History
Silk Consulting opened its doors in 2018 and since then, they've facilitated the successful establishment of licensed Cannabis companies, taking their ideas from concept to reality. Founder, Kate Phillips brings an exceptional level of enthusiasm, dedication, and nuanced perspective that makes Silk Consulting firm the holistic solution for motivated clients.
Since opening, Silk Consulting has helped numerous Cannabis operators navigate the ever changing landscape of Cannabis regulations. Just like we say in snow sports, learning how to do things right in New England makes it easier to do that anywhere else, same is true for Cannabis regulations. The Department of Public Health (DPH) and Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) in Massachusetts has created one of the most stringent regulatory markets for Cannabis in both the Medical and Adult-Use industries. Trust in Silk Consulting to calm your headaches from location finding, Host Community Agreements, dispensary planning, positive impact planning, diversity inclusion, laboratory design, operational refinement, staff training and more. We are a community of professionals in Cannabis who will work to give you the best direction we can, because we know what works.
We pride ourselves in working with passionate and action driven companies. Are you ready to take the next step in elevating your business?
Contact us today to find out how we can work together.
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We at Silk Consulting know that finding the right partner to collaborate with is a choice not to be taken lightly. That’s why we offer free consultations to walk you through your needs, the scope of your goals, and your budget.
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Founder
Kate phillips
Kate founded Silk Consulting as a result of her experiences working with fast paced start-ups, in highly regulated compliant environments, with poorly informed cannabis industry staff and misinformed patients. She bases her philosophy of Elevated Education on working to create accessible, research based educational materials about Cannabis for both companies and patients. As Silk’s Founder and Owner, Kate personally develops innovative educational marketing materials, educational programs for staff trainings, and curated patient experiences to help differentiate brands in this emerging market.
Competent. Reliable. Innovative. Since 2007, Katelyn Phillips has been successfully creating for, working with, and connecting Cannabis industry insiders. In 2014, Kate founded and co-chaired the first professional cannabis networking group for women in Massachusetts, Women Grow. Shortly after founding the Boston chapter of Women Grow, in 2015 Katelyn joined the team at New England Treatment Access (NETA) for the opening of their flagship medical marijuana dispensary, one of the first operating medical marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts. During her tenure at NETA, Katelyn quickly excelled and had the opportunity to work in most departments of the company, ranging from seed to sale. Her passion and enthusiasm rapidly helped her rise within NETA to become Lead Retail Staff Trainer for their Brookline location, at the time the highest volume & highest grossing cannabis retail store east of Denver.
During her tenure as Lead Retail Staff Trainer at NETA, Katelyn had a number of responsibilities, including but not limited to the creation of the original company retail employee training manual, as well as overseeing the implementation, development, and training of a large, high volume medical marijuana dispensary staff. In 2017, seeking a new challenge, Kate joined Theory Wellness as Director of Retail Operations, having the distinction of being Theory’s first retail employee hire. At Theory Wellness, Kate was responsible for establishing, staffing, managing, and facilitating the growth of two retail cannabis storefronts. As well, Kate worked tirelessly to create original, accessible patient educational documents, lead engaging and pertinent staff trainings, and fostered a retail environment that offered friendly, knowledgeable ease for clients, and a family environment for employees. During her time at Theory Wellness, similarly to her tenure at NETA, Kate always engaged others, staff and clients alike, with a focus towards cannabis education - what could she learn from them, and what could they from her? Under her direct management, in under 2 years, both of Theory Wellness’s initial locations were rated across all major platforms (Google, WeedMaps, Leafly, et al.) as the top dispensary for medical patients in Massachusetts (“4.8 out 5 stars”).
In 2019, Kate began working in an ancillary capacity as Director of Education for Cannabis Community Care and Research Network (C3RN), a cannabis research organization focused on promoting social justice through data, education, and social reform. As Director of Education for C3RN, Katelyn served as a certified training vendor for the nation’s first Social Equity Training Program through Massachusetts’s Cannabis Control Commission. Kate designed and taught a series of 9 entrepreneur focused courses, topics centered around owning and operating a cannabis business in Massachusetts. Through this position, she developed courses on various subjects including cannabis operations, cannabis business planning, advanced skills-based retail, medical cannabis 101, and more. Most notably, during her time with C3RN, Kate established the Cannabis Education Center (CEC), a first of its kind, Cannabis workforce training center at Holyoke Community College (HCC). Through the CEC, Kate offered an original designed eight-session graduate-level cannabis workforce training program focused on hands-on training from cannabis industry experts in cannabis culinary arts, cannabis extraction, cannabis cultivation, and cannabis customer service.
Today, Katelyn continues her work educating consumers and clients through a variety of academic-focused and operational projects in the US and beyond. Serving as a professor of Cannabis Science studies at American International College, Fall 2020 she is actively developing and teaching both masters and undergraduate students. Kate is an avid life long learner and mycophile, she loves to learn about innovative ways to connect those in the entheogenic communities and beyond through a holistic ecosystem of services.
