This post was originally published on this site.
Join NY Cannabis Insider for our next full-day conference on Sept. 21 at the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery in Buffalo. Tickets will sell out.
Barbara Vaughn is the CEO and founder of Cannabicity, which aims to open as a dispensary in Schenectady. In the newest entry of “NY’s women in cannabis,” Vaughn talks about women who inspired her transition into the cannabis industry, lessons learned along the way, and her hope for the next generation of women entrepreneurs.
Women are vastly underrepresented in cannabis, and not just in New York. From 2019 to 2022, executive-level females have seen their industry wide status drop from 37% to 23%. Yet the MRTA makes things very clear: women-owned businesses are a key component of the state’s social and economic equity plan.
NY Cannabis Insider is seeking to elevate women in cannabis through a hyper-focus on female story sourcing and balanced representation in articles.
This series will last for as long as submissions come in.
Why did you launch your career in the cannabis industry? Were there any women who inspired you to do so? How did you do it?
In 2010, I was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord. Not much is known about why transverse myelitis occurs, and it is different for each person. In my case, it came with extreme pain and discomfort, and completely sidelined me from what had been an active life and career owning and running a lighting store.
Suddenly, I found myself bedridden and limited in my movement and activities. Over the next 13 years, my doctors and care team have tried numerous ways to treat the inflammation and symptoms – one of which led me to medical cannabis. I experienced some positive effects, and that planted the seed of possibility: if my own medical situation could be aided by cannabis, albeit through the state-authorized medicinal market, then how many other people with lesser ailments could be helped?
So, when New York began moving towards legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis, I explored the idea of opening a dispensary with my son and his sister-in-law. Five years later, we’re preparing to apply for licensure and hope to open our first cannabis dispensary in Schenectady.
What do you think is the most significant barrier to women leadership? Are the barriers different in cannabis than any other industry?
So much of the legacy market has been run by and geared toward men. After all, its formerly illegal status contributed to territorialism and danger, risks that mostly men assumed. Due to this, even the available accessories and products now on the market are branded and designed typically to appeal to male consumers. It’s hard to wrap one’s head around the fact that there are barriers for women in business, even in 2023, but there are in every industry, and that certainly applies to the cannabis business.
We know that women increasingly consume cannabis and see benefits from it, so the industry would be remiss if it didn’t champion women’s voices in leadership. With our company Cannabicity, slated to open in September, we are putting women’s viewpoints and needs as consumers at the forefront with men’s. We’re creating a business that’s also a cannabis resource and a safe space to explore the plant. Now, more than ever, I feel the barrier can be broken down and become an opportunity for women to contribute in meaningful ways to the industry.
Why do you think women are so underrepresented in leadership roles in cannabis?
Historically, women have been largely excluded from the legacy market, which means that many women interested in the industry don’t have the same institutional knowledge as their male counterparts. However, I think that given the right opportunities, there’s no reason why women with a passion for this business can’t gain the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed.
What are some ways in which companies can support gender diversity at senior levels?
It absolutely must be a top-down approach that prioritizes a commitment to gender diversity at every level. Supporting female leadership has been a cornerstone of Cannabicity’s business model since it was founded.
My illness and experience with cannabis motivated me to be founder of the company, while my daughter-in-law Alexandra DeForest is the director of our marketing and public relations. We’ve also appointed another female leader, Andrea Mason-Sarandon, as our vice president for communications. From there, we’ve prioritized women vendors where possible: our web designer, graphic designer and our public relations agency of record are all women-run and women-owned.
When staffing our lifestyle store and eventually our dispensary, we’ll be aiming to build a team that reflects our core customer market – and that firmly includes women, who make up the fastest-growing demographic in recreational cannabis sales.
Shout out your other favorite women-owned or women-led businesses in the industry.
Medical cannabis company Etain is an excellent example of a women-founded cannabis company which had the foresight and leadership to get in at ground level for the medicinal market in New York State. They have really inspired us even before adult-use recreational cannabis was legalized, because Etain was one of only a handful of New York-authorized cannabis producers. The company has used its platform and influence to support other women-owned brands, which I think is very special. In our business, we’ve worked with the same lobbying firm as Etain and we have learned a great deal indirectly from their success.
Who/what are your favorite tools and resources in the industry?
We’ve had a wealth of help in getting our business off the ground and in building a brand and a store. While we aren’t yet able to license it, we’ve had a lot of important contributors and team members whom I’d recommend to anyone in New York’s cannabis market. If anyone would like to know, from architects to lobbyists to cannabis consultants and legal help, feel free to reach out to me for recommendations!
