Rachel Wolfson: Influencer Profiler

Many comedians have incorporated cannabis into their professional personalities – some even make it their entire personality – but few have incorporated it as flawlessly as Rachel Wolfson. While she’s hilarious and doesn’t have the leafy green as a punchline, cannabis goes a lot deeper with her, too. But it wasn’t always like that.

“I was first introduced to weed when I was 19 because I grew up in such a strict family – my parents were politicians and defenders – they all used these scare tactics and said I would literally die smoking weed”, said Wolfson. “Then I lived in Vermont, in college, and a friend of mine literally laughed when I told him this. Then I realized, ‘Okay, pretty much everyone knows that no one has ever died from smoking weed.’ ”

Even so, even after studying this finding, there was still subconscious fear and shame about cannabis use. But even that began to lift as Wolfson researched NORML and cannabis advocacy and realized how much good there was to be done. Now she is also using cannabis for medicinal purposes instead of taking multiple drugs. To this day, she has been open and honest about using cannabis to manage depression and anxiety.

Likewise, it took Wolfson a while to land on her comedian career.

“I spent my 20s in businesses and restaurants,” she explained. “I was doing marketing on the side and I was just so stressed and worked where I could. Then I started working for a comedy company and at that point I was teaching myself Photoshop so I could acquire a new skill to help myself with my comedy job.

From there, she started the Wolfie Memes Instagram account and she realized that being a meme maker could be fun. After that, she wanted to be at the forefront of the comedy scene and not do marketing behind the scenes. But she still hesitated a little before jumping into the spotlight.

“I got DMs with Wolfie Memes and people would talk to me like I was a guy like ‘yeah brother’ which meant they thought I was a guy and I didn’t correct them,” said. “And I wasn’t ready to step out of the closet per se because my parents and family always made it seem like there was a risk, as if it could affect their jobs.”

Photo by Emily Eizen

Wolfson about perseverance

Even so, she heard comedy shouts and eventually tried stand-up, where she couldn’t hide the fact that she was a woman or stay in the green closet. But the rush to perform and make people laugh was eventually enough to stay in the spotlight and gain confidence in their art.

“I had a small following, but I wasn’t on stage at the time,” said Wolfson. “First until I started establishing myself, opening microphones and starting my first podcast and then just building a following and making a name for myself with stand-up, and not just with the memes. It all came together when I was able to combine all of these skills and my story into something that is close to my heart. “

By Emily Eizen

Now, even during the COVID pandemic, Wolfson has created. She is working on a new podcast, looks forward to the return of live comedy, and plans to keep her focus on activism.

“There is work that needs to be done and I am so aware of it,” she said. “I keep thinking, ‘Okay, how can I give something back? I want to raise these voices, and I think they are particularly underrepresented in cannabis. My advocacy is to use my humor to spread the message of access and also to uplift other people by sharing their content. ”

It is also important to Wolfson to give space to women in cannabis and comedy.

“I can prove that cannabis humor is funny and that it doesn’t matter if I’m a man or a girl,” she said. “Women can be funny; We can smoke weed. We don’t just use cannabis as a fetish. There are many medical reasons why cannabis is especially important to women, and there are things cannabis treats that men will never go through, like menstruating or having a baby. I want to keep proving that women belong in cannabis and in comedy. ”

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Read this story, originally published in the July 2021 issue of High Times, in our archives.