Leading entrepreneurs and national experts Jane West, Steve Hawkins, Hope Wiseman, John Hudak, and Jenn Michelle Pedini join us for an energetic conversation about what may be Virginia’s most exciting new industry.
Wednesday, April 10 at 8:00 pm at The Paramount General Admission: $15 advance | $18 door VIP Ticket: $40 – Includes Post-Event Cocktail Party at Old Metropolitan Hall
This prime-time panel will take a candid look at the entrepreneurial, social, and political opportunities and challenges that accompany legalization from both a national perspective as well as a Virginia lens. The conversation will feature some of the marijuana world’s leading voices: Jane West, known as “The Martha Stewart of Cannabis” and the architect of networking megagroup Women Grow; Steve Hawkins, Executive Director of powerhouse advocacy group the Marijuana Policy Project; Hope Wiseman, a financial analyst turned small-town cannabis entrepreneur—not to mention the country’s youngest black female dispensary owner; John Hudak, a Brookings Institute research and policy expert and the author of Marijuana: a Short History; and Jenn Michelle Pedini, Executive Director at Virginia NORML and architect of the advocacy that pushed through Virginia’s 2018 medical marijuana legislation. It all adds up to a memorable evening about America’s buzziest industry, one that will impact our cities in myriad ways big and small in the 21st century.
Jane West is the CEO of the eponymous cannabis lifestyle brand Jane West, where she designs and develops products, accessories, and home goods that invite mainstream consumers to experience the benefits of cannabis. She is also the founder of Women Grow, the cannabis industry’s largest professional networking organization. An outspoken advocate for legalization, normalization, and a fair and sustainable cannabis industry, she and her company have been the focus of reporting from CNBC, NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, Newsweek, The Guardian and TIME. She has been called “the Martha Stewart of Cannabis” and “the most widely recognized female personality in cannabis.” She was recently named one of Instyle magazine’s “The Badass 50: Women Who Are Changing the World.”
Steve Hawkins, Executive Director, The Marijuana Policy Project
Steve Hawkins leads the largest organization fighting for marijuana legalization in Washington. Hawkins approaches cannabis policy with a background in social justice activism. In his prior role of Vice President of the NAACP, he spearheaded efforts to end the New York City’s stop-and-frisk policy and worked to remove obstacles to employment and voting for the formerly incarcerated. Hawkins has also served as President of the Coalition for Public Safety, the largest national bipartisan effort to reform the justice system at the state and federal levels, and Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, where he led a bipartisan campaign to end capital punishment for juveniles.
In the fall of 2017, Hope Wiseman became the youngest African-American to own a dispensary in the United States. Mary & Main in Prince George’s County, Maryland is a successful retail pipeline for medical marijuana, as well as a hub for cannabis education and activism. Wiseman is a cofounder of Compassionate Herbal Alternatives, which seeks to create opportunity for minorities negatively affected by today’s drug policy. She’s also appeared on E! reality show, WAGS Atlanta. Before turning her talents to the cannabis industry, Wiseman worked as an Equity Institutional Sales Analyst at SunTrust.
John Hudak’s 2016 book, Marijuana: A Short History, offers a comprehensive look at how cannabis emerged from the shadows of counterculture to become a mainstream public policy issue and source of legal revenue for both businesses and governments. In his research, he describes why attitudes and policy have changed, and what those changes mean for marijuana’s future. Hudak’s work has been recognized for its quality and contribution by the American Political Science Association’s Presidency Research Group and has been supported by the National Science Foundation.
Regarded as the foremost expert on Virginia marijuana policy, Jenn Michelle Pedini spearheaded advocacy for the 2018 General Assembly legislation that successfully expanded Virginia’s regulatory model to allow doctors to prescribe CBD and THC-A to all patients regardless of condition. Pedini is the Development Director for NORML’s national chapter, a founding member of the Virginia Cannabis Industry Association, and Managing Partner at Virginia Cannabis Group. No one knows the future of cannabis in Virginia like Jenn Michelle.
The Future of Cannabis will be a highlight of the Tom Tom Summit and the culmination of Tom Tom’s Civic Innovation and Renewable Energy Conferences on April 10. The 2019 Tom Tom Summit is a series of six conferences revolving around the theme of “Building Better Hometowns.” Single-day Conference Tickets are available for $100; and week-long All Access Badges, which grant entry to all six conferences plus evening headlining events, are available for $400.00. More information about the conferences and tickets can be found at www.tomtomfest.com/summit.
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