Making Weed the New Wine with Reagan Bradley
Episode 6
Reagan Bradley is the CEO & Co-Founder of Women Who Weed — a community that connects and empowers pro-cannabis women to use cannabis for mental, physical, and social wellness.
As a cannabis-user, Reagan felt misunderstood, craved more information, and searched hard to find like-minded women. And when she couldn’t find the community she was looking for, she created it.
In this episode, Reagan chats with Marsha about overcoming imposter syndrome, her past Community Management role, building Women Who Weed, leveraging her personal brand to build a community, and much more!
“There are so many women out there that use cannabis that fit in a persona that I am. Women Who Weed was really built out of necessity.”
- Reagan Bradley
Listen to the Episode:
Reagan Bradley
Episode Transcript:
Marsha Druker 0:26
Reagan, thank you so much for joining me today on the Create Community podcast. I'm super excited for our conversation.
Reagan Bradley 1:16
Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to nerd out on community building with you.
Marsha Druker 1:22
I think it's really interesting how people actually become community builders. I don't think anybody sets out to be a community builder growing up - it's such a new field. What was your upbringing and childhood like? How did you grow up and become the person that you are today?
Reagan Bradley 1:38
Yeah, absolutely. I would definitely call myself like a joiner. I'm always joining different things and that has been consistent across my entire life. So when I was young, I was in clubs. When I was in high school, I was in the Student Council, and that kind of carried with me to university when I joined a sorority. Any opportunity that I really have to meet new people and shake hands is something that you'll find me doing.
Marsha Druker 2:06
What did you study in university? What was your passion?
Reagan Bradley 2:11
I studied Communication Studies. But I quickly realized that I wasn't getting the education that I needed to apply for a real job outside of school. That really amplified the joining. Instead of just being a part of the community, I started volunteering within communities, and through that experience, I learned what makes a community thrive. What's the beating heart community? It's the people. I'm a people person, and it's a part of me.
Marsha Druker 2:37
That's very cool. I feel like my experience was similar. Before starting to build my community, I would try to be part of others and volunteer my time and just see how different events and communities ticked, seeing what I like and don't like about them. I feel like I've always noticed that and tried to improve it. Cool to see that we have that in common.
Reagan Bradley 2:58
Well, I also read Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point. And he said that there's three different types of personality types that create social influence. The Maven is all about information. They'll tell you with facts and statistics. Then you have the Connectors. They see every opportunity being through people. So, "Oh, I know someone you should talk to", "Oh, this person can help me out" - that kind of individual. And then you have the Salesperson. So that's someone that has an idea and then gets people to mobilize around it because of their charismatic personality. So I see myself as being almost like a connector and a salesperson, which has led me to this path.
Marsha Druker 3:40
That's really interesting. There's also the Myers-Briggs personality test. Mine ended up being the Campaigner. I was a bit surprised though, because I'm actually naturally a bit more introverted and quiet. But I do think you almost have to have that personality to start a community. Even if you are an introvert you still have to find a way to passionately communicate what your community is all about.
So out of school, how did you actually start your career? What did some of your first like internships and first roles look like?
Reagan Bradley 4:13
So I had a job in university, working for an entrepreneur, and he was a business coach. And I did all of his social media. So that was one side of what I was doing. But then I got an internship working for the government. And I literally was in between two different parallel lives that people were living. I saw people going to government roles every day, treating it like a job, leaving as early as they could. And then on the other side, I was working part time with this entrepreneur that couldn't stop himself from working, he was obsessed with what he was doing.
So I'd realized pretty early on that I needed to find something that fuelled my passion like it fuel his and it was really good getting that diversity of experience when you're so young, because for sure entrepreneurship is scary, but when seeing it through a mentor, it kind of seems almost more feasible. So that projected me into getting a job, I always kind of had a freelance kind of gig going on in the side. So when I graduated, I worked as a project manager, but I also got involved in community building. And I'd led a speaker series called Local Talks for entrepreneurs. And that's kind of where it all began.
Marsha Druker 5:20
Yeah, that seems like that was your first sort of official role as a Community Manager, you got to host that speaker series, really, like bring people together in sort of an official capacity for the first time. What were some of the key learnings that you had from that role? And is there something that you're like super proud of during that experience?
