Inspired: Author Heather Cabot Unpacks CBD Innovators’ Paths
Heather Cabot speaking at the 2018 Propelify startup festival in Hoboken, New Jersey, for Audible.
“Just start.”
That is author and renowned journalist Heather Cabot’s advice to entrepreneurs as well as her own motto.
““Just start.” That is author and renowned journalist @Cabotventures ‘s advice to entrepreneurs as well as her own motto. #femaleentrepreneurs #startup”
With her latest book out this month, The New Chardonnay: The Unlikely Story of How Marijuana Went Mainstream, hitting a bestseller list on Amazon recently, Cabot is taking stock of her successes as well as looking for what she will tackle next.
“I am always thinking about my next project,” says Cabot, who lives in Rye, New York with her twin teenage children and her husband, Neeraj Khemlani.
They met when they were both students at Columbia University Graduate School in Journalism in 1992; she serves on the alumni board there and taught as an adjunct from 2012 until 2017.
A former ABC News correspondent and anchor, Cabot says she wanted to be a journalist from the time she was in high school.
Growing up in Phoenix, Cabot says she was inspired by her mother, Vicky Cabot, and her career in local journalism.
Working on her high school newspaper, then later her college newspaper while studying English and philosophy at Simmons College in Boston, Cabot graduated in 1992. Her senior year she co-hosted the “Night Shift” show at a local Boston radio station.
“I always wanted to write, that was my main focus,” says Cabot.
After studying broadcast journalism at Columbia and graduating in 1994, Cabot went to work in local and network television. In 2002, Cabot moved to Washington, D.C. to report for ABC News on breaking national news stories for the network’s NewsOne affiliate division. Her success led to her filing stories from New York for “Good Morning America” and “World News Tonight.” She then became co-anchor of “World News Now” and “World News This Morning.”
“I was doing broadcast, but I was freelancing for newspapers and magazines,” says Cabot.
After her twins were born in 2006, she moved with her husband, Khemlani, and their children (when the twins were just 11 weeks old) to Los Angeles.
Yahoo! hired her as its primary on-air spokesperson and digital lifestyle expert from 2007-2012, appearing on network morning broadcasts including TODAY and CBS This Morning, as well on cable news outlets and many syndicated talk TV shows.
In 2013, she starting working on a book with co-author, Samantha Walravens. She spent three years researching and writing, Geek Girl Rising: Inside the Sisterhood Shaking Up Tech, that was published in 2017.
“Six years of being in Silicon Valley, I was struck by women I had met in that space advocating for women at the table,” Cabot says.
““Six years of being in Silicon Valley, I was struck by women I had met in that space advocating for women at the table,” @Cabotventures says. #womensupportingwomen #womeninbusiness”
The same was true for women in the cannabis industry, the focus of her latest book, painstakingly reported over several years.
“I’ve learned women have to be incredibly persistent as they are in tech,” Cabot says. This cannabis industry “came out of the shadows and was run primarily by men.”
Read more in Take The Lead on women in the cannabis industry
Cabot profiles the career paths of a handful of entrepreneur innovators in the cannabis field including Beth Stavola, whom Forbes called a “pot pioneer,” and who resigned earlier this month from a company she built, according to Forbes.
“One of the first women in the legal marijuana industry to launch and lead a multi-state growing, manufacturing and retail operation in the U.S. stepped down from the firm that acquired MPX, the company she founded and the assets she leveraged into a $1.6 billion merger in 2019. Elizabeth Stavola, chief strategy officer and board director resigned her post from embattled iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc.,” Forbes reports.
In her new book, Cabot writes that she intended to answer the question, “How did marijuana manage to somehow shed its stigma seemingly overnight?” The industry has become what is estimated to be a $2 billion industry, with projections to be a $20 billion industry by 2024, according to BDS Analytics.
“In her new book, @Cabotventures writes that she intended to answer the question, “How did marijuana manage to somehow shed its stigma seemingly overnight?” #journalism #femalejournalist”
That growth is expected to continue. “Estimates by Grand View Research show that the global legal marijuana market could be worth $73.6 billion by 2027. And growth is quite evident from the surge in cannabis sales amid the coronavirus pandemic,” according to Motley Fool.
“Women in this space bring a fresh and different perspective and they understand the new consumers,” says Cabot. “Women had foresight about future consumers and had to be incredibly scrappy.”
The changes in culture contributing to the growth of the cannabis industry has been fascinating to report and write about, Cabot says.
“The changes in culture contributing to the growth of the #cannabis #industry has been fascinating to report and write about, @Cabotventures says. #womeninjournalism”
“Even if it’s federally illegal, the local governments declare this business essential,” Cabot says of CBD dispensaries during COVID-19.
Women are driving innovation as leaders in CBD, but women are also key consumers, she says. “Women will continue to be interested for things like sleep, managing stress, pain relief; that is what I wanted to explain,” Cabot says. “Growth is not only about intoxicating effects, but about therapeutic effects. I think what I’ve seen is that the pandemic has not dampened enthusiasm.”
Read more in Take The Lead on women in CBD
Having reported exhaustively on both tech and cannabis industries for her books, Cabot says she sees similarities in the fields on the way women entrepreneurs approach the work.
“To be an entrepreneur you have to be comfortable with uncertainty,” she says. “You have to believe so much in what you’re doing, keep moving forward and be flexible and responsive enough to course correct quickly.”
““To be an #entrepreneur you have to be comfortable with uncertainty,” @Cabotventures says. “You have to believe so much in what you’re doing.” #startup #advice”
Cabot says in the cannabis industry there is a saying, “You are building the plane while flying it,” and it is true. It is also similar to a tech saying, Cabot says, that you must “fail fast” in order to be disruptive.
Women entrepreneurs especially “need to hustle, be scrappy, listen to feedback and pivot.”
From her work reporting and writing the book, Cabot says she observed that the CBD industry definitely needs more diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. “Because it’s the right thing to do, but it’s also a whole other level of significance,” Cabot says.
“From her work reporting and writing the book, @Cabotventures says she observed that the #CBD industry definitely needs more diversity, #equity and inclusion initiatives. ”
She adds that the historic war on drugs was systemic racism, and that the entrepreneurial side of CDB must also have social justice provisions for the harms done to communities through jailing for minor marijuana offenses.
In every industry, Cabot says, she has found that having a sisterhood network is essential for women. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” she says. “Whatever industry you are in, we all have to help each other. You help others shine, elevate them and that elevates you.”
“In every industry, @Cabotventures says, she has found that having a #sisterhood network is essential for women. #networking #community”
While she has been bold in her career moves, Cabot sees that many women may be fearful to start on a new idea, project or venture.
“We are afraid to start working on an idea or tell people about it because it’s not fully formed. If it’s just in your mind, you can’t see if it will succeed,”Cabot says.
“Get out of your own way and just start,” she says. “I always have something in my back pocket.”
