January 25, 2023 • 58 mins
“Black Women get us higher” Today Jill, Laiya, and Aja interview the owner of Gorilla RX wellness, Kika Kieth aka Big Kika. She is the first black woman to open a dispensary in LA. She is also a cannabis activist and community leader. She shares her journey of breaking into the industry and the impact it has had on her community.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to JA dot M, a production of I Heart Radio.
What's Up? Everybody? Welcome, Welcome to j dot Itill Podcast.
This is Jill Scott and I'm here with my sister friends,
Agent Graydon, Dan's lie. That's myself. Hello, everyone, high and lies,
(00:27):
ain't Claire? I felt all that stretched? Jill felt. I
felt it. I know it's it's the episode. Let's let's go.
Been the weight Okay, I'm not gonna make your weight anymore.
I was. I was about to zero whole story, but
I'll tell you later. Well, welcome everybody. Um, we have
(00:50):
an incredible guest here today. Her name is Kika Keith.
I love your name for Kika. Yeah, it got attitude,
It's got fuck yeah, Kika Keith, please like it if
you be so kindness to share these accolades and this lovely,
lovely young woman. I just first have to share a
(01:12):
story because I understand that I live in Los Angeles right,
it is not a majority black place. And when I
lived in Hollywood, the one reason that I was scared
to leave is because I had a black dispensary, a
black owned dispensary. This is not something you hear a lot. Period.
Better yet in Los Angeles. So when I moved to
the Mert Park and I cold walked down the street
(01:34):
because I passed by a dispensary that had a big
gorilla on the top of it. What it looks like colors.
I was like, well, all right, let me just stop
and see what they got. I walked in. It was
the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And I'm
talking about the colors. Never I've been in a lot
of dispensaries, Yes, I'm telling my truth. I've been in
a lot of dispensaries, but the color, the friendship, the
(01:57):
feeling of culture, I'm talking about a dispens three all.
When I walked in, it changed my life so much
that every time I have somebody that comes out of town,
I'm like, let's walk up the street and let's go. Well,
it just so happens. On one particular day, I bring
my godmother, Diana William who has been a guest on
this show. I said, let's go to the dispensary. I'm
about to blow your mind. We walk in and we
see a familiar face named Marco Barrio, who happened to
(02:20):
be the manager of the other black dispensary. That I
had moved from in Hollywood, and he goes on to
tell me the story of the owner of this place
and the story of the struggle of how this place
came into fruition in this neighborhood. People thought to make
this happen, to make the dispensary here. There's a video
when you walk in, it gives you the short of
(02:41):
the story and the celebration with your priests and precesses
about how they made this happen. And so Marco walks
us to the office to introduce us to the woman
who has founded this lovely space with her mural on
the wall outside of the seven eleventh. I'm sorry, and
her name is Big Kika, Big chikas presence. She's not
just an entrepree nor she's an activist. She has been
(03:01):
in this community for a long time doing amazing things,
and now she has bought all kinds of peace to
the community. Ladies and gentlemen, not just kicker Keith, big kickup.
I'm gonna I'm gonna keep my thoughts to my listen.
It's the big for me. It's the big for me
(03:22):
that that tells me all the things I need to know.
You should have. You should have lived with that. So
I should have said that. When Jill and Asia displayed
that they want and Amber said that they wanted to
do a show about cannabis, weed, whatever you want to
call it, I said, I have the person. I don't
know her, but I'm gonna get her here and here
she is and here she is. Round of applause. Here,
(03:45):
thank you being here. Wow, you you own the first
black owned dispensary. I mean I would assume it's the
first woman, female owned, black woman owned dispensary. Damn. Yeah,
and it is. You were hard to paint huh yeah,
very intentionally, and it is the first black woman on. Um.
(04:06):
There are some pioneers black men that came before before me. Um.
But yes, um, you know that was a part of
the mission, not to be the first, but to knock
the doors down. Come on. Yeah, yes, So can you
talk about this? Can you talk about this story when
you walk into when you walk into your shop, and
(04:27):
you do see this video, A lot of people weren't there.
They don't know the story of your struggle and how
you got into even this world. Can you just break
that down for us a little bit. Yeah, you know,
I always like to go back to my roots. UM,
because it was my parents and their profound love for
black people in black history and black culture that they
(04:48):
just ingrained in me since birth. UM. And so when
I learned about the opportunity for recreation of cannabis in
Los Angeles, I was like, wait a minute, there's actually
laws in the book that will benefit black and brown
people who suffered the devastation from the War on drugs.
And I was born in Pennsylvania but raised in Los Angeles,
(05:10):
and UM, you know, I witnessed that, UM in South
central l A. Witnessed the fact that I had to
take my daughter to ten different schools because the schools
in my community, UM, we're not adequate. And we know
where all that stems from. And so when I learned
about the opportunity to get a license, UM, it really
was to be more about more than just myself, to
(05:33):
help as many of us get through and cross the
finish line. I had a beverage company prior to entering
into UM the cannabis based guerrilla life, and UM, I
know how hard it was. I had my own manufacturing facility,
my own distribution. I had three refrigerator vehicles we take
the Whole Foods and Gelson's and Bristol Farms, and I
(05:53):
knew how many years it took me that we will
work at one o'clock in the morning to make sure
health inspector didn't come in because I didn't know ship
about running no equipment and not doing it compliantly, coming
from making it in the kitchen to then being at
a facility. And I knew when I heard about this
and the opportunity for our people to be a part
(06:14):
of the industry, that the way they set it up
was designed to fail, and that I had to prepare
to fight. And I figured, I'm fighting for my ancestors
that couldn't be a part of the cotton industry, tobacco, alcohol,
you name it, up to the tech industry, um. Everything
they've kept us out of it. And this was the
first time that there were actually laws on the book
to give us priority with licensing. If you came from
(06:36):
inner city communities that were disproportionately affected by cannabis arrest,
if you had a cannabis arrest or conviction, if you
were low income, those were the qualifiers to be a
part of priority licensing UM. And so I knew it
was gonna be a fight. I didn't know it was
gonna be this kind of fight. I went an active
on whole food Shells in two thousand seventeen thinking that
(06:59):
it would eight nine months because they were opening up
in in uh two thousand and eighteen, And it literally
took us three years and the lawsuit against the City
of Los Angeles to be able to open our doors. Wow,
even with the legislation that was on the books that
was supposed to make it easier for you. Because I
don't want to be clear on that, because I think
(07:20):
a lot of times we think, oh, some laws have
been passed, a program exists or such and such as
already on the books. How come people aren't taking advantage
because there's still going to be some you know, some
things in our way, some things we have to move around,
and some tenacity necessary, and I'm sure also a massive financial,
(07:42):
you know, burden, because we're talking about our lawyers are
not free, court costs are not free, and obviously the
licensing itself is not free, because I you know, and
please educate me, because I think the last that I
heard is that even the license itself is very expensive,
that it's a it's a huge financial undertaking, and so
(08:04):
you know that in a lot of ways, that can
leave a lot of our entrepreneurs out of the running
from the gate. So was there any kind of anything
on the books around like financial help or been selling
weed for years and Kent and camp so we like
for years? How does that work? A My dad calls
it the trojan horse. They had to get voters to
(08:27):
vote it in, and so the platform was always around,
we're gonna write the governor of California here the same
thing in New York Chicago. We're gonna right the wrong
of the war on drugs, and we're gonna prioritize this community.
Yet they don't set up education and training. They're not
teaching compliance and regulation. There is no access to capital,
They have no oversight over these predatory agreements we call
(08:50):
them share proper agreements, where these white folks were coming
into the hood and looking for people that had cannabis
convictions and arrest and making them a strong man and
enticing them. I had a mom one time come to
me and say, listen, can you talk to my son.
She was like, he works at foot locker and he's
not understanding him signing a way for seven thousand dollars
(09:10):
a month. It's pennies on the dollar. I'm saying some
dispensaries make that in the first half of their day. Um.
And so it was very obvious, which is why I
had to end up really standing in the position that
I did. How much of a political game this was.
And it was really about once they pass that law,
every single month, changing little words in the law to
(09:32):
make sure that we couldn't get in, just to say
that they gave us an opportunity. Um. And you know
that has been the fight, and and that is you
know where the real work to this day, right New
York is just opening be just open their first dispensary.
But if you look at it, um, it's a way
to eradicate they're they're mad all these years not being
(09:53):
able to get the money our brothers and sisters are
making on the streets. Right. So once you legalize it,
then you're able to enforce it. And so that has
become the game. In l A, they had ten million
dollars allocator for education and funding um. But as soon
as they started it, before they opened up the social
equity program, they moved those funds to enforcement because those
(10:15):
existing marijuana dispensaries which were in l A. A hundred
and eighty seven only three were black. Um. And then
as soon as it was time for the social equity program,
all those white folks that got all this money and
they lobbying, they go onto the politicians and they're like, wait, wait, wait,
don't open more licenses for social equity. First you need
to enforce and shut down the other illegal ones. Where
(10:38):
are those that you know, people still in our neighborhoods?
And um, that has become the vicious game that every
day we're trying to dismantle. Um what what they've set up?
More real talk after the break, to have to be
(11:08):
aware of not only your own business practices, but also
keeping abreast of all the changes that are happening at
a legal and a in a in a political level.
That sounds like an extreme amount of diligence. It seems
like a lot to kind of constantly be aware of.
You have to be so hyper aware. What are some
(11:31):
of the kinds of like the coalition, right, Like I
have a coalition? Yeah, what are the things you have
in place that are like helping you? What are your supports?
What are the things you have that are helping you
to stay on top of all of that. She's um
the community. Um. When I, like I said, when I
realized that early on, we started having classes in coffee
(11:53):
shops in the part you know where we were literally
members Street Franklin and we were good out a Dandy's
on Crunshaw at midnight after the kids were asleep, and
we literally printed out hundreds of pages of the regulations
and we would read them and reread them, and then
we would create cliff notes. Once we made the cliff notes,
then we started holding classes. And the next thing, you know,
(12:16):
ten turned into twenty, turning the thirty, and these folks,
even the neighborhood councils, because we are also knew these
tax dollars were supposed to go into our inner city communities.
That was the other sales part, right. It wasn't just
about giving the licenses. It was that when we generate
these billions of dollars, now we're going to help fund
(12:37):
these underprivileged programs. So they weren't doing that, and that
became the next biggest effort as going into the neighborhood councils.
I would go to the block clubs and educate the
elders and tell them like, it's not just as life
getting licenses, y'all need to fight for these tax dollars.
And they became the coalition. I started Life Development and
(13:01):
we would organize buses to go down to these city
council meetings because you got to give public comment in
order to halk this, and we would create little scripts
and no cards, and we would consistently have twenty thirty
people that were rotating and out. Um it took me
two and a half years to even get to licensing.
(13:22):
So we turned our dispensary because you had to have
a property in order to apply. Another trip back. Twelve
thousand dollars a month was my rent on an empty building,
no business going in, but you had to have a
property in order to apply. So you know, fortunately I
had an investor early on that was vested that helped
(13:45):
fund me not working and fighting and whether it was
getting the buses or whatever was needed, because he knew
that that was the only way we were gonna win.