Reagan Bradley 5:38
I think that role was excellent for helping me get over my imposter syndrome as a person. I learned, obviously, to host incredible events and that's a big part of it. But in order to grow where I am now, I had to get over the fact that like, yes, I do belong in the front of this community. Like even though I'm young doesn't mean that I can't do it and getting that opportunity to build a community through someone else's business. So, first of all, for local, I got the tools that I needed to excel and then the rest was really on me. So that's my main takeaway is, if you're wanting to build a community, maybe start by volunteering in somebody else's, see what you can learn from that, and take on a leadership role. And then take what you learned and build your own thing. You're not committed to somebody else's vision, you could always do what you want.
Marsha Druker 6:29
That's such a great way to get started because it takes away a lot of risk. And it just lets you focus on what you're strong at and to really develop yourself. I think imposter syndrome is such a common thing for community builders. You're the person behind the scenes, putting it all together and shaping this experience. And then all of a sudden, you find yourself at the front of the room a lot of the time moderating this event or maybe public speaking for the first time. So it's, yeah, it's not easy to kind of get over that. I definitely had that experience myself. Before I was really shy and nervous the first few times around and I really doubted, "am I even the right person to be leading this"? But like there's nowhere to go but up. You're going to improve and you're going to get better. And I think if it's something that you really want anybody could really do it.
So you had that official role as a Community Manager. And now you're building your own community, which is so exciting. So what was it that inspired you to start Women Who Weed and tell us a little bit more about what the community is?
Reagan Bradley 7:34
I've been a long time cannabis user since I can really remember since I was like 16, I think. And I have always kind of felt a little bit of like a stigma around it right. It was illegal, like it was an illegal drug and doing it was wrong. And it was associated with a lot of really negative stereotypes like being lazy and not being successful. But here I was working at an advertising agency. 12 hour days going to the gym, putting on makeup like I didn't feel like I identified with that stereotype right at all.
So once cannabis became legal, I had finished my community building role for Fall for Local and I wanted to join something else, see if something else already existed. When I started looking online, I didn't find any communities but even worse, I found a lot of really negative discourse around women in cannabis. Specifically I went on Reddit because I was like, “Okay, well maybe there's nothing on Google yet because it just became legal. Maybe I have to dig a little bit for the information.” I went on to Reddit and I read things like, "I like a girl but she smokes weed", or "I liked a girl but then I found out she smokes weed and now I think she's disgusting". So it was these men like saying all these negative things about women who use cannabis.
I just felt that there are so many women out there that use cannabis that fit into the persona that I am. So why don't I create something for them? So Woman Who Weed was really built out of necessity. And what it is, is it's a community for pro-cannabis women where we can get together and participate in community events like book clubs and panels. We're really playing around with different formats as we're building it.
Marsha Druker 9:10
I love the tagline that you have on your own personal Instagram that you believe that "weed is the new wine". Because it's like, why can't that be something that's classy and that professional women take part in? Why does it have to have this stigma around it? So I absolutely love what you're doing.
Reagan Bradley 9:26
When I have a girls night with my best friends, we sit around the table and we share a joint. Sometimes wine doesn't even come out. But we have great conversations and a good time.
Marsha Druker 9:39
It's a good way to relax, for sure!
So you had this idea to start this community - you saw a need for it. How did you go about actually taking the steps to make it happen? What was the very first thing that you did?
Reagan Bradley 10:02
I wanted to start a book club. It was like my 2019 goal. And I was like, "Okay, well, what if I mix weed and books? That's a great combination. We can talk about some trippy stuff. Let's go". So I made a Meetup because I was like "Okay, I can't really convince my friends to do this. I'm always convincing them to do everything". So I was like, "Okay, I'll get some new strangers, new friends."
I post on Meetup and within 24 hours, 100 people join my Meetup community and I'm like, "Oh, shit. This has to be legit, now. I can't host this in my bedroom." So then I had reached out to a local meditation studio and all my event planning experience started coming to life again, it was reignited. I hosted my first legit event, and people wanted more. So from that we've kind of just been growing and iterating and testing.
Marsha Druker 10:53
So how's the community grown over this period of time and how has it evolved from that book club?
