PATIENT OF THE MONTH
CANNABIS FOR ANXIETY & ENDO
ciara dubbé The Cannabis industry attracts people from all walks of life and former esthetician Ciara Dubbé is no different. The 30-year-old marketing director of Greenhouse Wellness previously made her profession in the beauty industry. The world of glitz and glam provided refuge to a teenager looking to rebuild herself after years of school-aged bullying.
“At the end of high school, I had to regain my
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confidence,” said Ciara, a 2012 graduate of Von Lee International School of Aesthetics. “So I started to teach myself how to do makeup and put on a nice outfit. I realized how much those simple things boosted my confidence and I really wanted to help other people feel this way.” A hard worker by nature, Ciara moved beyond the daily tasks of chemical peels and facials, earning her stripes as a spa and marketing coordinator in Columbia. In 2017, she opened up her own business – a boutique firm called Zia Integrated – with the hopes of empowering other women. “It grew into more of a passion,” she said. “It was something that I felt really good about.” That summer, her mother Gina Dubbé also provided Ciara with a chance to carry the torch for women as they endeavored to open a female-owned medical Cannabis dispensary in Ellicott City. “Growing up, my parents told me to stay away from [Cannabis],” Ciara said. “They didn’t know enough about it and at the time it was illegal. I was a total rules follower and in our household, we didn’t do things that were illegal.” Though she admittedly dabbled as a recreational user in college, Ciara’s medical relationship with Cannabis grew substantially when she went all in on the industry. Here she began seeing Cannabis as a way to deal with anxiety that had followed her since pre-teen years – a bi-product of an OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) diagnosis at the age of 12. The benefits of the plant also helped combat severe inflammation stemming
from endometriosis – a uterine disorder that results in pain and menstrual irregularities. The “Sativa Diva” has found a 1:1 THC/CBD ratio to be the perfect daily complement, resulting in a lessening of pain, while allowing her to maintain a high standard of work as she balances her own business, as well as the daily demands of Greenhouse Wellness. “Growing up, my parents told me to stay away from [Cannabis],” Ciara said. “Whether it’s been sitting up front “They didn’t know enough about it and at the time it was illegal.” in our lobby to check patients in, working behind the bar as a wellness consultant, running educational “It’s about achieving balance,” Ciara said. “As events or even helping receive orders and sticking females, we’re multifaceted and have to be a lot of product in the back, I’ve done it all,” she said. things. Our Blissiva pens give me a pick-me-up and Greenhouse Wellness has certainly made an imlevel you out. It’s like a glass of wine without the pression since joining the Maryland market. calories.” In 2018, Baltimore Business Journal awarded the Greenhouse has created a strong culture of womEllicott City dispensary as one of the Best Workplaces, anhood that has some traveling the extra mile to and in 2020, Cannabis Dispensary Magazine also visit the Route 29-based dispensary. Helping those acknowledged the culture of Greenhouse Wellness women to a better place has given Ciara purpose – designating it as the best dispensary to work for and a giant sense of pride. in 2020. The dispensary was even featured on “The “It’s really been one of the most fulfilling experiToday Show.” “It’s hard to verbalize how proud I am ences I have ever had and brought my family closer of our team,” she smiled. in a weird-ass way,” she said, fighting back tears. “But I wouldn’t change a single thing. Whether it As the dispensary’s day one be the patients I’ve cried with, the connections I’ve marketing director, Ciara made, the community we’ve created – it’s all been has been there for it all. She worth it.” has also helped grow the Empowering women through beauty and Cancompany’s personal brand, nabis – that’s an homage Ciara says she happily Blissiva – a brainchild of endorses. gynecologist and co-founder “I want this to be a mainstream thing,” she said. Leslie Apgar. The Blissiva line of “There’s no rules that say what someone who uses products, now available in 12 Cannabis is supposed to look like. I’ve had some states, was “specifically made success and I own my own business, but at the same for the complexity, beauty, time, I have struggled like everyone else and I don’t and power of the female have it all figured out. Cannabis has helped. You body” – helping women who can use it, you can be a good person, you can work visit Greenhouse looking for hard and still be really successful. It’s about being relief from “breast cancer, confident in yourself and knowing that you are more ovarian cancer, menopause, than enough.” endometriosis, and insomnia.” GREENHOUSEWELLNESS.COM
Greenhouse has created a strong culture of womanhood that has some traveling the extra mile to visit the Route 29-based dispensary. Helping those women to a better place has given Ciara purpose and a giant sense of pride.
FEB. 2021
STORY by BAXSEN PAINE @BAXSENPAINE | PHOTO by JESSE STALEY @__JESSESTALEY
