Portland, Oregon resident, Matt Taylor, came to the table at Eminent Consulting with a lineage of leadership experience, from management at many levels to finance. His mission is to employ authenticity to reframe how professionalism applies to the once illicit and often eccentric cannabis industry.
After spending seven years working in the banking and music industries, he worked for Oregon retailer, Farma, in various management roles. He then accepted a multi-faceted role in business development and sales with High Noon Cultivation, a craft cannabis producer, eventually focusing on its branding, then cultivation and production.
With co-founder Emma Chasen, the two created a wide-ranging consulting firm in the cannabis space. They also created Eminent’s online cannabis education program, titled Fundamentals of Cannabis Science.
Taylor understands the medicinal aspects of the plant, personally. But he also gets the science, and believes that cannabis can be an important guide in realizing self-growth.
“The plant aids in compassion and empathy,” he explained. “Cannabis reduces stress within our modern world, while lessening disease in our bodies. It also increases focus and expands creativity.”
An Intentional Stash
Taylor shared that most of his consuming of cannabis is done purposefully, whether he’s in the recreation category or using it as remedy.
“Usually, I’ll smoke right after I’ve set up my equipment and switched on whatever music equipment I’m about to dive into,” he shared. “Or, when I’ve opened up the session I’m currently working on in Adobe Premiere to edit videos of my business partner, Emma Chasen, dropping dank cannabis knowledge—as she does so well.”
The key, he said, is setting everything up prior to partaking, as fidgeting with cable fails while elevated can be frustrating, “draining the creative flow,” he adds.
“I know that other creatives reading this right now can relate,” he laughed. “Having the right dose and choice of weed really activates me. It dilates my creative channels and allows me to really immerse and focus. Shout out to High Noon’s Dosi Mints and Shave Ice for calibrating my fellow collaborators so perfectly, every single time!”
His stash is intermixed with his toys and tools of choice, an AKAI MPC Live, Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 – portable recording interface; monitors, Fender Strat, Vox AC30 amp, pedal board, and coils of cables.
Taylor said while he embraces the creative flow of partaking, he also intentionally medicates nearly every morning for stomach stress.
“Sometimes I’ll experience discomfort in my gut—the chosen cabin where my anxieties and stresses hitch their ride,” he continued. “For just about my entire life, I’ve noticed this dull discomfort in my stomach—most prominently when I wake up in the morning. If my schedule isn’t too demanding, I’ll take two modestly sized hits of flower in the morning to alleviate the sensation and stimulate my appetite. It still wows me how effective a little bit of cannabis is for combatting this ailment.”
The stash at hand is an away stash, as at the time of this interview he wasn’t in his home state of Oregon, but working for a client in Oklahoma.
“Fortunately for me, our clients grow the best organic, indoor flower in Oklahoma, which currently makes up my head stash—making me feel closer to home.” he said. “Living in Oregon, with access to some of the best weed in the world, I’m pretty spoiled.”
Among what he says are “tons” of hemp wick are rolling papers du jour are, Resonant Cultivation’s Glazed Apricot Gelato and Black Cherry Punch flower, alongside a Journey 3 steel pipe, a PAX 2 vaporizer, and a classic Grav Labs, industrial strength, beaker bong.
The novelty lighter, clearly marked, PLEASE RETURN TO ABDULLAH SAEED, was acquired the last time he and Abdullah seshed together in Portland, Oregon. Taylor notes the lighter is out of gas, but he keeps it in his active stash as a keepsake.
He also enjoys the plant when it’s time to chill at night, waxing poetic about its many illuminating moments.
“I enjoy partaking after dinner with my love, hanging with the animals—weed is perfect for all the goofin’ and canoodlin’ moments—whimsically dragging the highlighter streak across the act of loving, and getting lost in the jazz of conversation, illuminating the moments of divine nourishment,” he espoused.
On solo nights he may put on a recorded lecture of a philosopher, or watch a good documentary of the artist of the moment, pacing around his bungalow, while nibbling on dark chocolate.
“This imbibing may follow a chapter of necessary, but often excessive, reflection of time before calling it a night,” he concluded.