Reagan Bradley 10:58
I think a really big part of growing a community is making use of the tools that you have available to you. So Meetup for example, its people are on that platform because they genuinely want to meet new people. They want to find their community. That's what meetups are all about. So in knowing that we're trying to create a community, not necessarily an event series, and that's something that maybe we can take a second to define, like, the difference is, when you have a community, you are getting, like two way dialogue with people. They're giving and you're taking from those individuals. Whereas with an event series, it's one way communication. You're speaking to them, and they're learning and you're still getting people together. But the community model is a little bit different. So first, you needed to know where these people were hanging out, which was on Meetup, and then it's consistency. So when you're growing something, you need to make sure that you're showing up. As an individual I need to be supporting my community because really, my community is me right now.
Marsha Druker 11:56
Yeah, it's an extension of you.
Reagan Bradley 11:59
Going on social media and being consistent. And then actually messaging people that had come out to your events and being like, "Hey, are you coming back"? Or, "Hey, are you going to be bringing a friend next time." Really putting the ball in their court, reinforcing that this is a community. And if you want this to continue being a community, you have to do your part of making it grow and making it bigger. I found it has worked really well for us. We've gotten incredible feedback and everything from kind of making it a little bit more open. I have that flexibility because it's brand new.
Marsha Druker 12:28
Yeah, that's so cool. So how do you go about actually doing that as this like, are you sending out an email post the event or are you actually reaching out individually to each person?
Reagan Bradley 12:37
At the end of every event, I usually kind of do a little speech. And a part of that speech, I just say like, "this is a community. This is what a community means". And then I ask each individual why they came and a lot of the reasons why they came is because they want new friends or because they didn't have any friends to smoke weed with or, you know, some people don't even smoke weed, but they just wanted to read a book and join like the book club side of it. So it's just interesting to hear why people come and then getting them to bring a friend next time we incentivize them for that. So we can give them $5 off their next ticket if they bring a friend.
Marsha Druker 13:11
I love that that's such a great way to, like you said, incentivize people to do it. And then you're almost curating it in a way where like, you saw that that person who came to that first event is like an awesome fit. And they brought a great energy. Of course, it makes so much sense for them to bring a friend. I feel like that's kind of been happening through Fuckup Nights as well. But you just gave me such a great idea. It's not something that we, like, purposely promote or have something intentional that we say, but I should totally integrate that. That's such a beautiful example.
Reagan Bradley 13:40
Like you even just got to think about it from their perspective, right? Like, they paid to go to this event. They're like, "Okay, this might be a one off", but like, reinforcing the fact that like, this is a community and we're here for you, it triggers something.
Marsha Druker 13:51
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. That's like, I try to kind of say that at my events as well, where I really let people know that, you know, like if you just kind of came here grabbed some pizza, grabbed a drink, and you're just kind of listening to the talks. You're fucking up because the coolest part about this event series is actually the community of people that are here. And like, here's some examples of some connections that were made. Like there's like a fuckup nights couple that exists. There's, there's like people who found co founders and stuff. So I think kind of like positioning in that way and then getting people to also stand up. If like you're an entrepreneur, you have a side hustle stuff that kind of starts the conversation.
Reagan Bradley 14:28
Yeah, making it more participatory.
Marsha Druker 14:31
What have been some of the challenges that you faced? I know, it's still a fairly new community. But I think there's a lot of growing pains like right at the beginning, are there any challenges that sort of jumped to mind that you've been able to kind of overcome or that you're still dealing with?
Reagan Bradley 14:43
I think a big challenge in the cannabis industry in general is marketing. So there's this cannabis act and anyone who sells cannabis is not allowed to promote it, but we're in this lucrative position where we don't sell any cannabis but we're speaking to those licensed producers' target audience, so it's finding out ways to work with these brands and get sponsorships from them in a way that is legal for them, and also benefits us as a business, right? Because when you're in business, you want to make money and have paid sponsorship deals. So that's kind of been like the biggest hurdle. And having a really strong lawyer who understands the regulatory system in your back pocket is like an invaluable asset.
Marsha Druker 15:26
It makes such a difference. Like when I was able to get a lawyer as an advisor, it really helped me grow as well. And I kind of wish I did it from day one, I could have avoided some early mistakes that I made, but it's never too late to kind of engage somebody like that.
And then in terms of your team, how do you bring these events to life? Do you have a volunteer team? Do you work closely with a co-founder?
