We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ruby Dussek a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ruby, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Like many, in 2020 I transitioned from working in an office to working from home. This transition allowed me to hone in on my creativity which prompted me to create a product of my own. I designed several prototypes that I plan to release, but at that time, nothing felt like my debut product. While I was creating, a reoccurring problem arose. I needed a product that multitasks as much as I do. During the summer of 2020 is when I designed the Orignal Ruby’s Doobies Glasses, a pair of glasses that lets you smoke a “doobie” hands-free. At first, I found the invention humorous, but I soon realized that I had created something that could be useful in many situations. The doobie glasses are useful while hiking, meditating, painting, cleaning, reading, working on the computer, playing an instrument, and so much more.

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?

During my academic career, I studied Psychology focusing on research methods and analysis. I have always been interested in holistic treatment methods to avoid feeding into big pharma’s agenda. Despite my unconventional introduction to cannabis in my young adulthood, I knew that this plant was bigger than I thought. As I continued my research, I learned more about its medicinal properties and even experienced its healing properties firsthand. From that day forward, I vowed to be an advocate for cannabis by providing as much education as I could and staying informed. Fortunately, we are in a period of time where cannabis is more wildly accepted but there is still a stigma looming behind the acceptance. I am grateful for the medicinal legalization, although I believe in some ways the process has become too medical and impersonal. For that reason, my brand is to keep cannabis fun and I found that smoking accessories are the perfect way to do that. Cannabis has improved the quality of life for many people, why shouldn’t we act like it.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I manufactured the Doobie Glasses on my own with a sketch I created. It was my first time manufacturing a product of this magnitude, so I am grateful for everything I learned from this experience. The most important lessons I learned are to be flexible, keep an open mind, and try to have a backup plan. When choosing materials, I thought of what would be most beneficial for longevity and comfort. There were a lot of different parts that were purchased that didn’t make the final cut. Some were returnable, while others were a causality of trial and error. I took an entire month of research to solidify the vendors for the separate parts, which would need to be compatible with all the components. Each version was vital to process because it led me to the last iteration of the Doobie Glasses.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new customers has been wearing my products everywhere. At the start of my business, I rarely wore my products. I mostly used them while designing the prototype and creating content. At the time, we were at the peak of the pandemic, and the whole world was at home, so it was acceptable. Once things started opening back up, I realized how difficult it was to organically talk about my product during conversations, especially when I didn’t have a tangible item for people to see. Most of the time, people had a hard time imagining what the product looked like or said they needed to see it themselves. I typically would show a photo or video from social media, but I realized that it rarely converted into sales. Then I started wearing my product with every outfit and exemplifying the lifestyle of a person who would be using the Doobie Glasses. It’s even better when I had a doobie on hand for a live demonstration. People who aligned with it tended to gravitate toward me and would ask me about the product. Once I became a brand ambassador for my product, everything flowed naturally.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rubysdoobies.com
• Instagram: rubysdoobies

Image Credits
Headshot captured by Samantha Ramsahai
Lifestyle photos captured by Ruby Dussek