Javier Hasse is the CEO of El Planteo, Managing Director of Benzinga Cannabis, Book author with Entrepreneur Media, and a weed reporter for various publications including Forbes, Playboy, CNBC and CNN. Based in Latin America, he specializes in covering cannabis, hemp, CBD and psychedelics news, information, events and tech with a focus on finance and business. In this episode of DANK Discussions, Javier talks to our host Maynard Breslow about legalization laws, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the undercurrent of racism in Latin America.
Kevin and Sayje Lasenberry are the owners of Onyx Mana, a Northern Jersey-based Black-Owned e-commerce CBD store. This father-son duo is very dear to our hearts at DANK Discussions as they are a proud part of the Calacann Family. They join me in this very special episode to talk about being a black-owned company during these times and the systemic racism behind the curtain of our industry. Their goal with Onyx Mana is to not only sell CBD, but to make sure they are democratizing the cannabis opportunity for Black and Brown people.
Galen Williams is a Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor and Cannabis Executive. He is also the interim CEO for MD Exclusive, a California-based CBD company backed by medical professionals. He holds an extensive background and experience in business as well as cannabis. In this episode, we discuss the bigger and broader topics such as diversity, racial stigma, and unnecessary incarcerations due to the war on drugs. These topics, unfortunately, are not addressed enough in our industry. While Galen does not speak on the Black Lives Matter movement directly, his experience and views are incredibly timely as much needed awareness and reform within not only cannabis but also society as a whole are finally being brought to the forefront. With this episode, we hope to make a change and see more people of color in leadership positions.(more…)