Member Spotlight: Gentleman Quinns Blunt Company

Member Spotlight: Gentleman Quinns Blunt Company

“We wanted to create something we’d buy ourselves.” – Jarell Wall, Gentleman Quinns Blunt Company

 

“It’s all about respect to the flower and the consumer,” says Jarell Wall, Co-Founder, CEO, and Creative Director of Gentleman Quinns. The Colorado cannabis company produces unique, one-of-a-kind products at the intersection of where luxury, cannabis culture, and high-quality meet.

A Blunt Too Good to be Real?

Wall had been enjoying a successful career in television production in Atlanta, Georgia, when he had the opportunity to move to Colorado in 2015. Knowing that Colorado had a new growing cannabis industry, visions of blunts and pre-roll joints came to his mind, but when he took a part-time job in a dispensary, he soon saw that the joint product category certainly didn’t match his expectations. 

“There wasn’t much creativity,” he observed, noting it was about “what’s cheap and fast.” He says that the influx of vertically-integrated companies in the market puts flower quality at risk in efforts to keep costs low. “They thought weed sold itself,” he notes.

At that same dispensary where he took what would become a fateful part-time job, he met Austin Pflumm and Colorado-native Gentleman Quinn. One evening, the three friends were ready to share a smoke, with Gentleman Quinn electing to take on the task of rolling. Head down, fingers moving fast, he got to work. Under the dark of night, when he looked up minutes later and produced his piece, Wall and Pflumm assumed he was playing a joke on them, with a tree twig or a gag joint because it certainly didn’t look like your regular run-of-the-mill joint. They laughed and quickly tossed it on the ground and put their hand out for the real joint.

When Gentleman Quinn retrieved what he produced off the ground, dusted it off, and began smoking it, what his friends recognized was that their friend had simply rolled a masterpiece in the beautiful blunt that smoked like a dream.

That is when Gentleman Quinns was born. As Pflumm took a pull of his friend’s perfectly rolled blunt, he exhaled and said “The name has to be The High Class Big Ass Blunt”. And that’s exactly what they sought to bring to Colorado’s cannabis consumers.

Honoring the History of the Blunt in Cannabis Culture

It’s believed that the blunt made its way into cannabis culture and history in the mid-1800s in the Caribbean, with several theories forming why Jamaica, in particular, had a penchant for cannabis rolled in cigar wrappers. These theories range from smoking devices like bongs, pipes, and even cigarette papers not being readily available to using the cigar wrapper as a method to mask the smell of cannabis smoke.

Around this time, cigar wrappers were starting to become manufactured in the United States. With an influx of immigrants from the Caribbean, the blunt made its way into American culture. It’s definitely no secret that these special bringers-of-the-blunt, among others, became the target of racialized stigmas and punishments when it came to cannabis, which forms the basis of why social equity is so important to the legal industry today.

“We wanted to create something we’d buy ourselves,” says Wall, “A centerpiece that would be part of normalization that could be displayed on a bookshelf or be a talking point.” Some people advised the trio that using the word “blunt” in their branding could bring a negative connotation towards cannabis’ heavily racialized past. The three eager business partners begged to differ. 

“It was important that we keep the name because it is important to the culture of cannabis,” he acknowledged, “Some aspects of the previous culture aren’t going to be appealing to new folks. [The blunt] appeals to the people who have been smoking for a while.”

A Focus on a Quality Blunt Smoking Experience

To bring the concept of the blunt into Colorado’s emerging cannabis industry, the three co-founders of Gentleman Quinn’s Blunt Company went on a quest to match quality with shelf appeal, also recognizing their product needed to be compliant since you can’t sell cannabis and tobacco together in Colorado.

Wall, Pflumm, and Gentleman Quinn, now named the Lead Bluntador, searched far and wide for a tobacco- and nicotine-free paper that would replicate the cigar wrapper smoking experience, trying leaves of all kinds, and finally landing on the perfect hemp paper with no flavors or additives. “It’s important to taste the flower,” says Wall.

Each 2-gram High Class Big Ass Blunt is hand-rolled by Gentleman Quinn and his trained team, using the Lead Bluntador’s proprietary method, and only full flower bud (no trim) that has been hand-selected by the business partners after careful sourcing from Colorado’s finest growers. All flower is fully tested for pesticides, heavy metals, and any other impurities.

Before their placed into their wood-crafted packaging, the blunts are inspected by Gentleman Quinn, who ensures his method has been perfectly followed to guarantee the blunt won’t “canoe” or run. What results is an even and smooth pull that won’t scratch the throat or make you hack a lung.

Now eight years after that fateful night of three friends smoking the perfect blunt, Gentleman Quinn’s High Class Big Ass Blunt, and it’s 1.25-gram counterpart the High Class Mini Ass Blunt, is in 21 stores across Colorado, with plans to expand across Western states.

Proof of Concept as Key to Success

We asked Wall to share some insights for those within the BIPOCANN network, and those thinking of bringing a unique product to the cannabis industry.

He attributes much of the success of the High Class Big Ass Blunt to proof of concept, first using the dispensary the business partners met at as a focus group for the product’s appeal. “Get as many voices as possible to try it out,” he says, “See what the consumer feel is for the product in terms of pricing, and get them to try it and see if they like it.”

Another key is to never just assume you know what your ideal consumer likes. “You may think what you have is perfect, but no one wants to buy it,” he laughs.

