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JMTPD

As the Michigan cannabis industry grows and evolves, it seems like everybody wants a piece. In a traditionally male-dominated field, it’s important to lift up the voices of women working in weed — specifically, Black women, who are carving out their niches and taking the reins to build wealth, community and equity in this newly evolving industry. Here are 13 Black women shaping cannabis, from marketers to chefs and lawyers to growers. 

Enid Parham | Life-long Detroiter, CEO and executive chef of LuckyPistil Catering

Parham identifies as a chef, educator, activist and destigmatizer. She creates unique and special experiences with infused food, through which she educates people on appropriate dosing within edible consumption. Additionally, she educates her community on legal pathways for cannabis involvement. As a single mother, Parham has consumed cannabis for its therapeutic properties. She wants to educate other women like her on its medicinal benefits and to see an industry flourish with the inclusion of Black and brown people. She believes it is the work of everyone involved in cannabis to continue to destigmatize through education and to advocate for legalization. 

Mary Pryor | Native Detroiter, co-founder of Cannaclusive

Pryor, a cannabis patient-turned-advocate, co-created Cannaclusive, a cannabis marketing and business consultancy to advance the inclusive representation of marginalized people within cannabis. She has experience ranging from product development to IP rights. She is a native Detroiter and has advised multiple Legacy Detroiters on their pathway to the regulated market. Pryor is working to ensure equity within the cannabis industry by supporting minority-owned businesses, the impetus for launching InclusiveBase. The database of minority-owned cannabis businesses is a resource for the industry and conscious cannabis consumers to find and support minority-owned brands within cannabis. 

Brittany Wyche | Social Equity Qualified, co-owner of The WeedBar

Wyche is co-owner of The WeedBar, a media and marketing agency specializing in the cannabis industry. The WeedBar has created a media outlet to educate the community about cannabis and social equity policy. Recently, Brittany and her team launched Plant Life CBD, a Detroit-based health and wellness company located in Eastern Market. 

Biyyiah Lee and Ebony Smith | co-founders, Midwest CannaNurses

Smith is a native Detroiter who imagines a community of Black professionals thriving as owners within the cannabis industry. She and her partner Lee (of Chicago) created Midwest CannaNurses to uplift the community through education and tangible resources. They both served on the City of Detroit Social Equity Workgroup for Adult-Use Marijuana, helping to draft the Homegrown Detroit ordinance. Through their work in cannabis education they aim to improve health disparities that minorities encounter. Lee and Smith are pursuing a consumption lounge license to offer health and wellness services — including yoga, massage, acupuncture and group medication — with an optional cannabis add-on, as well as to host cannabis wellness events.

Denavvia Mojet | Founder and executive director, Black and Brown Cannabis Guild

Mojet is a consultant and activist. She co-founded the Black and Brown Cannabis Guild, a robust community of cannabis business owners, patients, enthusiasts and activists of color. The Guild sets out to be a place where advocacy for social equity and justice, a support network and guidance to build and scale viable companies all converge. Mojet is also the Michigan Coordinator for National Expungement Week, which provides free legal relief and other wrap-around services to justice-impacted communities.

Margeaux Bruner | Public affairs consultant, Perpetual Harvest Sustainable Solutions

Bruner wants to change the narrative within cannabis — she asserts that purchasing power is what opens and closes doors in the cannabis industry. As a consultant on government affairs, compliance and corporate social responsibility with Perpetual Harvest Sustainable Solutions, her work is national, but Michigan is her home and heart. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Minority Cannabis Business Association, the Headset Cannabis Voter Project Advisory Board and the National Cannabis Industry Association’s State Regulations Committee. She has experience in lobbying on behalf of the industry, cannabis licensees and ancillary businesses. Bruner is currently working with Weedmaps to host a series of Q&A sessions focused on Wayne County cannabis access. 

Tatiana Grant | President, Cultivate MI Solutions/MI 420 Events 

Tatiana Grant launched Cultivate MI Solutions as a one-stop partner for events, integrated marketing and logistics management within the cannabis industry. Cultivate MI Solutions is southeast Michigan’s first licensed adult-use event organizer, helping brands, cultivators, processors and dispensaries buy, sell, and distribute products compliantly. In addition to this matchmaking work within the industry, Tatiana has also worked on advocacy at the state and local level. 

Christina McPhail-Stockdale and Sahir Al-Salam | Co-founders, Michigan Agricultural Services

McPhail-Stockdale is an attorney with Mcphail-Stockdale PLLC, and her business partner Sahir Al-Salam is a grower and serial entrepreneur within cannabis. Together Christina and Shair, both legacy Detroiters, form Michigan Agricultural Services LLC, a cultivation and processing center in Inkster. While building their own cultivation and processing center, they are working to form an educational network that helps keep people out of jail through legal enterprises. They are working to secure investor partnerships for those interested in cannabis businesses.

Vetra Stephens | CEO and co-founder, 1st Quality Medz

Vetra is a serial entrepreneur and founded Wayne County’s first recreational dispensary, 1st Quality Medz, located in River Rouge. She also owns a processing center and cultivation center in River Rouge. She is excited to launch her own product line, The V Affect. 

Heather Carter and Jess Jackson* | CEO and COO, Loud.Social

Loud.Social is a purpose-filled content marketing agency specializing in cannabis. Carter started her work within the cannabis industry with Revel — a cannabis innovation showcase out of New York City. Jackson is owner of Detroit’s first Bud and Breakfast® Copper House Detroit. Loud.Social offers event curation, community engagement and social media support to cannabis businesses. Carter and Jackson’s purpose is to illuminate community through cannabis, with campaigns like #CurvyCannabis and events focused on issues like self-care and workplace discrimination. Jackson is also pursuing a cultivation license to launch Detroit’s first worker-owned cooperative within cannabis. 

*Writer Jess Jackson is also co-founder of Loud.Social.

This article is part of Your Guide to Weed in the D (featured in our Get Busy newsletter) sponsored by Pleasantrees. Sign up here!