Maria + Jane: Women In Cannabis Business

This week I’m talking to Gillian Levy, Co-Founder of Humboldt Apothecary, a women-owned Cannabis tincture business in the heart of Humboldt County.  She and her business partner, Susan Cleverdon, created Humboldt Apothecary with a vision of crafting Cannabis based products that could target and support healing and wellness for a variety of conditions. Gillian and Susan have used their love and knowledge of medicinal herbs to formulate blends of plants that synergize well with Cannabis to create maximum therapeutic benefits.  The company has a commitment to using only the highest quality, most environmentally sustainable ingredients. They support organic practices and small farmers to deliver products that are safe, effective, ethical and truly vibrant. In our chat,  Gillian and I dig into her path from botanist, environmental consultant and herbalist for 20 years to cannabis entrepreneur; The way in which some cultivation practices have impacted the environment & watersheds in the Humboldt community and

This week I’m talking to Lyna Thompson, Founder of the 420 Book Society and co-host of the podcast Hitting the Window with Nick & Lyna. After working as a financial coordinator in the dental field for over 20 yrs and becoming a daily cannabis user, Lyna started exploring the cannabis plant on a deeper level. With all of this new found knowledge in hand, she couldn’t help but want to share this powerful information with others. This led to launching a podcast with her husband, Nick, focusing on how the use of cannabis is a normal part of their lives and highlighting all of the amazing people within the cannabis community. Lyna’s continued quest for more knowledge about cannabis in relation to many different topics led to her creating the 420 Book Society - a cannabis book of the month subscription for both the enthusiast and the curious. In our chat, Lyna and I dig into the story behind how she & Nick started podcasting together about their ‘normal’ and having open and honest conversations about canna

This week I’m talking to Emma Chasen, Cannabis Educator and Industry Consultant. Emma is on a mission to educate people on the science of Cannabis so they can take charge of their own healing.  Emma has degree in Medicinal Plant Research from Brown, has Coordinated Clinical Oncology trials with the Brown University Oncology Research Group, is formerly the General Manager & Director of Education for Farma and was named Portland’s Best Budtender of 2016. Emma also launched the Core Science Certification program with Sativa Science Club both online and in the Portland community. Emma helps brands develop educational marketing collateral and educational programs to further elevate their brand presence in a competitive industry. She also helps cannabis businesses with business organization and creation of internal on-boarding programs to set them up for success in the competitive adult use market. In our chat, Emma and I dig into her really cool family tie to Penne alla vodka; The origin of her love for plant

This week I’m talking to Whitney Beatty, Founder & CEO of Apothecarry Brands. Inspired by a lack of stylish, safe cannabis storage systems and a disdain for storing medicine in a shoebox, Whitney is a successful entertainment industry exec turned cannabis storage designer. After meeting so many like minded cannabis users, who lamented about a lack of good storage system, worried about securing buds away from kids & pets and who were tired of searching around for their stash only to discover it dried out from plastic baggies and non-airtight dispensary jars, Apothecarry was born. The brand seeks to redefine the image of cannabis users who take pride and pleasure in their stash, while filling a hole in the marijuana paraphernalia market for everyone, from attorneys who toke up after a high powered workday, to “stiletto stoners” who are hosting ladies night, to seniors using medication for health benefits and everyone in between who demands the best in all things. Apothecarry was selected for the first c

This week I’m talking to Cynthia Villamizar, Founder of Cyntivee, an education platform that seeks to break down everything you thought you knew about cannabis and reintroduce it as a part of your wellness and fitness routine. Cyntivee is hoping to reeducate people on CBD and cannabis by addressing common misconceptions and by introducing the latest innovations via easy and fun tutorials and recipes. A former Fulbright Scholar and Googler, Cynthia also chronicles her new adventures as she works towards becoming a certified personal trainer, a fully-fledged cannabis expert, and the newest entrant in the nascent marijuana industry. In our chat, Cyn and I dig into what it was like leaving her career at Google behind to focus on her passion for wellness & cannabis; How Cyntivee came to be and the experience of being a new entrepreneur in a nascent industry; How Cyn pushes herself to experiment with different platforms online and do what needs doing for her business every day (even when she doesn’t feel like

