EVEN BEFORE CANNABIS was legalized, Kijana Rose knew cannabis could make yoga a better time. Rose, 34, has been teaching ganja yoga for seven years and has been selling cannabis edibles for even longer. Her family is Rastafarian and she grew up with cannabis as a medicinal substance.
When the state legalized marijuana, Rose was ready to embrace the business model that was being offered to social equity candidates like her. She expected business plans, weed cookies, and chill vibes – not the regulatory nightmare she became enmeshed in.
Her goal was to open up a vegan cannabis bakery in Roslindale. There, she hoped to sell customizable cannabis baked goods and hold community events like book readings. Three years later, her store has never opened under her leadership and she has gone broke in the process.
“As an entrepreneur, you know you’re gonna struggle but by the time we got licensed, I was literally sleeping on my CMO’s [chief marketing officer] couch,” said Rose. “I had no home. I couldn’t pay rent. I was on food stamps. I didn’t have anything to my name. I can’t tell you how many times people on my team sent me, the CEO, money to eat because they knew I didn’t have it. That was literally the situation that I was in, and it just wasn’t worth it at all.”
[Read more at Commonwealth Beacon]