New chapter unlocked. Doreen Sullivan, the creative force and founder behind one of our favorite ancillary brands, My Bud Vase®, is launching Doreen Sullivan International!
With close to 40 years of global product experience and $80+ million in custom products and campaigns, Doreen is launching her new legacy brand, Doreen Sullivan International, which will include Live Shopping of her careers’ memorabilia and a YouTube channel dedicated to product development, branding and the real-life lessons behind building and marketing standout products.
If you’re interested in following this new journey from the start, check out @doreensullivanintl on IG.
Catching Up With Doreen
Please share your journey into cannabis
- “I grew up in California and have enjoyed cannabis recreationally since I was a teenager. I was also a theater major, so cannabis always enhanced my creativity and brought out the best creative in me.”
- “I started my agency in New York City and lived there for several years. Later I married into a wonderful family from the South and moved there. That’s when I had to hide my consumption so much.”
- “It felt like my dirty little secret. The shame of feeling like I was doing something wrong with something that I enjoyed my whole life, was very prevalent as a professional and then as a mother of two children.”
What was the moment you realized cannabis could be a career?
- “I refer to this moment as my final “Hide the Bong Dance” where I hid my bong amongst my vases and that was my Aha moment. I looked around my house and realized my paraphernalia didn’t fit my decor at all. That’s where the journey pivoted into realizing I could fix this and create a whole line of products people would enjoy. It was decades later, I had my final “Hide the Bong Dance”.”
- “I was at the top of my agency career when I started My Bud Vase®. I call it the beautiful detour. It’s been ten years since I made that shift as a product developer, building a business for sophisticated consumers and in the home decor arena of cannabis.”
What advice would you pass along to women looking to build a career in cannabis?
- “My advice is for all of us, women and everybody, to really connect with the people who are curious about cannabis. There’s the inner industry and then there’s the outer world. The outer world is far more curious and has more questions than any of us in the industry can answer. Anyone in this space who can connect with new consumers is not only going to benefit the plant, but benefit their business.”
- “No matter where you are in your business journey life, it is a time to learn new trades and new learn new secrets and learn new ways.”
- “My advice is to keep learning and keep expanding into the areas that bring you the most joy.”
What’s a rule you were told you had to follow that you chose to question instead?
- ”The minute you tell me I have to color in a box, I jump out of the box as fast as I can. I’ve lived to break rules in a beautiful way and just find a different road.”
- “My entire career has been about creating things people haven’t seen before, even before My Bud Vase®. I’ve always tried to break the rules in a discreet, sneaky-sexy way. Hidden in plain sight, very feminine.”
Is there anything cannabis wise or legalization that you would like to see in the next five to 10 years?
- “I’d love to see the industry support the plant as a whole and move away from so much of the political side of it. This plant has the ability to help and heal in so many ways, yet it’s often stuck in a political game, which makes me sad.”
- “I’d love to see it be free to exist in all the ways it can help people, recreationally, medicinally, spiritually and creatively. That’s where it deserves to be and I’m committed to continuing to create products that align with that goal.”
What’s discouraging you in cannabis?
- “I do think cannabis is going through a big pivot right now. It’s discouraging when you see things rolling backward politically, but this plant has been around for hundreds of thousands of years and it will continue to be. The real question is how we step into the next frontier and create something new. For me, it always comes back to the consumer. I love vending because I get to see people discover my product in real time. Some people see it for the first time and they’re like, ‘What?’ It reminds me how many people are out there consuming and looking for something that fits into their lives. It pulls me out of the narrow view our industry can sometimes have and reminds me that my products help people at home, letting them be discreet, beautify their space and bring a little luxury into their routine.”
Who’s a woman who helped you get to where you are today?
- “There’s so many of them. I think I’ve connected and collaborated with maybe 200 or 300 women in this industry, and we all support each other. Hats off to the women who have pioneered this space.”
- “One of my dearest friends has been JM Balbuena, an author who wrote Green Renaissance. We went on a six-week road trip with my Tree Bong and traveled over 2,000 miles, stopping at stores that carried my product or wanted to carry it. We called it the Bong Voyage tour, and it brought so much joy back into my life and my product development. That experience helped remind me of the bigger picture that people matter more than profit, and that my time is better spent taking care of my people instead of worrying so much about the bottom line.”
Has there been any design that’s been your favorite?
“I always say the last one I made. But right now, I’d say my Tree Bong because it really reconnected me to the joy of creating. I started out making one-of-a-kind pieces using vintage vases and spent about two years doing that.”
Happy Women’s History Month!
Visit Pure Blossom for Cannabis and Other Essentials
Explore Pure Blossom’s curated selection of New Jersey cannabis brands and essential accessories. Whether you’re doing the old Google thing, searching for a dispensary near me or nearby dispensaries in New Jersey, Pure Blossom is a short, scenic, calming drive away, and our friendly guide-connoisseurs are excited to take you through our curated selection of New Jersey cannabis brands (and other essentials). We’ll see you there!