Wall also notes that understanding the different cannabis stores and how they’re selling products is crucial, with store engagement being an important part of helping them share the appeal of your product to consumers. “What kinds of products are they selling? How can you help them sell your product?” He includes holding pop-up events, direct customer engagement, and educating budtenders as strategies that connect the cannabis producer to the consumer.

 

Hope With Recent Progress

The company received its license before the State of Colorado began implementing strategies aimed at helping social equity applicants find success in the cannabis industry. However, Wall often found that when he was at industry stakeholder meetings, he was often the only Black man in the room. “I saw that the industry had to have more diverse conversations and ownership,” he says.

Wall is a member of the State of Colorado’s Social Equity Advisory Committee within the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division, and holds hope for the future of cannabis, believing his state, and the nation overall is going in a positive direction in terms of cannabis. He reminds us that it was just 2018 that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatened to take down the cannabis industry, and just recently, our current president became the first to make a declaration representing a possible positive step towards eventual federal legalization.

Wall recognizes that among the steps ahead, the industry experiences its fair share of steps back. “Since it’s federally illegal, there are still banking issues, normalization, and propaganda issues that push people to harm the industry,” Wall states of some of the anti-cannabis legislation we see across the nation. “A lot of work needs to be done to bring people along, and everything needs to be done incrementally, and it can’t be flipped overnight,” he says of federal legalization efforts.

He definitely feels that more assistance is necessary for social equity applicants in Colorado and across other states. In Colorado, for instance, even though more social equity applicants are getting licensed, there is now a shortage of properties zoned for cannabis retail, and lack of financing is a persistent issue for applicants. “There is also a cognitive thing where folks don’t want to get into the industry because they have been pushed aside due to prior issues,” he tells us. 

He sees Colorado’s Cannabis Business Office’s efforts working directly with social equity applicants as a positive step, believing that the health of the Colorado economy hinges on the health of the cannabis industry. BIPOCANN is proud to be a part of these social equity initiatives in Colorado through a partnership that provides mentorships to social equity licensees.

Upon closing, Jarell Wall shares how our organization has helped him and Gentleman Quinn’s Blunt Company. “Seeing the work of BIPOCANN and Ernest has been so important,” he says, “I’m so appreciative of the networking and connecting of people within the industry.”

Join Gentleman Quinns as a member of BIPOCANN by learning more about our program here.

Member Spotlight: Wyld

Member Spotlight: Wyld

BIPOCANN Member Spotlight: “Understand How to Participate with Respect.” – Jonathan Ross of Wyld

It was Jonathan Ross’ background in international diplomacy that gave him the unique lens through which he approaches his role as Community Relations Manager at Wyld, a leading multinational cannabis edible brand leading the way in creating environmental and social impact through cannabis.

Serving in the Marine Corps for six years, Ross traveled the world, spending extended periods living in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Colombia, and parts of Africa and Australia. Providing national security for ambassadors, foreign nationals, and then-Vice President Joe Biden, Ross gained first-class training in international diplomacy, which opened his mind and heart to how to approach and engage with different countries and cultures. 

“In order to maintain diplomacy, peace, and good relationships, you have a good working relationship with these cultures,” he says, adding how important it is to “understand how to participate with respect if you’re invited into these spaces.”

This community-centric approach formed by his international experiences in diplomacy is undoubtedly one of the most valuable traits that Ross brings to Wyld and the cannabis industry as a whole.

 

From the Marine Corps to Corporate Cannabis

“My experience with cannabis was null and void,” says Ross when we ask him to describe his journey from the Marine Corps to Corporate Cannabis. Entering the Marine Corps at a young age, and essentially growing up within that environment, he took a rather rigid view on cannabis. “There was a cultural perception of cannabis that it was bad and there was nothing good,” he notes. As many are aware, it is prohibited to use cannabis while serving in the U.S. Army or Marine Corps.

After 6 years in the Marine Corps, Ross focused on working within non-profits and community initiatives as well as VA Public Affairs, which allowed him to apply the cultural sensitivity he’d acquired abroad in his own Portland, Oregon community. Concurrently, he received his B.A. in Communications with a Minor in Advertising Management at Portland State University. His experiences and education led him to start Ever Wild Studios, providing clients with graphic design, brand development, advertising, marketing, and communication strategies for social media and customer engagement.

By this time, Ross had tried cannabis, but hadn’t had the most positive experience, which only made him more curious about the plant. He began his own research into cannabis, its medicinal properties, its cultural relevance, and understanding its impact on communities. This learning journey would lead to one of the most rewarding community-focused work opportunities that Ross has been involved in.

 

Forging Community Relations Through Cannabis

In early 2021, he was given the opportunity to interview for a role as Community Relations Manager at Wyld and meet with the company’s Founder and CEO, Aaron Morris. He was struck by the degree to which the company valued its role in making environmental and social impact, while placing high priority on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Ross explains that Wyld has four pillars of Community Relations and impact, including Social and Racial Justice, Health and Wellness, Combatting the Failed War on Drugs, and Environmental Sustainability. He says that the company culture surrounds asking, “How do we do these things?” and that there are an immense amount of resources and time that goes into the company’s community work. “We had a lot of time and grace on the community relations side to create space to learn about best practices instead of hard charging into it,” says Ross.

