💨 Pressure Makes Legacy

Profiles in Persistence: Minority Entrepreneurs in Cannabis

The cannabis industry promises opportunity, but for many minority entrepreneurs, the path to ownership is anything but open. Licensing hurdles, financial gatekeeping, and lingering stigma mean the game is often rigged before it begins.

And yet—some still build.

This story follows three such builders: Almaz Adeigbola of Brwn Box in Orange, Darrin Chandler Jr. of Premo in Keyport, and Juan Rivera of Nature’s Motivation in Irvington. Each of them is navigating broken systems with creativity, grit, and community-first thinking. They aren’t just surviving red tape—they’re rewriting the rules.

These aren’t overnight success stories. They’re long fights, ongoing. And they matter, because who gets to lead in cannabis will shape what this industry becomes.

Almaz Adeigbola – Brwn Box, Orange, NJ

Almaz’s journey began not in a dispensary, but in her kitchen. With a background as a chef and wellness advocate, she built Brwn Box Kitchen —a Black and woman led culinary venture, focusing on infused dinners that introduced cannabis as a health ally. Early on, she found herself repeatedly explaining: “This isn’t about getting high, it’s medicine.” That stigma, she realized, was her biggest competitor.

She spent months building trust, hosting intimate dinners, leading wellness-centered CBD workshops, and translating cannabis science into real-life solutions. That early work evolved into what is now Brwn Box, a multidisciplinary third space and CBD apothecary in Orange, NJ. It now serves as a hub for plant medicine, community education, curated events, and business incubation. Instead of pursuing a traditional dispensary model, Almaz doubled down on wellness-first access, equity-driven programming, and creating room for others to enter the industry through culture, not just retail.

Reflection
Almaz reflects honestly: “I had to become the spokesperson, the educator, the lawyer, and the business owner.” Her persistence turned her storefront, now a hub for herbal wellness and community events, into a case study of how minority founders must clear both regulatory and cultural hurdles simultaneously.

Darrin Chandler Jr. – Premo Cannabis, Keyport, NJ

For Darrin Chandler Jr., the journey is generational. He and his father, Darrin Sr. teamed with the Blanks family to bring their legacy into the legal market. Their story echoes larger systemic inequity: “My father is a survivor of the War on Drugs… My family is Social Equity,” he shared. Since 2019, they chased licenses, fought zoning battles over entryways, and endured public hearings questioning their motives. When they finally opened in a restored historic bank in Keyport, they bypassed the front entrance and town officials feared too much visibility.

A pivotal moment arrived in 2023 with a $250,000 grant from the NJEDA's social equity program—”the largest cannabis social equity grant in the nation,” Darrin Jr. posted on LinkedIn that funding, paired with their personal and community resources, pulled the venture across the finish line.

Reflection
Darrin emphasizes purpose: “We should be the biggest winners,” he said. Transforming historical injustice into opportunity isn’t rhetoric, it’s the foundation of their mission. Premo feels less like a dispensary and more like a living memorial to lineage, healing, and community uplift.

Juan Rivera – Nature’s Motivation, Irvington, NJ

Juan Rivera’s arc is quieter but no less profound. Founder of Nature’s Motivation in Irvington, NJ, Juan didn’t come into the cannabis space with a family legacy behind him — but he showed up prepared. A graduate of Oaksterdam University and a recipient of the NJEDA Seed Equity Grant, Juan turned knowledge and opportunity into movement.

Nature’s Motivation officially opened its doors in late 2023, becoming one of the first social equity-led dispensaries in a city still carrying the weight of cannabis criminalization. While the red tape and permitting process came with their own learning curve, access to grant funding helped Juan overcome startup hurdles that might’ve closed the door on others.

His story is a reminder that equity funding alone isn’t enough. The real shift happens when resources meet readiness, and operators are given not just a license — but a lane.

We’ll be taking a deeper dive into Juan’s journey, Nature’s Motivation, and the broader landscape around equity in the cannabis industry in one of our upcoming drops. Stay tuned — the story’s just getting started.

Reflection
Juan’s story reminds us that equity isn’t just a matter of access — it’s about accountability, clarity, and consistency. His shift from legacy to licensed is proof that with the right mix of resources, readiness, and roots, transformation is possible.

Shared Barriers, Divergent Paths

These aren’t just business owners. They’re educators, culture workers, and community anchors. Each of them — Almaz, Darrin, and Juan — represents a different lane, but they’ve all hit the same walls on their way here.

They’ve dealt with the licensing maze. The zoning hoops. The compliance headaches. They’ve had to get creative with funding, tapping into grants, flipping personal savings, and calling in support where they could.

They’ve carried the weight of stigma, fielding doubts from the public and sometimes even their own communities.

Still, they keep building. And not just businesses — they’re building models.

Rewriting what it means to “Make It”

Education as Strategy
They didn’t wait for approval. They created space through lived experience and service. Almaz leaned into food and healing. Darrin rooted his dispensary in cultural care. And Juan brought legacy insight into a new legal framework — using his own learning curve, formal training, and conversations to bridge trust with his community.

Support matters, but context matters more
Programs like NJEDA grants made a difference. But none of them just followed a template. They built around what their people needed, not just what the industry expected.

Legacy meets innovation
Their strength isn’t in fitting in. It’s in bringing their full stories to the table. Almaz leads with wellness and culinary wisdom. Darrin honors deep family ties and spiritual grounding. Juan moves with purpose rooted in education and uplift.

This isn’t surface-level inclusion. This is transformation.

What Persistence Really Looks Like

Forget the optics. Founders like Almaz, Darrin, and Juan are building real equity, brick by brick, on their own terms.

