#barinder rasode

Cannabis is one of the oldest plant medicines used by humankind, yet with the help of state-of-the-art technology we’re continuing to develop new ways of harnessing the plants many beneficial properties.

This session we welcome Nicolle Hodges, founder of Girls Who Say Fuck, an online publishing platform and brand, alongside cannabis tech pioneer Lisa Harun, co founder of VAPIUM, a Toronto based company developing Vaporising devices.

Girls Who Say Fuck is a platform that challenges the traditional ideals of femininity. It encourages girls and women to pursue their passions and create a life full of ‘fuck yes’ moments - which is exactly what Lisa Harun is doing.

One of the most interesting aspects of the developing cannabis industry is the evolving relationship between technology and the plant itself. We’re only just beginning to appreciate the complexity of the cannabis plant as it interacts with the human body. It is this knowledge that underpins the drive to explore how contemporary technologies can enhance our cannabis experiences.

For entrepreneurs of all industries, lived experiences, both personal and professional, inevitably play a role in the development of ideas. For Lisa, her passion for creating things began in her childhood alongside Lego blocks and Transformer toys, and the encouragement of her parents to pursue this spark.

Having managed to combine two of the fastest growing and continuously evolving industries, cannabis and technology, Lisa is a shining example of what can be accomplished with a belief in oneself, a good support system and the courage to pursue your ideas. The result, of course is, VAPIUM, a way to integrate healthy cannabis consumption seamlessly into our lives.

The Her(b) Life Sessions podcast is committed to broadening the cannabis conversation by highlighting the women working in the industry. Each episode we have a new set of  hosts discussing contemporary cannabis issues, giving you a direct line into the evolving cannabis landscape. Don’t miss out on the next Sessions episode and subscribe now.

Sessions is sponsored by Sonoma Seeds, premium cannabis seeds from around the world that help you grow organically and Hemper the number one subscription box for cannabis accessories.

This week’s episode was made with support from RNMKR, Canada's leading cannabis communications agency known for providing narrative creation, media relations, brand strategy, and advisory services to the most prominent brands in North America and overseas.

If you want to know more about this Sessions hosts you can find them via the below links.

Follow Lisa on twitter via the handle @missharun and VAPIUM on Instagram @vapiuminc

Follow Nicolle one Instagram via the handle @NicolleDoubleL as well as @GirlsWhoSayFuck

Sessions, by Her(B) Life is a production of Blue Dream Media.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work for a creative agency in the cannabis industry? According to Harlee Case, Creative Director of Ladies of Paradise, it’s the best job in the world.

This episode of Sessions is hosted by Jade Daniels and Harlee Case, founders of the popular Portland based cannabis creative agency and brand, Ladies of Paradise. Join them as they discuss how they went from being a jewellery design company, to being a jewel in the emerging creative cannabis community.

LoP is every creatives dream. Using their brick and mortar location in Portland as a base, they operate in a space that encourages creativity and ideas to take shape, and also offer their platform and location to other creatives to promote messages they themselves believe in.

The all women team pride themselves on being a women positive creative agency, which is founded on the pillars of empowerment and body positivity - an element that shows in every facet of their work.

LoP attribute their success to banding together with like-minded women, with varied skill sets. They’ve gone from hosting events to offering creative services for brands, and are now working on their own LoP line of cannabis products and wares. Their collections are tailor made for women, from hand embossed gold cannabis leafs on pale pink pipes to their pre roll line, Lady Jay’s, and their soon to be released vape cartridge, Day Trip, their eclectic style transfers seamlessly onto their creations.

The LoP team has managed to merge the elements of design and cannabis professionally, while also staying true to the heart and soul of the plant, encompassing it’s core values of sisterhood, compassion, openness, connection and creative exploration.

The Her(b) Life Sessions podcast is committed to broadening the cannabis conversation by highlighting the women working in the industry. Each episode we have a new set of  hosts discussing contemporary cannabis issues, giving you a direct line into the evolving cannabis landscape. Don’t miss out on the next Sessions episode and subscribe now.

Sessions is sponsored by Sonoma Seeds, premium cannabis seeds from around the world that help you grow organically and Hemper the number one subscription box for cannabis accessories.

This week’s episode was made with support from RNMKR, Canada's leading cannabis communications agency known for providing narrative creation, media relations, brand strategy, and advisory services to the most prominent brands in North America and overseas.

If you want to know more about this Sessions hosts you can find them via the below links.

Follow Ladies of Paradise on Instagram @ladiesofparadise and find them at www.ladiesofparadise.com

Harlee Case via Instagram @harleecase

Jade Daniels via Instagram @heyjadehey

Sessions, by Her(B) Life is a production of Blue Dream media.

On this episode of Sessions we discuss cannabis as a spiritual ally, an aspect of the plant that is often glossed over in the mainstream conversation.

