Wednesday, May 4th, 2022 from 12:00-2:00pm PST

In the midst of the booming psychedelic renaissance, we invite you to listen to the stories of women involved in businesses within the psychedelic field in order to gain some insight into experiences, both good and bad, that come along with the gig. Join speakers Sara Reed, who is the Creative Executive of Mind’s iHealth Solutions, Rachel Aidan, who is the CEO of Synthesis Institute, Ariel Clark, who is a co-founder of Clark Howell LLP, and Lia Mix who has  worked in multiple behavioral health settings, in this discussion which will be moderated by Amanda Siebert who is an author, journalist, and host. Speakers in this forum will each share why they got started in business, challenges faced as women in business and why they choose to continue, personal stories, and visions for the future for the psychedelic business industry. Some questions explored will be: How did engaging in psychedelics impact your professional life? Has your engagement of psychedelics influenced how you create and run your business? How has your connection with other women in the space influenced your journey and business? Does your organization try to create non-extractive/inclusive governance structures that are unlike the typical models of business? Wouldn’t it be a paradox to claim that only through financial sustainability we can achieve true “autonomy” or “freedom”?Chacruna is a small non-profit organization led by a queer couple, and it is our objective to strengthen a community of women and help empower each other as leaders and as sustainable organizations.

Lia Mix, MS, MFT, holds a master’s degree in counseling with a concentration in multicultural populations and is an adjunct faculty member at CIIS. Ms. Mix has worked in multiple behavioral health settings: foster care services, dual-diagnosis outpatient care, workplace crisis response, and corporate consulting. She helped create industry-leading counseling and case management programs and has supported insurance benefit administration and design for newly adopted behavioral health treatments. Ms. Mix has provided consultation for key decision makers within a wide range of corporate, nonprofit, and governmental organizations and brokerage firms. Her current focus is autism spectrum disorders.

Ariel Clark is an attorney, activist, and co-founder of Clark Howell LLP, a women-steered law firm focused on cannabis, hemp and psychedelics. After practicing law at California Indian Legal Services, she started her own firm in 2010, to be of service to the plants and communities she is in deep connection with. Ariel is General Legal Counsel to Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and member of Chacruna’s Board of Directors. She has been involved in numerous drug policy, social equity and justice reform efforts in her life. Her organization affiliations have included the Psychedelic Bar Association, the LA Cannabis Task Force, and the California Native American Cannabis Association. She has been recognized by Rolling Stone as one of 18 “Women Shaping The Culture of Tomorrow” and Entrepreneur’s “Top 100 Cannabis Leaders.” She is licensed in California; J.D., UC Berkeley School of Law (2005); B.A. in Religious Studies, University of Michigan (2000).

Amanda Siebert is an author, journalist, host, and moderator focused on the intersections of health, culture, science and business in the psychedelics and cannabis spaces. She is currently a contributing writer at Forbes and Leafly, with bylines in the New York Times, Vice, The Dales Report, Calgary Herald, The Georgia Straight and more. She is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief at Inside the Jar, an independent publication focused on drug culture. Her first book, “The Little Book of Cannabis: How Marijuana Can Improve Your Life”, was published in 2018 on the same day cannabis was legalized in Canada. In her second book, “Psyched: Seven Cutting-Edge Psychedelics Changing The World,” Amanda breaks down the history, science, and cultural and medicinal uses of seven psychedelic drugs and plant medicines, contextualized with case studies and interviews with scientists, doctors, therapists, advocates, ethnobotanists, and practitioners. It will be in bookstores on October 18, 2022.

Rachel Aidan is a serial entrepreneur, conscious business and leadership coach, speaker, and conscious social change facilitator with nearly 20 years of experience working with clients across the U.S., Europe and East Africa. In addition to her passion for conscious business and leadership, Rachel is focused on the transformation of trauma into action and leadership. Her practice includes a variety of modalities integrating body, breath, meditation and creative arts-based practices. Rachel holds a B.A. in Transformative Education & Leadership and a M.A. in Clinical Mental Health and Mindful-Trauma Informed Leadership. Rachel is currently working on her PhD in Integral/Transpersonal Psychology.

Sara Reed is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the Creative Executive of Mind’s iHealth Solutions, a mental health technology and service company committed to changing how we talk about and treat mental illness. As a mental health futurist and former clinical researcher, Sara examines the ways culture informs how we diagnose and treat mental illness. Sara’s prior research work includes participation as a study therapist in psychedelic therapy research at Yale University and the University of Connecticut’s Health Center. Sara was the first Black therapist to provide MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in a clinical trial and continues to engage in ongoing advocacy work around health equity in psychedelic medicine. Sara is a Scientific Advisor for Journey Colab and a prior member of Chacruna’s Racial Equity and Access Committee.

This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.

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Adventures and Misadventures of Women in Psychedelic Business