If you missed part 1 click here to catch up. It's amazing how rapidly the cannabis industry is moving, despite opposition from the federal government. So much so, over 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana in some way, shape or form.
[Related: Meet Veteran and Cannabis Entrepreneur Tanganyika Daniel]
These developments continue to inspire entrepreneurs to enter the market. Recently Vox reported that Americans are buying more cannabis than Oreos, Pringles and Girl Scout Cookies combined! With that kind of information its easy to imagine the range of professions one could enter or create!
From marketing, media, and technology, check out part 2 of my list of ganjapreneurs of color.
5. Amber Senter: COO of Magnolia Wellness, an Oakland dispensary and co-founder of Supernova Women. Senter has worked in the cannabis industry for over 7 years in areas like branding and marketing. She was led to the cannabis industry after being diagnosed with Lupus and she discussed her journey in 2015 at the Black Enterprise TechConneXt conference in Silicon Valley.
6. Sunshine Lencho: Co-founder of Supernova Women. Supernova Women is an organization that offers networking for women of color interested in entering the cannabis industry. Sunshine is also an attorney that offers legal services to cannabis businesses.
7. Oren Lomena: Host of The Graux -- Covering topics like cooking, sports and, of course, cannabis. Lomena, brother to MSNBC correspondent Joy-Ann Reid, started a talk show in hopes to normalize conversations surrounding cannabis. When speaking with NBCNews.com Lomena said, "Due to FCC regulation [marijuana businesses] can only advertise in print; not on television or radio and the social media companies won't touch it. That means the Internet is wide open".
8. Wiz Khalifa: Surprised? It was reported back in February that Wiz Khalifa would be releasing a line of cannabis strains and products with Colorado-based company River Rock Cannabis. You can check out his "Smoke Essentials" here.
9. Whoopi Goldberg: Family and friends are responsible for helping Whoopi bring her cannabis business to life. Her company will focus on cannabis products geared to women to ease the discomfort associated with their monthly menstrual cycle.
10. Dan Pettigrew: Owner, Viola Extracts. Viola Extracts is a Denver-based company which specializes in supplying the medicinal marijuana industry. The companies specialty is BHO (Butane Hash Oil) and they provide products including shatter and wax.
11. Charlo Greene: You may remember Charlo as the former Alaskan news anchor who quit her position, live on air. She was actually covering a cannabis-related story when she gave her employer 'the axe.' Currently, she's working on a cannabis talk show entitled, The Charlo Green Show. Charlo is also a long-time cannabis activist who opened an Indiegogo fund after she quit on air. The fund raised over $11,000 and went to fund marijuana reform.
*Bonus: The Ladies Behind EstroHaze. Estrohaze is a weekly cannabis culture show for female cannabis enthusiasts hosted by myself, Safon Floyd and https://twitter.com/kwild.
So there you have it, our roundup of entrepreneurs of color in the cannabis industry. Think you're ready to break into cannabis? Let's roll!
*Originally published on BlackEnterprise.com