And so that allowed um us to educate the community
and actually created like grassroots obvious mum and so I
call our dispensary grill, our ex the house of people
built um because we would not be here if it
(14:09):
weren't for the fact that those people heard what I
was saying, took it on and became a part of
the force of nature that not just myself, but hundreds
of others were able to open their doors. Lead so
level headed and the completion go into the completion. We
we get a lot of big ideas and go, oh, yeah,
(14:30):
we're gonna do that. But then you realize how hard
it is. And then the first you know, seven people
turned into three, and then those three turned into one,
and then it's all over. You're starting all over again.
And then the legal ease of it all, like, oh,
if there's anything I hate to do, sit in front
of any kind of contract. Now you're talking legislation. Oh
(14:52):
my god. Wow. And and then the nuances, the changing
of of of words will change to the entire law.
Come on, I'd say, it's like the King James version
of the Bible, right, like they deliberately mix up words
to complicated for us. And look of these license holders
(15:12):
across the nation are white men. Yeah, and so I
I don't say that in any particular way other than
the truth of the matter. They say it as it is,
because it is what it is. Sorry, come on, No,
they have lobbyists, they hire attorneys and advisors that do
this part. You you said it early. I was like,
I did not come in I'm I am a serial entrepreneur.
(15:33):
I love business. I didn't come here to be a
politician or do policies or lobbying. And how much a
time it took out of where I should have been
using to build my business. Yeah, but it's it's the
weird kind of necessary tax that you have to pay
as a black entrepreneur where you just gotta you gotta
play all these roles. Yeah, we're in the music business
or in any other business, it's the same thing. It's
(15:54):
like you you sign up to sing songs, you end
up doing nine thousand other jobs just in order just
to kind of stay competitive and or to stay alive,
not even just competitive, but just to stay present. I
think it's just like it speaks to what it is.
But can I just say this, it needed and everybody
knows I'm not I'm not unique in this thought, but
(16:16):
it took a black woman to jump in there. I'm sorry,
it's just a fact. This, this is what really in
the end, of the day with people from miss is
the true kind of core of what feminism really is
all about and how Black women invented it, because the
idea around the empowerment of community based on need and
vulnerability is an understanding that at the core that black
(16:38):
women understand to the bone marrow. This is how we're
just wired. We're wired to understand the needs of many.
We are wired to understand that our success really doesn't
mean anything if everyone else around us is not able
to maintain and sustain in the same ways we're understanding this.
So it's like the idea of being a black woman
entrepreneur has to exist in this space. So I wanted
(17:00):
everybody to be really, really careful to listen to what
Kika is saying, because right now we have a lot
of misunderstanding around black excellence and generational wealth and a
lot of LLC talk. Let's make sure that we listen
to what she's saying. You cannot have You cannot be
entrepreneurial or business minded if you're not community minded. If
(17:21):
you are not mixing those two things together, if one
thing does not inform the other, then you're not making
any kind of systemic change. You are just simply making
dollars for yourself, and you simply making dollars for yourself
has nothing to do with the encouragement the empowerment of
the community that's going to come behind you. She said
(17:41):
specifically that this was about not being the first, but
opening up the doors for other people. That is a
key thing. Simply being the first doesn't mean that you
have done opened up a door being the first, just
being the first, you can be the first. You know,
capitalist billionaire who exploits people. Do you want to be that? No,
(18:04):
you don't. And understand that the attitude, this energy, and
this glow that you guys feel from Kika is funneled
through everybody around her, and that whole uh dispisensory all
those employees. When you walk in there, it is a
sense that they are empowered, they are happy, they are sister,
welcome to the store. You look beautiful. What is that?
(18:24):
It's just it's and and and that's to be said, Kika.
I'm wondering when you started at the Denny's, how this
has spread now, right, because I know that shout out
to Virgil who California Cannabis has about three locations, the
black owner, but can you talk about some of the
things that have come with this and that have been
built out of this collegature. Yeah, you know, from like
(18:45):
development beats from Social Equity Owners and Workers Association UM.
And I understood and saw UM from person after person
that just came in with ridiculous predatory contracts UM. And
the fact that we had to do with the city
and with the state, UM, that we needed to unionize
and really be a collective force UM. And so that's
(19:09):
where the lawsuits fawned from. Because the City of l A,
after three thousand dollars in debt foldiness property, they opened
up the licensing process finally for Social Equity about two
years later. It was supposed to be a first come,
first served, so the fastest person to upload your application
online the first one hundred, and they kind of like
(19:30):
a you know, some tickets, um, the ticketmaster, some sneakers
or something that's crazy. That's crazy now. But just going
back to them little things they know in the hood
for the people who qualify, we are the slowest internet services, right,
so all of those things they knew. We were going
(19:50):
down and telling them like these white folks are using
box in order to make sure that their people get
in early. And you know how God will work, happened
to be in the room with the person that got
in ten minutes early before the start time. And as
God will work it, I had organized about thirty people
(20:12):
were in the room that we were all looking at
the clock. I'm going to do our application at the
same time, and we have for screen record their applications.
So we actually had the video recording and personal government
ten minutes early. We so so when it came out
that we looked at the list and out of the hundred,
(20:36):
maybe nineteen were black, there was about thirty Armenians on there.
We didn't have no representation. I was like, oh no.
And so that's where the Social Equity Owners and Workers
Association really formed UM. As we organized if I have
a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, and you know,
we did, like Obama beginning campaigns where he's on one
(21:00):
in five dollar donations to hire a black attorney. UM
that represented us, and we filed that lawsuit against the
city of l A. They settled UM and we got
a hundred additional retail licenses for Equity and then that's
how I was able to open my doors and ninety
nine others. UM. And it has been that type of
(21:22):
work from taking that on the city council and stomping
on them. And I use some tactics that I've my
parents taught me when I was young, just reading about
our history, Like people said we couldn't do it, and
we were getting out with picket signs and organize and
folks around the clock. UM, and we wouldn't stop. Was
(21:42):
the key. UM that even if it were five or
ten of us, we wouldn't stop. We will be at
every meeting and press and press UM. And we've seen UM,
that's that's the only way, UM, that it will work.
And yeah, we've been pushed that way. We're here so
often that that is fantastic. And it just it just
(22:06):
shows everyone that that's listening, within listening ears what it
really takes. And when I say it, I'm talking about
any level of justice that you're looking for in this
particular place we're talking about. You know, people say, oh,
the marches doesn't they don't work, and the picketing doesn't work. Well,
(22:27):
it we're talking about longevity. It is it is that
UM refusing to to give up spirit. You know, it's
that I think what's been working in America is that
we get exhausted after a while. Yes, they count on that.
(22:47):
And then and then you found another business owners or
people that wanted to start businesses. Just just tell them
truth here. Sometimes even with an opportunity, you have people
that won't show up for it. How did you find
the people that were like, yes, I want to open
a business, Yes, here's my business plan. M How did
(23:08):
you find those people? Really that real grass suits energy,
like for real, we were at coffee shops and workforce
development centers and the hood, um. And it would start
with five people and then they would tell their other friends, UM.
And it was was just for real word of mouth
about people who really wanted it, right, Um. Everybody wanted
(23:31):
this opportunity. I remember early on, UM, they would have
ads on Facebook that would have yachts and you know,
uh Ferrari's and be like, don't you want to be
in the cannabis industry? Come sign up for the social
equity program um. And so you you have those folks
which were the biggest portion. Right So now when I
(23:52):
say that one hundred, maybe a good oney of them
where our folks, right, um? Because we just couldn't control that,
but you had so many more that we're going for that,
you know, and still go for it to this day
as these licenses continue, that are down to get that
ten thousand dollars a month and give away that generational
(24:15):
wealth because that is in the licenses, It is not
in selling, it is not in your monthly you know.
Going back to the long haul, you really, everything we
do as a people better be for our children's children.
It better be you know, I mean, we're not going
to ever see or feel it in our lifetime and
if we don't make those moves collectively. And so those
(24:36):
were the folks, Jill, that were harder to gather, the
ones that weren't willing to compromise um, the ones that
we're willing to stand and do the hard work and
be relentless about it. And those numbers were much smaller.
But those small numbers, once again, we never had hundreds
of people protesting, you know, I mean, it was the
(24:56):
consistency of having twenty or thirty people always show and
a lot of the times it was the same fifteen
and we rotated that other fifteen or twenty for the
folks that would only show up once or twice I
was jealous that I moved here after that. I was
seriously jealous. I was like, I wanted to be a
part of the progress I ever. I mean, I would
(25:17):
say this all the time when we're talking about like
school stuff, I'd be like, everyway, oh, parents don't involve.
I'm like, y'all, come on now, y'all know the PJ
is five parents. You know it's five. It's the same five.
It's the same fire to the rotate to the new five, right,
And it's like and and and I think a lot
of that also has to do with so you know,
(25:38):
um not to make excuses or anything like that, I
do think that black folks are tired and they are
you know, and they don't always have the time, the money,
the energy, the education. And that's one thing I just
really just sticks out for me, that's like sticking on
my heart is the education piece, because I think that's
(25:59):
what motivates be. People feel motivated when they have understood
the full grasp of what they're looking at and they
can actually see themselves as a part of it. It's
like if if they don't understand it, then it's just
just always ends up being a pipe dream. You know,
like it's just the thing that exists out there that
people say you can have, But then when you get there,
you're like, no, I don't actually see myself there because
(26:21):
people are counting on you feeling that way too, so
they can be isolated, yeah, isolated from the reality of things, right,
And this is one of the the one thing I think
that is really valuable about what you're saying. At least
what I'm getting from what you're saying, which is inspirational
for me, is that your parents are still the sense
of fighting you by you understanding knowing your history, your
(26:43):
history of your family, and the history of your culture.
And that's why that's super important because you can never
know what your child's life or what the children in
your community's life is going to be like in the future.
You don't know what business they're gonna get into. But
what you do know is that the value of what
your teaching them, the values that you share with them,
they're gonna take into those different industries. I'm sure your
(27:05):
parents are your parent there you're gonna be selling cannabis then,
But but the way that you're able to take what
they instilled in you and apply that out into the
world can only be making them proud, can only be
making them look at you in amazement and and and
and inspiration, because this is what our children do when
(27:25):
they know who they are. And we've had this conversation
down slow, they say that again, this is what you
can accomplish when you know who you are. When your
children know who they are, they can go out into
the world to take that into any room because they
will not believe the lie that somebody tells them. When
they get there, They're like, you lie, because that ain't
(27:48):
who I am. We just said this conversation before we
started recording. We're looking at the background, Um, we can
see this, so we'll we'll kind of explain it to you.
There's a fantaire stick hot pink wall behind Big Kika,
and there are her her family members. Everybody looks like
(28:08):
beautiful and strong. This is her shop, y'all. This is
how you feel that feeling you get overwhelmed when you
walk in. I'm literally I wish I could. I want
y'all to just come with me, because that's a dispensary.
