STIGMA STAFF SHOWCASE – TAYLOR PALECHEK
This week, I had the extreme pleasure of sitting down with Taylor Palechek.
In addition to being one of the few employees lucky enough to spend their days surrounded by hundreds of glorious cannabis plants, Taylor is our in-house photographer whose passion for cannabis shines through her lens and provides the up-close and behind-the-scenes photos that connect the outside world with the awesomeness within.
Q: First of all, why did you choose a career in cannabis? Where were you working before and what brought you here?
A: I worked as a photographer prior to finding Stigma Grow, but as COVID creeped into the province I was laid off and had to find work somewhere else. I searched on Indeed for opportunities and saw an ad for Stigma Grow in the production department but was quickly transitioned over to the grow area thanks to my passion for both cannabis as a plant, and as an excellent subject for photography. Today, I work as an assistant grower and photographer; spending all my time around the plants I love.
Q: What does your day-to-day job have you doing at Stigma Grow?
A: As a grower, my duties revolve around the daily hands-on care of our plants. This includes feeding and caring for the plants, facility cleanup and maintenance to ensure an optimized environment for growth, detailed reports on growth and progress, and working with the rest of the team to ensure harvest yields the very best results.
Q: What do you think Stigma Grow offers that other companies (cannabis or otherwise) cannot match?
A: First off, I get to work in an environment that is pro-cannabis (something I have been for years) for a company that was built from the ground up right here in my hometown of Red Deer.
Q: When it comes to legal cannabis products, which do you choose to consume and why?
A: I like pre-rolls and am starting to get into vape cartridges. The flavours, convenience and discrete nature of vapes is appealing. Looking forward to the chance to get my hands on our full-spectrum live-resin vapes. The advantage to buying pre-rolls lives in its ability to offer small samples before investing in a larger dry flower amount.
Q: What excites you about the future of legal cannabis?
A: I am looking forward to Doctors embracing cannabis as a viable, safe alternative to a lot of drugs being currently pushed. As an example, my partner suffers from Crohn’s disease and had a difficult time finding info on and a prescription for CBD to treat her symptoms. It’s been a lifesaver for her and has such potential for these types of treatments and so much more including pain, digestion and mental health. And the fact that it can come in so many forms and potencies make it such a great potential fit for literally millions of Canadians.
Q: Which stigma surrounding cannabis as a plant or the legal cannabis industry in general irks you the most? What do you believe needs to be done to combat it?
A: It’s still something that is tolerated more than celebrated. The “stoner” stigma is so incredibly off point, yet it refuses to go away. As someone that chooses not to drink, it irks me when my family looks down their noses while they sip their alcoholic beverage.
I love seeing more and more people featured as cannabis users, especially athletes and other performance-focused professionals who not only promote cannabis as a healthy option, but also attribute their progress in areas to its unique abilities.
Q: Can you share a story about cannabis that showcases its ability to bring joy, relief or connectivity?
A: All of the above. I have struggled with depression and anxiety most of my life and cannabis has helped me cope and improve with a lot of those issues. Today, most of my friendships have come as a result of cannabis – I believe that’s all you need for a good conversation, and friendship is the natural next step after connectivity.
Q: Favourite quote or saying about cannabis.
A: “A joint a day keeps the bad moods away” – Unknown