Reagan Bradley 15:45
So I have a co-founder who's in the business with me as well. And right now it's a startup. It's very collaborative. We're figuring out like the business model, how are we going to grow? So you'd ask like, how have you grown so far, like I was talking like individually, our chapter in Ottawa. But we want to grow across the country. The goal for Women Who Weed is to literally be a household name in the cannabis industry. Because what we're doing is we're creating like offline experiences in real life experiences for people to get to know one another. So that's really what we've been trying to come to terms with now is how can we get across the country.
And luckily for us, there's individuals that are very interested in doing so. So those individuals will become an extension of our team. They are going to be the brand ambassadors for women who weed in different cities across Canada and eventually across the United States.
Marsha Druker 16:35
That's so cool. I love that.
So I know it's not an easy thing to kind of scale a community through new cities and chapters through Fuckup Nights. I'm on the flip side of it, where I run a chapter of this organization and I can see the challenges that come from the HQ. Use actually, like properly communicating to make sure that the brand is being properly used. And there have definitely been some missteps in the way that it happened and I could see that the HQ organization sort of learned and is trying to improve.
What advice do you have being in the trenches and just sort of starting to build this out? What are some things that have kind of worked through? Or where you might have stumbled so far?
Reagan Bradley 17:22
It's all about hiring the right people, right. And we got to kind of look at this as like, although they're gonna be volunteers or they're gonna be community leaders in their own city. It's kind of like building a team and like an organization, right. So you need to make sure they have the right skill sets, and that you're giving them the right training. You know, they really have a passion for cannabis - like what we're actually selling.
So what we've done, and I'm sure you've had something similar when you were going on-boarding through Fuckup Nights is we've created a comprehensive on-boarding document that starts with: What are our values? Who is our target audience? What are the expectations that we have of you as a Chapter Leader, and then all the nitty gritty stuff like how to host an event, how to create a run sheet, all the details.
Marsha Druker 18:04
Yeah, and you crowdsourced some of that information as well? I saw on your Instagram, you did a poll specifically around how to treat speakers and how to go about that.
Reagan Bradley 18:12
Yeah, something Pat Flynn says, actually, in his book Superfans is, in order to even create an engaged community, you actually have to, ask them questions and, you know, get their input on things, right. It could be as simple as, "What product do you think we should sell first", and then maybe we put up an Instagram and on one side of the story, it's a tote bag. And on the other side, it's a T-shirt that says Woman Who Weed. We get our audience to vote and then that's the first piece of apparel that goes out to market because then they feel like a little bit more of a connection to it. They have an affinity towards your brand.
Marsha Druker 18:42
Absolutely. That's such a cool idea. Is that something that you have in your vision as well, an e-commerce presence?
Reagan Bradley 18:49
An e-commerce presence is definitely on top of mind, but it's not our top priority right now. Like I'd mentioned, like our business model is community and people focused, so we really want to build a community and then think about how we can create products around what our community members need. Do they really need another t-shirt in their drawer? Or would they prefer to have like a stash bag that's very elegantly branded with Woman Who Weed and it's classy. There are only so many things that two people can do at once. So once we do that, then we're going to focus on the next revenue stream.
Marsha Druker 19:21
This has been such a huge theme with this podcast so far with the guests that I've had - just really being able to prioritize your time and prioritize what's actually going to help you build your community. A lot of the time with a community that you're building, the sky's the limit, with an online component to it, that types of events that you could do themes, collaborations, content, merge, like all this stuff, and it could get a little bit overwhelming sometimes if you're trying to do it all at once. So really amazing to hear that you guys are sort of prioritizing it and really focusing on actually building the community. So I think a lot of people can get kind of distracted and get lost and all of that noise and all the exciting ideas that are kind of floating around.
Reagan Bradley 20:01
Let me ask you, how much autonomy do you have as a chapter leader for Fuckup Nights? And do you appreciate having that autonomy? Or do you have a lot of oversight and guidance from HQ.
Marsha Druker 20:11
I have a lot of autonomy, really, it's up to me to bring Fuckup Nights to life in my city to really understand how it's going to work in Toronto who are partners that are going to make sense for it, what speakers I feature. But then from HQ comes the brand and the guidelines for how the event should actually flow and what the format of the talk says. So that's been really helpful.