This week I’m talking to Mary Pryor, Co-Founder of Cannaclusive. Mary is a passionate and vocal media expert currently based in Los Angeles and New York. Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Mary received exposure to automotive design, electrical engineering, music, digital arts and marketing at an early age. Today Mary is a powerful and accomplished Digital and Marketing Specialist who has worked for major brands such as Sony Music Group, Viacom, CBS News, Ebony Magazine, The Rolling Stones, VaynerMedia, just to name a few. She realizes that there is a pressing need for agencies that catered to culturally rich and niche audiences through digital and social marketing integration. Mary is a proud native Detroiter and Wolverine thanks to the University of Michigan. In our chat, Mary and I dig into her experience being chronically ill and a woman of color; How cannabis has drastically improved her health and helps her manage her Crohn's Disease symptoms; The white-washing of the cannabis industry; Working to de-stigmat

This week I’m talking to Lisa Weinberger, co-founder of MarijuanaRates.com and owner of PearlyWrites.com. Her dual career consists of helping companies with their digital marketing strategy as a Chief Content Officer as well as teaching students how to write as a Professor. Believer of natural health, she began researching the benefits of cannabis and CBD which led to sharing consumer pricing on MarijuanRates.com. Publishing’s include Bankrate.com, PrimeRates.com, One Main Financial, Fox Business, Yahoo! Finance, LendIt, Money Mio, Business Insider, Comcast, Credit Karma, Fidelity, Conductor and Tech Republic. In our chat, Lisa and I dig into how she & her co-founder parlayed finance backgrounds into a canna biz and essentially became personal finance bloggers for cannabis; Her and her daughter’s healing journeys with CBD; How cannabis pricing works and what gets factored in; The differences in pricing from state to state; Discovering the MarijuanaRates.com consumer sweet spot (hint: averages); Getting t

This week I’m talking to Kristen Yoder, recently featured in Marijuana Venture Magazine’s 40 under 40 Rising Stars of Cannabis, is a 13 year California cannabis industry veteran and radio personality who has managed successful businesses in every sector of the industry, and now serves as a strategic advisor for entrepreneurs and investors entering the cannabis industry in California. She has a Meetup group, Soil to the Oil: Cannabis Science Classes, in Los Angeles, where she does monthly terpene training, trichome viewing sessions, and other fun cannabis science-related gatherings. You can catch her on Notes From The Underground, on 89.1 FM KNSJ San Diego, every Friday night at 7p (PST), and starting in August, she will be releasing her new podcast, The CannaBS Detector, where she speaks to experts about the common scams and pitfalls investors, entrepreneur and companies will inevitably encounter in the cannabis industry. In our chat, Kristen and I dig into her road from hair dresser to modern cannabis renai

This week I’m talking to Anna Duckworth, a writer, editor and strategist from the Great White North (read: Toronto). Anna is Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Miss Grass—an elevated magazine and e-comm platform for women and cannabis (which the media is calling the GOOP of cannabis). Anna is the Former Head of Content at cannabis brand dosist (once hmbldt) and Managing Editor of The Alpine Review magazine. She also writes a weekly newsletter with her buds called buckslip, which was called one of the best of the year in WIRED. I get that newsletter and it rocks. In this episode, Anna and I dig into the moment she knew she wanted to become a writer and the path that led her to eventually becoming Head of Content at Dosist; Anna’s personal story with cannabis and becoming a conscious consumer of the healing plant; Miss Grass’s mission and why she and co-founder Kate felt it was so important to create this platform for women; How Miss Grass is using it’s platform to educate, advocate and amplify diverse minority

This week I’m talking to Holly Alberti. Holly heads up Integrated Customer Experience on the Flrish marketing team, supporting the Harborside Family of companies. She's a visionary, creator, and integrator - creating change, spreading inspiration & education through social entrepreneurship. Holly began her cannabis career on the East Coast working with local groups and crafting the vision for Healthy Headie Lifestyle. Later, she was asked to join the core team that worked to apply in the 1st round of Registered Marijuana Dispensary’s in Massachusetts. With 15+ years in customer service, branding, communications and her expert knowledge of the cannabis space, Holly has consulted for industry titans such as Harborside, GoldDrop Extracts, Blue River Terps, Stashlogix and many more, on community engagement and biz development strategies. She’s active in many community groups and also acts as advisor, board member, mentor, and cannabis connector. In this episode, we chat about Holly’s journey into cannabis bu

