Say hello to the Black CannaConference & Expo: the B2B event for black cannabis
The second annual Black CannaConference & Expo will be held November 18-20 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It’s the only B2B conference specifically for blacks in the cannabis industry and will feature big names like keynote speaker Wanda James, one of the greatest pioneers in the cannabis game.
The Black CannaConference & Expo is a three day exhibition for black and brown businesses to come together and discuss how the cannabis industry works in a safe and comfortable environment. It is advertised as the only national conference for cannabis founders, professionals and color users. The conference program is aimed at all types of businesses, including plant handling and sideline activities.
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To get some information about the prestigious event, I spoke to Black CannaBusiness Magazine founder Kristi Price about why Black CannaCon and similar events are so important to the cannabis industry.
“I am an advocate for inspiring us, with us. We’re not new to it, we’re loyal to it. Building an industry and a business is what blacks have always done. “
Kristi Price
The spirit behind Black CannaCon
The Black CannaConference is hosted by KRMA Media Inc., which owns Black CannaBusiness Magazine. KRMA was founded in February 2019 by Kristi Price who comes from other highly regulated industries like alcohol, tobacco and energy drinks.
With her professional background, Price has always had an interest in the cannabis industry and ideas on how to get involved. KRMA Media Inc. and Black CannaBusiness Magazine were the answers.
“Since the start of KRMA, I had started collecting email addresses because I knew that one day I would become a publisher. A year later we had 12,000 subscribers. I knew I had this group of people and I really hadn’t done anything to promote the brand. So I said I would do a webinar and introduce the brand. This webinar has received so much feedback from many speakers speaking this year. You said you had to put an entire conference together, ”says Price.
Six weeks later, in 2020, the first virtual Black CannaConference was born. It had over 800 registrants and over forty speakers – an incredible feat for something that was put together in a short amount of time amid a global pandemic.
“After this conference, the overwhelming feeling was’ When will we be in the same place at the same time?”
The Black CannaConference 2021 in New Orleans will fulfill every wish. Kristi is expecting over 2,000 participants this year.
The importance of Black CannaCon in the modern cannabis industry
As someone who has just returned from a very fitting, very homogeneous MJBizCon in Las Vegas, I can tell you that this industry desperately needs more diversity in its conventions.
Hopefully you already knew this, but as legalization continues to inundate states without social justice, it looks even more like we’ll have to find our own ways to make this happen.
When you walk through the MJBiz floor it feels like a place where real cannabis culture isn’t even welcome.
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Kristi Price saw the same thing. After attending other major industry events, she realized that she only saw blacks when they were on a minority-specific topic, like a minority meal or during meeting breaks.
“This quick exchange in the breakout session just wasn’t enough.” Black CannaCon plans to change and correct this. “We really expect the conference to be a premiere Specialized event for the industry. “
In addition, this year’s Black CannaCon will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre, in which a crowd of white racists burned Tulsa, Oklahoma’s thriving Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street.
“I think sometimes we need to remember where we come from and where we can go back. As this year marks the 100th year of the Black Wall Street massacre, I thought it would be the right time to reflect on the positives of the Greenwood District: what they have achieved and how we can draw inspiration from that when we turn to cannabis dedicate the same to industry. “
– Kristi Price
Louisiana’s role in black cannabis
Kristi explains why she chose New Orleans, LA, as the location for the 2021 location: “I was born in Louisiana, and I was born in a small town called Houma. New Orleans is a convention center in the south. ”
“I felt like one, I wanted to bring something of this magnitude to my home state and create opportunities there; (and) Second, when you think about the effects of the drug war, Louisiana is the most heavily incarcerated state in the country. Many of these incarcerations are due to marijuana convictions. ”
Kristi saw the Black CannaCon as an opportunity to positively shed light on the connection between blacks and cannabis, and create a new narrative that enables blacks to thrive in this thriving billion dollar industry.
Come to Black CannaCon
The conference will be a floor full of branded booths, seminars and speakers such as Jesce Horton from LOWD; Al Harrington of viola; Dr. Chanda Macias of Ilera Holistic Healthcare and many other key black personalities in cannabis.
In addition to the convention and seminars, there is also a hot box pitch competition presented by the Minority Cannabis Business Association.
The winner will receive a grand prize of $ 5,000, which also includes a trip to Massachusetts, a tour of NETA pharmacies, cultivation and processing facilities. The winner will receive a bag of entry money and a tour of the plant touch shop for a real personal experience of how the cannabis game works.
The Black CannaCon has already got off to a convincing start and has not even started. Advance ticket sales are until Thursday, November 18th.
Dante Jordan
Danté Jordan is a former member of the Leafly Subject Matter Expert Team and is currently a freelance writer, video producer, and media consultant specializing in cannabis culture, strains, products, education, and everything else related to this little green flower. Contact him at smokewithdante on Instagram or datenetworks (at) gmail (dotcom). His website is www.dantejordan.com.
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