I'm not supposed to get them overwhelmed by you know
what I'm saying, But you are In the beginning of
our conversation today, I was telling ya I was reading
(28:30):
a collection of essays by Zora new Hurston, and in
the introduction it talks about the black of study. And
that's what it's so important, is to get into understanding
our state of being. Our state of being is what
we take with us everywhere that we go. And so yes,
it is important for you to walk into us dispensary
and feel that. But I didn't know how does she
knowtic that's important that that becomes the standard to which
(28:54):
you enjoy and an enter into the way. Yes, man,
look at all of our spaces, look at all of
our spaces. We have our ancestors on the wall. You know,
we're like minded people in that way. And I know
for certain when there is a legacy involved, legacy, yes,
but when you also likely just say, when you know
(29:14):
who you are, it matters that much more. It matters
that you're what you're doing and how you're presenting, and
it matters that much more to you, So you fight
for it a little harder. If not, I'm next to
the table my mom, not next to my wall. I'm
next to my bedside table. So we're gonna take a
(29:39):
quick break and then we'll be right back. Can you
please talk about the inside of your store, and not
just the aesthetic, but also I told the girls, I
was like, I'm collecting pins thanks to your store of
(29:59):
me and the loan Grace Jones, and and you also
have a chest in there just just just high like
brown and black cannabis owning it. I just can you
talk about what once you got in, how you was
gonna make it look like, Yeah, that's so funny that
y'all are talking about my grandparents because Nanda and my
grandmother behind me Um in her house, she used to
(30:23):
keep the Christmas tree up to least June, as long
as it wasn't getting better. We would have to keep
on filling up the water and literally even in the daytime,
have these colorful lights on her tree. And then after
June she would have us take a little fake plant
and put the Christmas tree lights around it. And people
will come into her house, our friends, and be like, oh, no,
(30:46):
what it is your grandmother's house. I just feel good
love if I don't know what the feeling is. So
I was very deliberate when you go in with these
color choices, Um and the color blocking are bright colors
like her Christmas tree lights. Um. We even have the
crafted on Crunshall with the with the neon lights behind it,
(31:07):
UM to really accentuate this brightness the yellow wall. So
I also speaking about the black aesthetic and black women,
had a black woman designer designed the space, UM, Joscelyn
Joy Um. And so all of those things were very intentional. UM.
The dispensaries on Crenshaw Boulevard and it is right at
(31:29):
the bottom of Baldwin Hills Windsor Hills, which is the
largest UM Black a community as far as income and
wealth in the United States, but very rarely do those
folks come down the hill to Crenshaw. Even that in
the design, in the intent. UM. So I'm so glad
(31:53):
you feel that. When I was sitting with Joscelyn day
after day, I was like, but it has to feel
so that the grandma's aunties up the hill will come
down here. Um. And so that was always the intent
for our people and the inner generational mix that we
were really purpose from having my product and whole foods
(32:15):
and health food stores and not just being the name
is Gorilla Aurex wellness code right um And It is
really based my parents. We were vegetarians in the seventies.
Of course, um when I when it wasn't popular. Um,
and so that's just my whole being and what I
wanted to give to the community. So even in the
design a party that was I wanted to feel like
(32:38):
you're going into Whole Foods or G n C vitamin section, right,
and so unlike stores that are typical like Apple stores,
they kind of set of dispensaries nowadays are really ster
white and glass boxes. We put most of our inventory
is on the floor and it's stopped like a grocery store. Um,
so when you're walking in, you don't feel that inhibition
(33:01):
about asking your met at the door by a product specialist.
You have your own personal shopper that walks you through
the whole store. We have the Black Tender. Yeah yeah, sorry,
but a tender. We have the largest selection of black
owned brands and women owned brands in the state of California. Um,
we're very deliberate. I remember one time and Whole Foods,
(33:23):
we became really friends with the receiver, brought him a
Guerrilla Life hoodie and he moved naked juices out of
the section and put our Gorilla Life drinks on that
prime shell space. And it was at that point that
I understood a that you could do that but be
the even thought process of where products are stored in house.
So you have these stores will be like, oh yeah,
(33:45):
well we carry black brands, but they're over in the corner.
We deliberately put the whole you bar in the front
to be black owned brands where it's the first thing
you see. They don't have to pay for, no shelving
space on do nothing extra. We move brand to put
them in the place. Um. And that has been our commitment. Um,
like you were saying, we highlight reparations, book club, it's
(34:07):
a Black Woman On book club in the community. Um.
Instead of just having all cannabis things, we got the
books on the shelves as a part of the displays
so people ask where you can buy it and go
down the street. Um. We did the Black Book to
highlight the black businesses. Swift Cafe on the black another
Black Woman on Cafe. So when people come, we become
(34:27):
like a destination point where close X. When you come in,
don't just come to my business and then go over
to the wood, go down the street and get you
some money. Check out Lamar Park while you're there inside.
Cool cool, come on that. It was our intent, um
and the model very intentionally, not just a design to
attract people and have something very high end in our community. UM,
(34:51):
but to put that stake in the ground. Because they
just opened to train stations. We know what happens and
across the country the game is happening around. We want
to re gentrify and show black folks how we do
it and have them come, come on, come and open
(35:12):
up stores on the block and get the properties in
our community and and create that energy and be a
model for how we should be existing in this day
and age and not talking about I remember back in
the damn day and people would talk about we. They
would just be like, Oh, that's for them, stole us.
You know, that's he's a that's the pothead. You know,
(35:32):
they're not gonna they're gonna achieve anything in life. You know,
ever achieve anything in life? And I recall the first
time that I had marijuana, and all I remember doing
was laughing. I laughed so much that I laughed till
I had to take a nap. It was wonderful, laugh
(35:53):
till tears, just just laughed and I don't you know,
I can't really remember like what was making me laugh
like that or allowing me to be so free that
I just couldn't help a giggle all over. What was
that moment when you knew that marijuana was beneficial not
only for you but for the people. Uh, I was
(36:16):
blessed once again. My dad UM study Rastafarian principles. So
it was in my house whole growing up, and it
was always such a very spiritual and intellectual connection. When
(36:36):
I would see them smoking, right, they would be at
the round tables like some war rooms in the house,
and my dad would have groups of people in there
having all kinds of conversations and teachings. And that was
you know, like in the native community. Um, that peace play.
But it was something that just generated for me. What
I witnessed, um, just such greatness uh and joy. Then
(37:01):
they were sitting around laughing and talking after that. And
so my relationship, my mom calls it holy um my
my relationship with it, and I have three children. Their
relationship with it, UM is you know, very spiritual and um,
like you're saying, jealous sense of joy. And so I
(37:22):
I never had those stigmas, and that has been a
part of my quest is to fight those because I
know how we use it, um, you know, not just
uh smoking in it, but for the topical purposes. I
know when I give it to folks that you know,
I've been on chemotherapy and talking about my mom doesn't
have an appetite, she can't eat, you know. I know,
(37:44):
for folks that are suffering from PTSD and depression and
anxiety that come into store just like mad but as
soon as they get that bag in their hand, you
could feel that weight um lift off of them. Um.
And so I've always seen it as very transformative. And
I'm always pretty I guess raised pretty culture. I've never
(38:04):
fell into those stigmas um ever in life about weed
maybe trying to say candidates, that's a word. It's about
so many things that when you don't have the stigma,
the biases and the opinions don't affect you because you
don't have it. Don't have it. But that's political too,
(38:25):
and and that says a lot about out of the
box parenting also because I think a lot of times
we talk about parenting, and we've talked about it on
this show. All of us have experienced this from a
lot of places. Is that people you've got to parent
this certain kind of way. And it's like, look at
what happens to your young people when you don't instill
(38:47):
shame around certain things, when you're not afraid to allow
them to understand and see what it takes to do
what it is you're asking them to do. You cannot
raise revolution areas if you're not revolutionary and you're sinking
and then you're doing. You have to say you have
to do so that then they will say and do
(39:10):
and it's second nature. I just my god today, the
first time I smoke with my grandmother and my father,
it's life changing. That that moment, that breakdown of a law.
I'm just saying, it's it's life. It's life changing. Okay,
Well I was also gonna say too, don't forget. There
was a documentary And it's funny because me and Virgil
have debated over this documentary, The Grass is Greener that
(39:31):
Fat Fire Freddy did, And it's funny that we put
stigmas on things because at the end of the day,
Agea that stigma just comes from one of your favorite phrases,
white supremacy, because based on based on the history of
marijuana and it being you know, kind of associated with
black and brown people. That's all of a sudden, it's
associated with us, So it's bad. And so we take
(39:54):
on that because whatever the white man say, say, it's
the law. And so now we tell a lot of
our kids and stuff that's bad. That's this, that's that.
But that's crazy right when you think about it, it's
it always brought joy. But because it brought joy initially
the brown and black people first, that's a problem. Look.
I came home that night after after having the trees
with my girlfriend. I came home that night. My mother
(40:15):
said she caught me in the living room. She said, UM,
don't mind job. I'm in college at this time. And
she's like, uh, you've been smoking that reefer And I
was like, yeah, just giddy. You were smoking at reefer?
I said yeah. She said, I'm just so disappointed. Do
(40:37):
you understand what this is. It's a gateway drug. It
opens the door for other drugs, you know, commercials, all
the things. And she said that propaganda and I was like, mom, un,
let's just say I'm I was twenty at the time.
I said, Mom, they have I been to jail. She's
like no. I was like, uh, you know, do I
(40:58):
do I have? Um, they don't don't have a lot
of kids running around. She was like, no, that wouldn't
be so bad. I said, but it would right now
because I had the money. But from simple um, you know, well,
am I in trouble in any way? And am I
in school? She was like yeah. I was like, am
I doing well in school? She was like yeah. I
(41:20):
was like, you might going to leave me alone about
this one. Well, I'm not. I'm not harming anyone at all,
m M. And I felt like it was such a
benefit because I had been really stressed out working two jobs,
going to school. And this one night my girlfriend had,
as my mother would say, a dubie and you just
(41:43):
melted in that. And I do bead and the first
time ever been uh experience in cannabis. Wasn't smoking it.
My mother made some brownies and yeah, we was cooking
things giving dinner. So good. My mom made these brownties
(42:06):
and we was was cooking Thanksgiving. There's one of the
first times we had like a really quiet Thanksgiving. It
was just me and her at the time. My sister, no, no, no,
my sister was uh boyfriend fiance energy, she was gonne,
So it was just me and Big Suit, Big Geek,
Big Suit. Ya got you gotta get to do Big Suit.
(42:26):
You had to watch something. You gotta listen to some
of these old episodes. But I was like, you know,
so we she made these brownies. We've turned on she
turned on the music, and all I remember was how
good the music sounded, and um, you know, and we
cooked that whole meal and it was just like it
was just such a cool experience for me because my mom.
