{"id":1638,"date":"2021-10-08T17:31:59","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T17:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/wp-home\/?p=181173"},"modified":"2021-10-08T17:31:59","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T17:31:59","slug":"theres-something-about-mary-pryor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=1638","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s something about Mary Pryor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <title>There&#8217;s something about Mary Pryor &#8211; Leafly<\/title>     <!-- This is Index Exchange, a script\/\/3rd-party integration that interjects GAM. It needs to be 'ahead' of GTM in the DOM, which comes from Cephalopod. GTM loads GAM. This script needs to setup it's interjection stuff before GAM loads. --> <!-- End Index Exchange --> <!-- Quotes = strings--><!-- No quotes = boolean-->\t   <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.1.2 (Yoast SEO v17.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->                  <!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- BEGIN Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END Sailthru Horizon Meta Information -->  <!-- Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- End Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --><br \/>\n <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <title>Leafly<\/title>     <title>Leafly \u00ae<\/title>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              <title>Loading\u2026<\/title>     <\/p>\n<div class=\"bg-white fixed flex hidden inset-0 items-start md:h-auto md:items-center overflow-auto\" id=\"age-gate-container\">\n<div class=\"bg-white md:h-auto mx-auto p-lg text-sm w-full\" id=\"age-gate\">\n<p><label for=\"select-country\">Where are you from?<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"age-gate__info\">\n<p><button class=\"button\" data-testid=\"age-gate-no-button\" id=\"tou-cancel\">no<\/button><button class=\"button ml-md\" data-testid=\"age-gate-yes-button\" id=\"tou-continue\">yes<\/button><\/p>\n<p><label class=\"checkbox__label my-xl\"><span class=\"text-xs\" id=\"remember-user-label\">Remember me for 30 days. <br \/>I confirm that this is not a shared device.<\/span><\/label><\/p>\n<p class=\"error error--underage hidden\">Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hidden age-gate__loading\">Redirecting you to<span class=\"redirect-domain\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xs mt-auto\">By accessing this site, you accept<br \/>\nthe <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"tou-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/terms-of-use\">Terms of Use<\/a><br \/>\nand <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"pp-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container my-xl\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col md:col-9\" id=\"article-content\">\n<p class=\"has-dark-green-color has-text-color\"><em>The cannabis industry needs people like social equity maven, Mary Pryor. <\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<p>And by people, I mean people that say, \u201cDo more; do better, and do it now.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>People that will remind you that the balance sheet that puts billions of dollars into the pockets of highly-visible cannabis corporations would <em>never<\/em> be possible without all of the Black and brown people who were sacrificed in the so-called \u201cWar on Drugs.\u201d And more than anything, we need people like Mary Pryor to not be villainized for the role they play. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\">\n<p>\u201c<strong>Black influence in cannabis is undisputed. Same thing for indigenous influence, same thing for Latinx. Same thing for my Asian brothers and sisters, and my Indian brothers and sisters .\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><cite>\u2013 Mary Pryor<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-dots\">\n<h2 id=\"h-who-is-mary-pryor\">Who is Mary Pryor?<\/h2>\n<p>Professionally, Mary Pryor is the co-founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cannaclusive.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CannaClusive<\/a>, a collective aimed at driving diversity, equity, and inclusion in the cannabis space; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cannabisforblacklives.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cannabis For Black Lives (CfBL),<\/a> an organization that makes it very easy for the types of companies mentioned above to put their money where their mouth is; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/fitforus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fit For Us,<\/a> a company aimed at improving the health and wellness of minorities in a world that wants us all to die from diabetes; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breakingbread.nyc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Breaking Bread NYC<\/a>, a nonprofit aimed at feeding homeless people in a world that acts like the less-fortunate aren\u2019t even human; and the Chief Marketing Officer for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/brands\/tonic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TONIC CBD.<\/a> <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img alt class=\"wp-image-181182 has-ll lazyload\" width=\"488\" height=\"731\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=1480 1480w\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Personally, she is so much more.<\/p>\n<p>Mary Pryor was raised by her grandmother as her mother navigated Multiple Sclerosis and her father battled drug addiction. <\/p>\n<p>She grew up wanting to be a lawyer, then an engineer. As a child, she was a giant introvert that only cared about crayons and paints. That is until 8th grade when Mary had to defend herself against a bully that called her the n-word. <\/p>\n<p>Recalling the experience, Mary says, <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI blacked out and fought her. The private school I went to ignored my complaints about being bullied, [so] my whole family pulled up and threatened to sue the school. I skyrocketed into being one of the most popular girls in school after that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s been defending herself against bullies ever since. Now, instead of it being in a private school in Michigan, it\u2019s against cannabis conglomerates, MSOs, and sometimes, even fellow DEI advocates. <\/p>\n<p>When a straight shooter like Mary walks into the room, egos get bruised and anxiety can soar. But by now, she knows why. It\u2019s because Mary isn\u2019t afraid to demand that the cannabis industry right its wrongs. <\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/lifestyle\/how-to-show-up-for-women-and-minorities-in-cannabis\" class=\"wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-single-inline-block leafly-inline-related-story\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"border border-deep-green-alt border-l-0 border-r-0 my-xl p-md font-bold\">\n<p>Related<\/p>\n<p>How to show up for women and minorities in