This week I’m talking to Cassandra Farrington. Cassandra heads up the cannabis industry leading daily news website Marijuana Business Daily and its family of content resources for the B2B cannabis marketplace, including the internationally recognized family of MJBizCon conferences. Previously a Vice President at Citi, she earned her MBA from the University of Texas, McCombs School of Business. MjBizDaily was co-founded by Cassandra and her business partner in 2011. It is now the most established ongoing business to business news organization serving the cannabis industry. Essentially, it's the wall street journal of cannabis. In this episode, we chat about how MJ Biz was born and the business pivot it made early on to serve customer needs better, growing MJ Biz from newsletter to multi-million dollar media organization, the core fundamentals that define how MJ Biz is run and that make it so successful, the unique opportunity women have both as business owners & consumers in the cannabis space and the opp

This week I’m talking to Diane Czarkowski, one of the industry’s original cannabis entrepreneurs and Founding Partner at Canna Advisors. She has played an influential role in the cannabis market since its early stages, helping develop it into one of fastest growing industries in the United States.With decades of career success in high-tech and real estate, Diane’s business agility stems from working in industries that are rapidly growing and evolving. She was the founder of one of the first dispensary and cultivation facilities in Colorado, earning the reputation as one of most professional and patient-focused dispensaries in the state. Since establishing Canna Advisors, the firm has earned one of the best track records in the industry. Diane works closely with clients, advising them on best practices to anticipate change and proactively work to meet the changes. She focuses on the operational needs of Canna Advisors and oversees HR, Accounting, Marketing, PR, IT and Client Services. In this episode, we chat

This week I’m talking to Maureen McNamara, Founder and Chief Facilitator with Cannabis Trainers™; a corporation founded to create and deliver training solutions for the Cannabis Industry. With 20+ years of professional training experience, Maureen has trained and certified 10,000+ employees, managers and owners in national certification (ANSI) programs. She has combined her skills and expertise with Food Safety and Responsible Alcohol Service into a comprehensive, engaging program to ensure the Responsible, Knowledgeable and Safe sale of cannabis: Sell-SMaRT™, safe marijuana retail training. In addition to the Sell- SMaRT™ program, they are pleased to deliver the nationally recognized ServSafe® Food Safety training to edible makers. Maureen and the team at Cannabis Trainers deliver highly interactive and compelling workshops with enthusiasm, humor and professional facilitation and they are Committed to excellence, professionalism and safety; Cannabis Trainers is a powerful partner to organizations and busines

This week I'm talking to Laurie Wolf. Laurie is a leader in the edible community and an award-winning culinary entrepreneur. Since 2015, Laurie has published four cannabis cookbooks: HERB, Cooking with Cannabis, Marijuana Edibles, and The Medical Marijuana Dispensary. Her recipes fill the pages of several top cannabis publications and she was named "The Martha Stewart of Marijuana Edibles" by The New Yorker. Laurie is the co-founder of Laurie + MaryJane, a family-owned and operated business, serving the state of Oregon since 2015. They are proud produce the very best in small-batch, cannabis-infused edibles. Their award-winning products are handcrafted and rigorously tested to ensure delicious and consistently dosed baked goods for the Oregon community.  In this episode, we chat about how the edibles category has evolved over the years since Laurie began and how it's produced a new category of cannabis user, how Laurie uses her chef & a food editor background to create her elevated edibles, the dos and d

This week I'm talking to Dr. Junella Chin, Founder of MedLeafRX. For over a decade, Dr. Chin lived and practiced medicine in California, a state with legalized medical marijuana since 1996. In California, her integrative family practice clinic focused on children with intractable epilepsy, cancer, and autism. She has seen firsthand just how much medical marijuana can benefit patients. A Bronx native, who moved back to New York two years ago, Dr. Chin is now registered with the New York State Medical Marijuana Program. She is currently treating both children and adults in New York. As a result of her experience as a chronic pain survivor, Dr. Chin has dedicated her medical career to finding effective, integrative and holistic approaches to patient care. Dr. Chin is a frequent keynote speaker on the science and medicine of cannabis and has spoken at hospitals, conferences, and events all over the world. In this episode, we chat about how marijuana helped ease her own chronic pain, how she integrated medical ma

