More than 25 years after California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, cannabis has become one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing industries nationwide – no pun intended. Legalized recreational cannabis is now booming across the country in a modern-day industrial revolution. Meanwhile, marijuana has become mainstream, with entrepreneurs taking recreational weed and transforming it into high-tech brands. Cannabis entrepreneurs Imelda Walavalkar, Tracy Anderson, and Irwin Tobias Matutina hopped this surging wave early on, launching their flourishing Los Angeles-based cannabis company, Pure Beauty, in 2017.
Pure Beauty defines a new meaning of marijuana for the modern-day stoner – who, really, isn’t much of a typical “stoner” at all. This isn’t your college roommate’s “pot” stash or your parents’ grass. Pure Beauty is intended for modern-day cannabis connoisseurs, who can come from nearly any demographic. For that reason, Pure Beauty sees its mission as so much more than just cannabis.
“Pure Beauty represents a movement to create an inclusive, potent community that emphasizes — and always seeks to advance — high-quality products, creative culture, sustainable practices, and social justice initiatives within the green space,” the founders told Grazia Gazette: Los Angeles. “If one were to draw a Venn diagram between the arts and style, environmental stewardship and societal equity, Pure Beauty finds itself centered at the overlap. This makes it a standalone player in the cannabis trade.”
Matutina spearheads the creative, which includes the role of cheekily naming products: “babies” for the brand’s miniature joints, its recently launched three-pack of joints, “threesome,” and a 100-milligram beverage that lives up to its name, the “Little Strong Drink.”
“We strongly encourage expressive freedom regarding collaborations, commissions, and engagement,” the Pure Beauty team continued. “We regularly tap a diverse pool of photographers and creators, giving them blank slate freedom for lensing Pure Beauty.” One look at the brand’s website and social media, and you’ll see the outcomes of these commissions: magazine-meets-gallery quality, where images blend to portray multiple creative eyes instead of just one clinical look, reinforcing the sense of community that Pure Beauty’s co-founders always aim to foster.
It isn’t all looks and clever names for Pure Beauty, though. The team puts a big emphasis on sustainability, using biodegradable and recyclable materials, including the industry’s first and only plant starch bag, to package their range of offerings. Taking it a step further and implementing environmentally friendly practices internally, more than 99% of the company’s water usage is obtained from their facilities’ HVAC systems and dehumidifiers, which saves millions of gallons per year. Furthermore, all electricity at Pure Beauty is generated on-site using micro-turbines.
Being female and minority-owned, a focus on social justice rounds out the brand’s final pillar. The trio fights for fairness and equity in the still-budding cannabis business in a variety of ways. They collaborate with and donate to many initiatives and philanthropic organizations in the space – especially those working towards prison reform and assisting individuals incarcerated for nonviolent, drug-related offenses.
Outside of cannabis, Pure Beauty has a Drugstore that sells merchandise ranging from loungewear to home decor and more. They’ve also had their hand in fashion, working with M Missoni and the eyewear label Garrett Leight. It’s high time for cannabis culture (yes, pun actually intended this time) and Pure Beauty is showing just how to create a foundation for a prosperous business in 2022.