A piece of advice that I have for you, or to anyone who's working on scaling a community through different cities and chapters. Make sure that you have your contracts for those chapter leads in place right from the beginning. I think a reason that Fuckup Nights was able to grow so quickly to get to over 330 cities so quickly, was because they didn't have a lot of process from the beginning and people were able to just kind of run with it. But then, they had to go back and make those contracts more formal.
When I joined as a chapter about three years ago, there was a really brief contract that I signed, where it was like the bare minimum like this is how often you need to have an event, here's what the brand looks like. And then they had to come back, maybe like a year and a half later, with a more thorough contract in place, and get all the chapters to re-sign it. And not everybody was super happy about it, because it did take away a little bit of that autonomy.
So I would really advise having a lawyer from the start and not changing your tune on that, because it could definitely turn some people off and make your chapters feel not as appreciated, or they're getting into something different than what they had signed up for. But that being said, I think everybody was kind of understanding that like, "yeah, this actually makes sense...this is what it should have been from the beginning".
Reagan Bradley 21:50
The interesting thing, even in terms of contracts in the cannabis space is people are going to be smoking weed at these events. Like that's a big part of what we do we create elevated experiences. So having a lawyer and a contract is so important. Like we're not liable for anything that happens inside of a space or inside of like a workplace. So it's so important to be protected. And that's actually some advice that you gave me that I actioned on.
Marsha Druker 22:15
Yeah, there's like, there's a lot of things that you could do to sort of protect yourself, like having that lawyer in place. Like if you can't afford a lawyer or just, you know, finding somebody as an advisor, or using a service where you can, at least, like get some templates to work off of, ask other communities that are doing something similar.
And then also looking into insurance. I don't know how it would work specifically for the cannabis space. But I know for my events, for example, I serve alcohol and I get alcohol liability insurance. So just looking into that and just making sure that you're as protected as possible so that you can actually really just focus on building the community instead of being worried that you're doing something in the wrong.
Is there any other advice that you have for somebody who's just trying to launch a community, whatever space or industry it's in,
Reagan Bradley 22:59
I think If you're trying to launch a community, you really got to look at what kind of needs are out there, right? Like a community essentially just connects a bunch of disconnected people with similar interests.
That's what kind of Seth Godin says in his book, Tribes. So in order to create your tribe, you really want to put yourself in their shoes, right? Or, you know, you're doing that research on your audience and your persona. Like, for example, you could go on to Google, or Reddit like what I did and just kind of start typing in terms of like the community that you might want to build, right? Like, it could be like, "cat lovers, Ottawa", "cat lovers, Toronto".
The amount of communities that could be built is unimaginable. And using tools like I'd mentioned earlier, like Meetup like that gives you direct access to the people that want to join these types of groups.
So, you know, it doesn't need to start big. You don't need to have a crazy vision to have a community. It could be small, it could be intimate. It could be a group of friends that are all related to something that you have in common.
So for example, I have a group of friends and we're all marketers. And when we hang out, we don't talk about marketing, but it would be great in what we're doing if we're getting together monthly to just talk about marketing. A community can be large, it can be small. Its definition is very flexible.
Marsha Druker 24:20
Very true. Yeah. And I think, the key thing is just starting, whether it's doing that first search for it and really seeing if there is a need, if it already exists, is there a better way to do it? Is there a unique angle that you bring to it? But I think it's literally just going in and taking that first step to start.
So shifting gears here a little bit, I want to chat about your personal community. So you've chosen Ottawa as the place to live, launch your community and for that to be the home base of everything that you do. What makes the city special to you?
Reagan Bradley 24:57
There's an interesting charm to Ottawa. Because it's a government city, right? People commute from the suburbs and they come in for their job. But there's people that are hungry for events. We're not as cool as Toronto, yet.. Like, we're like the less cool cousin, you know, so I was like, "Okay, well, how can we bring in some of that energy"? Like, I know, there are intelligent, super cool women that want this. So why can't I create it? And learning from different models and groups that are already happening in different parts of the world.
I also love Ottawa personally, because it's a smaller city than Toronto. I personally feel that it gives me the opportunity to really grow and shine and stand out within the community. I've gotten opportunities that I might not necessarily have gotten if I moved to Toronto, because it's a lot more competitive. So to me, it means you don't necessarily need to go chasing opportunities in better cities. You can create those same opportunities from you where you live, if that's where you love to live.
