How Natasha Irizarry Survived Hard Times To Bring Cannabis Goodies To Your Door

Natasha Irizarry has managed to launch a business that brings surprise packages of pleasure into peoples' lives, just as she's going through a personally trying time herself.

Love surprises? Presents? High-end smoking gear? You're going to want to check out Stashbox, a monthly subscription box of cannabis-related products as unique as the individual recipient.

"We use data to personalize each box," says Natasha Irizarry, 29, who founded Boulder-based Stashbox last May with co-founder DJ Shott. "Each person fills out a profile that filters out how they consume, whether water pipes, joints, vapes, edibles, topicals - it's endless."

Some top-rated items include a diamond-shaped birch storage container from Areawear, jalapeno hemp seed hot sauce, and cold-pressed organic protein-bar munchies from Evo Hemp.

Earlier this year, the company was accepted into Canopy Boulder's seed-stage business accelerator, which focuses on ancillary products and services in the legal cannabis industry. It provides up to $70,000 in capital, a 16-week mentor-driven bootcamp, and industry knowledge - all in return for a 6-9.5% equity stake. Two weeks ago, she took part in CanopyBoulder's Demo Day in Boulder.

Irizarry loses mother, but finds strength to press on

It's a demanding program, which was made more difficult because of a personal tragedy for Irizarry.

"I come from a tech background so I am fully aware of how hard an accelerator can be, but I actually faced a few hardships getting out here," she said. "I applied to canopy in November: in January, my mom died unexpectedly."

Her father encouraged her to go through the program, despite the challenges of running a new business while coping with her grief and raising a young family.

"When you have a company that's just you and one other person, it's terrifying anyway," she said. "Two days after she passed, Canopy let us know we got in. I have three kids, and I'm 29, and they're three, five and seven, and my dad was like, 'you have to do this, there's no other way.' So a couple weeks later, we packed up and moved from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boulder, Colorado in a little white Prius."

"We haven't left the office since," she said with a laugh. "We're here all day and all night, because we believe we're the team to do it right."

CanopyBoulder provides support she needs

Irizarry says the CanopyBoulder team has been a huge source of support at difficult time for her.

"At times, especially with my mom passing ...