(42:49):
I grew up in the household too of both parents
who smoked, but we just never saw it. It's so
funny that they talked about things corrupting kids and both
my parents moved. I had never seen them smoke before
I knew they did, but it just wasn't like a
thing I ever saw, really. But it's just funny that
it wasn't even something that I had went to doing
my own. But you know, I'm glad to see the
(43:11):
statement kind of getting away and us getting more education
about it. I know we're still in many of the
states and in the United States, still on the fence
around legalities and what what state is legal here, not
legal or what's the vibes here? And I do know
that young people are smoking a lot earlier, and so
we're trying to get our young people to navigate what
that means for them legally so that they don't get
(43:33):
caught in between the gap. You know, one of the
conversations that I'm having with my young folks is helping
them to understand the state they live in, having them
understand a lot of these That's that's why the diligence
is important. That deminized what's not decriminalized. So I think
it's important that we stay diligent no matter what we're doing,
(43:54):
knowing that, yes, this work is being done, but there's
so much more work to do. So we have to
keep our our young people informed that they have all
the proper education, specifically around legally, because we don't want
them to get so relaxed that they get out there
and get caught out there and we have to deal
with a different type of legal situation. I would go
with that for the whole gamut, for all the things.
(44:16):
When we're talking about sex, give them all the information,
you know, we're talking about drugs or I don't even
like to call weed the drug. I just think that's unfair.
I don't know, friends, help me out with that one.
Is we to drug? Yeah, I got a new way
of thinking for you. Prevention and education on cannabis. We
(44:39):
need to be teaching them about the business because if
you start looking at it more about the business opportunities,
you start to lose the even time or the necessity
for recreationally sitting around and using your time getting high. Um.
And when I say the business, it's just not the licenses.
Ancillary side is so transfer horrible. Whether you're an electrician,
(45:02):
whether you're a carpenter, whether you're in marketing, whether you're
an accountant, lawyer. If you go into the niche of
cannabis for any of those things, you know how many
facilities have to be built right now that you need
to know the right lighting for cultivation. If you just
learn that one thing, you can take that. You know
how many people are looking for skilled people in that area.
(45:23):
Even in the workforce, Cannabis is the fastest growing workforce
across the country, more than nurses, more than a m t,
more than electricians. Um. The fastest growing industry. Right. And
so I would say to those young people early on,
start and start investing your time reading and getting a
part of and figuring out how you're about to gain
(45:44):
this damn system and be a part of the industry.
Because I promise you the reason why I fight fight
so hard is because I know that I'm a part
of being what's going to be in the history books
and all realness of this. This is a brand new
industry in the mirror of London. Come down and visit
our dispensary and he didn't trip. Yeah, about three or
(46:05):
four months ago, UM and he visited about five licensed
facilities across the country. They selected Artist in Los Angeles.
That's the only dispensary that he visited to be able
to have an understanding of what this would look like
to legalize UM in London. Because people don't think about
global legalization and how where we are in a sense
of global legalization and the brand newness of this industry y'all.
(46:27):
So when we learn these regulations or we understand and
we started just participating, Listen, you don't even gotta do
a lot of stuff, but just start being engaged, because
you'll hear the opportunities of where you can be business planning.
You'll hear the opportunities where you can go. It's crazy.
That's the reason why fights are That's the reason why
I stay in this because I do know what will
(46:48):
happen twenty or fifty years from now, in this moment
in time. And so for all the black people, specifically
black people, you know, great for everybody, but black people
the most we got the we We've been the most incarcerated.
We've been the most disproportionately arrested. We've been the most
to lose our lives. We have the highest number of
(47:08):
children in foster care because of the War on drugs.
It is our obligation to be involved. It is our
obligation to spread the word that these tax dollars, these
licenses and our skill set be used and co opted
and work together. And you've gotta have a team. I'm
a year and four months and I got forty seven
employees right, come from my community. Um, and so the
(47:33):
opportunities that are there, um, we're working. Actually, we just
acquired the building next door to us to open up
a mock training for detail the Guerrilla University, liking it
to McDonald's University. And this is also a performerly incarcerated,
right is that what I read? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
like creating that halfway. Look, we know the same These
(47:57):
walls are new and that's how they're based in the
whole industry, right, So cultivation you need a skill set, right,
so not all everything else our learning and it's the
rules and regulations, UM. And so I just continue to
encourage all of us that wouldn't think twice about it
just to understand how we can work cooperatively. And it
(48:19):
will take a collective unit of us to do it
because it is expensive to get in um. But that's
you know, that's an easy battle, UM if we work together.
And so that that's really critical, y'all. More conversation after
the break. Can you at least give us like three
(48:50):
either organizations or uh pages that we should be following
to be a part of the solutions, to be a
part of the like all all the things. Yes, Cannabis
dot l a city dot org um. That's the City
of Los Angeles, Cannabis Department, UM, Cannabis dot l A
(49:11):
city dot org um. And when you click around and
you go into the regulations, there's a social equity report
that was written. UM. Find that social equity report and
read it, and it tells it does a great job
of concisely saying why we're here, the methodology of why
social equity should be created based on these disproportion and
(49:33):
arrest And when I say that, break it down, l
A is eight percent black folks, but we represented of
the arrest right, so I want to say disproportionate um.
But then it also tells you all of the components,
tells you the cost of starting up these businesses. It
tells you the pieces that are necessary in every community
(49:53):
if we want to start or actually press our city
folks to have these sort of laws and regulations and play.
To me, it's like the Bible of House should have
been executed and l A did the complete opposite of
everything that was in that three hundred thousand dollar report.
But to me, that's a great way, a simple way
for us just start grasping what it is. If l
(50:14):
A did it wrong, I'm it sounds unhopeful for the
other states too, are so far behind. But I think
what she's saying is that if you look at what
that framework is, it's a good place to start as
advocate in your particular city or states that even though
they didn't actually do it. The place is good is
good and obviously every state has different laws and those
(50:35):
things have been considered. Definitely, shout out to all the
people that are in school currently or working in agriculture.
That's that's a big one. Yeah, that's yeah, shout out
to I just want to shoutut to Tara mart and
one of the sisters that was and then the fight
to help lobby for Jersey and other states to become
recreational because we are in there, y'all, but we know
(50:57):
we can see the sisters. We gotta say their name
like because nobody else now we do it and recognize
too that it will open up federally sooner than later. UM.
And it doesn't take a lot of us, but there's
a few of us in each one of these places.
When it when we're allowed to have interstate commerce, our
(51:17):
ability to connect and work together. UM, it's how we
create this ecosystem of the supply chain within amongst ourselves
and that's why we continue to educate UM on SULB
Life Development Group dot org is our website and we
just I'd just like to be a resource y'all come
through to the expensary tap in anything that I can
(51:39):
share once again and be in the first it was
to be able to have the blueprint to then say okay, y'all,
this is how I did. We just want to continue
to support you beyond just coming to the store too.
So and that's a lot of all of our black businesses, like, yeah,
we support by coming to the store, but there's other
ways to support. We need to know. Yeah, I love
the fact that we that that you circle back to business,
(52:00):
you circle back to the community, You circle back to
these things and move away from the individual and remind
us of what's necessary for us to do moving forward.
I just really admire you in every way. I didn't
know you prior to this interview, and I feel blessed
and grateful and honored to have gotten to hear what
you had to say today. Truthfully, it's such a good reminder.
(52:20):
It's a good reminder because I think in this kind
of capitalist society, we can really get really down about
the possibility. Is what it looks like to be successful?
What does it look like to be in business? What
does it look like to grow community? Is it possible
to do both? To get yourself a little bag? But
at the same time, and I needed to hear this
(52:42):
from you today because this has given me a different
kind of you know, you know, battery in my bag
around what it can look like. And I just encourage
everybody to continue to use your imagination because I think
what happens is that that imagination gets stifled. You can't
see that a thing is possible. You just you convince
(53:03):
yourself it's just not gonna happen. So I just am
grateful for you today. I really am grateful. I'm grateful
for your ancestors. I speak their names without knowing them,
and I just for them. They didn't think child, they
did a thing, come on good things, and you just
(53:25):
touched on something that I believe is the core of
how I move. And what I've seen is this is
the fourth business that I've started UM, but this is
the one where it was always about. After Sweet Strings
UM and losing my my music academy, it was always
about let me go make this money and then I
can go give back. And I had to take a
(53:46):
different approach UM because it wouldn't work with just me
being here standing. The loan is that let me give
back while I'm building, And every time I stay centered
on that, the universe opens just oraculous stores. Um. That
is not anything about my work, UM, And I would
say and challenge us all to be able to figure
(54:08):
that out and to challenge ourselves to not wait, um
for to give back, but figure out for the work
that we do how it can align. Like I said,
I had to write the cliff notes for myself, So
then why am I not sharing the cliff notes at
the same at the same time that I'm learning it.
What we often do is wait until we have covered everything, well,
give you a tidbit and worried about them someone else
(54:31):
that I'm giving that to compete and knock me out, um.
But it really is important. And I think the other
side of that is my mission has always been the
finest for profit that funds my nonprofit. And I came
to Cannabis because I intend on open and up sweet
strings again in our music academy, UM for the kids.
And so that is really what motivates me when I
(54:52):
want to sit down and and get tired. UM, it's
that this has to work, um, because we have to
be able to ren us and funding things that really
make a difference for our children. Our hearts are full,
proud of my neighborhood. Man, if you might do me
the honors of allowing me to read the mission. All right,
(55:13):
this is the mission for Guerrilla our X Wellness. Correct. Yes,
we are the physical manifestation of black feminine resilience, power,
and creativity. We are the advocates for those fundamentally oppressed
by America's unjust criminal justice system. We are the future
(55:33):
legacy of healers, hustlers, and history makers, diligently honoring the
strong women who came before us. We are the promise
of a brighter, more equitable future in South central l A.
And might I add myself the world y'all, y'all take care, blessings, y'all, blessing.
(55:57):
I mean, that's all I got. That's really it. Our are.
They've been educated in so many ways. Please remember um
to rewind this and play back and slow down and
take the cliff notes. Take the cliff notes. None of
us here at j dot ill know everything, but we're
learning as we grow, and it is a pleasure to
(56:19):
share anything that we're learning with you. Thank you so
much all for listening. Face. How do you eat an elephant?
One by it? Kind? Hello, listeners, it's amber Your fearless
producer here. We have been so excited to get this
episode to you. Black women really do get us hire
(56:42):
to learn more about Gorilla are X and all the
amazing things that they are doing in the community and
all the incredible products they provide. Check out their website
Gorilla r X Wellness dot com. The site is literally
as beautiful as the store that, like you described, he
got also left us with some incredible resources in this episode.
(57:04):
I'll drop links to those sites and the show notes,
and if you want to learn more about cannabis and spirituality,
I'll leave a link that explains how Rastafarians use the
herb for spiritual connection. Hi. If you have comments on
(57:29):
something he said in this episode called eight six six
Hey Jill, if you want to add to this conversation,
that's eight six six four nine five four five by
don't forget to tell us your name and the episode
you're referring to. You might just hear your message on
a future episode. Thank you for listening to Jill Scott
(57:50):
Presents Jay dot Ill the podcast. Yes, Karema, I'm sorry
distracted my whole show. Mommy. When you walk by, you
just dracted the whole show. MoMA just walked up and
her apps were giving what needed to be gave. Yes, Dama, Yes,
(58:13):
I'm sorry, y'all for those who are listening, Laya's mom
is that work. She's amazing. We want to give it
up to Big Koree, but she came through there and
showed us her app work and it was fantastic, fantastic.
