A new paradigm is upon us. The pandemic has changed everything about how we move through the world. It’s changed how we interact with each other. It’s given us the ability to see situations with (a sometimes harsh) sobriety, understand wants versus needs, and appreciate moments and people that we’ve all previously taken for granted.
We’re also reminded that cannabis is a medicine — even if you use it recreationally — that can hold us through difficult times. That’s why we put this list together: to shout out the people who are slaying the game and inspiring others along the way.
Cannabombz
Cannabombz only uses organic and natural ingredients in our products that are gentle and safe to the skin. We top the bath bombs with trimmings from our own organically grown garden, and all ingredients are cruelty-free. Cannabombz is a female-owned and operated business that changes lives each and every day!
Check out Cannabombz website
Geza Frey Jr // T.I.P Supply
Geza is a multi-talented artist that specializes in sneakers, fashion, cannabis, tech, sports, and lifestyle. He has worked both in front of the camera and behind the scenes in various global marketing campaigns over the last eight years.
Check out Geza’s socials here
Lucy Crivelli
Lucy is a Mexico-born, Los Angeles-raised woman in cannabis. She’s faced adversities that are common in underprivileged communities, but has never given up. She now works with some of the top brands in the world, built a creative agency, and is proving that women like her can create space in rooms that weren’t built for them.
Check out Lucy’s Instagram here
Prayerz1: Ronaldo Cruz and Kevin Prudencio
These guys are changing the game by exposing the dangers of smoking boof. Prayrs1 and Kevin saw a huge problem in the industry where influencers were recommending or consuming non-licensed/non-tested cannabis from the traditional market and disregarding the health of their audience. In addition, many traditional influencers failed to provide education on strains, brand history, or even breakdown cannabinoids for their audience. Due to their strong stance of marijuana being used for recreational and medicinal purposes, they wanted to ensure their audience would never have health issues from consuming non-tested weed that could have harmful chemicals.
They also wanted to make sure their audience felt informed enough to make educated decisions prior to spending hard-earned money on cannabis products. “Fuck the Boof” is the trademark phrase they created to build a movement around individuals supporting licensed cannabis retailers and licensed cannabis brands. They’ve earned the respect and support of leaders in the cannabis industry such as the founder Cannabiotix, founder of Catlyst Cannabis, founder of Ball Family Farms, founder of Raw Garden, founder of Secret Sesh, founder of Uncle Arnies, executives at Nugg Club and NuggMD, and many more.
Check out Prayers1 on Youtube
710 Life Enail Brand
If you’re looking for a community that celebrates the concentrates life seven days a week 365 days a year, look no further than 710 Life on Instagram. They’ve also got an online store with all kinds of products including enails and everything you’d ever need to get the most out of extracts.
Check out 710 Life Enail Brand’s website here
Yarmacrazy
Regarded as one of the most honest guys in the industry, Yarmacrazy offers great reviews and educational content on social media.
Learn more about Yarmacrazy here
Poke A Bowl
Poke A Bowl leads at the forefront of ingenuity and aptitude, consistently engineering the most advanced, user-friendly portable ashtrays, and smoking accessories in the world. The first to market an ashtray with a lid specifically designed for the removal of ash and resin from bowls and pipes, Poke A Bowl integrates superior functionality with the convenience of transportability.
Check out Poke A Bowl’s website here
Pure Beauty
Pure Beauty is a women and minority-owned brand that is constantly innovating products, including their drink and menthol products that launched in 2021. As a company, they are aware of the historical injustices in this industry and understand the responsibility of being an operator in the legal cannabis industry. They use their platform and community and weed to keep the industry real, diverse, and fair. Pure Beauty donates a portion of its proceeds to fund programming for current and post incarcerated populations. Although there’s work ahead of them, they are committed to being part of the solution.
Check out Pure Beauty’s website here
Misses BudTalkSTL: Melanie Randels
Melanie Marie started the first and only black woman-owned cannabis resource center in the Midwest: The Canna Education Collective. She is a political advocate that helped fight for legal provisions in the St. Louis, is featured nationally in publications like Leafly, and has helped hundreds of minorities enter the cannabis industry since 2019. She is a licensed cultivator and overall trailblazer in the industry for young people of color.
