Highest Intent founder Brendon Wilder left religion and found cannabis

Countless people around the world practice religion, and it determines their beliefs and even their livelihood. Some consider religious beliefs an essential way to find meaning outside of self or to understand their role or purpose in the world. For Brendon Wilder and his wife, owners of new Oklahoma cannabis brand Highest Intent, religion was once a big part of their lives. Eventually they realized they were dissatisfied with their religion and chose to celebrate their own lives and move away from Christianity. Once this happened, cannabis entered Wilder’s life, leading to the launch of his cannabis brand. Wilder shares his journey from Christian to cannabis business owner and his journey to launching a new brand in Oklahoma, one of the country’s fast-growing cannabis markets.

They have previously practiced Christianity with a “megachurch”. What made you leave the Church, and what did you hope to achieve afterward?

It’s pretty crazy, but I grew up in this church for 15 years. It has been the most important influence in my life after school, my parents and everything else since I was 10 years old. As I surrendered more and more to “God’s plan,” I became increasingly unhappy. It really was a matter of time before all the suppression of my own feelings boiled over.

Looking back, it’s clear that I didn’t really respect and love myself. Instead, I tried to earn that love, respect, and approval from other people and “God.” I remember, towards the end of my time there, I kept asking myself, “If this is how the rest of my life looks, am I happy with it?”

Long story short, I left religion/church because, for the first time, I felt I deserved my own version of happiness. I had had enough “suffering for Christ” and was ready to enjoy my life. I left my career, the passions I had developed and all my 10-15 year friendships. I really had NO IDEA where I was going next in life, all I knew was that I wanted out of religion. For the first time I was ready to live my life for myself.

How did this decision coincide with your journey into the cannabis industry?

The first time I smoked cannabis was almost a year after I left my “church” life. The summer of ’16 will always be fondly remembered for this reason (call my homie Jimmy who rolled the blunt)! I grew up thinking of cannabis as a “drug” so it took me a while to unlearn and reprogram my views on things. A short year after my first hit, I was taking hourly “vape breaks” from my 9-to-5 office job in Dallas, Texas. It became apparent that cannabis was the medicine I needed to heal and grow beyond my past. Cannabis gave me the space to feel things deeply, address those emotions, and grow on them rather than suppressing them.

As I began to see the personal benefits of using it more regularly, I began looking for opportunities that would allow me to relocate to a state where, unlike Texas, cannabis is not a “drug.” I had a deep desire to learn more about this plant and the culture surrounding it that has grown over time. I had always dreamed of starting my own business someday, but I had never found what influenced me enough to earn my passion. Cannabis had done that.

They originally moved from Texas to Oregon and most recently to Oklahoma. Can you tell us more about the driving factors behind these movements?

My wife and I moved from Texas to Bend, Oregon in January 2018 and were so excited to hit the reset button in our lives and start over. We were both taking long-distance jobs in the cannabis industry for the first time. This opened up a whole new world of possibilities, including living in a new and beautiful place. During my time in Oregon, I was Director of Operations for a cannabis wellness brand transitioning into the California recreational market. Anna and I also worked with a licensed processor in the i502 Washington [state] Leisure market to create new brands, marketing and distribution in pharmacies. One of our most recent projects in Oregon was our premium brand of hemp flowers called Good Fortune Flowers, which we shipped statewide. Unknowingly, we launched right before OG COVID fell and Texas (our primary wholesale market for our new brand) changed its laws regarding smokeable hemp.

As we explored the idea of ​​entering the recreational cannabis market, we quickly realized that the barrier to entry into the more mature recreational markets can be very high. The more we began to look to our future, the more arrows pointed to Oklahoma as the right emerging market for us and our ideas. We are not afraid of a saturated market and a lot of competition because we feel that he brings out the best in us and our abilities. Although we still miss the mountains and forests of central Oregon, Oklahoma and its people have really been that good to us since we moved here in April 2021. We look forward to launching new brands here and hope to earn the respect and sign off of the local Oklahoma community in time.

Courtesy of Brendon Wilder

Tell us about your brand, Highest Intent. What does your product offer consumers in Oklahoma? Are there differences to other competitors?

Our idea with Highest Intent was to create a cannabis product that could also be an addition to anyone’s daily wellness routine. We know that many people are stressed during the day and use cannabis at night to relieve stress. The pandemic has also really shifted our thinking towards “proactive” wellbeing, rather than always taking a “reactive” approach. We also wanted to create a product that is not just about making you feel high, but is still effective for a wide range of users. Instead of creating another nicely packaged distillate product in fancy packaging, we decided to create a product that we as patients wanted to put on the market.

We present our best ideas and intentions to bring you Highest Intentions. Our sublingual tinctures combine full-spectrum nano-THC with select ancient medicinal herbs and adaptogenic mushrooms that have supported our minds and bodies for thousands of years. Water-soluble nano-THC allows for increased absorption and bioavailability, while the specific entourage of herbs and fungi in each formula helps in ways cannabis alone cannot. All of our tinctures use herbal and mushroom extracts (not simply “ground mushrooms”) that contain no alcohol. Our products are gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, 100 percent plant-based and absolutely delicious. We believe these products will open the door to a more conscious way of life for many, many people.

Are there any challenges you had to overcome in order to create the Highest Intent brand or its products?

Without a doubt, the most difficult part of this whole process was finding the right people to trust and build with. From wasting time and money on “consultants” to going through several different herbalists and extractors, we’ve really flexed our problem-solving muscles over the past year. We have high standards as patients and prefer a high level of accountability and transparency from the brands we love and support. So our brands have to meet the same standards, otherwise I personally can’t be ethically proud of them. Unfortunately, not everyone works that way.

We develop products with the attitude that “we are patients first”, which means that we will never market products that do not fully meet our personal consumption standards. The business school challenges you to make bigger margins, but we decided to make this a premium product that puts quality first, at an all-inclusive price. It took about eight months of product research and development to finally formulate a product that we are truly proud of.

When do you expect Highest Intent products to be available in Oklahoma?

We just recently welcomed the wonderful OMMA (Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority) patients from Oklahoma! Our Daily Wellness Tinctures are available in two dosage variants in our morning tincture “Energy & Ease” and in two variants in our evening tincture “Chill & Restore”. Each formula is application specific and created by our team of herbalists and Ayurvedic practitioners.

Are there any plans for 2022? Where do you see yourself and your brand in the future?

These first four Highest Intent products are really just the beginning for us! We have big plans for 2022 that include many expansions. We plan to expand our THC line of Highest Intent products in Oklahoma to include more levels of specific cannabinoids as well as release products designed for specific uses like allergies, pain management, respiratory health, etc. Highest Intent will also be launching a nano line of CBD products with mushrooms and herbs later this year. We have every intention of expanding our model and product offering from Oklahoma to many other emerging markets.