September 21 
87 Christopher Street, NYC
Maybe I can find answers to my anxiety, PTSD, and pelvic floor muscle spasms.
If you asked me 10 years or 5 years or even a year ago if Artemis was within the horizon, the answer would have been a big no. The truth is every blogger/Instagrammer/content creator I know worry about their future. As content and new social platforms evolve, we also have to evolve and naturally our “shelf self” becomes shorter. Thus, most of us start thinking about paths beyond blogging. The natural fit is usually a clothing line, jewelry line, or beauty line. I always loved fashion, so instinctively, I wanted to get more involved in the design world.
Back in Los Angeles, I hired a tutor who taught me pattern making and design. I did a collaboration with Marissa Webb a few years ago and I learned so much about construction and styling. Colin and I went to Vietnam and found a woman-owned clothing manufacturer, who also had a mission that was aligned to our future clothing brand – to help women who were previously sex trafficked. All of the pieces were there, but for some reason or another they just didn’t connect. As hard as I tried, I just didn’t know what was my added value. I didn’t want to have a clothing brand for the sake of having a clothing line. In the end, that idea was put on hold.
Flash back a few months ago, I saw a Vice episode while editing blog and Instagram photos. It was about cannabis and CBD, and how mothers were using it to help their kids with epilepsy and as a treatment for seizures. I was just so curious about the compound. Then I saw another episode about CBD and depression, and then PTSD, and then immune disorders. My curiosity grew and I did more research that brought us to Amsterdam, San Francisco, and Los Angeles visiting every cannabis cafes and dispensaries. I think the question always lingered… Maybe CBD can help me with my anxiety, PTSD, and pelvic spasms. In a way, I was hoping to find answers for myself.
Flash forward to a few months later, I saw this space and knew it would be our second home. And like a speeding bullet, everything happened so fast. But so naturally. We signed the lease, started building it out, researched heavily into the compound, made every cement decor and display sign by hand. We didn’t hire electricians, contractors, merchandisers, interior designers… it was just Colin and I. And Colin’s good friend Matt, who stopped by to help us clean, set up, and paint. The whole process took about a month and that was it. Artemis opened and it changed our lives.
What makes Artemis different from other CBD shops
- Artemis is the only minority-woman owned CBD shop in New York.
- The space is warm, inviting, a feeling of old meets new with collections of old books and cement accents lined throughout.
- We have an extremely detailed curating process. Curating by lab tests only, we request for all lab testing to see the cannabinoid and terpene values, pesticides, heavy metals, microbials, and residual solvents levels. Products are cross examined to make sure their claims are true and correctly labeled. When we onboard a new brand, we drop a brand to ensure that the curation is tight and meaningful.
- From sharing the benefits of CBD to explaining the makeup of the compound and how it interacts with our receptors, to sharing the extraction process and learning about allergies and sensitivities, we spend 30 – 45 minutes with each client. Before a client leaves our shop, we always go over the dosing recommendations and provide a dosing guide and journal.
- We focus on women’s health (focusing on PMS relief, providing dosing recommendations while keeping in mind estrogen levels, and more).
- We provide a complete 360-degree approach to client care. Because all of the products that we have are hemp-derived with less than 0.3% THC dry weight, some clients find that they might need a higher amount of THC to treat their medical conditions. We help facilitate the whole process from getting a cannabis medical card to visiting a cannabis dispensary here in New York by working with a network of medical professionals.
- We are education forward. Every part of the shop has an education board or literature attached to it. We also have a Podcast and YouTube channel where we sit with doctors and talk about all things CBD. Follow us on Instagram at @artemishousenyc for more CBD education and updates.
- We try our very best to get to the source of the product by establishing relationships with farmers, extractors, and formulators.
- With great honor and appreciation, we work with Dr. Junella Chin, a world-leading integrative medical cannabis physician.
- From the compound level to the human level, we love it.
My personal CBD journey
Did I find relief for my anxiety, PTSD, and pelvic floor spasms? Yes and. I think CBD is not the be-all/end-all solution. But it has increased my quality of life. I manage my stress, anxiety, PTSD much better now with CBD and the biggest difference is that I’m not always in pain. My pelvic muscle spasms is much more manageable now and my pain decreased from a 9 to a 2 on the worst days. The and part is that I’m still looking into therapy, establishing a good work-life balance, being mindful of diet, developing good sleeping habits, and more. CBD is part of my life now and I’m so happy to be off pain medications.
When it comes to Artemis, Colin and I are at the shop every day. I have the honor of meeting incredible people, and moreover, I get a chance to connect and talk with survivors. Women from all walks of life come into the shop and share their survivor stories, and their trauma and recovery journey. And honestly, this is the part I love most. Artemis is more than CBD – it’s truly a human connection.
This is a long post, so thank you for staying with me till the end. I’ll share my CBD regime, what I take, and how I take it in another post.
If there’s a way for us to help lift that heaviness you feel in your mind (anxiety relief), that accelerated heart rate and feeling of always being in a fight or flight mode (stress relief), that feeling of knowing what quality sleep feels like (better sleep), to function without thinking about pain (pain/inflammation relief), to feel better on those PMS days (PMS relief), please stop by Artemis – 87 Christopher Street in the West Village. We’d love to be part of your wellness journey.
As always, thank you so much for reading!
