Being Black and gay during Pride in 2020 hits different. But that doesn’t mean we stop celebrating Black LGBTQIA+ people in the cannabis industry. Thanks to handy dandy COVID-19, there were no Pride Parades (I hope) for the sake of safety.
But you can still have a good time getting to know these notable icons that represent the best of intersecting cannabis, the gay community and Blackness.
We admittedly don’t cover the entire nation (or world) of queer Black folk killing it in the plant game. But these 6 wonderful individuals are the future of expanded diversity in an industry overloaded with heterosexual White cisgender men.
You’ll get to know:
- The innovative founders of Unoia
- The transformational hemp farmer and herbalist of Melanated Medicinals
- Cannabis’s first openly gay model and entertainer
- An angel investor and LGBTQ pioneer
- A Black Futurist and former Georgia State Senate candidate
- A marketing and tech business founder of Visioneer IT with a dope cannabis app
Read on for our private parade of dazzling Black folk!
What LGBTQIA+ stand for
To start, what does the acronym mean?
Pride Month is a celebration of not only the gay community everywhere humans exist on this planet. The overall community uses an inclusive and ever-growing acronym: LGBTIQA+
We took a shot at getting influencers who fit under at least one letter. This is for people who don’t know them or may get terms mixed up.
L: Lesbian, women who love women
G: Gay, men who love men
B: Bisexual, people who love men and women (there’s no formula to this)
T: Transgender, people who identify as a gender beyond assigned biological sex at birth
I: Intersex, people born with non-traditional biological sex characteristics; it’s not tied to gender or sexual identity
Q: Queer (reclaiming the term from its derogatory uses) or Questioning one’s sexual/gender identity
A: Asexual (NOT Allies), or “aces,” people who don’t experience (much) sexual attraction but still have romantic feelings
+: Additional sexual identities such as Pansexual (meaning), Demisexual, Greysexual and more.
Want a thorough understanding of this? Enter the rabbit hole to educate yourself by clicking here.
Brande Elise & Danielle Gray of Unoia
Brande Elise and Danielle Gray are THE premiere power couple for cannabis, LGBTQ+ and Black excellence. They’re co-founders of their CBD honey company Unoia. To match their beautiful faces, spirits and products, the company name means “beautiful thinking” in Greek.
These lovely Black lesbians (sorry that sounds like a Pornhub title) aren’t new to the Cash Color Cannabis platform. The founder Mehka King interviewed them in 2019 AKA the pre-pandemic world.
Watch the video or save it to your “Watch Later” to learn the essentials of branding and defining your audience.
Brande is Unoia’s Chief Connection Officer with a background as a VoiceOver artist and event host. She has a thorough web of relationships with celebrities, artists, photographers and influencers that she brings to the table.
Danielle is all-things marketing thanks to MBA and ownership of her other company DG Marketing Co. Other than developing and designing Unoia’s brand identity, she’s reached over 10,000 people with speeches.
Make sure to follow their individual Instagram pages by clicking the links above. And keep up with Unoia on Instagram and Facebook.
And get a taste of their honey (and more) by exploring their shop!
Takeaway Quote: “We just want to show the world that you can be exactly who you are–and if a lane is not there for you, create it yourself.”
Sun English of Melanated Medicinals
Sun (sometimes Bobby) English is a queer transgender woman (pronouns: she/they) and friend of mine who’s a committed farmer and herbalist. We met years ago in Baltimore, Maryland during an artist workshop and reconnected over cannabis in 2019 when they returned from Oakland, California.
Sun is a woman of the land and has a magic to them that I’ve witnessed with their at-home garden and grows.
They are the founder of Liberation Seed and Melanated Medicinals with a mission to build a co-op in Farmville, Virginia.
Commuting between Baltimore and Farmville, they have hosted workshops for herbalism and rituals within Black communities. Sun is an eclectic soul—and could use your support with the co-op via their GoFund Me.
Click the highlighted link to learn how your support is a step in the right direction for all Black people.
Follow Sun on one of their 3 Instagram accounts: Individual / Liberation Seed / Melanated Medicinals. Support Black farmers and herbalists in this space!
