THE EQUALITY ISSUE
28
nimble
A Symbol of Change
On the surface, Nimble Distro seems lighthearted and playful. Whimsical, even. But much like the Cannabis industry as a whole, underneath the company’s breezy whimsy lives a mission and intention that carries with it an intense gravity. FOUNDED just outside of Portland, Ore. by longtime friends and business partners Joy Hudson and Marissa Rodriguez, Nimble stands as a company constructed with detail and deliberation to make a change in the world. It’s a company borne on the wings of huge ambition and commitment to justice and charity – structured in a way that they hope can be a blueprint for how Cannabis companies can be built in the future, in order to build a better, more just world.
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A D R E A M B O R N O U T O F PA I N
Hudson and Rodriguez founded Nimble on the heels of exiting the company they ran together, The Sweet Life Distro. But their commitment to justice came early in life – and they were active in policy and philanthropy long before their current endeavor. “She was born with a fist in the air, shaking it at the man,” Hudson said of Rodriguez, whose passion for justice she describes with almost reverential regard. Born into a family of progressive thinkers in Mendocino County, Rodriguez recalls pivotal moments in her childhood that influenced her commitment to activism. One of the earliest was in eighth grade, when “We want to know she read an article about the CIA funding the Iran Contras by selling crack cocaine for cash on the streets of Los Angeles. that our actions, When 2020 hit, the pair were in the midst of an exit from their comour business, pany, and Hudson was at a complete reset point in her life. It was the perfect time for drastic action. our intent, “Like a lot of beautiful things, it’s born out of pain,” Hudson said. our initiatives … “Marissa and I loved building the company that we built before Nimble, but we often felt like we couldn’t truly make it everything that we wanted are working it to be. … We paused for a minute and began asking ourselves the toward repair.” really important question of who we want to be.” -NIMBLE CO-FOUNDER MARISSA RODRIGUEZ Like the entire world, Hudson and Rodriguez were shaken and shaped by the events of that year.
JUNE 2022
Nimble Co-Founders Marissa Rodriguez, left, and Joy Hudson, at their Portland, Ore. offices, where the company’s products help raise funds for organizations working to undo the harm of the war on drugs, specifically the damage to Black and Brown communities.
