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

Tarah , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career

I would infuse more play and rest into curriculums to help create safer and better learning environments. There are studies that show play to assist with integration and overall learning not just for kids but adults as well. The best teachers I’ve had in my life have been the ones that knew how to make classes fun and interactive but also challenging. The two aren’t mutually exclusive and together create more space for experimentation and reflection for students in real time.

I would also change how schools promote paths to success post-graduation by providing more career and training options outside of the traditional college route. Even though the conversation is expanding, I think there’s still a dominant narrative that after graduating high school, students will only be successful if they go to college or university. Both my sister and I went to college and while there is a lot of value in that experience, it isn’t for everyone. Occasionally we both wonder what would have happened if we knew it was okay to take a different path. So much of what we are taught is a one-size fits all model and I think it’s more harmful than helpful for many people who eventually need to fight their way back to themselves.

Life can be really hard sometimes, and if we don’t have the right tools to navigate through, we can make things even more difficult. We can prepare students to have more fulfilling lives by better equipping them not just with coping mechanisms, but wellness practices to help prevent trauma in the first place. Why doesn’t every human being know how to breath to regulate their nervous system?! We all breathe! Why doesn’t every human being know how to grow a fruit or vegetable? We all eat! It’s crazy to me that breath work and gardening classes aren’t graduation requirements in all curriculums across the country. Bring back home economics and add an intersection of race, class and gender seminar in there too!

Tarah , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a polymath wanting to leave the world better than I found it. I am a yoga teacher, travel junky, french fry lover and literal tree hugger and have worked in environmental justice, food sovereignty and holistic wellness for the majority of my adult life. I got into the cannabis industry after meeting a woman from an organic hemp farmer co-op at a conference where I was speaking about my experiences with racism in the permaculture community. I told her about my mom who was struggling with severe chronic pain and she gave me a full sized free sample of CBD. When I got home I gave some to my mom and it worked wonders for her! That’s when I started asking myself why more people didn’t know about CBD and the answer that came was that more people like me needed to share about it.

Buena Botanicals is a cannabis lifestyle brand started in 2019 by myself and my twin sister, Coral. We wanted to create a business that helps to bring healing resources to our communities because we have had such a good experience using CBD ourselves. Both my sister and I are planeteers and social justice advocates so we also wanted to root our business in community, education and eco-responsibility.

Our products are infused with Organic Full Spectrum CBD oil sourced from USDA certified Organic, hand-harvested, eco-responsible hemp ethically grown here in the U.S. Right now we sell tinctures, soaps, bath-bombs, and a moisturizing cream all with varying dosages. We are also restarting in-person events as well as creating a new virtual wellness series. In addition to selling high-quality CBD, we also promote holistic wellness practices outside of cannabis that encourage and support resilience and self care. I think this is something that sets us apart from many other brands and that we’re really proud of.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A major lesson that both my sister and I have had to unlearn is that you need to work yourself to the bone to be successful; that if you are rested you aren’t working hard enough, and that’s is just 100% false. The society we live in however, conditions us to believe that #teamnosleep is the only way to win and that our value as human beings is exclusively connected to our productivity. I remember going to a college prep school for both middle and high school. I would come home and many nights not finish my studies until 2 or 3 in the morning only to wake up at 6 to get ready for the day. When I talked to my friends and teachers about how tired I was I received the message that we were all in the same boat. I quickly learned and accepted that being exhausted was “normal”.

I first heard about rest as resilience late 2017 from Tricia Hersey of The Nap Ministry and was immediately interested in how to change my relationship work and rest. That was 5 years ago and while my rest practice is amazing compared to before, it’s something that I continue to grow into, especially because the status quo which still preaches the opposite. I find it encouraging however, to see more conversations happening about disrupting toxic grind culture, work life balance and rest, especially since COVID-19. As a co-business owner my sister and I check-in with each other regularly around our capacity and access needs. We also actively encourage open communication with our interns to make sure that we are not perpetuating overwork and toxic business practices. It’s a process!

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

My business partner is my literal day 1! We met in the womb!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.buenabotanicals.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buenabotanicals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buenabotanicalscbd
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/buena-botanicals/

Image Credits
Christy Marie Photography. NOUNS Photography