Up next, a candid interview with canna-boss lady, Colleen Mairead Hughes.
Colleen is considered a NY cannabis industry veteran having consulted for & worked in nearly every department of vertically integrated medical cannabis MSOs for three corporations in NY since 2015. Her passion for cannabis activism began in the mid-1990’s having met Jack Herer at a signing of his The Emperor Wears No Clothes book. This book highlighted the hypocrisy of prohibition and ignited a fire of passion for legalizing a plant that has so many benefits both for health, society, ecology, and economy.
Prior to transitioning into the cannabis space, Colleen spent over a decade in the beverage industry and was the Executive Director for a vertically integrated multi-national wine company in the Hudson Valley. This experience perfectly prepared her for the wild west of the fledgling, highly regulated, cannabis market. Colleen is an operations and marketing consultant primarily for cannabis and beverage companies and spends her advocacy time working on policy to improve access to opportunities in cannabis and other industries. Continuing to be fueled by her passion for the healing power of plant medicine, her primary focus these days is dismantling unjust systems that do not support the growth of society at large to maximize the benefit for everyone to live a long life of good health.
To that end, Colleen founded the Return to Rise, HEART Program, a Legacy to Legal workforce development program, with aspirations to create a national equitable framework to re-invest in communities most harmed by the unjust war on drugs. Colleen has spoken on numerous panels about medical cannabis, social equity, and as the counterpoint on anti-cannabis roundtables. Colleen serves as the Deputy Director of NYC NORML, serves on the DEI committee for National NORML’s reciprocal mentoring program, on the social equity committee for NYCCIA & HVCIA, and is a member of many cannabis industry workgroups.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cococreative/
Instagram: @colleenmairead
Email: colleen@cococreativeny.com