Editor’s note: interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Cannabis is growing faster than ever, and if Black people don’t grow with it, we’ll be left behind in this industry. But the thing is, very few of us have the resources to get started, and even if we did, we may not know where to start due to lack of experience. Thankfully, resources are cropping up to both boost us and provide us guidance. EstroHaze is one of them.
(Courtesy of Estrohaze)
Founded in 2017 by Kali Wilder (CEO), Sirita Wright (CFO), and Safon Floyd (CPO), EstroHaze is a media outlet and community hub for minorities and multicultural women who have interest in the business and lifestyle of the cannabis industry. Floyd told me, “It’s a place to learn everything cannabis: how to get in and start your own cannabis business, how to use cannabis to enhance your lifestyle, how boomers can maximize and capitalize on cannabis, how you can invest in cannabis—it’s everything how-to.” EstroHaze is one of the bridges for minorities to get involved in the “Green Rush.”
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Starting as coworkers at Black Enterprise, a black-owned multimedia company with magazines on every coffee table of every Black household, Wright, Wilder, and Floyd soon realized that they had a lot more in common than their profession. They also shared a lifestyle. Floyd stated that their connection was as simple as, “Do you smoke?” (the battle cry of every friendly stoner worldwide). “We started to come together over cannabis, because that’s what it does. It breeds connectivity and community.” This connection birthed the EstroHaze podcast.
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As the podcast grew, the EstroHaze founders began to identify a bigger purpose than Black Enterprise: creating a place in cannabis for people who look like them. “We, as cannabis enthusiasts, noticed that a lot of media outlets weren’t talking about girls who look like us, or had the culture that we had, or vibe how we vibe. It’s like no, we exist. If the 3 of us exist in this one place, we’re all over the place. So let’s do something for these girls that you don’t necessarily associate with a stoner image.”
(Courtesy of Estrohaze)
At the end of 2016, they planned to transition from Black Enterprise to full-time cannabis entrepreneurship by the end of Q1 in 2017. EstroHaze founders found themselves applying for Canopy Colorado, a cannabis business accelerator that helps people start ancillary cannabis businesses (businesses that don’t touch the plant: i.e. media companies, marketing agencies, etc.). This took EstroHaze from a single podcast to a full-fledged media outlet, which allowed them to use the expertise they already had.
At Black Enterprise, Kali was the Human Research Editor and she became the EstroHaze’s CEO; Sirita was the Social Media Editor and she became EstroHaze’s CFO; and Safon was the Digital Editor and she became EstroHaze’s CPO.
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Now, after time as a media community, EstroHaze is finding an even greater calling in professional mentorship through networking events, workshops, and online mentorship. Of this transition Floyd said, “we could have more value in this space. Instead of being a site that focuses on people already in this industry, we’re teaching people how to get into—and succeed—in cannabis.”
The first of their events will be the Entrepreneurship and Licensure: A Cannabiz Guide panel at SXSW, Austin’s annual interactive media festival that will feature a full cannabis track for the first time ever. The panel will expose the nitty-gritty, enlighten, and engage those who are eagerly looking to join this booming, billion-dollar industry. Their goal is to not only provide insight, but also answer questions that breed action. The goal of this panel is not to just inspire, “you can get inspired on YouTube. We want people leaving with actual action items.”
(Courtesy of Estrohaze)
People looking to succeed in the cannabis game should check them out. For more information, visit EstroHaze.com, where they are offering free initial consultations for people who need guidance into and around the cannabis industry.
In addition to their website, you can also visit the EstroHaze Patreon page for more detailed and deeper action items. There is help out there for minorities and multicultural people in the cannabis industry, we just have to find, highlight, and support it. EstroHaze is a great place to start.
