We recently connected with Tennah Watters and have shared our conversation below.
Tennah, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
At the age of 48 I found myself living in my car after my 19 year marriage ended and in major pain from fibromyalgia and withdrawals of 17 prescribed medications. I had been on these medications for many years and I knew that I had to find a better way to live. I went back to the one thing that always made me feel better and took almost all my physical and mental anguish away. Cannabis. I use every part of the plant for healing purposes. I brushed off my chef coat and got to work creating the perfect CBD balm to heal all my joints and pains. I now make CBD balm, bath salts, and many kinds of edibles including CBD animal treats. By helping myself, I am now able to do what I am best at, getting everyone pain and anxiety free with medicinal cannabis.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
At the young age of nine, it was discovered that I had rheumatoid arthritis in my knees. That was the beginning of my long journey of chronic pain with arthritis, endometriosis and later fibromyalgia. For so many years, I did exactly as the doctors told me to do, did the exercises, took all their medication’s and nothing worked. At 15 I discovered the wonders of cannabis and started checking out books on this amazing plant and the benefits of cannabinoids. Back then, early 80’s, it was illegal in all states as well as Federal and the stigma alone was embarrassing. My own mother thought I would go to jail and take the family down with me just for checking books out on the subject. That didn’t stop me. Cannabis was and still is the only medicine that has ever worked on my whole body and yet it’s still federally illegal. Instead, they all preferred me to start with the pain killer Darvon and ending with Morphine, Demerol and Fentanyl. I tried in vain to tell everyone what worked best but nobody was listening and before long, I was on drugs. Their drugs. Addicted to the drugs they all preferred me to be on. At the age of 47, I found myself in absolute pain, living in my car and going through withdrawals of 17 medications after 19 years of marriage and going through a divorce. I couldn’t live like this. I was in so much pain and out of all meditations. The only thing that helped my pain was a CBD Balm I had made playing around in the kitchen years prior that I would rub into my knees. For three days it was all I used for my fibromyalgia. And I had never felt better. My brothers and their families each took time getting me back on my feet, something I will always be grateful for and I concentrated solely on CBD/THC and the amazing benefits of the medicinal Cannabis plant. In the early 80’s I had studied Culinary Arts at Orange Coast College, taking all the culinary classes I could take as well as hospitality. Unfortunately, my pain got worse for so many years that I never really got the opportunity to work professionally in my field until now. I brushed off my chef coat and started making edibles designed for pain. I discovered that edibles don’t work the same on everybody. Not everyone has the same tolerance or experience. I make edibles geared toward the individual. I ask a lot of questions and with the help of the individual, together we create an edible or oil that works best for them. Whether it’s all CBD, THC or a combination of each. I am grateful and proud that I am a part of the cannabis community and that the plant that once had the worst stigma and jail sentence attached to it is now what people are using in place of addicting opiates. I wish my family and doctors had listened to me when I was a teenager instead of accusing me of “just being on drugs” but am forever grateful and blessed for my journey of discovering the wonders of cannabis.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Because I have had chronic pain since age 9, I can empathize with different kinds of pain. I learned young that not all medications work the same.on all people. Because GangaGirlz Products makes products geared towards the individual, I listen to my clients to find out what will work best for them. It’s not just the physical discomfort one goes through when dealing with pain. It’s mental as well. Not being able to sleep or think clearly is a large part of pain. Creating edibles, oils or tinctures made specifically for one’s discomfort is what makes GangaGirlz unique. We have the pleasure of getting to know each of our clients.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I started off crafting CBD/THC edibles, oils and tinctures for the masses. Thinking one size fits all. I discovered that this is not true when I had a group eat the same small amount of THC infused ice cream. Some had high anxiety, some slept it off and others laughed uncontrollably. The only thing that was certain was that cannabis works differently on all people but I started asking questions and found that with simple adjustments, everyone can enjoy the benefits of cannabis and live a healthy, pain and anxiety free life just as it was intended for us to live. Then I discovered that others were selling cannabis products sometimes triple the price of mine and I couldn’t understand the justification of not allowing everyone to afford to be pain free. I started teaching others how to make edibles at home to save on money and now I have a cooking show “GangaGirlz Cooking with Cannabis” on our YouTube channel. It is truly my belief that everyone has the right to afford to be pain free.
Contact Info:
- Website: GangaGirlzProducts.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/@GangaGirlzProducts420
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/@gangagirlzproducts
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@gangagirlzproducts
Image Credits
Tennah Watters, Lisa Davidson