cannabis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-fuel-behind-pryor-s-fire\">The fuel behind Pryor\u2019s fire<\/h2>\n<p>Mary is Detroit to the core. She tells it like it is and lives within her truth. She is giving, community-oriented, and big-hearted. She\u2019s also wildly talented at reading people\u2019s energies. In 2015, after entering the space to find medicine, Mary was blown away to see that the legal cannabis industry was dominated by white males, and even more dominated by questionable products. <\/p>\n<p>Her signature observations and her willingness to speak out in the cannabis industry blossomed from there. Since co-founding CannaClusive in 2017 along with Tonya Flash and Charlese Antoinette, Mary Pryor has become a premier voice in the arena of cannabis social equity. She\u2019s been featured in USA Today, Essence Magazine, and has even become an advisor for The Parent Company, which owns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/strains-products\/jay-z-monogram-weed-review\">Jay-Z\u2019s Monogram<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Luke Anderson, co-founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/brands\/cann\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CANN<\/a> and a founding member of Cannabis For Black Lives, explains what it\u2019s like working with someone with Mary\u2019s level of confidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople think she\u2019s scary; I was one of them. She has a razor-sharp bullsh*t detector, and for someone who was just learning about diversity and inclusion with respect to the cannabis industry, that can be very intimidating. She\u2019ll call you out, but she will also call you in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Little do people know that notoriety was never the goal for Mary. Safe access to the medicine that helps her feel better from the pain and inflammation of Crohn\u2019s Disease was the goal. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m in this for the betterment of my life, and I\u2019m very particular about what I consume and who I get it from. It\u2019s one of the reasons I work with Tonic. I\u2019ve been to the farm, I know [Tonic CEO Brittany Carbone] doesn\u2019t play around. I know she cares about the integrity of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/politics\/leafly-seeds-of-change-2021-report-rates-states-on-marijuana-equity\" class=\"wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-single-inline-block leafly-inline-related-story\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"border border-deep-green-alt border-l-0 border-r-0 my-xl p-md font-bold\">\n<p>Related<\/p>\n<p>New \u2018Seeds of Change\u2019 report rates states on cannabis equity, finds most lacking<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a> <\/p>\n<h2>Finding the means necessary<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img width=\"684\" height=\"1024\" alt class=\"wp-image-181198 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=1480 1480w\"><\/figure>\n<p>Mary\u2019s passion and vision of safe, minority-owned spaces, products, and businesses in the cannabis industry are part of the reason why the CannaClusive team created <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cannaclusive.com\/inclusivebase\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">InclusiveBase<\/a>, a database full of Black and Brown companies in this space. With this tool, it has never been easier to find Black and Brown companies in cannabis to support. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlack influence in cannabis is undisputed. Same thing for indigenous influence, same thing for Latinx. Same thing for my Asian brothers and sisters, and my Indian brothers and sisters,\u201d says Mary. <\/p>\n<p>CannaClusive has also launched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cannaclusive.com\/news\/2020\/6\/25\/our-open-letter-to-the-cannabis-and-hemp-community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Accountability List<\/a> to hold people accountable for performative commitments to social change. In the future, the organization is looking to branch out into more regional spaces with nationwide partners. The goal is to have different representatives in each state as states continue to legalize marijuana one by one so that social equity can effectively be fought for everywhere, and they need support for that too. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe small potatoes is [talking about] equity, the big potatoes are access and capital opportunities in the cannabis space.\u201d <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Companies that wish to participate in the fight for change can do so, immediately and directly, through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cannabisforblacklives.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cannabis for Black Lives<\/a>. <\/p>\n<div id=\"author-box\" class=\"p-lg my-xxl bg-white rounded border border-light-grey elevation-low\">\n<div class=\"mb-lg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor.jpg\" alt=\"Dant\u00e9 Jordan's Bio Image\" class=\"lazyload inline-block mr-md rounded-full border border-light-grey\"> <\/p>\n<p>Dant\u00e9 Jordan<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"text-sm\">Dant\u00e9 Jordan is a former member of the Leafly Subject Matter Expert team, and current freelance writer, video producer, and media consultant specializing in cannabis culture, strains, products, education, and everything else related to that lil\u2019 green flower. Contact him at smokingwithdante on Instagram, or dantenetworks(at)gmail(dotcom). His website is www.dantejordan.com.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"text-sm font-bold underline text-green\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/author\/dant-jordan\">View Dant\u00e9 Jordan&#8217;s articles<\/a> <\/div>\n<div class=\"leafly-sailthru-signup p-lg my-xl bg-white rounded elevation-low border border-light-grey\">\n<p class=\"text-xs pt-lg\">By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\">Leafly<\/a> and you agree to Leafly&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/tos\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat -->  <!--\nPerformance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: https:\/\/www.boldgrid.com\/w3-total-cache\/ Served from: _ @ 2021-10-08 18:35:49 by W3 Total Cache\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s something about Mary Pryor &#8211; Leafly Leafly Leafly \u00ae Loading\u2026 Where are you from? noyes Remember me for 30 days. I confirm that this is not a shared device. Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly. Redirecting you to By accessing this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The cannabis industry needs people like social equity maven, Mary Pryor. And by people, I mean people that say, \u201cDo more; do better, and do it now.\u201d People that will remind you that the balance sheet that puts billions of dollars into the pockets of highly-visible&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theres-something-about-mary-pryor.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}