Because of his global experience, Ross has come to understand that the United States has a white supremacist dominant culture. “It’s a ‘we know what you need and because of our position we know how to fix this’ mentality,” he says, “This is where we fall into the biggest gaps and are polarized by people in different cultures. Most people don’t take the time to get a high-level understanding of the [community] needs and the importance of empathy.”

“It isn’t about marketing and sales,” he says about the company’s external impact, “it’s about community impact and going directly to leaders and understand community needs and how to make systemic change.”

 

Putting the Why in Wyld

Wyld credits their community partnerships with the success of the company’s impact strategy, which is detailed in the company’s 2021 Impact Report, for which Ross and Chris LoConti was an author.

In 2021, Wyld’s staff and leadership took over 3000 hours of diversity, equity, and inclusion training; spent 400+ hours working with external community organizations and initiatives; provided 20,000 meals to food insecure communities; contributed $50,000 to Black and Native owned businesses; planted 65,000 trees and 1,500 shrubs throughout North America; and has achieved full carbon neutrality. The company also provides Narcan to communities to help save lives while also changing the narrative on drugs as a criminal problem to a health issue.

Ross is particularly proud of the role that Wyld has had in making expungements for cannabis-related crimes a reality for hundreds of people through partnerships with other community organizations like California’s Root and Rebound. The company strives to have one expungement per day, for a total of 365 expungements per year. Ross notes that the success of initiatives that help with expungements for cannabis-related records is “about meeting folks where they are”, noting that existing within community-centric locations such as barbershops are crucial for true connection and engagement. 

He says that with Roots and Rebound, they found that an effective strategy was placing Expungement Toolkits in transition homes, and also providing this information through print materials, recognizing that not everyone has access to digital information. “This is what people of privilege don’t realize,” he says.

 

Hopes for a More Diverse Future

Ross hopes to see a future in cannabis where there is balance within the industry, specifically between owners, which starts with better access points into the industry, better licensing support, and education. 

“One thing we often overlook is that BIPOC folks are still traumatized by the effects of being criminalized by cannabis,” he says, “There is still a sense of skepticism, fear, and uncertainty. I’d like to see more diverse owners: women, Black owned, veteran owned; a true balance.” Ross credits Wyld’s partnership with BIPOCANN as crucial for helping create education to increase BIPOC representation in the cannabis space. 

Since his first not-so-positive experience with cannabis, Ross has tried Wyld’s gummies to a much better experience. He appreciates the consistency of the product and hearing from others how the products help them, especially when it comes to providing a safer alternative for pain management.

As for Wyld and the future of community relations in the cannabis space, “I feel like we always can do so much more. We’re excited to do more,” he says with enthusiasm and passion, “We don’t think we’re going to change the world but we’re going to do our part.”

Member Spotlight: Green Qween

Member Spotlight: Green Qween

Andrés Rigal and Taylor Bazley of Green Qween: “Queer All Year!”

“Many people don’t know that the cannabis industry was founded by queer people,” said Andrés Rigal, co-owner of Green Qween, a queer-owned downtown Los Angeles dispensary that opened last month with a mission to increase queer and QTBIPOC (queer, transgender, and BIPOC) representation in the cannabis industry, “We are reclaiming our story. We are coming back and educating people. We want Green Qween to be the intersection of queerness and cannabis.”

“It’s Important to Tell the Story of How We Got Here”

While BIPOCANN is of the mind that we need to authentically celebrate and elevate the contributions of LGBTQ2SIA+ and QTBIPOC people in our community in all we do year-round in the cannabis industry, Pride Month provides us all an opportunity to pause, reflect, recognize, and celebrate the importance of this group’s advocates for our industry. 

Thus, we couldn’t think of anyone better than Andrés Rigal and Taylor Bazley of Green Qween to remind us why the queer voice is so important, and that beyond Pride Month, our colleagues are “queer all year” which forms one of the retail brand’s taglines.

Indeed, the industry owes so much to the efforts of Dennis Peron who saw the positive benefits of cannabis on HIV/AIDS patients, having lost his partner to AIDS in 1990. A year later, he opened the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club and went on to coauthor California’s Proposition 215 which allowed Californians the use of medical cannabis. “It’s important to tell the story of how we got here,” adds Rigal.

Business partners Andrés Rigal and Taylor Bazley have very personal reasons for entering the cannabis space with Green Qween. “Taylor and I looked at the cannabis industry and didn’t see ourselves in it,” explains Rigal. “It was important to create a vehicle that properly represents queer people in the industry.”

And represent it does! Rigal says that the design intent was “ queer, colorful, and fluid, as everyone expresses themselves in different and beautiful ways.” The building itself, located on S Broadway in DTLA, can’t be missed. The outside is adorned by a colorful mural by notable artist Patrick Church whose works are renowned for exploring the queer identity. The interior aesthetic screams good taste with its sleek and sophisticated design, attention to detail and the customer experience, and intentionally chosen color palate. The interior and exterior colors represent those of the trans pride flag, and the store’s queer flair shines through with a moving disco ball installation on one of the shop’s walls.

Motivated by the Need for Safe Spaces for QTBIPOC in Cannabis

Both Rigal and Bazley bring to Green Qween impressive business backgrounds and histories of service to the QTBIPOC communities. Rigal, who is originally from Puerto Rico, got his professional start as a Hollywood talent agent and transitioned into a queer nightlife event producer, holding everything from Club Kid parties to Drag Shows, and everything in between, over his long and remarkable career. Bazley started his professional journey serving in public affairs for the City of Los Angeles. After earning his MBA from UCLA Anderson, he began working in social enterprise as a means to support the QTBIPOC community.

