Jessica Bates | Founder of Moon Mother Hemp Company
Jessica Bates
Founder of Moon Mother Hemp Company
@moonmotherhempco
Moon Mother Hemp Company is a woman-owned business with a passion for environmentally responsible farming and clean, safe, hemp based natural products. We are committed to providing the highest quality and purest CBD wellness products possible.
Our full spectrum hemp oil supplements and botanicals are made from USDA-certified organic hemp, grown on our farm in Boulder, Colorado. Every ingredient we use is organic and carefully selected to support healing and wellbeing for body and mind. Product quality is insured by overseeing each stage of growth and production from seed to sale.
About Jessica
Jessica Bates is passionate about creating sustainable and clean, health and beauty products. As a certified clinical herbalist, Jessica’s decade long experience of working with medicinal herbs is incorporated into formula production. Her dedication to women’s health and wellbeing also plays a role in Moon Mother product development.
About the Farm
Moon Mother Hemp Company is proud to be a small-scale family run operation. Our hemp is grown by our own team from planting each seed to harvesting and slow curing each plant. The farm is a 14 acre USDA certified organic farm in Boulder, Colorado. It has historically produced strictly vegetables and herbs. In 2017, we received our first license from the Colorado Department of Agriculture, and introduced 5 acres of hemp. The hemp acreage has continued to grow every year since. Moon Mother Hemp Company is committed to a sustainable farming model that supports the land and soil, and incorporates biodynamic practices. The care that goes into smaller scale farming becomes apparent through the quality, taste and efficacy of Moon Mother’s products.
We'd love to know your story! How did you get started? How did you get to where you are today? What are you most proud of? My journey with cannabis began when I was 13 when I smoked my first joint. It was a full on love affair for me from then on. This resulted in many years of mental, emotional and spiritual expansion and self exploration. Although mental expansion and recreational use has its own therapeutic nature, I didn’t begin exploring the physical therapeutic properties of cannabis until I was approaching it as a plant medicine from an herbalists perspective in my mid 20s. When I started studying the physical benefits of cannabis, everything truly changed in my relationship with the plant. After years of working with the plant personally and in my practice I began incorporating hemp based CBD into my line of herbal remedies and topicals. The shift from Moon Mother Medicinals, my former herbal remedies company, to Moon Mother Hemp Company happened swiftly and organically as my clientele became aware of the benefits of CBD and the demand for those particular products grew. With the growing demand for high quality hemp products, our company continues to grow and so does our team of dedicated cannabis lovers. My thirst for knowledge about this powerful plant is unquenched still after years of studying as scientific studies have only just touched on the plant’s capabilities. My partner and I live in service to the plant, the soil and the earth as we work to bring cannabis normalization to our greater community and society and will continue to do so until the plant is free and so are all of its users.
What advice would you give someone wanting to pursue a career similar to yours?
You have to be tenacious because the competition is steep. Do not let the hardships of entrepreneurial work get you down. Keep getting back up and getting back in the ring because the more you do, the stronger you will become. Never ever sacrifice quality for profits. Your community and clients will see right through it and you will not be able to live with yourself. Stay in integrity and you will be rewarded through loyal customers and a committed team and community that believes in you. Don’t view other companies as competition but instead as inspiration. If you feel like your brand or service is not measuring up… step it up! Use that inspiration as fuel to take the next steps you have been scared to take or to make the necessary changes to rank. Build a strong supportive community of entrepreneurs and fellow CEOs to support and lean on. Just knowing that you are not alone in what you are going through is priceless but so is the free experience of learning vicariously and sharing your knowledge. The legal cannabis industry, being brand new is swiftly moving and the landscape changes very quickly. You have to stay on your toes, be flexible and keep your eye on the market in order to stay relevant and not have opportunities pass you by.
What are the best resources that have helped you along the way?
Sisterhood and a strong female CEO network has been priceless for me. Being able to lean on a community that is going through the same or similar trials and successes can truly help support you.
What are your top self care routines and allies that help you keep your cup full when you are giving so much?
As a mother and entrepreneur, self care is both crucial to my success and necessary for me to stay calm as a mother. My self care routines include dedicating 2 hours in the evening most nights for alone time. During this time I do whatever I want including yoga, a bath, listening to music, chat with a friend or even mindlessly scroll social media or some combination of all of the above. Connection to nature and plants is also a non negotiable part of my self care as I spend so much of my work time in an office or behind a screen. Taking a hike, working in the greenhouse or at the farm brings me back to my center and helps me to remember my mission and why we are doing what we are doing with Moon Mother Hemp. Daily CBD is another part of my self care routine that I could not live without. Feeding my Endocannabinoid System in order to stay balanced and keep the scariest at bay is a must!
As someone who has been in the cannabis industry in one fashion or another for the last 18 years, it is constantly on my mind where we have come from and where we are going. I see the industry headed in a direction that I am not always excited about. It is crucial especially now to remember the pioneers of the industry and everyone who fought for legalization and those who have been affected by the war on drugs. Currently, as an industry, we are in an interesting position where we have folks still incarcerated for petty possession charges while Harvard graduates use family money to propel new cannabis businesses. We can not as an industry continue to move forward without addressing inequality and the disparities that are so obviously affecting mostly communities of color. At Moon Mother Hemp company we do not make a move without remembering and honoring the efforts of the trailblazers and activists that have made it possible to be where we are today. We also remember and honor those individuals and communities severely impacted by the war on drugs. It is part of our mission to be an active participant in equity reform by using a percentage of quarterly profits to support non profits working to promote national cannabis record expungement, promote equity efforts for cannabis brands owned by people of color and end the bail system. We support cannabis tax dollars going toward these efforts and hope to see it be a part of the national legalization movement.
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https://www.moonmotherhemp.com/