The Cannabis Diversity Report with Tahir Johnson

Landon Dais is the Chief Strategy Officer at Plant Inspired Future. He specializes in policy, employment, and construction litigation and is admitted in the 1st department of New York. In 2015, Dais was named pro-bono attorney of the year by Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center for his work handling drug convictions and arrests. Prior to joining PIF, Landon was the National Director of Part...

CJ Wallace and Willie Mack founded the cannabis company Think BIG to honor the legacy of CJ's father The Notorious B.I.G. Think Big is a champion for social and criminal justice reform, including the fights against mass incarceration unjust marijuana laws and environmental policies that disproportionately target people of color. To learn more about Think BIG visit https://www.comethinkbig.com/

Caroline Phillips is the founder and Executive Producer of the National Cannabis Festival and principal of The High Street, a marketing and events company based in Washington, D.C. Caroline focuses her work on conceptualizing, strategizing and executing live event and marketing experiences that leverage business and advocacy to champion social good. Caroline founded National Cannabis Festival to c...

Jessica Gonzalez currently serves as a Cannabis and Intellectual Property attorney at Bressler Amery & Ross, a multidisciplinary law firm with over 175 attorneys and offices in New Jersey, New York, Florida, Alabama and Washington, DC. Jessica also services as outside General Counsel for the national organization Minorities for Medical Marijuana and sits on the Policy Committee for the Minority Ca...

Welcome to Episode 14 of The Cannabis Diversity Report with your host, Tahir Johnson! Today, we take a deep dive into the world of equitable cannabis entrepreneurship with two industry game-changers, Nina Parks and Ramone Garcia. As the creator of Gift of Doja and Madame Chair of The San Francisco Cannabis Oversight Committee, Nina Parks has been a fervent advocate for equity and fairness in the c...

Margeaux Bruner is an experienced cannabis leader and speaker who specializes in compliance, operations, government affairs, policy, social equity, and issues relating to diversity, equity and inclusion. She is the Director of Compliance & Diversity Inclusion across all business entities for Mid-American Growers/Red White & Bloom, where she supports the legal, compliance, and government affairs te...

Tauhid Chappell is an Executive Board member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, the first and oldest association of black journalists in the U.S. Recently he worked as a social media producer at The Washington Post before joining the Philadelphia Inquirer as an engagement editor, where he analyzes reader behavior on search, social and digital platforms. In 2008 Tauhid was diagno...

Chris Jackson was previously a candidate for Pontiac City Council and State Representative (29thDistrict). Excited to explore entrepreneurial endeavors in a new & emerging market, Chris partners with the Sticky brand of operations (a cannabis operation) that is rapidly expanding in Michigan. He is the company’s leader of Government & Legislative Affairs, Social Equity, and serves as its Community...

Chris Ball is the Founder of Ball Family Farms, Inc., the first vertically integrated, minority-owned, Social Equity commercial cannabis facility in Los Angeles. Mr. Ball is an accomplished entrepreneur and innovative cultivator. Chris  is committed to create dynamic opportunities in the cannabis space for those who have been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. Ball Family Farms flowe...

David Hua is the CEO and Co-Founder of Meadow, a software company built from the ground up for California cannabis, and Y-Combinator's first start-up to operate in the cannabis space. Meadow’s powerful point-of-sale and e-commerce software powers retail and delivery businesses across the state. Hua has dedicated the last 5+ years to bridging the divide between cannabis and technology. He has partn...

Justinian Mason is a career coach and business consultant. He spent over 2 years at Vangst, one of the cannabis industry's leading recruiting agencies and now has gone out on his own to start his own company MG Island Group. You can learn more about MG Island Group at https://www.mgislandsgrp.com/

Khadijah Adams is the founder of "Girl Get That Money" a business empowerment coaching and consultancy movement. An Entrepreneur and Investor, Khadijah's goal is to empower women in business by providing them with the resources and tools needed to help them become successful. Whether you're in the Startup phase of your business, or you're ready to take your business to the next level, Khadijah's y...

James Jackson is the Global Head of Cannabis and SVP, Diversity & Inclusion Practice Lead at Mark Edward Partners. James leads the firm’s Cannabis Practice, providing risk management oversight and offering resources, in  order to manage cannabis clients’ growth and scalability in today’s complex ever- changing environment. James will also be creating and building a dedicated unit with  exclusiv...

Join us for an inspirational episode of The Cannabis Diversity Report with Tahir Johnson, celebrating transformative figures in Massachusetts' thriving cannabis industry. Listen as we sit down with three pioneering Black men breaking down barriers, as they share their remarkable stories and the genesis of their enterprises. Our first guest, Seun, is not just a business leader but a history-maker....

At the age of 25, Hope Wiseman became the youngest black woman dispensary owner in the country. In September 2018, her dispensary, Mary and Main, opened their doors to Prince George’s County with a purpose of serving and educating their clients about Cannabis. Hope’s mission is to continue to kill the stigma the country has created about Cannabis within the Black community and help African America...

Shawnee WIlliams is the Co-Founder of Illinois Equity Staffing. She is a Recruiter & Account Executive with a background in Business Operations, Sales and Recruiting. She has a MS in Business and years hands on experience in Cannabis.  Illinois Equity Staffing played an active role in the Illinois cannabis community as it was the first state in the nation to approve adult use with Social Equity di...

Christine spent 20 years as a systems and database architect in tech before coming to cannabis. She is a well-respected business leader, advocate and activist. At the top of her career she almost died from complications of undiagnosed Lupus. In 2015, she found cannabis as an alternative medicine to treat her the disease. She was inspired by her experience to help those who most need access to cann...

Kevin Ford, Jr., is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Uplift Companies, a one-stop shop that has won contracts from the State of Maryland to develop and implement education and training programs for disadvantaged entrepreneurs, and to train dispensary employees.  Ford recently curated the Uplift Cannabis Diversity Symposium to help professionals and entrepreneurs transfer their curr...