Both Rigal and Bazley are accomplished and experienced business people, but both admit that the cannabis industry has never felt like a safe or inclusive space to them as proud gay men. After all, it’s no secret that the cannabis industry is largely made up of cisgendered white men. 

“A lot of cannabis events are boys’ clubs,” explains Rigal, “There is tense, heterosexual masculine energy. While I can think ‘If people have a problem with me, tough shit!’, I still go into these events and feel a bit uncomfortable.” These occurrences led him to conclude to himself “Maybe I just need to build my own space!” and thus began his business partnership with Bazley and the path to building a QTBIPOC owned and curated cannabis dispensary in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

Yes, the Queers are REALLY Here!

Last year it was discovered by the Census Bureau that up to 8% of the American adult population identify as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgender, which represents 20 million people in the country, with potentially millions more having other identities such as pansexual, or asexual. Of this group, 42% identify as people of color. 

Needless to say, the queers are here in cannabis, and they’re here all year!

“LGBTQ people are often overlooked in the BIPOC community,” says Bazley, “If people are fragmented, they disappear. When you’re [queer or trans] and you add in BIPOC, you only become more invisible in a community that centers around the white community and the male community.” Bazley notes that the black and brown stripes were added to the Pride Flag to recognize the experiences of being silenced in a small community, which is something Green Qween strives to fix within cannabis.

“In cannabis, [QTBIPOC people] are all that kid in that small town who is by themselves. They feel alone. They need a safe space, and a family, and a network,” says Bazley, “The only way anything is actionable and moves forward is if we do it together.”

Part of Green Qween’s mission is to be an incubator for QTBIPOC brands to launch within the greater cannabis space. “It’s difficult enough to break through the industry, nevermind if you’re BIPOC or queer,” says Rigal, “We’re creating an ice-breaker ship to break through the glacier of cannabis,” he adds, referring to the pervasive favoring of cisgender white men for industry opportunities.

Giving Back to the QTBIPOC Community of Downtown Los Angeles

The company is very serious and intentional when it comes to not just talking the talk, but walking the walk when giving back to their community.

Green Qween recently signed an agreement with the Chrysalis program that helps people with barriers to entry to employment, job-readiness, and workforce re-entry services, demonstrating that they want to go above and beyond the required “good faith” hiring efforts required by the City of Los Angeles. While the company cannot discriminate on sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity for its staff, Andrés and Taylor say they are “creating an exceedingly open workplace where employees can be who they are.”

In addition to this, Green Qween will donate a percentage of their profit to the DTLA Proud Community Center which holds a homeless youth drop-in center, mental health services, and testing for LGBTQ+ people in the area.

Authentically Celebrating Pride in Cannabis

With Pride Month being a time where many companies will simply put up a rainbow flag or change their logo to the rainbow on social media, Rigal and Bazley remind us that celebrating pride has to be authentic, and again, honoring queer and QTBIPOC employees is a year-round thing.

“Creating safe spaces starts at the top,” says Rigal when asked how businesses can be more inclusive to the QTBIPOC population, “Having a space where their teams and employees can represent themselves in an authentic way so that they don’t have to hide who they are. For instance, hold events with queer vendors, create moments or events, and or products that are queer-leaning. Have that moment where they can be themselves and also transform and grow and be a higher version of themselves.”

The company noticed that at last year’s MJBiz Con, there was not one queer vendor or speaker represented. “We’d love to see a Hall of Flowers type event featuring queer brands, or even a convention of queer,” says Rigal. Bazley adds that the QTBIPOC community can be supported all year through donations to queer charities, queer product activations, and speaker series’ focused on QTBIPOC experiences. “It’s not us against them, the idea is that we’re all working together,” adds Rigal, “When the tide rises all the boats rise together.”

Rigal and Bazley recognize that opening Green Qween is just a small start towards creating truly safe spaces within a cannabis industry that is actually representative of QTBIPOC people. These goals require the efforts of not just the QTBIPOC community itself, but also the entire cannabis community at large. “It’s hard work, and a lot of responsibility,” says Rigal, “It’s a canvas that is not yet finished and we’re holding a paintbrush. We can finish painting this together.”

Member Spotlight: Wana Brands

Member Spotlight: Wana Brands

“If you’re not helping your community, who is going to help you?” – Karla Rodriguez, Wana Brands

 

“At the most human level, the most important thing we can work on is equity,” said Karla Rodriguez, Corporate Social Responsibility Director of Wana Brands when BIPOCANN caught up with her to talk about all things CSR in cannabis, “For everyone to have the opportunity to succeed at life, build generational wealth, and always have something to eat.” We couldn’t agree more.

Personal Motivations to Build an Equitable Industry

Rodriguez is someone who not only talks the talk, but authentically walks the walk of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in cannabis. This Denver-based advocate has very personal reasons for wanting to enter the cannabis industry as a means to bring about positive change in the world.

Her father’s side of the family is Mexican American, and Rodriguez witnessed the devastating and lasting impacts of the War on Drugs at an early age. She saw many of her family members incarcerated for cannabis, and tragically lost one cousin to unsafe synthetic cannabinoids, a by-product of prohibition. The scars left on her family will never truly heal.

