Q: How do you manage juggling work and home life?
Hahaha I don’t really… To be honest it all kind of melts together. I work from home so sometimes I feel like I never really leave the office. Sometimes when I’m working I get distracted by laundry. I think that for me, creating a clear divide between home and work just isn’t an option. I am lucky that I love what I do so much that I dont mind it being so entrenched in my life. As a mother I need to be available for my kids when they need me so I have a hard stop at about 6 pm so I can focus on dinner and homework and hanging out with the kids but I might be back at work once they’re in bed or I might get up early and get some emails done while they’re still sleeping. The one thing I’ve been really trying to do this year is to take at least one full day off and away from screens every week.
Q: How has your career with The Her(b) Life positively effected your home life with your children?
We talk about it a lot. I’m really open with them about Her(B) Life and my mission there. My kids say that want to work for the company when they’re older and I love that idea, I really want my kids to be proud of the waves Her(B) Life is making, and of me and the work I do. I do travel a lot for meetings and speaking engagements and that can tough on the kids, I try to make it fun by sending photos and videos of the places go and I always bring home souvenirs!
Q: Do you have any advice for other mother’s who aren’t familiar with cannabis products but are very interested in discovering them?
Educate yourself. Learn about different consumption methods and products. Not everyone is a smoker, not everyone likes edibles. Cannabis is a fantastic alternative to alcohol and the therapeutic benefits are incredible but the feeling of intoxication is different with cannabis than it is with alcohol. Start slowly, experiment with different products and talk to other women about what they like!
Q: What do you think the social stigma of cannabis will be in 10 years from now?
I think it will be nearly gone or at least far less pronounced. The stigma is an old hangover from prohibition and I think the further we get away from that time the more open minded we’ll be. Look at alcohol. At one time there were activists and prohibitionists who would go into bars and smash the place up. We dont do that anymore. I think society will get more comfortable with cannabis as we see that communities are positively affected by legalization.
About Gill Pollard
Gill Polard is a legalization and safe access advocate and the creator of the leading cannabis lifestyle website and print publication The Her(B) Life which celebrates the feminist cannabis experience through industry interviews, education and media. She is executive producer for the Sessions podcast, co-host of The High Friends Podcast, is a regular contributor to The Growth Op and teaches the Marketing under the Cannabis Act course at Mount Royal University. In 2018 she was nominated for a Canadian Cannabis Award in the “influencer” category and was awarded the first ever “Cannabis Leader of the Year” trophy from Notable Life. In 2019 she was nominated for influencer of the year at o’cannabiz and the Her(B) Life was nominated for the best news source category.
Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @gill_polard or Her(B) Life at @the_herblife on all platforms.