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Where have you previously worked in cannabis? How/why did you end up working there?

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‍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!

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‍What did you like most about working with cannabis? What’s a stand out memory from that time?

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‍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!

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‍What have you learned moving from plant-touching work to tech? Did anything about the change surprise you?

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‍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.

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‍What’s your advice for those starting out in cannabis? What is there to look forward to?

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‍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!