“There is some real room to make incredible change and impact right now, and we can still see the impact of what has happened, and we have a responsibility to do something about it,” said Rodriguez of her personal motivations, “That is why I eat, breathe and sleep equity and social responsibility every day while walking through this industry.”

An Authentic Path to Community-Based Work

Rodriguez comes from a very impressive background that in many ways, made her the perfect person for the role of Corporate Social Responsibility Director for Wana Brands.

For over 15 years, Rodriguez was a participant in the film industry, working as the Community Partnerships Manager for the Denver Film Society and then as the Private and Community Events Manager, and later as the National Culture and Community Manager at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, where she found herself working “in tandem with the C-Suite on community engagement”. Rodriguez describes this time in her career as “when I recognized the power of coming together and working collaboratively.”

When the pandemic hit, the landscape of employment in the arts drastically changed, and Rodriguez experienced a layoff. However, to her delight, before she’d lost her job in the film industry, she had applied to Wana Brands in the cannabis industry which offered her an interview. “I saw the true heart and intention through which Nancy Whiteman ran the company and I knew it was the place for me,” she said. She also was attracted to the opportunity to work for a Denver-based company with a national and international focus.

A Journey in Corporate Social Responsibility in Cannabis Begins

Just five days after giving birth to her daughter, Rodriguez had her first interview with Wana Brands. “Never have I been my more authentic self,” she says as she recalls her initial time with the company during her recruitment. It was that undeniable authenticity that ended up with her landing the role of Corporate Social Responsibility Director, which she has enjoyed since March 2021.

Rodriguez explained that Wana Brands has four pillars of giving: racial and social injustice (which also includes the LGBTQIA+ community), sustainability, domestic violence, and fighting food security and homelessness. Wana Brands very visibly mobilized their authentic spirit of giving this past 420. “We are trying to shape what would be days of marketing into days of giving,” she explained. 

To mark the monumental cannabis holiday for 2022, The Wana Foundation distributed $140,000 among 14 community organizations across the country. The impact of this donation resulted in helping to open a grocery store in a historically Black community that is also a food desert in Tulsa. Food deserts describe geographical areas that are under-serviced in terms of access to consistent, fairly-priced, nutritious, and culturally appropriate foods. The donation also contributed to building community gardens within food desert neighborhoods in Miami, and bringing an LA-based food desert neighborhood closer to opening a grocery store.

The company has also participated in campaigns with Legal Women Voters to increase voter registration and education, and during the pandemic, provided free vaccination clinics for those who wanted the option, but didn’t have adequate access.

Wana Brands’ CSR initiatives aren’t just about looking outward. “It’s really important that when you’re doing this work in the external community to not neglect your internal community,” Rodriguez advises, “Support equity, inclusion, and growth within your own company. Factoring that from within is going to fuel the intention to do the work outwardly.” As a measure of giving back to their own workforce, the company created an Emergency Assistance Fund that employees could apply to if they’re experiencing financial hardship.

Executing Authentic Corporate Social Responsibility in Cannabis

We asked Rodriguez about the required mindset needed to change marketing into giving and awareness of community needs. “Corporate Social Responsibility programs have to work with the balance of taking what we know in our hearts as the right thing to do and also have a business lens,” she explained, “Sometimes you need to pull off that business lens just because it’s the right thing to do. It’s a balancing act, and it’s about taking that passion and injecting it into the soul of corporate industries.”

Rodriguez went on to share how cannabis companies can execute their CSR strategies in true, impactful, and authentic ways. “When it’s baked into everything, then it’s authentic,” she says, adding “pun intended”. “It’s not just someone sitting in a room and writing checks and that’s the end of it. It trickles down and it’s a part of all the thoughts when a new product launches or a new initiative is undertaken. It’s not just a one-time performative act.”

She enjoys working for Wana Brands because that spirit has been at the forefront of the company since its inception. “We are here to serve. Nancy created this company to serve the world, to serve the cannabis industry, and enhance the world for others through our products and programs.” She refers to giving, volunteerism, community events, and awareness campaigns as some of what make Wana Brands unique in its CSR approach. “It’s a holistic approach, all year round,” she says.

“Pride is great, but what are you doing year-round? Black History Month? What else are you doing the other 364 days of the year to recognize the contributions of Black and Brown people?”, she posits, “It has to be built into the day-to-day of everything you’re doing.” She also noted that when considering their CSR strategies or reporting on diversity hiring within the industry, Indigenous people are often left out. “I don’t want Indigenous people to be lost in the shuffle,” she said.

We asked Rodriguez how cannabis companies direct their community engagement in a way that truly has impact. “You can’t make assumptions about the needs of the community,” she said, “You need to honestly step back and listen. It’s hard because we often want to react and fix things quickly. But if you don’t know what the true needs of the community are, you won’t make an impact. Half of my job is listening and following the lead of people I meet with.”

Her Hopes for the Future in Cannabis

We asked Rodriguez where she would like to see the cannabis industry five years down the road. 

“We don’t ask ourselves that question enough because we’re so busy fighting on a day-to-day basis that we forget to project towards the future,” she says. “We know that so many social equity programs aren’t working. My hope is that we can get to a place where Black, Brown, and Indigenous businesses can thrive and have as much chance to succeed as any other large MSO or large manufacturer out there. My other hope is that obviously that we keep getting closer and closer to federal legalization, and access to banking.”