What advice would you give your 25-year-old self? What advice would you give to the next generation of women leaders?
Explore, adapt, embrace change, and live every day in anticipation of new opportunities and experiences – you never know where it will lead you. If I hadn’t been open to trying cannabis, I may never have started this chapter in my life.
For the next generation of women: Learn about everything and learn how to do everything. Being in the room, asking the questions and learning it all from the ground up is the best way to establish credibility in any field. Women belong in every space and every industry, no matter the history that came before, but success in a new field begins with making the mistakes and developing the years of institutional knowledge that has been denied to women in the past. Learn it all, and together in this generation of women we can help pave the way for the next.
Is there anything we left out that you’d like to add?
Our business focus on the consumer-facing side of the cannabis industry is making adult-use cannabis feel truly accessible and beneficial to everyone, and not just because it’s legal. There are so many millions of people who have been told all their life that cannabis is a gateway drug, that it’s a catalyst of laziness and apathy, or countless other myths portraying the plant as nefarious.
By now, everyone reading NY Cannabis Insider should know the truth is otherwise – but there are plenty of people who still feel this way, and we’re ready to change their perceptions of cannabis. It may not be for everyone, but it is a natural, earth-friendly and lifestyle-improving product for so many people, and we’re ready to introduce that to Schenectady and the Capital Region in our own unique way.
If you’d like people to connect with you, please share your favorite methods of contact.
It absolutely must be a top-down approach that prioritizes a commitment to gender diversity at every level. Supporting female leadership has been a cornerstone of Cannabicity’s business model since it was founded.
My illness and experience with cannabis motivated me to be founder of the company, while my daughter-in-law Alexandra DeForest is the director of our marketing and public relations. We’ve also appointed another female leader, Andrea Mason-Sarandon, as our vice president for communications. From there, we’ve prioritized women vendors where possible: our web designer, graphic designer and our public relations agency of record are all women-run and women-owned.
When staffing our lifestyle store and eventually our dispensary, we’ll be aiming to build a team that reflects our core customer market – and that firmly includes women, who make up the fastest-growing demographic in recreational cannabis sales.
Shout out your other favorite women-owned or women-led businesses in the industry.
Medical cannabis company Etain is an excellent example of a women-founded cannabis company which had the foresight and leadership to get in at ground level for the medicinal market in New York State. They have really inspired us even before adult-use recreational cannabis was legalized, because Etain was one of only a handful of New York-authorized cannabis producers. The company has used its platform and influence to support other women-owned brands, which I think is very special. In our business, we’ve worked with the same lobbying firm as Etain and we have learned a great deal indirectly from their success.
Who/what are your favorite tools and resources in the industry?
We’ve had a wealth of help in getting our business off the ground and in building a brand and a store. While we aren’t yet able to license it, we’ve had a lot of important contributors and team members whom I’d recommend to anyone in New York’s cannabis market. If anyone would like to know, from architects to lobbyists to cannabis consultants and legal help, feel free to reach out to me for recommendations!
What advice would you give your 25-year-old self? What advice would you give to the next generation of women leaders?
Explore, adapt, embrace change, and live every day in anticipation of new opportunities and experiences – you never know where it will lead you. If I hadn’t been open to trying cannabis, I may never have started this chapter in my life.
For the next generation of women: Learn about everything and learn how to do everything. Being in the room, asking the questions and learning it all from the ground up is the best way to establish credibility in any field. Women belong in every space and every industry, no matter the history that came before, but success in a new field begins with making the mistakes and developing the years of institutional knowledge that has been denied to women in the past. Learn it all, and together in this generation of women we can help pave the way for the next.
Is there anything we left out that you’d like to add?
Our business focus on the consumer-facing side of the cannabis industry is making adult-use cannabis feel truly accessible and beneficial to everyone, and not just because it’s legal. There are so many millions of people who have been told all their life that cannabis is a gateway drug, that it’s a catalyst of laziness and apathy, or countless other myths portraying the plant as nefarious.
By now, everyone reading NY Cannabis Insider should know the truth is otherwise – but there are plenty of people who still feel this way, and we’re ready to change their perceptions of cannabis. It may not be for everyone, but it is a natural, earth-friendly and lifestyle-improving product for so many people, and we’re ready to introduce that to Schenectady and the Capital Region in our own unique way.
If you’d like people to connect with you, please share your favorite methods of contact.