Hispanic and Latinx Leader Shaking Up the Cannabis Industry
ASHE celebrates Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month
We celebrate Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month to recognize the achievements and contributions of change-makers who have inspired others to succeed and advocate for social equity within all industries. We want to bring your attention to Imelda Walavalkar, Founder of Pure Beauty. Imelda is a Latinx businesswoman and community cultivator who has made positive impact in the cannabis industry. From criminal justice reform to cannabis, she paved the way to breaking historical stigmas around Hispanic and Latinx individuals in cannabis by creating a more diverse environment for all innovators.
Meet Imelda O. Walavalkar
Founder of Pure Beauty
Growing up in an immigrant household and a conservative, mostly white part of California, Imelda felt very marginalized because of her skin and culture(s). However, as an adult, she feels that her heritage and experience allowed her to have a wider range of inspiration. In fact, adversity made Imelda stronger, and more connected with her humanity. As a result, the challenges forced her to empathize and understand different perspectives, which she has carried into her business, Pure Beauty.
“In a lot of ways, we’re a very Mexican/Chicanx brand—American, but through the lens of a brown person, lol.“ -Imelda
Pure Beauty on Sustainability
Pure Beauty is also making waves in sustainability. They have made an environmental promise to not put profits over having a clean and beautiful earth-starting by using packaging created from plant starch! Not only is their packaging innovative but their cultivation is planet-friendly too!
One of Pure Beauty’s main priorities is water conservation. Since cannabis plants need up to 250 gallons of water to flower, they decided to be more creative and pull water from the air! YUP, THE AIR! That means no run offs, which maintain a safe environment for the indigenous species. Guess what? Bugs are also used too! Childhood favorite bugs like rolly pollies, earthworms, nematodes; as well as friendly bacteria and fungi create a masterpiece that is called “soil food web.” The web helps prevent diseases and predators by providing important nutrients and protection for the plant.
Pure Beauty continues to support and encourage equity in the cannabis industry. Their company currently donates a portion of their proceeds to fund programming for incarcerated populations. They are committed to being part of the solution by using their voice and cannabis to keep the industry diverse and fair.
Illustration: Felicity Marshall
Imelda on how she wants to see the cannabis industry support Latinx communities:
“When you look at the mastheads of the biggest cannabis companies, it’s rare to see any Latinx people. We, as an industry, need to make more tangible efforts to support Latinx businesses as well as Latinx people in leadership positions. The fact that it’s so expensive to not just enter the legal cannabis market but exist as a cannabis business makes it even harder for us; this is compounded by our disproportionately low access to capital—less than 2% of venture capital funding goes to Latinx entrepreneurs (the number is even lower for Latinx women). Like all systemic issues, we need a more thoughtful policy to make real, substantial change. We can’t just depend on businesses that have no real incentive to care or do anything aside from posting their support on Instagram and donating here and there. Collectively, as an industry, though—and particularly those businesses that have more resources and influence—we have the capacity to affect policy and broader level change and that’s something we should all be focused on.”
ASHE is proud to carry Pure Beauty and help elevate Hispanic and Latinx change makers in the cannabis industry and beyond.
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