MJ Lifestyle Issue 01 Digital

MJ GETS CHATTY WITH THIS SAVVY TWOSOME WHO IS TAKING
ON THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY BY STORM. WITH A LOVE FOR
FASHION AND STYLE JADE DANIELS & HARLEE CASE CREATE
THEIR DREAM JOB BY GETTING FANCY, CONNECTING WOMEN
AND STAYING BOSSY.
HOW DID THE TWO OF YOU MEET?
JADE We met through the magical world of Instagram! I moved to Southern Oregon
from Houston (by way of Los Angeles) in 2015 and was styling my jewelry and
handbags with multiple photographers and bloggers there weekly. I didn’t know
anyone in Oregon, so naturally I looked to social media to find some creative girls
to take some photos with. I started searching hashtags of the small towns near me
and came across a bunch of styled photo shoots of cute girls in vintage clothing
that was @harleescloset. Thinking she had a shop and lived in Eugene, Oregon,
2 hours away, I suggested I drive up and shoot with her at her store HARLEE Little
did Jade know that I actually lived a few blocks away from her in tiny Jacksonville,
Oregon, which was so crazy! We met up the next day, did a photo shoot the day
after that, and have been friends and working creatively together ever since.
WHAT WERE THE TWO OF YOU DOING PRIOR TO STARTING LOP?
HARLEE One year I was trying to save up some money to go to Sasquatch Music
Festival at The Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington. Being the clothes hoarder
that I am, I had a closet full of vintage finds and started Instagram and Etsy
accounts to sell some of my old clothes. After making $1000 fast, I decided to turn
it into a full business which became ‘Harlee’s Closet’. When I wasn’t managing the
vintage boutique I worked at, Three Penny Mercantile, in Ashland, Oregon, I was
thrifting for days on end and shipping out hundreds of packages monthly. JADE
Before Ladies of Paradise is what it is today, I was spending every other month in
Guatemala, scouring the markets of Lake Atitlan and designing bags for my online
shop. I would travel to villages and markets all over the world and find unique,
one-of-a-kind jewelry, bags and home goods from places like the Grand Bazaar in
Istanbul and small villages in Thailand. I started Ladies of Paradise in 2014 and
after moving to Oregon the next year to work in the Cannabis industry, my focus
started shifting and I became more and more enamored by working in my fiance’s
dispensaries and farms.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WORK TOGETHER? HOW DO YOU DIVIDE TASKS AND ROLES?
JADE When I first met Harlee I saw something in her that reminded me of myself:
she was running her own business, was super driven and creative, and had a lot of
the same mannerisms as me (if you can consider losing your keys 30 seconds after
entering the house a ‘mannerism’). I really valued Harlee’s creative direction and
vision as a stylist and photographer for her own company, and those are what she
brings to the table for LOP today. HARLEE We know our strengths and weaknesses
well so it helps to divvy up tasks. One constant is that I shoot everything and she
writes everything.
HOW DO YOU LADIES BALANCE YOUR FRIENDSHIP AND WORK RELATIONSHIP?
JADE We try to be really good about staying open with communication and letting
each other know right away when something is bothering us. Building stuff up is
never good for any relationship, any time. HARLEE That’s exactly it. We talk all day
about everything. It can be really hard with two women with strong opinions to
agree on everything, but honestly we are lucky that we A) have very similar crazy
taste and B) respect the shit out of each other. We know at the end of the day our
relationship is the most important thing to us.
111 @MJLIFESTYLE