Takeaway Quote: “This planet is a gem, and we must not give up on it. Each newly sown seed is a step towards healing.”
Anye Elite of Icon City & Cannabis’s 1st Gay Model
Anye is a multi-talented creative. He showed up on our radar when he became the first open LGBT man to become a cannabis model. He’s looking high and fly for Cali Green Gold, a national cannabis brand.
When he’s not toking Cali Green Gold’s The Benny Cannagar “Bennygar”with the utmost Black excellence, he’s a rapper, media personality and entertainment executive/founder of Icon City.
Outside of business (can we separate identity from work??), he’s a LGBT activist and cultural commentator.
Get a taste of his welcoming sound with his official music video for “How U Doin” below. Support Anye and show him some love via one of his Instagram accounts and respective websites for his endeavors:
Inclusive Urban Entertainment Company Icon City
Takeaway Quote: “I’m fine and so are you. COVID or corona can’t kill creativity.”
Cee Smith of Cee Smith Media and Pipeline Angels
Photo by Alex C Brown
I don’t know much about Cee Smith. She’s a DC native lesbian angel investor, entrepreneur and LGBTQIA+ pioneer. She has over a decade of experience as a serial entrepreneur.
Her company is Cee Smith Media. They offer investment opportunities for LGBT entrepreneurs and creatives of color.
And she’s been involved in media and business development in industries like tech, entertainment, film and cannabis! Have a listen to her interview on podcast Artists without DayJobs with host Jo-Na Williams.
With the uprisings nationwide in 2020, she’s a proponent of supporting Black women. Especially in light of the mistreatment of DC Mayor Bowser, the capital’s first Black female leader.
Reach out to her via her Instagram account. (Shout to to Cannabis Chef Liv Vasques of Netflix’s Cooked with Cannabis for HIGHLY recommended her.)
Takeaway Quote: “I won’t sit back quiet and watch people tear down a Black woman in any way shape or form.”
Devin Barrington of Black Futurist Group & Former Georgia State Senate candidate
Photo from devinbarringtonward.com
Devin Barrington is a visionary committed to creating a brilliant future for all parts of the Black community. The recent climate of protests address the inescapable reality of being Black in America.
And Devin took a major stand as an Atlanta-based community organizer and freedom fighter.
How?
By shooting for the seat of Georgia State Senator of District 38. He didn’t win the spot. But he made his mission clear in advocating to defund the Atlanta Police Department.
Now how about his involvement in cannabis?
He’s the managing director of The Black Futurists Group. It isn’t a solely a cannabis organization. The group’s mission is centered on building the future of our community with equity, freedom and liberation.
All of which aligns with the “green rush” potential that’s being milked from the cannabis industry.
The Black community suffers the most but earns the least from it. The Black Futurists Group kicked off cannabis advocacy with the Trap Lecture on 4/20 this year (our friend Sheena at Cannabis Noire was on the panel)!
Show Devin some love by giving him a follow on Instagram.
Keep up with the Black Futurist Group and his future State Senate candidacy on IG by clicking the links.
Takeaway Quote: “Our job isn’t to predict the future. Rather, it’s our duty to create it.”
Gavriel Legynd of VisioneerIT & the CannaSprout app
Gavriel Legynd is a marketing and tech business transgender man with a commitment to cannabis and making money. He doesn’t partake in any parts of the plant. But he leans on it to help his daughter who suffers from sickle cell disease.
He runs Visoneer IT, a marketing automation solution for a variety of businesses. And given his tech experience, he’s developing a subscription-based cannabis app called CannaSprout. Read about how he’s facing down the cannabis industry here.
He also has a CBD company called GreenZen. At the time of publishing, you’re unable to buy from the shop. Overall though, he was inspired to create the company based on his daughter’s needs.
He is a force to be reckoned with as a serial entrepreneur, business strategist and overall methodical advocate for the transgender community and Jewish people of color.
Connect with him via LinkedIn. Follow VisioneerIT on Instagram and Facebook.
Takeaway Quote: his favorite life quote from Napoleon Hill, “If you don’t conquer self, you will be conquered by self.”
