Welcome back Heather Luther in the position as HCGA’s Membership Director. Heather is re-joining the team to increase membership retention and growth strategies, enhance communication engagement and activity, and be responsive to the needs of the membership. Heather originally began working with HCGA in summer of 2018 before taking a leave of absence last summer.
“Our membership consists of some of the kindest and most interesting people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, said Heather. “They inspire me with their passion, values, and drive. I look forward to working with membership and together, building HCGA up to our shared vision of a thriving, sustainable, equitable industry that is deeply ingrained in our community and will persist for generations to come.”
Thank you to Nicole Riggs for serving in the position of HCGA’s Marketing and Education director. Nicole is the founder and owner of Manifesto Synergies, a marketing and branding firm specialized in cannabis. She joined staff in summer 2020 during which time she completed and launched a full rebuild of the HCGA website with member profiles and a searchable directory to facilitate connections in the supply chain. This new website offers our members easy access to information and to the work that HCGA performs for their benefit, while also raising their profile online. Through 2020, Nicole implemented HCBDC’s Headwaters Grant for Professional Development & Educational Programming producing more than 15 workshops custom-designed for cannabis businesses ranging from inclusivity training to accounting, business planning and marketing with on-demand viewing and downloadable resources. Additional workshops remain in the pipeline.
Nicole was initially contracted by HCGA in summer of 2019 to design a strategy and write a proposal for collective marketing — a fundamental initiative which the county is now (intelligently) reworking as per HCGA’s marketing assessment.
To ensure continuity and institutional capacity, Nicole will be joining the Board of Directors for the Humboldt Community Business Development Center (HCBDC).
“Working in this capacity has proven to me how dedicated and focused HCGA and HCBDC are towards a goal I share and continue to strive for with my own company: to ensure that our local industry thrives and develops into a sustainable and community-building economic force,” said Nicole. “I embrace the opportunity to further the economic development of the cannabis industry in Humboldt and support HCGA and HCBDC with enthusiasm and dedication.”
