at hemp events and collaborates with various other brands that reach out to her.

Curley passionately supports the cannabis plant in all its forms, from psychoactive cannabis (“marijuana”) to industrial hemp, believing both are integral to making a better world.

How to Be a Hemp Advocate and Support Hemp

“If you have a connection to the plant, then you already are involved and part of the community. Curley emphasized during our chat. “There is no official stamp.”

However, she also offered a few additional tips for how anyone can support hemp and become a hemp advocate:

• Use hemp. Hemp goods are often better for you, more durable, or otherwise better than the alternatives. They can also be more expensive, meaning it’s not simple to transform your whole wardrobe from cotton to hemp overnight. Start small: wear a hemp t-shirt, add hemp hearts to your diet, or switch to hemp lip balm. Every hemp product you use supports this growing industry. It’s also an opportunity to start a conversation.
• Educate others & yourself. The first step is to understand hemp and its potential, then help those around you learn. Many people still misunderstand hemp and cannabis, and their many potential benefits for humanity. Even people familiar with CBD, thanks to its incredible popularity at the moment, may not be aware that hemp and “marijuana” can be made into clothing, food, even Farm Bill legalized hemp, there’s still a lot of room for improvement especially in local laws and regulations.

While the hemp industry is growing by leaps and bounds, even more importantly Curley describes hemp advocates as a “family and a community.”

When you make hemp a part of your life, Curley believes that “not only are you bettering yourself, you’re supporting a movement.”

We couldn’t agree more!

Support Hemp and Help Change Our World

Curley sees the hemp movement as part of global progress towards sustainability and renewed recognition of our common humanity.

“A huge shift is coming, and cannabis has a huge part to play in that.”

Projects like her “Women in Cannabis” photo shoot help to illustrate that shift by countering the idea that only white men work with hemp. She partnered with prAna hemp clothing, Silver Mountain hemp guitars, and The Original Jack Herer to create the photos.

For Curley, hemp is a gateway to a better world, one that emphasizes both people and planet, through practices like regenerative agriculture, more responsible use of resources, and other alternatives to our current “synthetic” way of life.

“This is my purpose, this is my life,” she told us. “I can’t see myself doing anything else.”

The post How To Support Hemp, With Hemp Advocate Cait Curley appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.