“Being an entrepreneur is not easy today—the corporate world is safe – certain – secure, but the entrepreneurial world is competitive, high risk, and cutthroat,” says Amie Reiman, the Founder and CEO of Hip Lives, a digital community. She is a decorated leader who has successfully managed to tackle the challenges of modern entrepreneurship. Amie is a working professional and single mother of one. With Hip Lives, she brings a wealth of experience to the table as it relates to juggling parenting a special needs child, career demands, and health and wellness.
Amie is an expert in fostering relationships through aligning joint ventures, cannabis supply, media collaborations, and strategic partnerships. Her client and project management, experiential marketing prowess, customer development, and creative brand strategy are within her forte of skills. She also focuses on Public Relations and Event & Talent Management – primarily due to her passion and experience.
A Quest for Success
Over the years, Amie has taken on more professional roles than she would like to admit. She started working at the early age of 14 at a local baseball team’s canteen in Niagara, Canada. A surge of short-term, often seasonal, unfulfilling, and in her words, “filler roles” came over the following decade, which also included relocating at the age of 20 to join the rat race of young professionals in Toronto.
Amie has always had an unusually strong work ethic—she worked in various industries and welcomed new opportunities that crossed her path. In 2005 she was hired as a personal assistant to the CEO of Musta Costa Fortune—an arts and entertainment company. The role gave her significant exposure as she was responsible for the business and personal affairs of the CEO. “I was mentored and groomed to liaise with industry professionals—schmooze with the rich and famous and gain the trust of others,” says Amie.
After reaching the plateau of her tenure at Musta Costa, Amie channeled her entrepreneurial spirit, launching several business ventures like Blonde Monkey Marketing, Party in a Pinch, and APlus Cleaners. The momentum-turned-failure with these early companies led to the realization and need for professional development, so Amie embarked into the world of brand marketing. Over the next 10 years, she progressed through a variety of roles within the agency world.
“It’s funny how we end up figuring ourselves out—I got the inspiration to become an entrepreneur based on my experience in corporate jobs,” reveals Amie.
Cannabis and Healthcare
In the past decade, with the legalization of medicinal cannabinoids, including medicinal marijuana and pharmaceutical cannabinoids (THC and CBD), a new medium of healing has emerged. CBD-based medicines are now being adopted by thousands of patients in the US and Canada. With an aim to inspire, Amie established Hip Lives in 2018. It shares the benefits and healing abilities of CBD-based medicines. The company focuses on promoting plant-based alternative medicines developed using cannabinoids as well as holistic solutions.
Initially, Hip Lives was a platform that allowed Amie to share her personal experiences on the reviving abilities of the drug. She often wrote about the positive effects of the medication on herself and her child. Today, the company has evolved into an online community that shares empowering stories and inspirational testimonies through interviews with industry leaders, educational resources, and access to healthcare via virtual service providers. It also indulges the users in speaking engagements and offers partnership opportunities via consulting ventures.
Hip Lives provides unique content on the parenting of developmentally challenged children while offering accessible solutions for mental health issues. It extends humanity-driven initiatives through its inclusive monthly content thus embracing Hip Lives’ mission ‘Health in Progress.’
Administering at Multiple Verticals
Amie has taken the responsibility for numerous operative functions of Hip Lives. She believes that working in the backend helps refocus on managing multiple business verticals of the company—including handling distribution platforms, patient aggregation for medical cannabis clinics, information and content R&D for the online community, and e-commerce and social commerce. She is also responsible for the growth, distribution, and sales of the in-house CBD brand, Hip United through its US-based operations.
Additionally, Amie is responsible for communicating the vision of the company to her employees regularly. Alongside, executing the virtual events hosted within the women’s cannabis social club, Eve’s Collective. She is also in charge of formulating a collaborative strategic presence for media and Public Relations.
“It has been incredibly important for me to wear as many hats as possible in the initial stages of development,” says Amie.
Rebranding Amid the Pandemic
In 2019, Amie decided to rebrand the company. The decision was taken at a financially uncertain time halting the operations of the company—which was extremely hard due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company faced the typical challenges of rebranding, alongside lockdowns and the global economic shift. However, Hip Lives managed to survive and continued to grow its business throughout the pandemic. The period increased the importance of mental health and plant-based medicine exponentially. Hip Lives positively impacted the lives of thousands by committing to physical, emotional, and mental healing.
Eve’s Collective: An Initiative for Canna-Women
In 2021, Amie launched Eve’s Collective—a women’s health and wellness, cannabis-centric media, event, and networking club. Amie aims to unite the women of the industry and ‘grow together as one.’ Eve’s collective is a platform made for women, by women. This members-only platform houses female-led brands, businesses, and service providers that apply to present their interactive, experiential and virtual content. Thus, providing exposure, education, and experience to its members to enjoy and collaborate.
Striving for Growth
Legal cannabis, in general, is a relatively new industry globally. Being a startup in its infancy, it is highly important to remain patient, insists Amie. As an entrepreneur, it is challenging to not second-guess ideas, vision, or actions on the way to success. With persistence, Amie has successfully evolved Hip Lives into an eventful business model. The company will continue to grow along with its mission, to continuously provide holistic solutions, education, products, and services.
Currently, with expectations to hire three more full-time employees, Amie also aims to launch a division of the current line of Hip United CBD products within Canada. Additionally, the company will soon be launching a CBD-based sexual enhancement product line.
Read full Issue: The Top 10 Perseverant Entrepreneurs, 2021
