Rewriting the Narrative: Shinta from Heal Mary on Women, Cannabis and Care

This International Women’s Day, we celebrate women who are quietly reshaping industries, challenging stigma and creating space for new conversations. Shinta, founder of Heal Mary, is one of them. Through her work, she is helping normalize cannabis as a form of plant-based support for women, from stress and sleep to hormonal balance and everyday rituals.

In this conversation, we speak with Shinta about the inspiration behind Heal Mary, the role of CBD in supporting women’s bodies, and why female entrepreneurship today is less about proving ourselves and more about building businesses that reflect how women actually live.

Heal Mary was founded to normalize cannabis for women. Why was that so important for you personally?

For me it started with a feeling of: why are we whispering about this?

Alcohol is everywhere. Coffee is everywhere. But when it comes to cannabis, especially for women, it’s still wrapped in stigma. Either it’s hyper-masculine or unserious and I just didn’t recognize myself in that narrative.

I’m a mother. I’m a business owner. I’m someone who cares about my nervous system, my hormones, my sleep. When I discovered how plant-based support like CBD could soften the edges of stress, pain and anxiety without numbing me, I wanted to tell that story.

I wanted to create a brand that reflected the way women actually live. To be a woman is to be in pain: just in one lifetime we go through pms, birth, menopause, hormonal shifts, and many of us have to deal with tension and trauma stored in our pelvic area and uterus. I wanted to show the modern woman she can integrate cannabis products into her real life, and remind her that women have been using cannabis for many complaints for ages. I mean, did you know there was a cannabis medicine for vaginal use (to relieve pain) before we even smoked weed?

Normalizing it wasn’t about pushing it on people. It was about saying: you’re not crazy for wanting support. And you don’t have to hide it.

Women’s bodies go through different hormonal phases. How can CBD support women specifically during PMS, stress or sleep issues?

Women don’t live on a 24-hour hormonal cycle. We live on a monthly rhythm. And yet most wellness solutions are designed like we’re linear.

PMS, for example, isn’t just ‘moodiness.’ It can be inflammation, irritability, sensitivity or sleep disruption. It’s your body asking for more care. CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system, which plays a role in regulating stress response, inflammation, and sleep. So instead of overpowering the body, it works more like a modulator. A balancer.

For stress, it helps take the nervous system down a notch. Not in a sedating way, but in a ‘you can exhale again’ way. For sleep, it can support that transition from thinking to resting, especially when your mind keeps running.

I always say: we’re not here to fix you. We’re here to support your cycle. To move with your body instead of fighting it. Sometimes that support is subtle.

Your CBD Shots are water-soluble and made to blend seamlessly into drinks. Why was it important for you to create something that fits into daily rituals?

Because we already have our habits, and this product can easily be woven into your daily life.

I didn’t want CBD to be something you only take when things are already going wrong. I wanted it to live next to your coffee, your matcha, your sparkling water at dinner. Something that becomes part of your rhythm.

The water-soluble formula absorbs differently, it blends easily, and it doesn’t disrupt your drink. You don’t have to create a whole new routine. You just upgrade the one you already have.

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Both Heal Mary and De Kade are female owned. What does female entrepreneurship mean to you in 2026?

To me, it’s less about proving and more about owning. We don’t have to shout ‘power women’ from the rooftops anymore, I mean: of course women can do it too. Now, it’s about how we do it. We are naturally emotionally intelligent, we are nurturers, community builders, we understand cycles, energy, flow.

Female-owned doesn’t mean soft or small. It means embodied. It means building businesses that reflect our lived experience as women. It means thinking long-term instead of just scaling fast. It means honoring our energy instead of exhausting ourselves, considering people, animals, sustainability, community and not just profit. It also means collaboration. Women supporting women is no longer a cute slogan. It’s how we build ecosystems instead of empires.

If you could give one piece of advice to women who want to start their own brand in the wellness or cannabis space, what would it be?

Be radically honest about why you’re doing it. And don’t do it if you’re in it for the money. The wellness and cannabis spaces can look glamorous from the outside. But they are heavily regulated, financially demanding, and emotionally intense. If you’re in it for hype, you won’t last.

If you’re in it because you genuinely care about the problem you’re solving, that will carry you through supplier issues, legal hurdles, slow months, social restrictions and stigma. Also: be about that life. You won’t be able to build your brand with ads, because you’re not allowed to advertise. So you need to be out there, connect, be part of the community, give back and show the world you truly believe in the plant. People will feel your energy and fuck with that, or they will sense that you’re not authentic and won’t be able to connect with you and your brand.

If it doesn’t feel aligned with your own life, people will sense that.

Build something you’d be proud to explain to your daughter. Or your younger self.