Spirituality is a concept that differs from from person to person, what is deemed spiritual for a person of one faith may not entirely align with someone of another, yet there are many similarities, which are almost always rooted in introspection.

Our guests Elizabeth Bast and Scarlet Ravin discuss how to harness the plants full capabilities with the practice of mindful consumption. For the physical body cannabis can have powerful healing properties, however it’s also an incredible tool for emotional and spiritual reflection. The plant, when used with intention, can be an aid for creativity, self love, self awareness, a tool for healing traumas, and as a facilitator of spiritual connection.

SCARLET RAVIN, visionary and founder of the White Fox cannabis company, is a lifetime entrepreneur who fell in love with cannabis at a young age. After experiencing an overdose, she found herself realigned. Her path was informed by many studies of healing arts, love, and natural medicine. White Fox has both full spectrum hemp CBD & THC lines on the market featuring Ayurvedically formulated and botanically enhanced organic MCT oil tinctures, massage oils, salves, and vape pens with the highest vibrational quality alchemical, spirited, magic medicine. White Fox is a woman owned and operated company that is held by ritual and ceremony.

ELIZABETH BAST is the author of Heart Medicine: A True Love Story: One Couple’s Quest for the Sacred Iboga Medicine & the Cure for Addiction. Bast serves as a writer, yoga teacher, performance artist, and holistic coach specialising in entheogenic medicine integration, addiction recovery, and women’s empowerment. In 2014, she experienced the Missoko Bwiti initiation and rite of passage in Gabon (Africa), and has since returned to Africa multiple times for traditional shamanic studies.

She is a 2018 recipient of a “Women of the Psychedelic Renaissance” grant through Cosmic Sister and their fiscal sponsor, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). The eco-feminist educational advocacy group Cosmic Sister promotes a balance of power between genders and promotes women’s voices in the field of psychedelic medicine.  

Together, Scarlet & Elizabeth are creating “The Bliss Nectar Experience,” a ceremonial journey into sacred embodiment featuring yoga, tantra, meditation, & plant spirit meditation with cacao, essential oils, & cannabis medicines from White Fox. This is a new/old devotional way of communing with cannabis, one of humanity’s oldest plant allies with whom we have co-evolved. There will be something for every tolerance level & all yoga levels!

The Her(b) Life Sessions podcast is committed to broadening the cannabis conversation by highlighting the women working in the industry. Each episode we have a new set of  hosts discussing contemporary cannabis issues, giving you a direct line into the evolving cannabis landscape. Don’t miss out on the next Sessions episode and subscribe now.

Sessions is sponsored by Sonoma Seeds, premium cannabis seeds from around the world that help you grow organically and Hemper the number one subscription box for cannabis accessories.

This week’s episode was made with support from RNMKR, Canada's leading cannabis communications agency known for providing narrative creation, media relations, brand strategy, and advisory services to the most prominent brands in North America and overseas.

If you want to know more about this Sessions hosts you can find them via the below links.

Scarlet Ravin via her website http://scarletravin.com and her company white Fox Medicinals https://whitefoxnectars.com and on instagram @whitefoxmedicine

Elisabeth Bast via her website www.ebast.net

Sessions, by Her(B) Life is a production of Blue Dream media.

Canada is on the world stage, and the future of the global cannabis industry relies on us getting legalisations right. Barinder Rasode and Julie Domingo host this weeks Session and discuss what is needed to create a better future for new and old business in the developing cannabis industry.

Legalisation is, by all accounts, a step forward, yet it has produced a number of unintended consequences. The stifling of information for consumers, the exclusion of craft brands and restrictions on patients accessing their trusted sources legally, are just some of the issues that have arisen.  

Both women have strong track records in pioneering education systems in the cannabis industry and have also had a hand in building successful companies that cater to the developing industry.

Julie Domingo is one half of Cannareps, the leading cannabis education service, educating front line workers on the science of the cannabis plant. She brings to the table an uncanny ability to create engaging pathways and experiences to educate cannabis industry workers and enthusiasts with the cannareps sommelier course.

Barinder Rasode, is the founder of NICHE Canada and Co Founder of Grow Tech Labs, a cannabis focused incubator, with a mandate to support women and Indigenous led companies to launch their businesses. In addition, Grow Tech is working to develop a Co-op for operational craft brands, which aims to bring those who have serviced the community for years into the legal landscape.

The Her(b) Life Sessions podcast is committed to broadening the cannabis conversation by highlighting the women working in the industry. Each episode we have a new set of  hosts discussing contemporary cannabis issues, giving you a direct line into the evolving cannabis landscape. Don’t miss out on the next Sessions episode and subscribe now.

Sessions is sponsored by Sonoma Seeds, premium cannabis seeds from around the world that help you grow organically and Hemper the number one subscription box for cannabis accessories.