J dot Ill is a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
(58:37):
your favorite shows.
Welcome to JA dot M, a production of I Heart Radio.
What's Up? Everybody? Welcome, Welcome to j dot Itill Podcast.
This is Jill Scott and I'm here with my sister friends,
Agent Graydon, Dan's lie. That's myself. Hello, everyone, high and lies,
(00:27):
ain't Claire? I felt all that stretched? Jill felt. I
felt it. I know it's it's the episode. Let's let's go.
Been the weight Okay, I'm not gonna make your weight anymore.
I was. I was about to zero whole story, but
I'll tell you later. Well, welcome everybody. Um, we have
(00:50):
an incredible guest here today. Her name is Kika Keith.
I love your name for Kika. Yeah, it got attitude,
It's got fuck yeah, Kika Keith, please like it if
you be so kindness to share these accolades and this lovely,
lovely young woman. I just first have to share a
(01:12):
story because I understand that I live in Los Angeles right,
it is not a majority black place. And when I
lived in Hollywood, the one reason that I was scared
to leave is because I had a black dispensary, a
black owned dispensary. This is not something you hear a lot. Period.
Better yet in Los Angeles. So when I moved to
the Mert Park and I cold walked down the street
(01:34):
because I passed by a dispensary that had a big
gorilla on the top of it. What it looks like colors.
I was like, well, all right, let me just stop
and see what they got. I walked in. It was
the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And I'm
talking about the colors. Never I've been in a lot
of dispensaries, Yes, I'm telling my truth. I've been in
a lot of dispensaries, but the color, the friendship, the
(01:57):
feeling of culture, I'm talking about a dispens three all.
When I walked in, it changed my life so much
that every time I have somebody that comes out of town,
I'm like, let's walk up the street and let's go. Well,
it just so happens. On one particular day, I bring
my godmother, Diana William who has been a guest on
this show. I said, let's go to the dispensary. I'm
about to blow your mind. We walk in and we
see a familiar face named Marco Barrio, who happened to
(02:20):
be the manager of the other black dispensary. That I
had moved from in Hollywood, and he goes on to
tell me the story of the owner of this place
and the story of the struggle of how this place
came into fruition in this neighborhood. People thought to make
this happen, to make the dispensary here. There's a video
when you walk in, it gives you the short of
(02:41):
the story and the celebration with your priests and precesses
about how they made this happen. And so Marco walks
us to the office to introduce us to the woman
who has founded this lovely space with her mural on
the wall outside of the seven eleventh. I'm sorry, and
her name is Big Kika, Big chikas presence. She's not
just an entrepree nor she's an activist. She has been
(03:01):
in this community for a long time doing amazing things,
and now she has bought all kinds of peace to
the community. Ladies and gentlemen, not just kicker Keith, big kickup.
I'm gonna I'm gonna keep my thoughts to my listen.
It's the big for me. It's the big for me
(03:22):
that that tells me all the things I need to know.
You should have. You should have lived with that. So
I should have said that. When Jill and Asia displayed
that they want and Amber said that they wanted to
do a show about cannabis, weed, whatever you want to
call it, I said, I have the person. I don't
know her, but I'm gonna get her here and here
she is and here she is. Round of applause. Here,
(03:45):
thank you being here. Wow, you you own the first
black owned dispensary. I mean I would assume it's the
first woman, female owned, black woman owned dispensary. Damn. Yeah,
and it is. You were hard to paint huh yeah,
very intentionally, and it is the first black woman on. Um.
(04:06):
There are some pioneers black men that came before before me. Um.
But yes, um, you know that was a part of
the mission, not to be the first, but to knock
the doors down. Come on. Yeah, yes, So can you
talk about this? Can you talk about this story when
you walk into when you walk into your shop, and
(04:27):
you do see this video, A lot of people weren't there.
They don't know the story of your struggle and how
you got into even this world. Can you just break
that down for us a little bit. Yeah, you know,
I always like to go back to my roots. UM,
because it was my parents and their profound love for
black people in black history and black culture that they
(04:48):
just ingrained in me since birth. UM. And so when
I learned about the opportunity for recreation of cannabis in
Los Angeles, I was like, wait a minute, there's actually
laws in the book that will benefit black and brown
people who suffered the devastation from the War on drugs.
And I was born in Pennsylvania but raised in Los Angeles,
(05:10):
and UM, you know, I witnessed that, UM in South
central l A. Witnessed the fact that I had to
take my daughter to ten different schools because the schools
in my community, UM, we're not adequate. And we know
where all that stems from. And so when I learned
about the opportunity to get a license, UM, it really
was to be more about more than just myself, to
(05:33):
help as many of us get through and cross the
finish line. I had a beverage company prior to entering
into UM the cannabis based guerrilla life, and UM, I
know how hard it was. I had my own manufacturing facility,
my own distribution. I had three refrigerator vehicles we take
the Whole Foods and Gelson's and Bristol Farms, and I
(05:53):
knew how many years it took me that we will
work at one o'clock in the morning to make sure
health inspector didn't come in because I didn't know ship
about running no equipment and not doing it compliantly, coming
from making it in the kitchen to then being at
a facility. And I knew when I heard about this
and the opportunity for our people to be a part
(06:14):
of the industry, that the way they set it up
was designed to fail, and that I had to prepare
to fight. And I figured, I'm fighting for my ancestors
that couldn't be a part of the cotton industry, tobacco, alcohol,
you name it, up to the tech industry, um. Everything
they've kept us out of it. And this was the
first time that there were actually laws on the book
to give us priority with licensing. If you came from
(06:36):
inner city communities that were disproportionately affected by cannabis arrest,
if you had a cannabis arrest or conviction, if you
were low income, those were the qualifiers to be a
part of priority licensing UM. And so I knew it
was gonna be a fight. I didn't know it was
gonna be this kind of fight. I went an active
on whole food Shells in two thousand seventeen thinking that
(06:59):
it would eight nine months because they were opening up
in in uh two thousand and eighteen, And it literally
took us three years and the lawsuit against the City
of Los Angeles to be able to open our doors. Wow,
even with the legislation that was on the books that
was supposed to make it easier for you. Because I
don't want to be clear on that, because I think
(07:20):
a lot of times we think, oh, some laws have
been passed, a program exists or such and such as
already on the books. How come people aren't taking advantage
because there's still going to be some you know, some
things in our way, some things we have to move around,
and some tenacity necessary, and I'm sure also a massive financial,
(07:42):
you know, burden, because we're talking about our lawyers are
not free, court costs are not free, and obviously the
licensing itself is not free, because I you know, and
please educate me, because I think the last that I
heard is that even the license itself is very expensive,
that it's a it's a huge financial undertaking, and so
(08:04):
you know that in a lot of ways, that can
leave a lot of our entrepreneurs out of the running
from the gate. So was there any kind of anything
on the books around like financial help or been selling
weed for years and Kent and camp so we like
for years? How does that work? A My dad calls
it the trojan horse. They had to get voters to
(08:27):
vote it in, and so the platform was always around,
we're gonna write the governor of California here the same
thing in New York Chicago. We're gonna right the wrong
of the war on drugs, and we're gonna prioritize this community.
Yet they don't set up education and training. They're not
teaching compliance and regulation. There is no access to capital,
They have no oversight over these predatory agreements we call
(08:50):
them share proper agreements, where these white folks were coming
into the hood and looking for people that had cannabis
convictions and arrest and making them a strong man and
enticing them. I had a mom one time come to
me and say, listen, can you talk to my son.
She was like, he works at foot locker and he's
not understanding him signing a way for seven thousand dollars
(09:10):
a month. It's pennies on the dollar. I'm saying some
dispensaries make that in the first half of their day. Um.
And so it was very obvious, which is why I
had to end up really standing in the position that
I did. How much of a political game this was.
And it was really about once they pass that law,
every single month, changing little words in the law to
(09:32):
make sure that we couldn't get in, just to say
that they gave us an opportunity. Um. And you know
that has been the fight, and and that is you
know where the real work to this day, right New
York is just opening be just open their first dispensary.
But if you look at it, um, it's a way
to eradicate they're they're mad all these years not being
(09:53):
able to get the money our brothers and sisters are
making on the streets. Right. So once you legalize it,
then you're able to enforce it. And so that has
become the game. In l A, they had ten million
dollars allocator for education and funding um. But as soon
as they started it, before they opened up the social
equity program, they moved those funds to enforcement because those
(10:15):
existing marijuana dispensaries which were in l A. A hundred
and eighty seven only three were black. Um. And then
as soon as it was time for the social equity program,
all those white folks that got all this money and
they lobbying, they go onto the politicians and they're like, wait, wait, wait,
don't open more licenses for social equity. First you need
to enforce and shut down the other illegal ones. Where
(10:38):
are those that you know, people still in our neighborhoods?
And um, that has become the vicious game that every
day we're trying to dismantle. Um what what they've set up?
More real talk after the break, to have to be
(11:08):
aware of not only your own business practices, but also
keeping abreast of all the changes that are happening at
a legal and a in a in a political level.
That sounds like an extreme amount of diligence. It seems
like a lot to kind of constantly be aware of.
You have to be so hyper aware. What are some
(11:31):
of the kinds of like the coalition, right, Like I
have a coalition? Yeah, what are the things you have
in place that are like helping you? What are your supports?
What are the things you have that are helping you
to stay on top of all of that. She's um
the community. Um. When I, like I said, when I
realized that early on, we started having classes in coffee
(11:53):
shops in the part you know where we were literally
members Street Franklin and we were good out a Dandy's
on Crunshaw at midnight after the kids were asleep, and
we literally printed out hundreds of pages of the regulations
and we would read them and reread them, and then
we would create cliff notes. Once we made the cliff notes,
then we started holding classes. And the next thing, you know,
(12:16):
ten turned into twenty, turning the thirty, and these folks,
even the neighborhood councils, because we are also knew these
tax dollars were supposed to go into our inner city communities.
That was the other sales part, right. It wasn't just
about giving the licenses. It was that when we generate
these billions of dollars, now we're going to help fund
(12:37):
these underprivileged programs. So they weren't doing that, and that
became the next biggest effort as going into the neighborhood councils.
I would go to the block clubs and educate the
elders and tell them like, it's not just as life
getting licenses, y'all need to fight for these tax dollars.
And they became the coalition. I started Life Development and
(13:01):
we would organize buses to go down to these city
council meetings because you got to give public comment in
order to halk this, and we would create little scripts
and no cards, and we would consistently have twenty thirty
people that were rotating and out. Um it took me
two and a half years to even get to licensing.
(13:22):
So we turned our dispensary because you had to have
a property in order to apply. Another trip back. Twelve
thousand dollars a month was my rent on an empty building,
no business going in, but you had to have a
property in order to apply. So you know, fortunately I
had an investor early on that was vested that helped
(13:45):
fund me not working and fighting and whether it was
getting the buses or whatever was needed, because he knew
that that was the only way we were gonna win.
