Jade Vela
Sales Director | Dewey Scientific
Jade Vela jokingly says the cannabis industry saved her from the world of fast food.
“I was an assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant and some people from Spokane Greenleaf came in and asked me, as I was behind the register, ‘Do you smoke weed?’” she says with a laugh. “I was so humiliated, but, yes, of course I smoke weed. So they brought me in for an interview and rescued me from fast food.”
From that point on, Vela fell in love with the industry and never looked back.
“I’ve met some of my best friends and my favorite people in this industry,” she says. “I don’t want to make it sound like I’m just friends with everybody, but that’s pretty much where most of my relationships have developed.”
Vela’s networking skills have allowed her to work with nearly every licensed company in Washington. She says she has never had any apprehension about walking into a store and making those connections as more often than not they end up becoming long-lasting friendships. Naturally, her gregarious and charismatic personality meshes well with her current role as sales director for the cannabis production company Dewey Scientific.
“Dewey is a brand that is really about to flourish,” Vela says. “They’re a company that really values their brand and they stick to their guns — they’re not racing to the bottom like a lot of companies.”
Dewey Scientific is a genetics-focused producer founded by three Ph.D. plant biologists from Washington State University and headquartered in Pullman, Washington. Vela says the company has also opted to add value to the brand by incorporating packaging with QR codes that direct consumers to important information about the strain and real reviews from budtenders, as well as repurposing thrift-shop apparel for company swag. Vela is also very proud that Dewey Scientific also participates in the Freedom Grams initiative which allows cannabis producers to sponsor a prisoner serving time for a cannabis-related offense and help them pay for legal services. Dewey is sponsoring Jmarreon M., a prisoner serving 17.5 years for possessing 23.5 grams of cannabis, by selling its flower under the Freedom Grams brand and donating proceeds to his defense fund.
“It’s just nice to have a product that you can stand behind and say, ‘I’m proud to sell this,’” Vela says. “He’s in prison right now for a cannabis offense, which is so frustrating because we are all over here making money off of it.”