This is what the industry looks like when it grows from the ground up.

Know someone rewriting the rules in cannabis? We want to hear their story. Nominate a founder or operator for an upcoming Herban Conversation interview by sending us an email. Let’s keep the spotlight where it belongs.

Herban Conversations:Episode 3
By The Book - The Library’s Role in Rewriting the Narrative

Corey and Charles, the duo behind The Library, join us on Herban Conversations to talk about legacy, authenticity, and building a brand that stands for something real. Long before legalization, they were cultivating trust in their community — now they’re channeling that history into a fully licensed retail space rooted in culture, not compliance.

In this episode, they unpack the journey from street knowledge to state licensing, how they navigated the politics of social equity in New Jersey, and the intentionality behind every design choice in The Library. For them, this isn’t just a store — it’s a cultural institution in the making.

We talk mentorship, municipal resistance, and the weight of representing a legacy audience inside a rapidly corporatizing market. This isn’t a story about “breaking in” — it’s about never leaving, and finally being recognized.

Herban Conversations gives you the real stories behind the brands reshaping the cannabis space with integrity. If you’ve ever wondered what it means to stay true while going legal, this episode’s for you.

👉 [Listen to this episode]

Barriers to Entry: The Real Cost of Licensing

When people talk about getting into the cannabis industry, “licensing” is the word that gets thrown around the most—like once you get that piece of paper, you’ve made it. But the truth is, licensing is just the beginning—and for many of us, it’s the most brutal and misunderstood part of the entire process.

I know because I lived it.

During my own licensing journey, I ran into every kind of obstacle: fees that stacked up fast, zoning that didn’t make sense, processes that felt intentionally confusing, and timelines that moved like molasses—until they didn’t. I’d be waiting for months, and then suddenly asked to turn around critical documents in days. There’s a psychological toll to constantly chasing a finish line that keeps moving.

And while I was going through that process, something unexpected happened. I started helping others do the same.

With my attorney/legal advisor and legal team, I co-founded a consultancy to support others in this space—helping folks with their applications, branding, compliance, and identity-building from a place of lived experience. What started as self-preservation turned into shared strategy. We’ve walked through real use cases, hard-earned lessons, and best practices that weren’t handed to us—we had to figure them out the expensive way.

The True Cost: It's Not Just the Fees

Let’s talk numbers. Application fees are just the surface. By the time you factor in attorneys, accountants, real estate deposits, local approvals, build-outs, security plans, insurance, branding, tech infrastructure, and staffing — your easily looking at 500,000-$1M deep before you’ve sold a single product. And that’s if things go relatively smooth. Most times, they don’t.

And here’s the part no one tells you: even if you’re well-prepared, even if you’re organized, even if you have a community behind you, you can still fail. Not because you're not qualified, but because the system isn't designed to support small, independent, Black and Brown-owned operators through this maze.

This isn’t a sob story. It’s a reality check.

That’s part of the reason I launched Herban Conversations, to pull the veil back. To create a platform that didn’t just celebrate glossy wins, but told the real stories of the uphill climb. I wasn’t trying to discourage people and I still don’t. But I needed us to be informed before we stepped into a business that can eat you alive if you’re unprepared.

The cannabis industry holds promise, no doubt. But promise without preparation is a setup. We deserve better than that.

The Plant Isn’t the Only Path

Here’s the other truth I’ve learned: plant-touching businesses aren’t the only way in. And for many people, they shouldn’t be. You don’t have to run a dispensary or grow op to make real impact—or real money. Ancillary services (branding, tech, education, compliance, design, operations) are not just “backup plans.” They’re essential. And they can be more stable, scalable, and sustainable depending on your skills, your resources, and your risk tolerance. There’s no shame in building next to the plant instead of on top of it.

From Me to You

If you’re thinking about entering this space, do it eyes open. Talk to people who’ve gone through it. Ask about the mistakes, not just the milestones. Budget for things you can’t predict.

Build your mental endurance. Strengthen your emotional intelligence. You’ll need both—not just to survive the licensing process, but to manage investors, regulators, landlords, partners, and the everyday chaos that comes with building something new in a system that wasn’t made for you.

This isn’t just about you getting to the finish line. It’s about how we show up as an industry.

Cannabis is shedding the shadow of prohibition. That means the people stepping forward now will help define what legitimacy looks like going forward. We don’t have the luxury of being written off as amateurs or “just stoners.” We need operators who are prepared, grounded, emotionally aware, and built for the long haul.

And if that’s not where you’re at yet, that’s okay. There’s still a place for you in this movement. But get clear on what role you want to play, and what it’s going to take to play it well.

📡 On The Radar

🛑 Thailand Walks It Back
After becoming the first Asian country to decriminalize weed, Thailand is reversing course shutting down recreational use and forcing all cannabis sales under medical-only guidelines. A booming market now faces sudden collapse.
📰 RAW x High Times
Josh Kesselman, founder of RAW Rolling Papers, acquires High Times for $3.5M. Teaming with Matt Stang, the duo plans to relaunch the print mag and Cannabis Cup, betting on culture over corporate.
💰 California Tax Crisis Paused
Governor Newsom steps in to delay a scheduled excise tax hike that could crush already-struggling dispensaries. With the illicit market outpacing legal sales, licensed operators say it’s a make-or-break moment.
⚖️ Cookies Wins Arbitration, Future Unclear
Cookies scores a legal win in its dispute with one of its key partners, but the fate of several branded stores still hangs in the balance.
🎖️ House OKs VA Cannabis Access + Psychedelics Study
The House just passed a major amendment allowing VA doctors to recommend medical cannabis to veterans—plus funding for federal psychedelics research.

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