And so that allowed um us to educate the community
and actually created like grassroots obvious mum and so I
call our dispensary grill, our ex the house of people
built um because we would not be here if it
(14:09):
weren't for the fact that those people heard what I
was saying, took it on and became a part of
the force of nature that not just myself, but hundreds
of others were able to open their doors. Lead so
level headed and the completion go into the completion. We
we get a lot of big ideas and go, oh, yeah,
(14:30):
we're gonna do that. But then you realize how hard
it is. And then the first you know, seven people
turned into three, and then those three turned into one,
and then it's all over. You're starting all over again.
And then the legal ease of it all, like, oh,
if there's anything I hate to do, sit in front
of any kind of contract. Now you're talking legislation. Oh
(14:52):
my god. Wow. And and then the nuances, the changing
of of of words will change to the entire law.
Come on, I'd say, it's like the King James version
of the Bible, right, like they deliberately mix up words
to complicated for us. And look of these license holders
(15:12):
across the nation are white men. Yeah, and so I
I don't say that in any particular way other than
the truth of the matter. They say it as it is,
because it is what it is. Sorry, come on, No,
they have lobbyists, they hire attorneys and advisors that do
this part. You you said it early. I was like,
I did not come in I'm I am a serial entrepreneur.
(15:33):
I love business. I didn't come here to be a
politician or do policies or lobbying. And how much a
time it took out of where I should have been
using to build my business. Yeah, but it's it's the
weird kind of necessary tax that you have to pay
as a black entrepreneur where you just gotta you gotta
play all these roles. Yeah, we're in the music business
or in any other business, it's the same thing. It's
(15:54):
like you you sign up to sing songs, you end
up doing nine thousand other jobs just in order just
to kind of stay competitive and or to stay alive,
not even just competitive, but just to stay present. I
think it's just like it speaks to what it is.
But can I just say this, it needed and everybody
knows I'm not I'm not unique in this thought, but
(16:16):
it took a black woman to jump in there. I'm sorry,
it's just a fact. This, this is what really in
the end, of the day with people from miss is
the true kind of core of what feminism really is
all about and how Black women invented it, because the
idea around the empowerment of community based on need and
vulnerability is an understanding that at the core that black
(16:38):
women understand to the bone marrow. This is how we're
just wired. We're wired to understand the needs of many.
We are wired to understand that our success really doesn't
mean anything if everyone else around us is not able
to maintain and sustain in the same ways we're understanding this.
So it's like the idea of being a black woman
entrepreneur has to exist in this space. So I wanted
(17:00):
everybody to be really, really careful to listen to what
Kika is saying, because right now we have a lot
of misunderstanding around black excellence and generational wealth and a
lot of LLC talk. Let's make sure that we listen
to what she's saying. You cannot have You cannot be
entrepreneurial or business minded if you're not community minded. If
(17:21):
you are not mixing those two things together, if one
thing does not inform the other, then you're not making
any kind of systemic change. You are just simply making
dollars for yourself, and you simply making dollars for yourself
has nothing to do with the encouragement the empowerment of
the community that's going to come behind you. She said
(17:41):
specifically that this was about not being the first, but
opening up the doors for other people. That is a
key thing. Simply being the first doesn't mean that you
have done opened up a door being the first, just
being the first, you can be the first. You know,
capitalist billionaire who exploits people. Do you want to be that? No,
(18:04):
you don't. And understand that the attitude, this energy, and
this glow that you guys feel from Kika is funneled
through everybody around her, and that whole uh dispisensory all
those employees. When you walk in there, it is a
sense that they are empowered, they are happy, they are sister,
welcome to the store. You look beautiful. What is that?
(18:24):
It's just it's and and and that's to be said, Kika.
I'm wondering when you started at the Denny's, how this
has spread now, right, because I know that shout out
to Virgil who California Cannabis has about three locations, the
black owner, but can you talk about some of the
things that have come with this and that have been
built out of this collegature. Yeah, you know, from like
(18:45):
development beats from Social Equity Owners and Workers Association UM.
And I understood and saw UM from person after person
that just came in with ridiculous predatory contracts UM. And
the fact that we had to do with the city
and with the state, UM, that we needed to unionize
and really be a collective force UM. And so that's
(19:09):
where the lawsuits fawned from. Because the City of l A,
after three thousand dollars in debt foldiness property, they opened
up the licensing process finally for Social Equity about two
years later. It was supposed to be a first come,
first served, so the fastest person to upload your application
online the first one hundred, and they kind of like
(19:30):
a you know, some tickets, um, the ticketmaster, some sneakers
or something that's crazy. That's crazy now. But just going
back to them little things they know in the hood
for the people who qualify, we are the slowest internet services, right,
so all of those things they knew. We were going
(19:50):
down and telling them like these white folks are using
box in order to make sure that their people get
in early. And you know how God will work, happened
to be in the room with the person that got
in ten minutes early before the start time. And as
God will work it, I had organized about thirty people
(20:12):
were in the room that we were all looking at
the clock. I'm going to do our application at the
same time, and we have for screen record their applications.
So we actually had the video recording and personal government
ten minutes early. We so so when it came out
that we looked at the list and out of the hundred,
(20:36):
maybe nineteen were black, there was about thirty Armenians on there.
We didn't have no representation. I was like, oh no.
And so that's where the Social Equity Owners and Workers
Association really formed UM. As we organized if I have
a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, and you know,
we did, like Obama beginning campaigns where he's on one
(21:00):
in five dollar donations to hire a black attorney. UM
that represented us, and we filed that lawsuit against the
city of l A. They settled UM and we got
a hundred additional retail licenses for Equity and then that's
how I was able to open my doors and ninety
nine others. UM. And it has been that type of
(21:22):
work from taking that on the city council and stomping
on them. And I use some tactics that I've my
parents taught me when I was young, just reading about
our history, Like people said we couldn't do it, and
we were getting out with picket signs and organize and
folks around the clock. UM, and we wouldn't stop. Was
(21:42):
the key. UM that even if it were five or
ten of us, we wouldn't stop. We will be at
every meeting and press and press UM. And we've seen UM,
that's that's the only way, UM, that it will work.
And yeah, we've been pushed that way. We're here so
often that that is fantastic. And it just it just
(22:06):
shows everyone that that's listening, within listening ears what it
really takes. And when I say it, I'm talking about
any level of justice that you're looking for in this
particular place we're talking about. You know, people say, oh,
the marches doesn't they don't work, and the picketing doesn't work. Well,
(22:27):
it we're talking about longevity. It is it is that
UM refusing to to give up spirit. You know, it's
that I think what's been working in America is that
we get exhausted after a while. Yes, they count on that.
(22:47):
And then and then you found another business owners or
people that wanted to start businesses. Just just tell them
truth here. Sometimes even with an opportunity, you have people
that won't show up for it. How did you find
the people that were like, yes, I want to open
a business, Yes, here's my business plan. M How did
(23:08):
you find those people? Really that real grass suits energy,
like for real, we were at coffee shops and workforce
development centers and the hood, um. And it would start
with five people and then they would tell their other friends, UM.
And it was was just for real word of mouth
about people who really wanted it, right, Um. Everybody wanted
(23:31):
this opportunity. I remember early on, UM, they would have
ads on Facebook that would have yachts and you know,
uh Ferrari's and be like, don't you want to be
in the cannabis industry? Come sign up for the social
equity program um. And so you you have those folks
which were the biggest portion. Right So now when I
(23:52):
say that one hundred, maybe a good oney of them
where our folks, right, um? Because we just couldn't control that,
but you had so many more that we're going for that,
you know, and still go for it to this day
as these licenses continue, that are down to get that
ten thousand dollars a month and give away that generational
(24:15):
wealth because that is in the licenses, It is not
in selling, it is not in your monthly you know.
Going back to the long haul, you really, everything we
do as a people better be for our children's children.
It better be you know, I mean, we're not going
to ever see or feel it in our lifetime and
if we don't make those moves collectively. And so those
(24:36):
were the folks, Jill, that were harder to gather, the
ones that weren't willing to compromise um, the ones that
we're willing to stand and do the hard work and
be relentless about it. And those numbers were much smaller.
But those small numbers, once again, we never had hundreds
of people protesting, you know, I mean, it was the
(24:56):
consistency of having twenty or thirty people always show and
a lot of the times it was the same fifteen
and we rotated that other fifteen or twenty for the
folks that would only show up once or twice I
was jealous that I moved here after that. I was
seriously jealous. I was like, I wanted to be a
part of the progress I ever. I mean, I would
(25:17):
say this all the time when we're talking about like
school stuff, I'd be like, everyway, oh, parents don't involve.
I'm like, y'all, come on now, y'all know the PJ
is five parents. You know it's five. It's the same five.
It's the same fire to the rotate to the new five, right,
And it's like and and and I think a lot
of that also has to do with so you know,
(25:38):
um not to make excuses or anything like that, I
do think that black folks are tired and they are
you know, and they don't always have the time, the money,
the energy, the education. And that's one thing I just
really just sticks out for me, that's like sticking on
my heart is the education piece, because I think that's
(25:59):
what motivates be. People feel motivated when they have understood
the full grasp of what they're looking at and they
can actually see themselves as a part of it. It's
like if if they don't understand it, then it's just
just always ends up being a pipe dream. You know,
like it's just the thing that exists out there that
people say you can have, But then when you get there,
you're like, no, I don't actually see myself there because
(26:21):
people are counting on you feeling that way too, so
they can be isolated, yeah, isolated from the reality of things, right,
And this is one of the the one thing I think
that is really valuable about what you're saying. At least
what I'm getting from what you're saying, which is inspirational
for me, is that your parents are still the sense
of fighting you by you understanding knowing your history, your
(26:43):
history of your family, and the history of your culture.
And that's why that's super important because you can never
know what your child's life or what the children in
your community's life is going to be like in the future.
You don't know what business they're gonna get into. But
what you do know is that the value of what
your teaching them, the values that you share with them,
they're gonna take into those different industries. I'm sure your
(27:05):
parents are your parent there you're gonna be selling cannabis then,
But but the way that you're able to take what
they instilled in you and apply that out into the
world can only be making them proud, can only be
making them look at you in amazement and and and
and inspiration, because this is what our children do when
(27:25):
they know who they are. And we've had this conversation
down slow, they say that again, this is what you
can accomplish when you know who you are. When your
children know who they are, they can go out into
the world to take that into any room because they
will not believe the lie that somebody tells them. When
they get there, They're like, you lie, because that ain't
(27:48):
who I am. We just said this conversation before we
started recording. We're looking at the background, Um, we can
see this, so we'll we'll kind of explain it to you.
There's a fantaire stick hot pink wall behind Big Kika,
and there are her her family members. Everybody looks like
(28:08):
beautiful and strong. This is her shop, y'all. This is
how you feel that feeling you get overwhelmed when you
walk in. I'm literally I wish I could. I want
y'all to just come with me, because that's a dispensary.