Rodriguez also places access to formalized education for BIPOC and women in the industry of high importance, seeing a lack of access to formalized education both outside and inside the cannabis industry that teaches people how to succeed in business. “I have faith that five years from now we’ll be light years ahead around education which will lessen the stigma about the plant.”

Before we closed off our conversation with Karla Rodriguez, we asked her how to combat some of the resistance that can be rampant in cannabis toward Corporate Social Responsibility. She left us with a great tidbit of advice for cannabis executives who may be a bit resistant to sharing a bit of their piece of the pie with others: “What got you where you are is by the help of others. No one gets success without the help of another,” she stated, “Your continued success will definitively rely on the support and loyalty of your community, so if you’re not helping your community, who is going to help you?”

“It’s your responsibility as a global citizen of this world.”

Member Spotlight: Colorado Kush Company

Member Spotlight: Colorado Kush Company

“We Laid the Foundation and Paid the Heftiest Prices” – Steven Duran, Colorado Kush Company & Cookies Pueblo

From a young age growing up in Pueblo, Colorado, Steven Duran was “knee-deep into weed”. By the age of 12, cannabis had become a regular part of Steven’s lifestyle, friend circle, and eventually would make him the go-to guy in his neighborhood. “It was around everything we did,” he says.

“I was always talking and rambunctious,” said Steven of his younger years, when he was identified as an at-risk juvenile by his teachers and school. “If you smelled like weed, you were basically the devil,” he says. “I was told I’d never amount to anything and that I’d be stupid,” he recalls, “It’s funny how something like that can deter your whole life and you take on that stance of what they’re telling you about yourself.”

Becoming a Fulfilling Prophecy

What was really going on in Steven’s life was that he was lacking guidance and support at home. A child of a single mother who was always working, Steven was always left up to his own devices. “I literally got kicked out of every school,” he says, “I never embraced the school setting.”

When he was able to take some classes, his school days were short. By 12pm every day, he’d secured his friend’s orders, and would wait diligently for the “weed guy”. His house became the place where he would run his teenage cannabis empire. “We’d smoke my mom’s house out,” he says while laughing at the memories. 

Before he became a teenager, he was placed in foster care and just a few years into his teenage years, he began collecting criminal charges, for which cannabis was always attached as a secondary charge. “By default, you fall into this stuff,” Steven recalls of his painful past, “when people tell you you’re dumb, there is no one there to advocate for you and protect you.”

Difficult Choices at Young Age

Before he turned 16, Steven was faced with a big choice once he’d been on the wrong side of the law too many times. As part of the Youth Offender System (YOS), he was given the option to go to prison for three years, or drug rehab; a state-sanctioned program for drug use, which Steven was lumped into because of his cannabis charges.

For two years, because of his use of cannabis and by court order, Steven lived in a residential rehab program with alcoholics and kids who were using meth and other street drugs. He was released early from the program, but on one condition: that he was released into the custody of his biological father who had been completely absent in his life.

The arrangement with his father didn’t last long, as it was an abusive environment that Steven quickly recognized he needed to get out of. He moved back to his hometown of Pueblo, and was able to move in with a friend’s family for a year. 

When he was 19, his life changed forever, for the very best.

Forced to Grow Up Quickly

“That was my growing up point,” says Steven of when he first heard he would be expecting a baby with his then-partner, “That really changed my heart. I am now responsible for someone else other than myself.”

Having a child on the way made Steven want to get on a secure path where he could provide for his family. He got a job within a local school district as a janitor that had a decent wage and benefits, where he stayed for many years. “I settled in and that became my life path,” he says, recalling everything he’d been told from those teachers that said he’d never amount to anything, “This is good enough for someone like me,” he recalls saying to himself.

He eventually moved to an even better paying job within a power plant, only to find that he was often surrounded by racist jokes and attitudes, “It was miserable, but I had a family to provide for,” he says. And so, Steven, like many, settled into the grind of working-class America. That is, until medical cannabis was legalized in Colorado, which would send Steven back into cannabis, but this time, in a manner where he couldn’t get jailed and thrown into rehab for it.

A New Path Towards Cannabis Begins

“I’m going to quit this place and go into weed,” Steven said one day to the woman who would later become his wife. He says she looked at him like he was delusional, but she was supportive nonetheless. After investing $500 into a course put on in Denver by California’s Greenway University, Steven was ready to chart his course into cannabis.

The best advice he got came after all the hustle and bustle of the Greenway University course had died down when one of the cannabis experts told him to enter the market as a caregiver, and serve patients under him. “That was the first guidance I had ever gotten in my life,” says Steven of that critical advice that set his path. From there, Steven invested what was left of the pension he withdrew after Uncle Sam’s cut and found a fully-gated house where he could grow medical cannabis and serve his caregivers. Getting a taste of providing cannabis legally left Steven wanting more, seeing himself being the owner and operator of his own dispensary one day.

“Drive was never an issue for me,” he explains. He went on to take a job at a dispensary to learn the ins and outs of the business. After becoming Head Cultivator, he knew he couldn’t move up any further in someone else’s business, so it was time to build his own. “That was the crossing point,” he says.

