Contributors

Maria Denzin

Denzin is the owner of MJ HR Strategic Solutions, an HR consulting firm based in Palm Springs, Calif. Denzin specializes in talent strategy and development for the cannabis industry. Her firm helps cannabis business owners create strategic HR plans to select, develop, reward and retain employees who deliver value and loyalty. She can be reached at [email protected].

Debby Goldsberry

Goldsberry is executive director at Magnolia Wellness, an award-winning dispensary in Oakland, Calif., and the managing director of the Berkeley Community Care Center dispensary at Amoeba Music. She co-founded the Berkeley Patients Group (BPG) medical cannabis collective in 1999, directing its growth for more than 11 years. In 2017, Goldsberry published her first book, “Idiot’s Guide: Starting and Running a Marijuana Business.”

Jolene Hansen

Hansen is a freelance writer based in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area. A former horticulture professional, she is a frequent contributor to the Horticulture Group publications owned by Cannabis Dispensary’s parent company, GIE Media.

Colin Kelley

Kelley is a member of the LeafLine Labs board of governors. LeafLine Labs is a licensed producer/distributor of medical cannabis in Minnesota, where he previously served as the CFO and COO. Kelley is also the co-founder and vice president of Haze.Delivery, a compliance-based medical cannabis delivery platform. Additionally, he consults to executive teams in the cannabis and ancillary products markets.

Andrew Kline

Kline is president of the National Association of Cannabis Businesses (NACB), the cannabis industry’s only self-regulatory organization, which is working with its members to develop national standards that will help strengthen cannabis-related businesses by reducing regulatory uncertainty and increasing legitimacy. Previously, Kline served as a federal prosecutor and policy adviser in the United States Senate and in the White House.

Jillian Kramer

Kramer is a New York City-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the online or print versions of Glamour, Food & Wine, SELF, The Wall Street Journal, and more. Her work covers everything from career and money to women’s issues, cannabis and beyond.

Eric Schlissel

Schlissel is the CEO of GeekTek, a national, managed IT/cybersecurity firm headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. Widely recognized as a thought leader in the IT industry, he has spoken extensively throughout the country as both a panelist and moderator on data security issues facing the cannabis industry. He has been widely published and quoted in the LA Times, Wired, CIO Magazine, ChannelPro, InformationWeek, InfoWorld, the CCIA, NACB Insights and other leading publications. Possessing 20 years of entrepreneurial and investment experience, Schlissel is also a travel addict, aspiring bourbon connoisseur and foodie-wannabe.

Kyra Reed

Reed launched Markyr Cannabis, a digital marketing and social media strategy agency, and Women in Cannabis, a support group for women entrepreneurs, with four chapters in Northern California, in 2016. Reed has also launched Kadin Academy, an online business academy that educates women entrepreneurs in cannabis.