After 10+ years playing youth, collegiate (University of Portland), and professional soccer, Rachael Rapinoe had a pivotal realization: the status quo for pain management in professional sports is messed up. The ease with which players were getting sleeping aids, painkillers, and high-dosage anti-inflammatories without a lot of medical guidance was shocking. She was determined to find another solution.

When the Hemp Farm Bill passed in 2018, Rachael—an entrepreneurial fitness industry veteran with a master’s degree in health and exercise science from PSU—and her network of elite athletes, started to find ways to enjoy cannabis safely as part of their recovery regimen. They soon discovered what the “medical marijuana” pioneers had been fighting for all along: a highly safe and effective healing tool. This plant has serious potential to mitigate opioid abuse and provide healthier alternatives to manage pain and inflammation, get better sleep, help with neuro performance, and mitigate stress and anxiety.

While the conversation around healthier pain management alternatives in professional sports has historically been muted, the tides are finally starting to turn. With cannabis legalization spreading across the country, professional sports leagues easing their bans, and cannabis’s potential benefit to chronic ailments, the boons of this bud simply can’t be ignored any longer. “It is clearly time to rethink how elite and everyday athletes can stay on top of their game, in a much healthier way,” says Rachael. In 2019, she and her two co-founders formed Mendi to champion this rallying cry for action.

Mendi is an athlete-built and women-owned sports CBD brand whose mission is to improve athletes’ lives using nature’s best recovery tools. With a hemp-derived CBD recovery line that’s USA-made, third-party tested, all natural, and has the highest-quality ingredients, Mendi prioritizes long-term health and wellness, versus harmful medications. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, among the sports brand heavyweights, the company is disrupting the status quo of the rapidly changing sports-and-cannabis segment. They’re blazing the trail to quickly become the trusted CBD brand for elite and everyday athletes by doing what no other cannabis brand has. They came to market directly penetrating the sports world with some of the biggest stars in the game: Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird. Plus, they’re Official Partners of the North Carolina Courage and Utah Royals FC, and eight NWSL players invested in their company. To say that athletes wholeheartedly believe in them is an understatement.

Aside from their athlete-built and trusted product line, Mendi is also highly differentiated from other cannabis brands with their loud-and-proud mission of inclusivity. From the start, their voice extended beyond their products. Mendi champions all things equality and equity—and they will challenge other companies to do the same.

Their current line of all-natural hemp recovery products includes:

• Vegan Gummies (25mg)
• Soft Gel Capsules (25mg)
• AM & PM Tinctures (1000mg & 2000mg)
• Salve Stick (500mg)
• Massage Oil (1500mg)

And that’s just the beginning. In 2020, Mendi plans to continue growing their hemp line by expanding into full-spectrum hemp CBD and eventually developing an Oregon-derived THC line—all while keeping athletes on top of their game, in the healthiest ways possible.

Shop the line at themendico.com