In this episode of the “I Find It Interesting” podcast, I sit down for an extended interview with Peak Extracts‘ CEO Katie Stem. Katie is an absolutely fascinating person, whose background, interests, and skillsets cover an immense range of topics. Our conversation barely touched the surface of Katie’s vast and varied curriculum vitae.
As CEO of Peak Extracts, Katie deals not only with the foundational business matters of company, but also works out the chemistry, proportions, and physiological effects of her cannabis-centric products. But earlier in her life, Katie had initially planned on going into medicine, and was both pre-med AND an English literature major while in college. A reoccurring health issue put up a slight roadblock in this plan, which prodded her to examine medical practices outside the standard Western fields.
We cover all these background topics – and much, much more – during our initial 45 minute conversation, and then Katie and I wander over to the Peak Extracts production facility, where we catch up with Kate Black (Katie’s partner), and take a twenty minute audio tour of place. As a quick heads up, the audio quality in the production facility is quite poor (the place was sooooo noisy), though the content is genuinely fascinating.
Lastly, here are few quick highlights from the interview. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
• Snazzy guitar music (played by Matt) – 00:00:00
• Introduction/overview of the show – 00:00:08
• A photo of “George,” my 11 week old puppy, who’s responsible for my current case of sleep deprivation.
• “So, you were part of AmeriCorp/VISTA…” – 00:03:05
• “Was that the launching point for Peak Extracts?” – 00:05:00
• “… I saw that you were pre-med and a literature major” – 00:05:15
• “I’m fascinated by the concept of intellectual cross training” – 00:06:50
• “Were you always intellectually curious?” – 00:07:30
• “I started working in laboratories when I was 16.” – 00:09:05
• “What did you want to be when you grew up?” – 00:10:00
• “I got sick when I was 16 or 17 years old….” 00:12:05
• “They didn’t want to look for the real cause or symptoms.” – 00:13:05
• “This is the reason I went into Eastern medicine.” – 00:14:05
• “You were a pioneer in the field of cannabis…” – 00:16:20
• “It looked really bad hauling cancer patients off to jail.” – 00:17:35
• “You grew up in Pullman – left/right, liberal/conservative” – 00:18:20
• “Growing up queer in Pullman was not cool at the time.” – 00:19:20
• “I wear a tuxedo at Burning Man the whole time.” – 00:22:10
• “I’m used to hearing ‘no.’ I think most women are.” – 00:22:45
• “I’ve coined a term that I can a “mantrum.” – 00:23:05
• “Is the cannabis industry a male dominated industry?” – 00:24:10
• “Do people question your intelligence?” – 00:25:45
• “Let’s talk about cannabis!” – 00:27:10
• “What made you look at the medical aspects of cannabis?” – 00:27:35
• “I realized that various strains had a different impact.” – 00:29:35
• “It’s just a ton of work.” – 00:31:40
• “Most of my peers don’t consume the way the used to.” – 00:32:35
• “I would make chocolates with different strains…” – 00:33:30
• “Terpenes have a dose dependent effect.” – 00:35:05
• “CBD is a little bit trendy these days.” – 00:36:55
• “There’s a lot of fun stuff going on with CBD.” – 00:37:25
• “That was Maureen Dowd being stupid…” – 00:38:50
• “Talk to me about terpenes.” – 00:39:50
• “Cannabis is mentioned in… …ancient Chinese texts.” – 00:42:45
• “The Chinese medicine I studied is post-Mao.” – 00:43:30
• “Who are your heroes?” – 00:45:00
• “What are three books everyone should read?” – 00:47:50
“An Entirely Synthetic Fish” – 00:47:45
“1984” – 00:48:40
“The Prince” – 00:48:45
“The Iliad” – 00:49:00
• “What’s something you believe to be true” –00:49:15
• “What aspect of our culture seems normal today?” – 00:51:05
• “How can people find you on social media?”
Katie Stem, with her extraction unit.