The Cannabis Diversity Report with Tahir Johnson

Otha was born in Lothian, Md located in beautiful Southern Anne Arundel County. An entrepreneur at an early age, he started his first business, Aggressive Detailing LLC, while still in high school. Aggressive Detailing grew to provide on-site detailing services to residential and commercial customers and created long term contractual agreements with car dealerships and Marina’s throughout Maryland...

Niambe Mcintosh is the last child of the revolutionary musician and activist Peter Tosh. Despite being the youngest of nine, Niambe is an executive of her father’s estate and brand. In addition, she puts heavy emphasis on a health and wellness lifestyle while advocating for freedom, justice, and equity. Born in Jamaica and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Niambe is a frequent traveler between the...

Known as the Lioness of Marketing, Martine aims to serve as the GPS for Black and Brown founders in the cannabis space, empowering them to start, build and scale their businesses through a mix of education and collaboration. Martine’s work in the cannabis space aims to level the playing field and bring social equity to the communities affected the most by its legalization, connecting the dots betw...

Cimone Casson is a cannabis insurance agent and the owner of Cannas Capital an insurance company that focuses on the protection needs of cannabis and crafting brewing businesses. Cannas Capital produces tailor-made insurance portfolios for legal marijuana businesses and craft brewers in order for them to operate with the same peace of mind as other companies despite their unique risk. Insurance he...

Cherissa Jackson, a registered nurse and retired Air Force combat clinician, with 23 years of active duty service, deployed three times during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom as a battlefield clinician.  Jackson is a passionate author and speaker, single mother of twin daughters, and determined ambassador and advocate for patients and Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder...

A former “Big 4” accounting professional,  Naomi Granger  has over 15 years of experience in both public accounting and industry accounting. Over 4 years ago, Naomi decided to try her hat at entrepreneurship and has never looked back. Naomi recognized a void in the cannabis industry and founded the National Association of Cannabis Accounting a...

Mariah Dodson is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, US Army veteran and local politician who serves as Vice-Chair of the California City, CA City. In 2013 she enrolled at HBCU, Virginia State University but departed after one year to enlist in the Army where shed graduated basic training at the top of her class. She is the owner of a retail CBD store, Evolution of Healing, and Dust to Diamonds...

Jerel Registre is Managing Director of the Curio WMBE Fund. The fund was started by Maryland cannabis company Curio Wellness with the goal of investing $30 million dollars to support up to fifty women, minorities, and disabled veterans to open and operate a Curio franchise with a path to 100% ownership in 3 years. To learn more about The Curio Wellness visit https://curiowellness.com/

Gia V Morón is the President for Women Grow. She oversees the company’s day-to-day operations, internal and external communications, education programming, and strategic partnerships. She began working with Women Grow headquarters in January 2017 as Director of Communications, after transitioning from the Women Grow New York City market in 2016. With 25 years of experience in public relations, in...

Bryant Bowens from Gary, IN, is the Co Founder of CRONJA Culture LLC, Partner at Murano Tips & JC RAD Inc.  CRONJA is a consumer lifestyle brand that caters to a wide range of different needs within the cannabis industry, from high end accessoires to full service distribution and business development consulting. To learn more about CRONJA Culture visit https://www.cronjaculture.com/

Cannabis doing good is a platform to create opportunities for cannabis and communities to collaborate, to inspire new ways of people, planet and business engagement, and to showcase companies doing good. Cannabis Doing Good aims to create a purpose-driven cannabis network, showcase companies doing good, and set the standard for social responsibility in the cannabis sector. Courtney Mathis is the C...

Venus Hemachandra is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Herbiculture. Herbiculture is one of a very few minority and woman owned medical cannabis dispensaries in Maryland, with just recently receiving the pre-approvals to operate medical cannabis cultivation and manufacturing operations in Maryland. Venus got her start in Canada, with her and the team obtaining one of the very first pre...

Ngaio Bealum is an American comedian, musician, writer, actor, activist, juggler and publisher. He co-hosted Cannabis Planet and published West Coast Cannabis Magazine. Bealum hosted his own podcast on Cannabis Radio, which was formatted as a travelogue of cannabis events with a discussion on cannabis topics and trends. He writes a column in Sacramento News & Review, answering questions from r...

