How WICE started

                                                                              Take the risk or lose the chance.

Woman & women have been advocates, creators, leaders, mothers, founders, business owners and more. We have needed a space within the Cannabis Industry that allows us to come together, share new ideas of what is and isn't working within the cannabis industry. And trust us, there is a lot that isn't working, which includes the reduction of women, minorities and those with disabilities within the cannabis industry in the United States. 

It's telling that in recent reports, the number of women in leadership roles within the cannabis industry has dropped significantly. Were we surprised to hear this? No. Why? Because woman/women push themselves until they burn out. And this industry so far has been no different from any other. Including lack of gender pay gaps. 

 
The cannabis industry has currently failed to provide a full balance for women, minorities, and those with disabilities to join this industry. Right now, the industry has offered businessmen more opportunities. Women make up roughly 12% to 15% of the Cannabis Industry (depending on the report and sources). There is currently no data to reflect what the percent of business owners are minorities or those with disabilities.

WICE was created for many reasons and has several goals and objectives. This includes being a woman owned small business event company. The owner and founder had originally entered the cannabis industry to open a testing lab (ancillary services); however, after being at a large cannabis expo in December of 2019 to find the vendors she needed for her lab, she attended a lady’s night. The women had been placed in a room with drinks for a 2-hour mixer with no schedule or keynote speaker. Ms. Westlake thought that was odd, because her past experience with expos from her healthcare background has provided her with a foundation and expectations for trade shows & expos. After her attendance at this expo, Ms. Westlake and her family went on a vacation, whereby she began searching the internet for cannabis expos to attend that were geared towards women. To her surprise, she found none.  

While Ms. Westlake is still hopeful to open her Cannabis Testing Lab some day in the future, that has been on hold since 2020. Some have asked if this was due to COVID. The answer is "No". All Cannabis Licensing for the State of Nevada has been placed on hold due to multiple lawsuits that were filed against the State of Nevada, due to how the 2019 Cannabis Licenses were distributed. While a person can purchase someone else's Cannabis License in the State of Nevada with property background checks, etc., the fact is that it is extremely cost prohibited for any startup. Therefore, until the State of Nevada re-opens Cannabis Licenses for ancillary services, dispensaries and grow sites, Ms. Westlake's potential future Cannabis Testing Lab has been placed on hold. 

In the meantime, WICE has continued to grow after the first expo was finally executed in September of 2021. We hope you can join us in 2022 as we host 4 expos in 4 major cities. This includes Atlantic City, New Jersey, Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas, Nevada and San Francsico, California.