Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jenny Blaze. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Jenny thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
I hope to empower women to safely & confidently come out of the “Green Closet” as cannabis consumers to modernize the perception of cannabis. Cannabis is a naturally grown plant and while it can be consumed recreationally, there are many people who are consuming medicinally and as an extension of their wellness routines. Through education, community, equity empowerment, and wellness advocacy, I hope to glamorize the stigma of cannabis.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
After spending 15 years as a corporate IT consultant, I found myself in what I thought was the best job of all time, a stay at home mom. Well, I was completely wrong and I hate “old me” for being so naive. Part of my new mission is to normalize the fact that motherhood is abusive. Yes, I said it.
While I am mostly being facetious, I will say that the pandemic definitely did not make motherhood any easier. I found myself taking care of 2 children under 2 and monitoring my 6th grader’s remote schooling. It was a nightmare and I have since blocked it all out of my brain as an instinctual coping mechanism to keep moving forward. Clearly, being a stay at home mom was nothing like I imagined but even more lonely then I thought it would be considering I am also a New York State Medical Marijuana Patient and cannabis advocate.
For me, cannabis is an extension of my wellness. There was a point in my life where I was able to wean off multiple pharmaceutical medications by microdosing on cannabis. This led to my advocacy and obsession with learning more about the science behind the plant and the origins of Prohibition. What I discovered was alarming and life changing. Not only has cannabis been used as medicine since before Jesus was born, but Prohibition stems from systemic racism and is incredibly hypocritical of the government considering they own Patent US6630507B1 which recognizes cannabinoids (natural compounds found in the cannabis plant) as having medicinally beneficial properties. The more I learned, the more I was enraged.
So I did what anyone else would do and numbed myself with television, streaming services, and social media. What I found was that there is still a huge gap between pop culture media and the true culture of the cannabis industry as I see it. That led to the birth of Bravo & Blaze, a Bravo TV super fan social media account merging my love of pop culture, reality TV, and cannabis advocacy. First it started with live tweeting which led to meme making, novelty merch making, tik tokking, and then a podcast which reached #8 in the Top 100 Indie TV Reviews Charts (GoodPods).
Season 3 of Bravo & Blaze has recently kicked off and I am working on the launch of a new podcast, Cannabis Mom Boss. The mission is to empower CannaMoms (or anyone) to safely & confidently come out of the “Green Closet” as cannabis consumers while providing professional and personal development tools and resources to create a unique career.
Content Creation and the cannabis industry are both huge new industries that are continuing to grow and have an incredible amount of potential. However, the biggest challenge I’ve faced is censorship of traditional digital marketing strategies and best practices due to cannabis being federally illegal. This led me to think outside of the box to grow my audience organically.
The best part about this is that I’ve been documenting my journey along the way and am using that to teach others how to do the same. As a mother of 4 daughters, I am realizing more and more how important it is for women to create their own unique career path so they do not have to be faced with the decision of motherhood over a career. Especially in today’s climate, I feel a moral obligation and social responsibility to be a trailblazer to not only set an example for others but to also empower others to do the same and really change the future.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My first ever cannabis advocacy social media account was @OGJennyBlaze420. I grew a large following in a short amount of time but it quickly slowed down at one point in which I learned that my account was shadow banned and restricted by Instagram. This was devastating as I was trying to “come out of the Green Closet” and I felt I was being shamed or judged for doing something that is completely legal but also completely unjustly misunderstood.
Instead of giving up, I decided to start fresh. I created @BravoAndBlaze as a way to enter a community I already belonged to but as a “low key” advocate (according to social media rules). This allowed me to organically communicate my message in places I knew I was not censored (DMs, emails, podcasting, etc).
If I had given up I would have never interviewed Bravolebs, experts, authors, etc. I most definitely wouldn’t have interviewed Redman, the co-founder of the National Cannabis Party, and gotten full support on my new business, Cannabis Mom Boss. This entire journey of entrepreneurship has not only opened professional opportunities for my career but I have grown in so many ways personally that I would’ve never experienced had I given up.
How did you build your audience on social media?
The advice I like to give to people is to be authentic. Figuring out a formula for content or creating a content strategy is easy once you know who you are and who your audience is. Playing to the algorithm does no one any good but the algorithm.
Also, don’t rely on social media! Nothing you post on social media is owned by you. Your account can be taken down at any moment without warning and for unjust reasons. Always be ready to start from scratch. How do you do that? Know your authentic self and who you’re talking to.
It also helps to own your own domain like BravoAndBlaze.com and CannabisMomBoss.com because no one can take that away from you. In addition, your biggest digital asset is your email list. Again, no one can take your list of emails away from you the way a social media platform can disconnect you from your audience by shutting down your account.
Contact Info:
- Website: CannabisMomBoss.com
- Instagram: theCannabisMomBoss
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BravoAndBlaze/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-blaze-8388194/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/BravoAndBlaze
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgI5UXHsCikyRl2QgRqwJeA
- Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bravo-blaze-with-jenny-blaze/id1605180839