I'm not supposed to get them overwhelmed by you know
what I'm saying, But you are In the beginning of
our conversation today, I was telling ya I was reading
(28:30):
a collection of essays by Zora new Hurston, and in
the introduction it talks about the black of study. And
that's what it's so important, is to get into understanding
our state of being. Our state of being is what
we take with us everywhere that we go. And so yes,
it is important for you to walk into us dispensary
and feel that. But I didn't know how does she
knowtic that's important that that becomes the standard to which
(28:54):
you enjoy and an enter into the way. Yes, man,
look at all of our spaces, look at all of
our spaces. We have our ancestors on the wall. You know,
we're like minded people in that way. And I know
for certain when there is a legacy involved, legacy, yes,
but when you also likely just say, when you know
(29:14):
who you are, it matters that much more. It matters
that you're what you're doing and how you're presenting, and
it matters that much more to you, So you fight
for it a little harder. If not, I'm next to
the table my mom, not next to my wall. I'm
next to my bedside table. So we're gonna take a
(29:39):
quick break and then we'll be right back. Can you
please talk about the inside of your store, and not
just the aesthetic, but also I told the girls, I
was like, I'm collecting pins thanks to your store of
(29:59):
me and the loan Grace Jones, and and you also
have a chest in there just just just high like
brown and black cannabis owning it. I just can you
talk about what once you got in, how you was
gonna make it look like, Yeah, that's so funny that
y'all are talking about my grandparents because Nanda and my
grandmother behind me Um in her house, she used to
(30:23):
keep the Christmas tree up to least June, as long
as it wasn't getting better. We would have to keep
on filling up the water and literally even in the daytime,
have these colorful lights on her tree. And then after
June she would have us take a little fake plant
and put the Christmas tree lights around it. And people
will come into her house, our friends, and be like, oh, no,
(30:46):
what it is your grandmother's house. I just feel good
love if I don't know what the feeling is. So
I was very deliberate when you go in with these
color choices, Um and the color blocking are bright colors
like her Christmas tree lights. Um. We even have the
crafted on Crunshall with the with the neon lights behind it,
(31:07):
UM to really accentuate this brightness the yellow wall. So
I also speaking about the black aesthetic and black women,
had a black woman designer designed the space, UM, Joscelyn
Joy Um. And so all of those things were very intentional. UM.
The dispensaries on Crenshaw Boulevard and it is right at
(31:29):
the bottom of Baldwin Hills Windsor Hills, which is the
largest UM Black a community as far as income and
wealth in the United States, but very rarely do those
folks come down the hill to Crenshaw. Even that in
the design, in the intent. UM. So I'm so glad
(31:53):
you feel that. When I was sitting with Joscelyn day
after day, I was like, but it has to feel
so that the grandma's aunties up the hill will come
down here. Um. And so that was always the intent
for our people and the inner generational mix that we
were really purpose from having my product and whole foods
(32:15):
and health food stores and not just being the name
is Gorilla Aurex wellness code right um And It is
really based my parents. We were vegetarians in the seventies.
Of course, um when I when it wasn't popular. Um,
and so that's just my whole being and what I
wanted to give to the community. So even in the
design a party that was I wanted to feel like
(32:38):
you're going into Whole Foods or G n C vitamin section, right,
and so unlike stores that are typical like Apple stores,
they kind of set of dispensaries nowadays are really ster
white and glass boxes. We put most of our inventory
is on the floor and it's stopped like a grocery store. Um,
so when you're walking in, you don't feel that inhibition
(33:01):
about asking your met at the door by a product specialist.
You have your own personal shopper that walks you through
the whole store. We have the Black Tender. Yeah yeah, sorry,
but a tender. We have the largest selection of black
owned brands and women owned brands in the state of California. Um,
we're very deliberate. I remember one time and Whole Foods,
(33:23):
we became really friends with the receiver, brought him a
Guerrilla Life hoodie and he moved naked juices out of
the section and put our Gorilla Life drinks on that
prime shell space. And it was at that point that
I understood a that you could do that but be
the even thought process of where products are stored in house.
So you have these stores will be like, oh yeah,
(33:45):
well we carry black brands, but they're over in the corner.
We deliberately put the whole you bar in the front
to be black owned brands where it's the first thing
you see. They don't have to pay for, no shelving
space on do nothing extra. We move brand to put
them in the place. Um. And that has been our commitment. Um,
like you were saying, we highlight reparations, book club, it's
(34:07):
a Black Woman On book club in the community. Um.
Instead of just having all cannabis things, we got the
books on the shelves as a part of the displays
so people ask where you can buy it and go
down the street. Um. We did the Black Book to
highlight the black businesses. Swift Cafe on the black another
Black Woman on Cafe. So when people come, we become
(34:27):
like a destination point where close X. When you come in,
don't just come to my business and then go over
to the wood, go down the street and get you
some money. Check out Lamar Park while you're there inside.
Cool cool, come on that. It was our intent, um
and the model very intentionally, not just a design to
attract people and have something very high end in our community. UM,
(34:51):
but to put that stake in the ground. Because they
just opened to train stations. We know what happens and
across the country the game is happening around. We want
to re gentrify and show black folks how we do
it and have them come, come on, come and open
(35:12):
up stores on the block and get the properties in
our community and and create that energy and be a
model for how we should be existing in this day
and age and not talking about I remember back in
the damn day and people would talk about we. They
would just be like, Oh, that's for them, stole us.
You know, that's he's a that's the pothead. You know,
(35:32):
they're not gonna they're gonna achieve anything in life. You know,
ever achieve anything in life? And I recall the first
time that I had marijuana, and all I remember doing
was laughing. I laughed so much that I laughed till
I had to take a nap. It was wonderful, laugh
(35:53):
till tears, just just laughed and I don't you know,
I can't really remember like what was making me laugh
like that or allowing me to be so free that
I just couldn't help a giggle all over. What was
that moment when you knew that marijuana was beneficial not
only for you but for the people. Uh, I was
(36:16):
blessed once again. My dad UM study Rastafarian principles. So
it was in my house whole growing up, and it
was always such a very spiritual and intellectual connection. When
(36:36):
I would see them smoking, right, they would be at
the round tables like some war rooms in the house,
and my dad would have groups of people in there
having all kinds of conversations and teachings. And that was
you know, like in the native community. Um, that peace play.
But it was something that just generated for me. What
I witnessed, um, just such greatness uh and joy. Then
(37:01):
they were sitting around laughing and talking after that. And
so my relationship, my mom calls it holy um my
my relationship with it, and I have three children. Their
relationship with it, UM is you know, very spiritual and um,
like you're saying, jealous sense of joy. And so I
(37:22):
I never had those stigmas, and that has been a
part of my quest is to fight those because I
know how we use it, um, you know, not just
uh smoking in it, but for the topical purposes. I
know when I give it to folks that you know,
I've been on chemotherapy and talking about my mom doesn't
have an appetite, she can't eat, you know. I know,
(37:44):
for folks that are suffering from PTSD and depression and
anxiety that come into store just like mad but as
soon as they get that bag in their hand, you
could feel that weight um lift off of them. Um.
And so I've always seen it as very transformative. And
I'm always pretty I guess raised pretty culture. I've never
(38:04):
fell into those stigmas um ever in life about weed
maybe trying to say candidates, that's a word. It's about
so many things that when you don't have the stigma,
the biases and the opinions don't affect you because you
don't have it. Don't have it. But that's political too,
(38:25):
and and that says a lot about out of the
box parenting also because I think a lot of times
we talk about parenting, and we've talked about it on
this show. All of us have experienced this from a
lot of places. Is that people you've got to parent
this certain kind of way. And it's like, look at
what happens to your young people when you don't instill
(38:47):
shame around certain things, when you're not afraid to allow
them to understand and see what it takes to do
what it is you're asking them to do. You cannot
raise revolution areas if you're not revolutionary and you're sinking
and then you're doing. You have to say you have
to do so that then they will say and do
(39:10):
and it's second nature. I just my god today, the
first time I smoke with my grandmother and my father,
it's life changing. That that moment, that breakdown of a law.
I'm just saying, it's it's life. It's life changing. Okay,
Well I was also gonna say too, don't forget. There
was a documentary And it's funny because me and Virgil
have debated over this documentary, The Grass is Greener that
(39:31):
Fat Fire Freddy did, And it's funny that we put
stigmas on things because at the end of the day,
Agea that stigma just comes from one of your favorite phrases,
white supremacy, because based on based on the history of
marijuana and it being you know, kind of associated with
black and brown people. That's all of a sudden, it's
associated with us, So it's bad. And so we take
(39:54):
on that because whatever the white man say, say, it's
the law. And so now we tell a lot of
our kids and stuff that's bad. That's this, that's that.
But that's crazy right when you think about it, it's
it always brought joy. But because it brought joy initially
the brown and black people first, that's a problem. Look.
I came home that night after after having the trees
with my girlfriend. I came home that night. My mother
(40:15):
said she caught me in the living room. She said, UM,
don't mind job. I'm in college at this time. And
she's like, uh, you've been smoking that reefer And I
was like, yeah, just giddy. You were smoking at reefer?
I said yeah. She said, I'm just so disappointed. Do
(40:37):
you understand what this is. It's a gateway drug. It
opens the door for other drugs, you know, commercials, all
the things. And she said that propaganda and I was like, mom, un,
let's just say I'm I was twenty at the time.
I said, Mom, they have I been to jail. She's
like no. I was like, uh, you know, do I
(40:58):
do I have? Um, they don't don't have a lot
of kids running around. She was like, no, that wouldn't
be so bad. I said, but it would right now
because I had the money. But from simple um, you know, well,
am I in trouble in any way? And am I
in school? She was like yeah. I was like, am
I doing well in school? She was like yeah. I
(41:20):
was like, you might going to leave me alone about
this one. Well, I'm not. I'm not harming anyone at all,
m M. And I felt like it was such a
benefit because I had been really stressed out working two jobs,
going to school. And this one night my girlfriend had,
as my mother would say, a dubie and you just
(41:43):
melted in that. And I do bead and the first
time ever been uh experience in cannabis. Wasn't smoking it.
My mother made some brownies and yeah, we was cooking
things giving dinner. So good. My mom made these brownties
(42:06):
and we was was cooking Thanksgiving. There's one of the
first times we had like a really quiet Thanksgiving. It
was just me and her at the time. My sister, no, no, no,
my sister was uh boyfriend fiance energy, she was gonne,
So it was just me and Big Suit, Big Geek,
Big Suit. Ya got you gotta get to do Big Suit.
(42:26):
You had to watch something. You gotta listen to some
of these old episodes. But I was like, you know,
so we she made these brownies. We've turned on she
turned on the music, and all I remember was how
good the music sounded, and um, you know, and we
cooked that whole meal and it was just like it
was just such a cool experience for me because my mom.
