leah-Heise-headshot-NEW2As entrepreneurs, we are experts at investing in our businesses; always leaving ourselves for last. I, too, fall into this trap of fulfilling everyone else’s needs first. Suffering from a life-threatening chronic illness, I struggled further with the guilt of not always being able to be there for my husband, my children, and my business. After a surgery in 2015 that left me hospitalized for more than fifty days, I promised myself that I would take the next opportunity to invest in myself.

I was totally unsure when I bought my ticket to last year’s Leadership Summit. I lived in a state that didn’t even have legal cannabis businesses yet. I didn’t know how I’d fit into the cannabis industry, much less into this crowd of over a thousand women.

It turned out that in a community of women brave enough to break federal laws, it wasn’t about fitting in. Everyone stood out! I met a unique assortment of women from all over the country. Women with decades of career experience and college graduates just getting started. Women leading huge cannabis businesses and women doing their first weekend of research. Women with huge networks and women–like me–who came on their own.

All the women at the Leadership Summit had one thing in common. We had all realized that in order to serve our communities, we had to serve ourselves first. We were there to invest in our knowledge, our professional network, and our personal support systems.

I thought the content was going to be the most valuable part of the Summit. This was one of the only ways to learn about launching a cannabis business…there were no college classes. The content was incredible–but the inspiration was even more valuable.

Risking everything to join a new industry at an uncertain time was daunting. I needed to hear from woman after woman on that stage how they worked through what had seemed impossible. I found my tribe of women to call on when I faced the same.

A year ago, I had no idea that I’d be attending the 3rd Annual Leadership Summit as Women Grow’s CEO. I couldn’t be more grateful that investing in myself has turned into the opportunity to support other women in doing the same.

I know you are worth the investment. Will you be there?

Leah Heise
CEO, Women Grow