And then just being somebody who's actually like, positively impacting your city and making it a more exciting and more inclusive place to be. And the beauty of the internet, right is that even if you're not physically there with them, you can be there with them digitally, right? And how you communicate yourself, your brand, your personal brand.
So for you building your personal brand really goes hand in hand with building your community. Do you think that's usually the case? I mean, what are some pros and cons of this?
Yeah, I think when you're building a community and you're mobilizing a group of people to kind of get behind a mission that you've created, it's so important that you're projecting that in your own personal brand, and like who you are as a person. I'm creating with women who eat essentially, it's a female empowerment community with like a cannabis twist, right? It's meant to be very inclusive. It's meant to be thought provoking. And like I said, empowering. So those are like the kind of messages that I say on my own personal social media accounts or when I'm talking about on podcasts or during interviews that are really important. Woman Who Weed is like an extension of my values. So, I think having a personal brand as a community leader is almost essential, like people join communities to connect with people. And it's so important that they know who's leading this. And then they're just as attached to the mission as they are as a community member.
Marsha Druker 27:21
For sure. I think people want to see the person that's behind that. It literally gives your community a face and it gives them somebody to really relate to and kind of hang on to. It was a similar thing for me, with Fuckup Nights like, before I don't think I really had a personal brand. When I started it. I started with that first meetup. But then I just saw like, people really wanted to know my personal story. Like, "why did you start this? Where did you come from?" And over time, I got into it, and I really focused on LinkedIn for myself and then Instagram as well.
Reagan Bradley 27:49
And I think it's important to like, for everyone starting a community to just know that you are interesting. You do have a story to share. Like, this kind of goes back to the imposter thing. Like when I was running a community for entrepreneurs and I wasn't an actual entrepreneur, while I was running that, I felt like, wow, like, what am I doing up here like talking to entrepreneurs when I'm not one.
But I knew so much about entrepreneurship through these conversations through working from entrepreneurs. You can't underestimate what you know. Another example too is I'm leading a cannabis community.
And right now cannabis is getting pretty technical. Like people are really getting into the science behind it. And I'm not a scientist. So like, sometimes I'm like, "Well, shit, like, should I really be running this cannabis community"? I just smoke weed and like, empower women? Is that really legit?"
But yeah, of course, because in putting myself into that space, and in that environment, I know more than someone else, right? And like, leading Fuckup Nights, you know more about community building than someone who doesn't.
Marsha Druker 28:50
And you don't have to know everything. I think there's power in being vulnerable and really just being there with your community and saying, "You know what, I'm fascinated in this as well, the science behind that. I don't know all the answers, but I'm here to facilitate this conversation and to learn with you."
Reagan Bradley 29:06
I love that. Like, it's all about learning with your community, too. So for some context, like I post a lot about cannabis on my personal Instagram, and if I learned something that day, I'm putting my face in front of the camera, and I'm like, "this is what I learned about weed today, people", and people appreciate that. Because sometimes when you get too in the weeds, and you get too technical people are like, "Oh my god, there she goes, again, like, talking about a terpene".
You know, and I won't get into that right now. So I think it's, I think it's important to find your balance and like, never lose sight of who you are. I'm more chill like I'm trying to make friends here and educate people in the process, and I don't want to become too sciency because I feel like that's what society is telling me I need to do.
Marsha Druker 29:50
For sure, you just like you wouldn't be as approachable. Yeah, I don't think your community would have that same sort of it feels like open from what I've seen and it looks like anybody could belong and you don't have to be an expert or you don't even have to be a cannabis user. Like, it seems like it draws people. And I think you being the personal brand behind that is really like such a huge part of it.
So how can somebody overcome some of those mental blocks, like if they're introverted, if they feel like maybe they're not the domain expert? What can somebody do to overcome that? I know that was something that I kind of had to overcome as well like feeling like maybe this is going to feel too self promotional or annoying.
Reagan Bradley 30:32
Those things are called "limiting beliefs" that we have on ourselves. A mentor of mine just had a conversation with me on limiting beliefs as well, he had said the very first step to overcome your limiting beliefs is realizing that they are limiting beliefs. So like, what is holding me back like, "am an introvert?" Write that down. And then the next step is to figure out what triggers those feelings of limiting beliefs.