Check out Budtalkstl’s website here
Letesha Holley
LT grew up in Northern California in the cannabis world. She has a Masters degree in Psychology with an emphasis in social justice, trauma, and business psychology. She believes cannabis is extremely beneficial in mental health. She loves her job and all the challenges that come with working in the cannabis industry.
Learn more about Letesha Holley here
@Milfweed
She likes doing comedy, acting, writing, and educating about weed while also ingesting it.
Learn more about @Milfweed here
Kosmik Brands
Kosmik Brands landed on Earth in 2019 with a gummy that defied gravity and transcended its competitors. From day one, we’ve remained committed to taste, texture, potency, and quality, and since then have led the industry in innovation and development of products that break boundaries…..and we’re just getting started. Welcome to Kosmik Brands. Buckle up for lift-off.
Learn more about Kosmik Brands here
Say Treees
Say Trees represents the cannabis lifestyle. The global community of breeders, growers, hustlers, and stoners.
Learn more about Say Trees here
Zara Snapp
Zara Snapp is one of the loudest voices in Mexico for ending drug prohibition. As a mother and policy expert, her knowledge makes the movement more powerful. She is the co-founder of Instituto RIA, board member of ReverdeSer Colectivo (Mexico) and the international advisor for Acción Técnica Social (Colombia). She hosts a podcast called el 4o Amparo (in Spanish). From 2014-2017, she formed part of the Secretariat of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, where she focused on the Latin American strategy and UNGASS 2016. She often writes and give presentations on innovative public policies related to the regulation of psychoactive substances, from a human rights and social justice-based framework.
Learn more about Zara’s project here
Pacific Stone
Pacific Stone only sells what they grow. Nothing is outsourced! Founded in 2015, Pacific Stone is a labor of love established by friends and family from the 805 who are passionate about growing clean, consistent, and affordable cannabis for California.
Check out Pacific Stone’s website here
Stephanie “Cakes” Arakel
Stephanie is a cancer survivor, advocate, a VP of Viola brands, spearheaded the Allen Iverson brand launch by Viola, and is not afraid to say what needs to be said. Stephanie is a certified powerhouse in the LA cannabis scene. She also helps run other markets for Viola, including Canada.
Find out more about Stephanie here
Jungle Cae
Cae has been growing their own jungle of over 60 houseplants, vegetables, herbs, and Cannabis for the past two years in his apartment. He explore cannabis science and education as the Potanist! He wants to show as many people as he can how to grow their own Jungle and learn to connect with nature.
Learn more about Cae here
Akele Parnell
Akele has started the New Jersey Cannabis Project as head of DEI with Lantern. He frequently advocates for individuals of color and disproportionately impacted communities. The New Jersey Cannabis Project is a cannabis business incubator that provides social equity entrepreneurs with the knowledge, tools, network, and resources needed to succeed and become leaders in the emerging New Jersey cannabis industry.
Find out more about the NJ Cannabis Project here
Hemp Twins: Abigail and Noemy Cuevas
They educate about the benefits and importance of Industrial Hemp to the communities that have been impacted by the war on drugs. They host expungement clinics around the LA area and have worked hard to get nonviolent cannabis convictions wiped off records for decades. They are bringing culture into the cannabis industry. The Hemp Twins promote sustainability, carbon-negative footprint houses, zero waste, plastic-free world for our future generations. They know that through education, events, and workshop they can better give an understanding to the world about cannabis and hemp.
Learn more about the Hemp Twins here
ImHigh
ImHigh is a Cannabis Lifestyle Brand. The community is made up of over 80 Facebook groups, each curated to a specific niche. A few of our most popular groups include; Im High and these are Houseplants, Im High and this is True Crime, Im High and this is Animal Crossing and so many more.
