women’s month 2022
In honor of Women's History Month, we'd like to take a moment to recognize all of the amazing and incredible women who are driving the cannabis business forward. Every day, cannabis is becoming more mainstream, and we want to honor the women who have led the cannabis movement in the past, as well as those who continue to do so today!
Women's health, wellness, and pleasure are so important to those cannabis companies that they felt it was their duty to fill in the gaps.
Cannabis is so many things: A powerful medicine, a major driver for social equity and justice system reform, and for businesses around the world, a lucrative recreational product investment.
And with these, we're commemorating the occasion with a list of incredibly inspiring female entrepreneurs who are making waves in the cannabis sector. These women are revolutionizing the marijuana industry. They're brands you should be familiar with, and their products are ones you should try.
Anja Charbonneau
Founder of Broccoli magazine, Canadian-born Anja Charbonneau creates a new perspective on weed culture with playful and informed content that touches upon the flower through the exploration of art, culture, and fashion. Alongside Broccoli, Charbonneau's anti-racist Floret Coalition gathers over 135 businesses in the cannabis market to support and fund equity-focused initiatives serving the Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities—those whose contributions to cannabis culture have been the greatest and yet overly policed by the war on drugs.
Hope Wiseman
Hope Wiseman became the youngest, black dispensary owner in the U.S., after she opened medical-cannabis dispensary, Mary and Main, at 25. The dispensary, located in Prince George's County, Maryland, operates at the intersection of social activism, education and philanthropy. Mary and Main offers a range of therapy treatments and cannabis products including Indica, Sativa, topicals and extracts. Wiseman is a former investment banker and Spelman College graduate.
Mary Pryor
Mary Pryor is a cannabis marketer and the co-founder of Cannaclusive, a cannabis company created to facilitate fair representation of minority cannabis consumers. Pryor and two other black woman, Tonya Rapley and Charlese Antionette, felt compelled to create Cannaclusive after being the only black people in the room at cannabis events. The company provides stock photos of diverse women and men smoking weed and using cannabis. Cannaclusive also hosts educational events and workshops to help people of color understand the benefits and business opportunities of cannabis.
Jessica Bates
Certified Clinical Herbalist, brings a unique perspective and deep passion to the industry. Her long standing relationship with the cannabis plant started in her teens. Over the years her affinity towards plant healing led her to pursue herbalism. She draws from over ten years of experience working with medicinal herbs. This wisdom is used to craft each Moon Mother product formulation. Jessica’s special interest in creating products for women’s health and wellbeing, inspired the Wise Woman Bath Salts and the Wise Woman Healing Balm for menstrual relief.
Krystal and Chelsea Kitahara
Sisters Krystal and Chelsea Kitahara and their crew of marijuana females (nearly the entire company is staffed by women), have worked their entire lives to become the women entrepreneurs who make Yummi Karma—one of the hottest emerging cannabis brands. Krystal studied entrepreneurship in college, while Chelsea prepared herself specifically for the cannabis industry. Their combined talents have returned success that make these marijuana females a seriously dynamic duo.
Yummi Karma makes several types of cannabis products. Some of their most popular items include cannabis concentrates and topicals. One of our favorites is their Love Potion tincture. The natural aphrodisiac uses extracts of passionflower, ginseng, turmeric, and cannabinoids to help you get in the mood. Each tincture contains 30 doses.
Rachel Knox and Jessica Knox
Known as The Canna MDs, along with their mother and father who are also doctors, founded the American Cannabinoid Clinics in 2014, to deliver "precision Cannabinoid Medicine to every patient looking for a personalized approach to healing." The clinic was started after mother, Dr. Janice Knox, was exposed to the diversity of cannabis patients and its benefits while both daughters were away at school. The family has multiple clinics throughout Oregon and also established The Canna MDs website to educate patients, healthcare providers and the general public with information about using cannabis medicine.
Wanda James
As the first Black woman to own a legal US dispensary, Wanda James continues to make an impact in cannabis. James and her husband founded Simply Pure in Denver, Colorado to put a Black face on cannabis. She says her desire has been to “change what the face of cannabis looks like.” The couple opened the Simply Pure Dispensary in Denver, Colorado in 2010. Colorado was one of the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana in 2012. Simply Pure offers a number of cannabis-infused products and concentrates.
