Living the Dream: Kelly Arms

As the holiday season rolls around, I start to think about what a wild year it’s been.

Captain Yeti is doing awesome, and I’ve been having a great time reconnecting with all my friends in the community. In just six months I have already put more than 30,000 miles on my vehicle doing deliveries and checking in with friends and retail partners. We are super thankful for all of them. I like to say that we live in a big state, but the cannabis community is small. We are all just a bunch of misfits who fit into this cozy, little weed family. We work twice as hard for half the money but love the hell out of it.

Succeeding in the industry requires constant work. It’s constantly evolving, but I’m so excited to be doing it. Whenever I am succeeding in one area, it’s for sure I’m failing in others.

I know the sacrifices my family is making. Sometimes a good sales week causes less time with my family. Other times, even though I’m home, I’ll spend a considerable amount of time talking about Captain Yeti or discussing strains or new products.

My kids understand because they know the industry; they were raised in it. They were lucky enough to have lived on a licensed cannabis farm during the pandemic. Big thanks to Crystal Oliver and her work on behalf of the Washington Sun and Craft Growers Association, by the way. Crystal led the charge to get the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board to allow the children of license-holders onto the licensed property during the pandemic. It was so awesome for our kids to be able to see what their dad did while he was away for so many of the early years. They got to play in the garden, smell the plants, get dirty in nature. I even turned the bed of our pickup into a swimming pool. Not a five-star resort but to our kids it was everything.

Even with the sacrifices we sometimes make, we all know we are lucky. We are lucky to be together, to love spending time with each other, to be able to have dinner as a family, to be able to go exploring together on the weekends. Just being able to hang out and watch a movie together on a Tuesday night is something I don’t take for granted.

I will say the universe doesn’t make mistakes and having the ability to start over has been the biggest blessing to me and my family. What a great year it’s been.

Kelly Arms is the CEO of Captain Yeti and is one of the pioneers of the legal cannabis industry. As a former pre-school teacher, she is always looking for ways to bring joy and happiness to everyone she meets and works with. She’s never seen a scooter she wouldn’t ride, loves tie-dye and bakes the best cookies you will ever eat. Her hard work and enthusiasm has helped sell more than 15,000 pounds of legal cannabis in Washington state.