Where have you previously worked in cannabis? How/why did you end up working there?
During COVID, I decided to move into cannabis retail. I was drawn to the industry by the positive atmosphere and the friendly budtenders. To get my start, I worked at a few local dispensaries. I spent the majority of my cannabis retail career with Grupo Flor in California. I began as a budtender at their East of Eden - Moss Landing location and worked my way up through various roles and locations. Ultimately, I landed at their distribution hub, FlorX. There, I assisted the compliance manager with daily tasks and eventually spearheaded the project to transition all Grupo Flor locations to the Dutchie POS system (formerly LeafLogix). This is where I met our Implementation Strategist and learned more about their position. After a few months, I decided to see what career opportunities were available at Dutchie and made the decision to apply!
What did you like most about working with cannabis? What’s a stand out memory from that time?
I loved seeing people from all walks of life coming into the retail dispensary to share their love of the plant. My favorite memories in retail come from late-night inventory counts. With the long store hours, our monthly counts would begin after 10 pm and at times go until 5-6 am. Sometimes we would travel to other locations besides our home store to assist, and it involved fun music, a good drive, and great company with fellow coworkers!
What have you learned moving from plant-touching work to tech? Did anything about the change surprise you?
It was a bit of a culture shock moving from cannabis retail to corporate tech. The biggest shock to me was seeing how many amazing folks work at Dutchie with very diverse backgrounds - from pharmacy to tech giants like Toast and DoorDash! I have grown so much as a person and in my career by making the switch to auxiliary cannabis.
What’s your advice for those starting out in cannabis? What is there to look forward to?
Anyone looking to get into the industry - do it! I was nervous at first about how I would be perceived by others, but I have made a career out of it and truly enjoy logging into work every day! If you aren’t sure where you want to end up within the industry, start as a budtender or in retail! You will meet so many different people in the industry working in retail - brand ambassadors, account managers, industry folks stopping by to purchase! From there, you will have contacts and a better understanding of where you may like to land in your canna-career!
