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Erin Gore is founder and CEO of Garden Society, a California-based, cannabis-focused benefit corporation serving women in search of new, more holistic ways to rejuvenate from the rigors of their daily lives. Garden Society creates artisanal confections and sun-grown pre-rolls that connects biodynamic farming, sustainable ingredients and strain-specific cannabis in a variety of products.
Garden Society stems from Erin’s personal journey of striving to find balance in her life, as both a mom and entrepreneur, and being surrounded by women feeling the same pressures. Alongside her business partner, Karli Warner, the company is built on their shared passion to encourage women to explore non-traditional ways of managing pain, anxiety and stress relief, as well as relaxation and joy via cannabis– all a means of providing a better quality of life.
Three years since founding, Garden Society is now a flourishing, well-rounded cannabis wellness brand poised to reach and help women across the state of California enrich their lives with safe and clean cannabis.
Erin is an active member of the Northern California cannabis community, and frequently speaks on the topics of cannabis and entrepreneurship. She’s a fearless advocate for women-owned cannabis businesses, and equally dedicated to breaking the stigma and rewriting the script around the plant. With a degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Erin is also fluent in the science-based talk of cannabis and production.
Prior to Garden Society, Erin worked with her husband Tom on their joint venture with Constellation Brands on Tom Gore Vineyards, an award-winning farmer’s wine. Before the wine business, she had a decade-long corporate career at Henkel, where she managed a global adhesive business valued at nearly $100 million. Her time at Henkel provided a solid foundation in leadership, development, and achieving exceptional financial results.
GMR Executive Spotlight Q&A –
Full birth name: Erin Kay Gore
Title: Founder/ CEO
Company: Garden Society
Years at current company: 3
Education profile: BS in Chemical and Biological Engineering
Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis:
My most successful accomplishment at my previous company was having the career path I did, on my terms, with the colmenation winning Business of the Year. I was faced with a lot of challenges and adversity throughout my career being one of the few women in my division within the technical and business units of a chemical CPG company. I worked hard to build excellent EQ to overcome these challenges, and create opportunities for myself by intentionally managing up and being a good team player.. I excelled at every opportunity I earned through listening, creativity, being coachable, hard work and grittiness to get the job done. Right before I resigned, I won Business of the Year with my team. I thought back to the first position I had at the company, and was so proud of how intentional I had been using every difficult situation to help me grow as a leader and employee, and also to demonstrate how diversity of age and gender can be an asset to every team.
Company Mission: Garden Society is a benefit corporation creating a sisterhood of women in search of new, more holistic ways to rejuvenate from the rigors of our daily lives.
Founded in Sonoma County by Erin Gore and Karli Warner in 2016, Garden Society offers high quality cannabis-infused confections and sun-grown flower pre-rolls that connect biodynamic farming, sustainable ingredients and strain-specific cannabis in a variety of products. Garden Society edibles and pre-rolls are intended to be enjoyed responsibly to relieve pain, alleviate stress, and enable each of us to live our lives more fully. Our goal is to help everyone find a ‘Fresh Perspective’ in the joy that cannabis brings to our everyday lives!
OUR MANIFESTO: We are girlfriends, wives, moms, sisters, bill-payers, breadwinners, caretakers and peacemakers. We are multi-taskers, with a huge passion to pursue all this world offers. We are a sisterhood of like-minded women. We are pioneers, in search of new, more holistic ways to rejuvenate from the rigors of our daily lives. We seek new ways to regain perspective—and constantly look for ways to make the ordinary, extraordinary. We are NOT superwomen, but we ARE amazing. Welcome to Garden Society.
Company’s most successful achievement: To be in a position post July 2018 where we are continuing to build a strong brand presence and scaling so quickly that we have to raise capital to propel our growth to its potential. Also, that we’re really helping people find a better life for themselves. I’m so inspired by how we help people and so proud of what we’ve built.
Has the company raised any capital (yes or no): Yes
If so, how much?: Initial Investment in 2018 of $1.3M.
Any plans on raising capital in the future? Yes, currently fundraising to continue to propel our fast growth.
Most important company 5 year goal: In 5 years, we will continue pushing towards our vision of becoming one of the most positive, powerful and trusted global cannabis brands for women, with quality products that matter to both consumers and partners.