So for example, if you know like, I'm introverted, I know every single time I step on stage to do public speaking, I'm going to like, feel like I'm getting imposter syndrome and I don't belong there and like has a downward spiral and then he had mentioned that once you've identified like, what your triggers are have like a mental check in with yourself and like kind of have like a little a calling card that you like, always can go back to that says, I can believe in it or I'm good at this because for whatever your limiting belief is, so that that was interesting, and it's like adding like a process to how to overcome your fears.
Limiting beliefs are our own worst enemies sometimes, especially as women.
Marsha Druker 31:41
Yeah, absolutely. Like even when it comes to like, applying for a job, like I know, as a woman, you look at the job description, and it's like, okay, like, I didn't meet 100% of these qualifications, I'm not right for it. I'm not even going to apply. Whereas like somebody else, like not even just the guy, maybe somebody who's more seasoned in their career, they see that like this could be a good fit. Maybe they made like 70% of it, but they still go for it.
So I think it's the same thing with this, that same concept of just like jumping in and starting and seeing where it takes you.
Reagan Bradley 32:10
And I think like to do anything remarkable, you have to, leave your old self behind, you have to do something that's outside of your comfort zone, or else, it's just going to be status quo. You're not going to be doing anything different than anyone else.
Marsha Druker 32:23
So true. Yeah, I think you just have to start and you have to do something and see where it takes you.
What communities are you part of? I know, you mentioned that group of ladies where you're all in marketing are any others and why are they particularly meaningful to you?
Reagan Bradley 32:39
I'm a part of Creative Mornings. I like to attend those events. I think everyone loves the Creative Mornings events if you've been to one.
Marsha Druker 32:46
I love Creative Mornings as well.
Reagan Bradley 32:49
Really, my big focus right now is kind of building the cannabis community. So that's really what I'm a part of. So just learning more about those types of events. What's happening, reaching out to people in thought leadership positions in the industry and kind of having coffees. I'm really trying to get deep into kind of one vertical, instead of kind of going horizontally with a bunch of different communities and trying to develop a specialty in a niche.
Marsha Druker 33:16
And then in terms of your close friends and the people that you surround yourself with, how do you choose those people? Are there any specific qualities that you look for that kind of draw you to someone?
Reagan Bradley 33:25
And then meeting new people like that's another thing too. Like you also schedule a time like I would go out for probably three coffees with new people a week, just trying to, you know, build up my network, ask good questions, learn from their experience. I'm someone who loves to learn from other people's experiences. So the best way for me to do that is just through conversations like this.
I love that question. I think it's so important to hang out with people that make you feel good, right? Yeah, hang out with people that congratulate you when you've done something you're proud of. Someone who asks, "How did that go?" after you've done something that's really important to you. And that goes both ways. When you're in your early 20’s...I personally am really focused on my career development and setting myself up for the future and that takes up a lot of my time. I work a lot and I love it. So the time that I do have that I spend with friends, I want it to be with friends that I love.
Marsha Druker 34:24
Absolutely. That's been probably the most rewarding part of actually building my community and becoming a connector myself, just the types of people that I meet through my events, like whether it's my speakers, like I get really close with some of them because we have a lot in common and sort of like for them to share their story with me.
And then at my event, that kind of it really creates those bonds where we get to know each other on that level. And then people that come out to the events, some of the partners that are there, it's really opened a lot of doors and kind of really helped my network really take on a different form and to be able to meet incredible people that there's no way that our paths would have crossed before, and we wouldn't have that opportunity.
I think that’s such an underrated part of actually building a community because it kind of helps you build your own community alongside it.
So my last question for you, I ask this of every guest on the podcast, what does community mean to you?
Reagan Bradley 35:17
To me, community means finding your people. It's not just fitting in, it's like actually belonging. And I don't know if you've listened to Brene Brown's TED Talk. It's incredible. She talks a lot about blogging and you know, like, fitting in is like being in a group and you know, not really feeling like you belong there. Whereas like, belonging is like, these are my people. I think community is like creating those environments where you can find your people.
Marsha Druker 35:43
Yeah, because like fitting in it means like shaping yourself to fit into whatever that group is and not truly being yourself. But belonging is really bringing your true self to that group.