(42:49):
I grew up in the household too of both parents
who smoked, but we just never saw it. It's so
funny that they talked about things corrupting kids and both
my parents moved. I had never seen them smoke before
I knew they did, but it just wasn't like a
thing I ever saw, really. But it's just funny that
it wasn't even something that I had went to doing
my own. But you know, I'm glad to see the
(43:11):
statement kind of getting away and us getting more education
about it. I know we're still in many of the
states and in the United States, still on the fence
around legalities and what what state is legal here, not
legal or what's the vibes here? And I do know
that young people are smoking a lot earlier, and so
we're trying to get our young people to navigate what
that means for them legally so that they don't get
(43:33):
caught in between the gap. You know, one of the
conversations that I'm having with my young folks is helping
them to understand the state they live in, having them
understand a lot of these That's that's why the diligence
is important. That deminized what's not decriminalized. So I think
it's important that we stay diligent no matter what we're doing,
(43:54):
knowing that, yes, this work is being done, but there's
so much more work to do. So we have to
keep our our young people informed that they have all
the proper education, specifically around legally, because we don't want
them to get so relaxed that they get out there
and get caught out there and we have to deal
with a different type of legal situation. I would go
with that for the whole gamut, for all the things.
(44:16):
When we're talking about sex, give them all the information,
you know, we're talking about drugs or I don't even
like to call weed the drug. I just think that's unfair.
I don't know, friends, help me out with that one.
Is we to drug? Yeah, I got a new way
of thinking for you. Prevention and education on cannabis. We
(44:39):
need to be teaching them about the business because if
you start looking at it more about the business opportunities,
you start to lose the even time or the necessity
for recreationally sitting around and using your time getting high. Um.
And when I say the business, it's just not the licenses.
Ancillary side is so transfer horrible. Whether you're an electrician,
(45:02):
whether you're a carpenter, whether you're in marketing, whether you're
an accountant, lawyer. If you go into the niche of
cannabis for any of those things, you know how many
facilities have to be built right now that you need
to know the right lighting for cultivation. If you just
learn that one thing, you can take that. You know
how many people are looking for skilled people in that area.
(45:23):
Even in the workforce, Cannabis is the fastest growing workforce
across the country, more than nurses, more than a m t,
more than electricians. Um. The fastest growing industry. Right. And
so I would say to those young people early on,
start and start investing your time reading and getting a
part of and figuring out how you're about to gain
(45:44):
this damn system and be a part of the industry.
Because I promise you the reason why I fight fight
so hard is because I know that I'm a part
of being what's going to be in the history books
and all realness of this. This is a brand new
industry in the mirror of London. Come down and visit
our dispensary and he didn't trip. Yeah, about three or
(46:05):
four months ago, UM and he visited about five licensed
facilities across the country. They selected Artist in Los Angeles.
That's the only dispensary that he visited to be able
to have an understanding of what this would look like
to legalize UM in London. Because people don't think about
global legalization and how where we are in a sense
of global legalization and the brand newness of this industry y'all.
(46:27):
So when we learn these regulations or we understand and
we started just participating, Listen, you don't even gotta do
a lot of stuff, but just start being engaged, because
you'll hear the opportunities of where you can be business planning.
You'll hear the opportunities where you can go. It's crazy.
That's the reason why fights are That's the reason why
I stay in this because I do know what will
(46:48):
happen twenty or fifty years from now, in this moment
in time. And so for all the black people, specifically
black people, you know, great for everybody, but black people
the most we got the we We've been the most incarcerated.
We've been the most disproportionately arrested. We've been the most
to lose our lives. We have the highest number of
(47:08):
children in foster care because of the War on drugs.
It is our obligation to be involved. It is our
obligation to spread the word that these tax dollars, these
licenses and our skill set be used and co opted
and work together. And you've gotta have a team. I'm
a year and four months and I got forty seven
employees right, come from my community. Um, and so the
(47:33):
opportunities that are there, um, we're working. Actually, we just
acquired the building next door to us to open up
a mock training for detail the Guerrilla University, liking it
to McDonald's University. And this is also a performerly incarcerated,
right is that what I read? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
like creating that halfway. Look, we know the same These
(47:57):
walls are new and that's how they're based in the
whole industry, right, So cultivation you need a skill set, right,
so not all everything else our learning and it's the
rules and regulations, UM. And so I just continue to
encourage all of us that wouldn't think twice about it
just to understand how we can work cooperatively. And it
(48:19):
will take a collective unit of us to do it
because it is expensive to get in um. But that's
you know, that's an easy battle, UM if we work together.
And so that that's really critical, y'all. More conversation after
the break. Can you at least give us like three
(48:50):
either organizations or uh pages that we should be following
to be a part of the solutions, to be a
part of the like all all the things. Yes, Cannabis
dot l a city dot org um. That's the City
of Los Angeles, Cannabis Department, UM, Cannabis dot l A
(49:11):
city dot org um. And when you click around and
you go into the regulations, there's a social equity report
that was written. UM. Find that social equity report and
read it, and it tells it does a great job
of concisely saying why we're here, the methodology of why
social equity should be created based on these disproportion and
(49:33):
arrest And when I say that, break it down, l
A is eight percent black folks, but we represented of
the arrest right, so I want to say disproportionate um.
But then it also tells you all of the components,
tells you the cost of starting up these businesses. It
tells you the pieces that are necessary in every community
(49:53):
if we want to start or actually press our city
folks to have these sort of laws and regulations and play.
To me, it's like the Bible of House should have
been executed and l A did the complete opposite of
everything that was in that three hundred thousand dollar report.
But to me, that's a great way, a simple way
for us just start grasping what it is. If l
(50:14):
A did it wrong, I'm it sounds unhopeful for the
other states too, are so far behind. But I think
what she's saying is that if you look at what
that framework is, it's a good place to start as
advocate in your particular city or states that even though
they didn't actually do it. The place is good is
good and obviously every state has different laws and those
(50:35):
things have been considered. Definitely, shout out to all the
people that are in school currently or working in agriculture.
That's that's a big one. Yeah, that's yeah, shout out
to I just want to shoutut to Tara mart and
one of the sisters that was and then the fight
to help lobby for Jersey and other states to become
recreational because we are in there, y'all, but we know
(50:57):
we can see the sisters. We gotta say their name
like because nobody else now we do it and recognize
too that it will open up federally sooner than later. UM.
And it doesn't take a lot of us, but there's
a few of us in each one of these places.
When it when we're allowed to have interstate commerce, our
(51:17):
ability to connect and work together. UM, it's how we
create this ecosystem of the supply chain within amongst ourselves
and that's why we continue to educate UM on SULB
Life Development Group dot org is our website and we
just I'd just like to be a resource y'all come
through to the expensary tap in anything that I can
(51:39):
share once again and be in the first it was
to be able to have the blueprint to then say okay, y'all,
this is how I did. We just want to continue
to support you beyond just coming to the store too.
So and that's a lot of all of our black businesses, like, yeah,
we support by coming to the store, but there's other
ways to support. We need to know. Yeah, I love
the fact that we that that you circle back to business,
(52:00):
you circle back to the community, You circle back to
these things and move away from the individual and remind
us of what's necessary for us to do moving forward.
I just really admire you in every way. I didn't
know you prior to this interview, and I feel blessed
and grateful and honored to have gotten to hear what
you had to say today. Truthfully, it's such a good reminder.
(52:20):
It's a good reminder because I think in this kind
of capitalist society, we can really get really down about
the possibility. Is what it looks like to be successful?
What does it look like to be in business? What
does it look like to grow community? Is it possible
to do both? To get yourself a little bag? But
at the same time, and I needed to hear this
(52:42):
from you today because this has given me a different
kind of you know, you know, battery in my bag
around what it can look like. And I just encourage
everybody to continue to use your imagination because I think
what happens is that that imagination gets stifled. You can't
see that a thing is possible. You just you convince
(53:03):
yourself it's just not gonna happen. So I just am
grateful for you today. I really am grateful. I'm grateful
for your ancestors. I speak their names without knowing them,
and I just for them. They didn't think child, they
did a thing, come on good things, and you just
(53:25):
touched on something that I believe is the core of
how I move. And what I've seen is this is
the fourth business that I've started UM, but this is
the one where it was always about. After Sweet Strings
UM and losing my my music academy, it was always
about let me go make this money and then I
can go give back. And I had to take a
(53:46):
different approach UM because it wouldn't work with just me
being here standing. The loan is that let me give
back while I'm building, And every time I stay centered
on that, the universe opens just oraculous stores. Um. That
is not anything about my work, UM, And I would
say and challenge us all to be able to figure
(54:08):
that out and to challenge ourselves to not wait, um
for to give back, but figure out for the work
that we do how it can align. Like I said,
I had to write the cliff notes for myself, So
then why am I not sharing the cliff notes at
the same at the same time that I'm learning it.
What we often do is wait until we have covered everything, well,
give you a tidbit and worried about them someone else
(54:31):
that I'm giving that to compete and knock me out, um.
But it really is important. And I think the other
side of that is my mission has always been the
finest for profit that funds my nonprofit. And I came
to Cannabis because I intend on open and up sweet
strings again in our music academy, UM for the kids.
And so that is really what motivates me when I
(54:52):
want to sit down and and get tired. UM, it's
that this has to work, um, because we have to
be able to ren us and funding things that really
make a difference for our children. Our hearts are full,
proud of my neighborhood. Man, if you might do me
the honors of allowing me to read the mission. All right,
(55:13):
this is the mission for Guerrilla our X Wellness. Correct. Yes,
we are the physical manifestation of black feminine resilience, power,
and creativity. We are the advocates for those fundamentally oppressed
by America's unjust criminal justice system. We are the future
(55:33):
legacy of healers, hustlers, and history makers, diligently honoring the
strong women who came before us. We are the promise
of a brighter, more equitable future in South central l A.
And might I add myself the world y'all, y'all take care, blessings, y'all, blessing.
(55:57):
I mean, that's all I got. That's really it. Our are.
They've been educated in so many ways. Please remember um
to rewind this and play back and slow down and
take the cliff notes. Take the cliff notes. None of
us here at j dot ill know everything, but we're
learning as we grow, and it is a pleasure to
(56:19):
share anything that we're learning with you. Thank you so
much all for listening. Face. How do you eat an elephant?
One by it? Kind? Hello, listeners, it's amber Your fearless
producer here. We have been so excited to get this
episode to you. Black women really do get us hire
(56:42):
to learn more about Gorilla are X and all the
amazing things that they are doing in the community and
all the incredible products they provide. Check out their website
Gorilla r X Wellness dot com. The site is literally
as beautiful as the store that, like you described, he
got also left us with some incredible resources in this episode.
(57:04):
I'll drop links to those sites and the show notes,
and if you want to learn more about cannabis and spirituality,
I'll leave a link that explains how Rastafarians use the
herb for spiritual connection. Hi. If you have comments on
(57:29):
something he said in this episode called eight six six
Hey Jill, if you want to add to this conversation,
that's eight six six four nine five four five by
don't forget to tell us your name and the episode
you're referring to. You might just hear your message on
a future episode. Thank you for listening to Jill Scott
(57:50):
Presents Jay dot Ill the podcast. Yes, Karema, I'm sorry
distracted my whole show. Mommy. When you walk by, you
just dracted the whole show. MoMA just walked up and
her apps were giving what needed to be gave. Yes, Dama, Yes,
(58:13):
I'm sorry, y'all for those who are listening, Laya's mom
is that work. She's amazing. We want to give it
up to Big Koree, but she came through there and
showed us her app work and it was fantastic, fantastic.
J dot Ill is a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
(58:37):
your favorite shows.
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