There’s been a recent push to de-stigmatize cannabis, and added to the advocates is entrepreneur Holly Alberti, a Mass. native who’s about to make waves with her startup Healthy Headie Lifstyle. The venture is what Alberti has deemed “the Mary Kay for Mary J,” sending sales representatives into people’s homes to educate them and let them test out different paraphernalia that they can use for their cannabis consumption.
The company is currently operating out of Colorado (for obvious reasons). However, it broke ground in Alberti’s basement in Plymouth. And it plans to gain national traction, as more states start to loosen their legal constraints on the substance.
The idea for Healthy Headie came about back in 2013 and it took until 2014 for the venture to start to move forward, at which point Alberti attended The Emerald Cup in California. There, she met two major influencers in the cannabis industry: Steve and Andrew DeAngelo.
“I ran into the DeAngelo brothers and, ironically, I found out about the incubator program called CanopyBoulder. There was an application process, but I figured, ‘Why not? Let’s see what happens.’”
In 2015, Healthy Headie Lifestyle went through the accelerator program, which Alberti said “was like building it all over again.” For the past few months, it’s been running a closed beta, is currently in the middle of raising a round of funding and plans to launch to the general population in about a month.
All business talk aside, Alberti is personally invested in the venture, believing it will contribute to the cannabis cause. She’s “come out of the canna-closet” and “been a proponent of the plant for years,” a passion that has only grown the more she’s seen the positive medicinal effects it’s had on people with ailments. Hopefully, with her company’s in-home services, more folks will feel more comfortable and less alienated as they purchase cannabis accoutrements.
Additionally, Alberti plans to educate customers about cannabis and related products with Healthy Headie Lifestyle.
“It’s a new industry, so tons of people are trying to make money off of it,” she explained. “That leaves it open to snake oil salesmen...You’re dealing with people who may be at the end of life, trying to get help and find relief. It makes me upset that people would be taken advantage of...They don’t know the difference between CBD, THC and hemp oil.”
While Alberti has emphasized the importance of making medical marijuana mainstream, she’s also trying to de-stigmatize cannabis for recreational use. The entrepreneur told me, “We’ve been under a prohibition for too long.”
Case in point: Alberti has worked for companies like Reebok and JetBlue, in addition to running her own consulting business and serving on the Executive Board for the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce. And yes, she consumes cannabis. And no, she’s not a bum.
“I consume on a regular basis and I’m not a bad person...Meanwhile drugs that may or may not help people are being overprescribed by doctors,” she said, alluding to the opioid crisis that she witnessed firsthand while in Plymouth.
“It’s frustrating and hypocritical.”
Image via Holly Alberti.