Learn more about ImHigh here
CannaSafe Labs
Since their founding, CannaSafe has relentlessly championed for safe cannabis and hemp. Their team works tirelessly to provide the highest quality, most accurate testing data to certify that the products you grow, manufacture, and distribute are both safe and effective. Cannabis safety starts here.
Learn more about CannaSafe here
Bryan Smothers: The Parent Company
Bryan decided to give the cannabis industry a shot back in 2018 by jumping on board with scrappy start-up, Sisu Extracts in Humboldt County, CA. He was originally poised to move back to Bay Area to work in sports before making the life-altering decision that led to Bryan helping build one of the largest cannabis companies in the world. In January 2020, Sisu merged with Caliva and Rocnation to form The Parent Company in what was the largest SPAC merger in cannabis history, led by Jay-Z. Bryan played a major role in driving over $100m in sales and developing industry-leading strategic partnerships with top cannabis companies and traditional Fortune 500 companies alike. He is at the forefront of driving the Cannabis industry to the mainstream as we near the end of prohibition.
Learn more about The Parent Company here
David Dinenberg: Kind Financial
As the Founder and CEO of Kind Financial, David is a leader in bringing transparent, legal, and compliant banking and payment solutions to the Cannabis industry. KIND believes every Cannabis business should be able to operate like any other industry. KIND accomplishes this through partnerships and technology.
Learn more about Kind Financial here
Kevin Forde: Fireball Cannabis
Kevin Forde is the Co-Founder and Chief Sales Officer of Fireball Cannabis Gummies, a leading cannabis edible brand in over 10 states in the US. Forde, an industry vet, started his cannabis career in Las Vegas helping start one of the first and largest cultivation and dispensary footprints in Nevada.
Learn more about Fireball Cannabis here
David Kool: Telos Cannabis Group
David Kool was born and raised on the west coast of Canada on an island that produced a significant percentage of the cannabis North America consumed for decades before legalization. His company Telos Cannabis Group, brings the same sense of camaraderie and win-win thinking that has always ungirded the informal markets he grew up with.
Vinny Di Nino: Head of Marketing for CLSICS
Vinny Di Nino heads up the marketing efforts for CLSICS, a San Diego-based Cannabis brand that specializes in live rosin and rosin-infused products. Vinny was drawn into the Cannabis space with a desire to make a positive impact on the world and work with a brand that isn’t afraid to go against the grain. CLSICS has quickly become one of the fastest-growing brands in the industry as Vinny and his team created a brand experience that stands out on dispensary shelves and Instagram posts. From their packaging to their unique brand activations and collaborations, CLSICS is poised for massive growth and expansion in the coming years.
Austin DeAngelis: Eaze
Austin is an Executive VP at Eaze and is responsible for some of their biggest partnerships.
Alexa Simone: POT GRL
Founder and Creative Director of POT GRL, Alexa Simone is a stylist and creator focused on how cannabis lifestyle drives culture. In less than one year, her ultra-exclusive and private monthly events have become a safe and fun space for womxn and underrepresented genders to meet and build. POT GRL also serves as a brand ambassador and experiential agency, working with cannabis and other retailers in the LA area.
Dillion Shoe
Having had the privilege of 12+ years in the beverage world and managing the largest account in the world for Red Bull of MGM resorts International, Dillon has transferred over his expertise into the cannabis space while founding Novem labs which is a manufacturing company that white labels products for some of the biggest brands in the space. His latest venture which is about to launch in multiple states is the brand called Good Girl which is female-forward but not female-focused and led by powerhouses from the adult industry including Bridgette B, Madison Ivy, and many others. Stay tuned.
InspectorGanja
Inspector Ganja was started to give the community a detailed firsthand experience on reviews. Searching for hidden gems while spotting out the best of the best, the boof, and the penny pinchers in the saturated rec market. Smoke ’em all while finding your own path to reach a connoisseur’s level of expertise.
The AntiSocial Stoner – Alysse
Alysse is a breast cancer survivor from Ontario, Canada. She is passionate about advocating for plant medicine and mental health as it is something that is still unfortunately heavily stigmatized today — especially for both women and mothers.