Setting out determined to find the perfect property, Steven experienced hang-up after hang-up from potential landlords. Just as he was about to give up, he made one last call. “Looks like you called the right guy,” the voice on the other end said, finding out that the landlord had already started the process with another cannabis dispensary that had pulled out. He leased the property, but he was far from opening day. “We were the test dummies,” Steven says of the City of Pueblo as they were figuring out the licensing in the early days of medical cannabis. The process took 2.5 years, holding a lease on his building the whole time, and he was finally able to open up 719 Dispensary (now named Colorado Kush Company), the first medical cannabis dispensary in the city of Pueblo, Colorado, where he could freely and legally provide medical cannabis, and not be criminalized for it anymore.

“You’re the Guy Doing All The Work”

While he took immense pride in being a medical cannabis provider, he saw the imminent changes for recreational cannabis in Colorado as an opportunity to build. “For legacy operators, medical is what got us started. When you look about pivoting away from medical it’s tough especially if you come from it,” he explains about moving from medical to recreational cannabis, “The real tough part in business is that the numbers in medical don’t make much sense. I’m trying to build generational wealth.” And so, recreational cannabis seemed to be the way to go for Steven to do just that.

In 2017, Pueblo opened up a competitive application process for eight recreational cannabis stores in the city. What he didn’t realize was that those companies he was going up against had funding that could support the hiring of expert application writers. 

“When you don’t have the resources or the funding, you’re the guy doing all the work,” Steven says. He credits his wife for working extremely hard to write an application that had them scoring in the top three, securing them a license. “Cannabis social equity wasn’t a ‘thing’ at that time,” he explains of the factors that got him his license, again crediting his wife’s support and hard work for the winning application.

Steven secured a location for his recreational cannabis store a bit easier this time around as Pueblo had opened up more buffer zones. He got connected with the team at Cookies, one of the most recognizable cannabis retailers in North America and signed a deal to open under the Cookies brand. Cookies Pueblo officially opened in 2021.

“Hell Yeah! This is What it Should Be!”

When Steven began his career in the industry, he did not have the benefits of cannabis social equity programs that sought to undo the damage to BIPOC communities due to the War on Drugs. So focused on building his own business, the whole concept almost passed him by, “My head had been at the grindstone, looking down,” he says, “Once I realized what cannabis social equity was, I said, ‘Hell yeah! That’s what it should be!’ Ultimately, we laid the foundation for the industry and paid the heftiest prices. There should be a lot more of us and people like us that are represented at the higher levels. So much of what they’re offering now would have helped us in our beginning stages.”

“Social equity does appear to be a lot of smoke and mirrors because it’s so new,” he says of his observations, “How do we bang down these doors? How do we hold these guys responsible like they say they want to be? I feel like social equity is a movement, a time in history where we have to take a stance or it’s going to be another overlooked ‘march’, if you will.”

Steven believes the next few years are crucial to see if cannabis social equity programs actually help BIPOC entrepreneurs, “If cannabis social equity is a thing, then I’m going to hold [them] accountable just like [they] held me accountable for all these years.”

Advice for Emerging BIPOC Cannabis Entrepreneurs

When asked what advice he has for emerging entrepreneurs, he says, “Prior to entering the industry, look for your resources,” he says, which includes any social equity programs. “You can’t come into this industry lazy. If you’re not willing to do 110% every single day, you’re not going to get anywhere,” he explains, “These giants with the funding have ten of you doing what you’re doing. You’ll want to know what you’re getting into. This is not for the faint of heart.”

Reflecting on his journey, Steven hopes he can reach even just one kid to ensure that they know that people can be wrong about them, just as all those teachers were wrong about him and discouraged him all those years ago. “Telling me that I was going to be a loser was what made me successful. Had I listened to them, I would be King Janitor by now, but all the teachers still would be looking down on me!”

BIPOCANN supports BIPOC cannabis entrepreneurs in various stages of entering and navigating the market, both in plant-touching and ancillary services. Stories like Steven’s inspire us to ensure that entrepreneurs have the support, visibility, mentorship, and resources to be successful within this often complicated and competitive landscape. Learn more about BIPOCANN and the benefits of becoming a member here.

Member Spotlight: Nolef Turns, Inc.

Member Spotlight: Nolef Turns, Inc.

“Fight for the People Who Have Been Harmed in the Past” – Sheba Williams of Nolef Turns, Inc.

“The intersections between the criminal legal system and cannabis legalization absolutely intersect every day. When people are fighting for legalization, we also need to fight for people to live and be free of criminal recourse,” said Sheba Williams, Founding Director of Nolef Turns Inc. “Fight for legalization and fight for the people who have been harmed in the past.”

Nolef Turns is a non-profit group that advocates for people with criminal and felony convictions throughout Virginia. Founded in 2016, the Richmond-based group’s mission is to support and advocate alongside those with court and justice involvement. Their vision is to be a leader in decreasing the prison population by supporting and empowering those who are most affected by crime, trauma, and incarceration. 

Nolef Turns provides various services to people with convictions, including a back to work program, pre-release services, re-entry services, post-convictions, care for people with convictions following incarceration, and support for families of those with convictions.

Living the Injustices of the Criminal Justice of the System

“Dignity and justice are very important to us,” describes Williams, “Our foundation is solid and solidly rooted in integrity.” To say that Williams comes to her work through lived experience is an understatement. From a young age, Sheba Williams saw the injustices brought upon Black families by the criminal justice system. At 10, she awoke one morning to an empty house to find that both her parents had been taken to jail. Her father was sentenced to 38 years in prison, while her mother served six months; a time in her life that she never recovered from, as the State of Virginia was not concerned with the rehabilitation of those with convictions.