With a background in biochemistry and microbiology, as well as being the founder, CEO, and market leader for several cannabis companies, Susan Hwang has a solid understanding of the positive impact cannabis can have on the human body. Propelled by the desire to provide people the positive benefits of cannabis without having to compromise mental clarity, Susan founded DailyDose—a luxury online and...

Andrew Farrior is the Managing Partner at Digital Venture Partners . He has over 10 years of Marketing, Communications, and Project Management experience. Digital Venture Partners was founded as one of the only minority-owned portfolio companies in the United States and is focused on the intersection of mainstream culture and cannabis. By collaborating with brands and platforms...

Yoko Miyashita is the CEO of Leafly, the world’s definitive cannabis information resource and a marketplace to connect consumers with cannabis retailers and brands. Miyashita joined Leafly in 2019 as General Counsel, where she led Leafly’s position and policies on key compliance and government affairs issues to maintain and progress the company’s reputation as a trusted and authoritative cannabis...

A child of Yahweh, Husband, Father, Hard Worker, Hustla, Alphonso (Tucky) Blunt Jr., is a true testament to walking your path. The Owner of both Blunts + Moore dispensary, and Proud Papas clothing is a 5th generation Oakland native, that has opened the 1st dispensary under Oakland's Cannabis Equity Program. While growing up in Oakland, California during the war on drugs era, he managed to stay out...

Kim Napoli is the Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Community Affairs at Parallel, one of the largest privately-held multi-state cannabis operators in the U.S. Kim served as the Director of Outreach for the successful Yes on 4 Campaign to Regulate and Tax Marijuana in Massachusetts in 2016. Now, as a Massachusetts Cannabis Advisory Board member, Kim helps develop and...

Richard Ng is a ‘cannapreneur’ who is committed to creating an equitable cannabis industry. As a Social Impact consultant he worked with startups in the San Francisco Bay Area to increase their community impact. In his decade of experience in the cannabis industry he has worked with Washington state–based and BIPOC owned legacy brands Gold Leaf Gardens and Leira Cannagars on business development a...

Ishaq Ali is the Social Impact Manager at Eaze. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Fresno State with a degree in Political Science, Middle Eastern studies, and a certificate of legal studies focusing on War on Terror and War on Drug Policy. After a fellowship at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy, he shifted his focus to cannabis related policy, studying the disproportionate effects of d...

Mary Jane Oatman is a mitochondrial matriarch of the Nimiipuu people who inherited the responsibility of recuperating sacred sites and restoring traditional economies. She is the Founder and Executive Director of The Indigenous Cannabis Coalition. The mother of three is known for her advocacy of returning to indigenous knowledge systems that strengthen humanity.  Amir Caliph El Bey aka Chief Red W...

She Blaze is a trailblazing podcast bringing Cannabis culture from a woman’s perspective to the mainstream. Co-hosts Dasheeda and Ice are millennial women offering a frank and funny take on the industry, combining keen business insight with head-nodding real talk, news, reviews, and interviews. Welcome to a bold new take on the high life.  The award-winning weekly show offers a glimpse into life o...

Nadir Pearson, a recent graduate of Brown University is the founder of SMART (Student Marijuana Alliance for Research & Transparency) a national college cannabis community. After his freshman year a, Nadir was forced to retire from his Division 1 football career after suffering his sixth concussion. and made the pivot from a full-time student athlete to entrepreneur. He's now been featured in Forb...

Leo Bridgewater Sr . currently serves as Director of Veteran's Outreach for Minorities for Medical Marijuana. Born and raised in Trenton NJ, he attended Trenton Central High School graduating in 1994. In 2001 Leo enlisted into the United States Army in response to the September 11 attacks in New York City and Washington DC and served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army Specialist. &n...

Rico Lamitte is the founder and CEO of Canivision. In 2016 a cancer scare led Lamitte to abruptly leave a nearly 10-year career in corporate finance into the cannabis industry. Rico’s been able to successfully navigate the industry’s notoriously difficult California business climate; building brands and forging lasting relationships throughout the state. He is also a TedX speaker and was the marke...