This week I'm talking to Andrea Burnett, founder of the 4twenty Group and a 25-year veteran of the lifestyle PR and marketing industry. Aside from being obsessed with manatees, Andrea is always looking for new ways to amplify her clients’ brands, create way outside-the-box campaign strategies and maintain her lifelong reputation as an über connector. She launched the 4Twenty Group last year in a reaction to the election and the intense desire to support other women and promote products that do good for so many people. Her agency focuses on elevated cannabis products for women, by women. In this episode, we chat about why publicity matters, the importance of PR for cannabis startups, the dos and don'ts of networking, how to “show up” in the best possible way, strategies for getting buzz around your product/brand, why you should be an ally to other women in the industry, and our mutual love for squishy animals. This episode is supported by The Holistic Cannabis Academy. Use the code JAC at checkout for 10% O

This week I'm talking to Chanel White, Director of Client Relations at WikiLeaf. Chanel focuses on generating positive communication and company preference through proficient, knowledgeable interactions. She is also a seasoned content developer with mediums ranging from non-profits organizations, to popular news outlets such as The Huffington Post. With a background in early education, medicinal cannabis consultation, and motivational speaking, Chanel fosters comprehensive education and meaningful conversation in all she does.  In this episode, Chanel shares her story of being diagnosed at age 20 with an incurable rare and super aggressive autoimmune and connective tissue disease, Systemic Sclerosis. We chat about her brave journey through extremely harsh medical treatments and undergoing a risky human clinical trial, her choice to publicly share every bit of her reality on video to inspire others also adjusting to a new normal, how cannabis provided her with quality of life (and eventually new career), and

This week I'm talking to Adelia Carrillo, Founder & CEO of Direct Cannabis Network. DCN is the leading digital business-to-business news network covering the latest tech, entrepreneurs and innovative companies in the cannabis industry. With her roots in the corporate and consumer electronics industry, her passion for technology, startups, and innovation has been a key strength in her transition into the cannabis space. Becoming a voice for the upcoming startups, uniting the cannabis business community, Adelia is building an inspiring yet prominent voice in the world on the topic of cannabis entrepreneurship.   In this episode, we talk about how DCN came to be and the process of finding its true voice, Adelia's experience being a first-time CEO while building a team and developing company culture, the ups and downs of fundraising, and how we can support other women in or interested in the cannabis industry. This episode is supported by The Holistic Cannabis Academy. Use the code JAC at checkout for 10% OFF

Today I'm chatting with Ophelia Chong - community activist, graphic designer & photographer. She's the founder of Stock Pot Images and Asian Americans for Cannabis Education (AACE). She is also the Creative Consultant at PUSH, served as the Community Outreach liaison for THC Design, responsible for LGBT, Veterans, Women, Minorities and Disabled outreach. Her newest endeavor is the Bevel Group, as partner.   Ophelia is driven to help shape the new conversation of Cannabis and is guided by one mission: to advocate for the legalization of cannabis and offer truthful reflections of the faces and communities that embrace cannabis.   In our convo we talk about confronting her own bias about marijuana and how that eventually led to creating StockPot Images, what it's been like as a Asian-american female in the cannabis industry, some of the hurdles she encountered getting her business off the ground (even as an ancillary company), working to change the face of cannabis and her outreach work within the LGBTQ, Vet

Today I’m talking to Sister Kate, founder of Sisters of the Valley. Sisters of the Valley is new-age group of Sisters whose fundamental mission is to get cannabis-based medicine into the hands of those in need in a responsible and sustainable manner. The mission is supported by their founding principles, which are to honor Mother Earth and her intelligent plant, provide a valuable product to the people, empower other women to succeed and participate in peaceful progressive activism. In this episode, Sister Kate and I chat about her pre-Sister life as an international consultant, she shares how the sisterhood was born out of the occupy movement, what it takes to run the Sisters of the Valley operation, it’s growth to making 1.1 million dollars in sales last year and her plans to make it a 50 million dollar business in the next 5 years. The Sisters are also focused on creating jobs for women jobs that incorporate both Spiritual and Civic duties. This episode is supported by The Holistic Cannabis Academy. Use th