Sheba and her siblings were raised by their grandparents, and credits one of her teachers, Mrs. Odessa Smith, as her biggest source of empowerment, as Mrs. Smith saw Sheba’s natural intelligence and talents, and encouraged her to continue her studies while helping her get her first job in 1995. After graduating fourth in her high school class of almost 200, Sheba enrolled in Norfolk State University to study business, soon giving birth to her first child and almost immediately becoming a single parent.

Soon after securing employment at a local hospital, Sheba’s sister was wrongfully convicted for homicide, leaving Sheba to take care of her sister’s children before being fully acquitted of charges. After having two more children of her own, Sheba knew that it was time to go back to college to get her degree. During this time, she worked extremely long days to fulfill her role as a mother, student, and valued employee at the local hospital, barely finding time to sleep.

Just as Sheba was getting back on her feet, she was hit with a wrongful criminal charge herself when a disgruntled former co-worker implicated her in an embezzlement case. Despite Sheba having the finger wrongfully and unjustifiably pointed at her, she was sentenced to a hefty fine and 5 years probation. She says that during this time, it was next to impossible to find someone to advocate for her case, and the system was focused on punitive measures for something she hadn’t even been involved in. 

While this was traumatic for Sheba, it didn’t stop her from achieving her degree in Business Administration from Norfolk University and moving forward to find stability with her new degree and a good job at the hospital. However, another blow came when she was relieved of her duties at the hospital where she’d worked for six years, stating that she had not disclosed her conviction.

A Strong Need for Advocates Arises

Losing hundreds of inalienable rights affected her life so gravely that Sheba became inclined to advocate for those who had done their time but weren’t allowed to move beyond their convictions. “Inspiration came from others who were surviving life after a conviction in Virginia,” writes Sheba, “Inspiration came from others who didn’t know where to turn, but never gave up. Inspiration came from knowing that almost 95% of individuals who were convicted of a felony in Virginia must reintegrate into society as our neighbors, leaders, brothers, and sisters.” Along with five others, Nolef Turns was founded.

In 2020, when it was announced that the state of Virginia would move towards adult-use cannabis legalization, there was hope that those who had been incarcerated in the state for cannabis “crimes” would have their records expunged. In 2021, a bill nicknamed “The Clean Slate Act” was introduced in the Virginia General Assembly, furthering the hope that those who had cannabis offenses could have their records sealed. This was the first time in Virginia’s history that this has even become possible. According to Sheba Williams, over ten people in Virginia are still incarcerated for an offense strictly related to cannabis, while hundreds of others are incarcerated for other offenses but also include a cannabis conviction.

As of 2022, there has been no movement in Virginia towards cannabis legalization, or the expungement of records related to cannabis. In February 2022, the plans to establish an adult-use market were killed by Republicans in the House of Delegates, leaving the provisions for legal cannabis essentially halted.

Virginia Cannabis Users are in a “Dangerous Gap”

“We’re in a dangerous gap because people don’t understand what’s going on and how it impacts everyday folks,” said Sheba, “People are in a ‘gray area’ with understanding because things change so rapidly, and we have to wait until a Bill actually comes through.”

“We want people to stop being arrested for possession of a plant that has more healing properties than alcohol has ever had,” continues Sheba, “We want people to be educated, generate wealth for their families, in order to make money from what has plagued them for years, and for people to not have to live with criminal records for the rest of their lives.”

Nolef Turns currently has two legislative priorities. First is the Right to Vote Campaign, an initiative to amend the Constitution to disallow voter disenfranchisement based on a past conviction, recognizing that voting is a fundamental right to all citizens. The group’s second legislative priority is an Expanded Expungement Bill. “If we are truly a nation of second chances, then we should do what is necessary to dismiss bias and allow for expungement law to expand to those who have previously been convicted of a crime,” reads the language on this priority.

Towards an Equitable Cannabis Industry 

“Poverty is criminalized more than anything in this country,” says Sheba, “When the War on Drugs happened, we were losing funds for affordable housing; parks and recreation, which are a deterrent to crime; neighborhood beautification, which leads to gentrification. Communities were disinvested from.” Sheba speaks of the difficulty of actually reinvesting in communities that were historically hurt by the War on Drugs. “People think we are doing something nefarious when they say to reinvest into the communities, and possibly give some advantages to some people,” she says, “[They] don’t recognize that disinvestment has happened. The reality is most criminal offenses are because of a lack of resources or mental health issues.”

When asked for the future of social equity programs in cannabis and in Virginia, Sheba says, “The burden should not always fall on us, because at the end of the day the state will be making the money so they need to find a way towards social equity.”

“Social equity applicants need to have the resources and tools necessary for success in the industry on Day One,” Sheba says, recognizing that social equity programs should not be a legalization afterthought. “Once the gate is open, you can’t go back. You have to get it right from the beginning.”

According to Sheba, the state of Virginia still has a long way to go before they can implement the processes required to make legislative and criminal justice changes. For instance, Police Services are working on antiquated software that doesn’t allow the sealing of records to happen efficiently, a process of upgrading that could take up to five years.

Despite these challenges, and the long road ahead, Sheba Williams and Nolef Turns are not stopping their advocacy. “It’s still early in 2022,” she says, “We still have time to help the state recognize we can do social equity well.”

Nolef Turns can be supported in a number of ways by the cannabis community. Visit their website to see a list of ways to donate, become a board member, or get involved with one of their Community Partners.