among all the employees in creative thinking, photography, and graphic design editing. Milo made a camera available to all employees. The goal was for them all to use the same camera and take pictures of the same flowering plant( Chem Reserve strain) in the same room. It allowed them to design a different version of a promotional flyer that Milo previously created.
VIBE team( back, left to right): Tayler Davis, Mike Bregande, and Amar Pehlic.( Front, left to right): Jaylon Petty, and Wes Greene.
Cyle Pyles, marketing project manager.( photo by Tara Sigrist)
The two employees who won the competition would later become VIBE’ s marketing team members. Tayler Davis, the photography winner, took photography classes in high school but never imagined she would be using those skills professionally later in life.“ When I first started working here, I thought I was just going to be growing weed,” said Davis.“ Now, I have a completely unexpected hobby as a career. Having a camera in my hands is now my job; it gives me an outlet to express myself. I get to pick the beauty from within the facility, and when I see something that I think everyone else should see, I share it.”
Next, Cyle Pyles had worked just about every position at VIBE when he won the“ editing” portion of the competition. Now, Pyles’ s title is marketing project manager, and one of his duties is to create the artwork for VIBE’ s monthly ad as seen in this magazine, along with managing VIBE’ s social media, documenting events, editing videos, creating promotional flyers, and much more.
After winning the competition, Milo knew he wanted his new marketing team to be proficient in macro photography. For those unfamiliar with this term, macro photography is when you take extremely close-up photos of small and microscopic images undetectable by the naked eye and enlarge them. In the cannabis industry, macro photography is essential to get close-up views of the trichome production of flowering cannabis. Milo brought in Joplin native Rusty Stark, from Stark Raven Mad Productions, for a few months to pass on his knowledge and expertise of macro photography
The winning photo by Tayler Davis taken during VIBE’ s photography competition.
to Pyles and Davis. Once again, another example of VIBE furthering the careers of its employees.
I wish I had more pages to mention all the amazing conversations I had the opportunity to enjoy with so many of VIBE’ s employees and the creative input they’ ve had in creating strain names, artwork, design work, and overall creative thinking. Each employee seems to bring their own creative juices and hard-working attitudes to collectively create all the vibes at VIBE.
At companies in the Missouri cannabis industry, or at any company building brand images and ideas, those images and ideas usually flow from top
Tayler Davis self-portrait. leadership down to employees.
At VIBE, branding images ARE the VIBE of the employees, and their ideas get passed up to Milo just as much as he passionately offers his. No matter what your position is at VIBE( if you have worked there long enough), you not only have worked and know the responsibilities of most other positions within the company, but your creative Chi becomes part of the collective letters that are the brand consumers know and love … It’ s a VIBE thing!
Clayton Stallings is the Director of Sales & Marketing for
The EVOLUTION Magazine
September 2026 25