In our EQ Team Spotlight series, meet the faces behind your favorite CBD brand! Today, we’re featuring Amy K., the Product Marketing Manager here at Equilibria.

 

Can you tell me a bit about yourself and your work background? 

I was frustrated and bored while working corporate office administration jobs and underappreciated retail jobs, all while barely making ends meet, so I went back to school and earned my degree in Digital Humanities. It’s a newer field of study similar to traditional humanities fields, like fine arts and philosophy, but understood through the lens of the digital world, like the internet and video games. So while gaining digital cultural knowledge and honing my critical thinking skills, I was also building websites and exploring my digital capabilities!

 

At the suggestion of my college advisor, I got involved with 1871, a Chicago-based tech incubator, and worked there as an intern for a while. I also participated in a student entrepreneurial hackathon at 1871, concepting, modeling, and pitching an entire tech business over a weekend. Our business concept involved developing an attachment for asthma inhalers that would sync your usage and dosage with your smartphone to help you better manage your condition. Our team worked incredibly hard for two and a half days and ended up winning first place! Our prize was the chance to continue to build our idea into an actual functioning company. And while we continued our effort for another year or so, unfortunately, it never fully came to life. Ultimately though, these two opportunities gave me a ton of hands-on experience in the realities of tech entrepreneurship and building a product in the wellness space. 

 

Through that same college advisor, I was introduced to Marcy Capron-Vermillion, Equilibria’s CPO and Co-founder, who was interested in my experience in product, wellness, and tech. I met her in February 2019, right before Equilibria was launching its website. She seemed interested in having me help grow the company.

 

I ended up formally interviewing with her and Coco Meers later for a job that didn’t exist at the time – to see if it was a good fit. And I started at Equilibria at the end of May as the Community & Content Manager. Of course, since EQ was so small, I ended up having many other responsibilities. Today, I can count 15 current EQ employees whose work I was doing at some point at the start! I mean, there wasn’t as much work then, so it was doable… but it is fascinating to see how much we’ve grown over two years and built those out as individual roles at Equilibria.

 

After a few months, I began to gravitate towards the product side of the business. My title and role were refined to that of a Product Operations Associate, and I started working closer with Marcy. As the company has continued to grow, my role at EQ has only refined further. Currently, I’m the Product Marketing Manager, and I’m super-interested in improving our customer experience and increasing customer retention through product enhancements, member education, and anonymous data collection.

 

If ever asked, I would say that the key to my happiness and success at EQ has been having such a supportive group of women to work with that aren’t just invested in their own growth but also invested in you and growing your career and your skillset. Coco and Marcy always want you to build and learn new things, which is very hard to find in C-level leadership. I am fortunate to work with people who want to support me and my professional interests and aptitudes.

 

What is the most rewarding thing about your job?

I love my job! It’s the mission that inspires me every day. I love and have always been passionate about supporting women. Being able to champion the needs of women and recognizing their differences, and celebrating them is something that means a lot to me, especially when I can help.

 

Balance has a different definition for women – and non-gender binary folks – than it does for men. Reading the stories sent in by our customers of how we changed their lives to find and maintain that balance is a big inspiration to me. I look forward to amplifying their voices and bringing more equity to a space like cannabis-based wellness.

 

Professionally, I love the challenges that are thrown at me! Being agile and working in a startup energizes me, and I love being able to help solve problems.

 

What is your favorite meeting?

My favorite meeting used to be something we called ‘Data Dive Magic Time,’ which I’m looking forward to starting back up after a short transition period. During this meeting, a cross-functional team discussed a segment of the incoming site data received – page load times, site traffic, popular pages, anything! We identified trends, patterns, areas for testing or improvement, and successes that we can share with the rest of the company. 

 

We explored the data and dug deeper into the things most people don’t see every day. We asked questions like, “What kind of story is our data telling, and how can we use that narrative to further support our members?” I loved it! 

 

What is the best career lesson you’ve learned so far?

I’m still learning a lot of lessons! The way I see it, perfection isn’t realistic. So I think one of the best lessons I’ve learned so far is that it’s okay to continue learning.

 

What is your #myEQ?

I love making time in the morning to have my coffee with some of my Mint Daily Drops. However, the Daily Gummies are slowly making their way into my morning routine, and not just because they are so darn delicious! I’ve noticed the Daily Gummies are allowing me to be more patient and calm in times where I’d normally be reactive or impulsive, so they may be a better modality for me than the Daily Drops. I’m excited to talk to my EQ dosage specialist about it (yes, I have one too!).

 

For my as-needed dose, the Rapid Calming Melts are always in my purse – I can’t leave the house without them. Just knowing I have them as a resource when I am feeling stressed is such a relief.