This week’s episode was made with support from RNMKR, Canada's leading cannabis communications agency known for providing narrative creation, media relations, brand strategy, and advisory services to the most prominent brands in North America and overseas.

If you want to know more about this Sessions hosts you can find them via the below links.

Julie Domingo via her instagram handle @julie_pearl and for information on the Cannareps Sommelier course visit cannareps.ca

Barinder Rasode via her twitter handle @BarinderRasode and for information on opportunities with Grow Tech Labs visit growtechlabs.com

Sessions, by Her(B) Life is a production of Blue Dream media.

Gord Goble

A candlelight vigil at Surrey's Bear Creek Park drew more than 250 people on Sunday to honour Jyoti Singh Pandey, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student who was raped and beaten by six men on a bus in New Delhi last month.

More than 250 people descended on Bear Creek Park Sunday for a candlelight vigil in memory of Jyoti Singh Pandey, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student who died after being raped and beaten by six men on a bus in New Delhi last month.

Mourners gathered for several hours to remember Pandey, who was nicknamed Amanat (Prized Possession), Nirbhaya (Fearless) and Damini (Lightening). Her real name, Jyoti, means flame or light, adding to the symbolism of the vigil.

Kevin Hill

A Cloverdale woman wants the City of Surrey to revise the definition of secondary suites when it comes to housing family members who aren’t paying rent.

Kim Carron has prepared a room downstairs in her home for her 69-year-old blind father-in-law, but now the city is charging her for having a secondary suite because the room contains a stove.

“I don’t understand what the big deal is about having a secondary stove just because it’s in a different part of the house,” she said. “I just don’t think that that’s fair. I think that there’s got to be more to defining a suite.”

Carron received a notice several weeks ago saying she owed money on the room that her father-in-law hasn’t even moved into yet. She called the city several times and received numerous interpretations of what defined a suite.

At first, she was told having kitchen cupboards or a fridge in the room would make it a suite, but they later narrowed it down to any device that is capable of cooking food.

“When I envision a suite, I envision that it’s separated from the rest of the home and somebody other than family lives there and you’re receiving money from them using that space,” she said.

The list of cooking appliances that can turn a room into a secondary suite includes countertop, gas or electric ranges or stoves, counter-top cooking units, hot plates, wall ovens, convection ovens, microwaves, toasters, electric frying pans, electric woks, pressure cookers and crock pots.

“‘Are you kidding me? A microwave?’” Carron recalled asking a city worker over the phone.

Carron said she is frustrated that the situation has come down to the removal of a stove, especially because having a stove downstairs would help her father-in-law feel independent. They purposely bought an older stove with knobs and buttons because his blindness doesn't allow him to use their touch-sensitive stove in the kitchen.

“They don’t care if it’s family,” she said of the city. “They don’t care if it’s your 18-year-old kid going to university and you’ve let him live downstairs – if he has a microwave, it’s a suite.

“Quite frankly, I’m paying for the electricity, so I don’t understand why there is no process for exceptions to the rule. It’s very black and white.”

The city currently charges a $247 secondary-suite service fee and a $141 garbage service fee for both metered and non-metered customers. Metered customers pay for water and sewer services based on consumption while non-metered customers pay a flat rate of $264 for water and $439 for sewer per year.

Terry San Pietro, a bylaw enforcement officer, said the city notified Carron in August that they’d received information that her home had a secondary suite. He said she didn’t opt to have an inspection, so the city assumed she had a suite and charged her.

“Under the zoning regulations, the bylaw specifies what each property is zoned for and what it may contain,” he said. “It's not if it’s rented or who’s it rented to – it’s having the second cooking facility.”

However, Carron claims she never received a notice in August – just the bill in October.

Coun. Barinder Rasode estimated the city has 20,000 registered secondary suites – up from 14,400 in 2009 – and said it can be tasking to keep track of secondary suites based solely on if there is a renting tenant.

“It is very difficult for the city to be able to determine who is actually occupying the suite,” said Rasode. “The most equitable way is that if there are two kitchen units in the home that the second home does designate having a suite.”

Carron said she would sign a document promising never to rent out the suite to non-family members if the city’s rules were changed to allow the stove. But Rasode said many other homeowners with suites may claim their tenants are family to avoid suite fees.

However, Rasode said the city could make some exceptions, such as nixing the requirement of having an off-street parking space for the tenant when, in Carron’s case, her father-in-law is legally blind and won’t be driving.

“We don’t want to be unreasonable,” said Rasode. “We do not rule with an iron fist at the City of Surrey when it comes to very specific consideration around extenuating circumstances.”

Carron said she understands where the city is coming from with the bylaw, but she wishes the definition had a gray area. She isn’t sure how to proceed and she just wants to do what’s best for her father-in-law.