Is my way much rarer?

StashTwist

A non-profit delivery service founded by Oakland resident Andrea Unsworth. In an interview with Dope Magazine, she passionately advocated for the moral necessity of expanding the workforce with those who know pot best: former inmates. “I want people who are felons working for me,” she said. “Funds specifically need to be appropriated to helping folks who have been convicted, not just for reparations, but to help them write a business plan.”

Magnolia Wellness

This Oakland dispensary’s success is thanks in part to Chief Operating Officer Amber Senter, founder of Leisure Life edibles. Senter was introduced to marijuana’s medicinal effects at 18 (she would be diagnosed with lupus at 33) and began teaching herself how to grow in 2007.

iCANN Berkeley

In May 2016, Sue Taylor was unanimously selected by Berkley city council to recieve a permit to open a dispensary, making the former Catholic school principal and grandmother the first black dispensary owner in the Bay Area city. Once a pot skeptic, she hopes to bring pot’s healing properties to other seniors, pot’s fastest growing demographic. “I want to bring awareness that there are alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs, and to empower people, whatever their age, so they can experience a meaningful, high quality of life,” Taylor told Jezebel.

Supernova Women

StashTwist’s Andrea Unsworth and Amber Senter of Magnolia Wellness are also cofounders of the collective Supernova Women, alongside attorney Tsion “Sunshine” Lencho, and Nina Parks of Mirage Medicinal cooperative and delivery. The seminars and safe space offered by Supernova are fertile ground to help diversify California’s weed boom, and shed light on obstacles marginalized entrepreneurs can face. These issues can range from the unremarkable — white people who don’t want to talk about privilege — to ones specific to the weed industry. “This whole thing of starting on a level playing field is ridiculous,” Unsworth told NPR. “[Nearly] 80 percent of the lock-ups are people of color. You’re locking up all of these people who are trying to be entrepreneurs, but now that it’s legal, you’re allowed to say, Oh, you can come into our industry, but you can’t have a criminal record. You can have a million dollars, but it can’t be from cannabis, it has to be from your 401(k), or investments, or from your daddy. I mean, who are these people? These are not people of color.”

The Hood Incubator