By Kaisha- Dyan McMillan
M: Growing up, I hung out on Haight Street and as a teenager and that was one of the places that tourists came for all types of drugs, including marijuana. Good weed flowed through people in the Haight and knowing how to handle the plant was part of the culture. I learned a lot from just loving the plant and being curious.
At the time I lived in Sunset where there were a lot of grow houses. One of my friends had an older brother who was one of the Sunset growers, so I started working for free when I was around 13 [years old] and got to know how he grew it. We would take turns helping out and that was my first experience with cultivation.
By the time I was 16, I graduated from just having weed to sell to my friends so I could smoke for free into actually being able to make money off it. That was around the time that Haight Street had a thriving cannabis industry, and that’s where I learned a lot of my business with cannabis – purchasing flowers from subject A, putting it into eighths, and then I would start off selling it out there and then eventually I would have runners sell my product, I didn’t even have a car. I was just making runs on the bus.
By the time I was 16, I graduated from just having weed to sell to my friends so I could smoke for free into actually being able to make money off it.
I had another friend who graduated from culinary school and he started making edibles, so we started selling edibles to the medicinal clubs in San Francisco back in probably 2010, which is also when I started my first delivery service under Prop 215.
Prior to Prop 64 there was Prop 215 that was written by older brothers like Dennis Peron and AIDS advocates that were in the culture of it and everything ran under a collective motto. If you were for real, you had a medical license, so that was just how you protected yourself and kept yourself safe.
So I opened a nonprofit corporation and would sign people up to be our patients for my cultivation. I had a list of patients that would allow us to cultivate weed on their behalf. That’s how you stayed legal and protected yourself back then and if you got raided, you’d list the patient you were growing for. Then for delivery, you were accepting donations for marijuana. It was based on compassion. Wasn’t no taxes. People who really wanted to be in cannabis were in it for the collective.
It was based on compassion. Wasn’t no taxes. People who really wanted to be in cannabis were in it for the collective.
M: I went through a lot of trial and error with my friends. We started making edibles in high school and I remember my first batch… I didn’t know that you separated the weed from the butter. So, I remember I had made these horrible elephant… I called them elephant cookies because they look like elephant poop.
I learned a lot of things growing up and volunteering my time for free to help with my friends’ grows. They’d let me come and help out. That turned into me gaining cultivation experience, so by the time I started the edibles company I did have some knowledge, I knew how to make butter correctly, so I could make some good cookies. But once I teamed up with my friend who came out of culinary school, we were able to make things like baklava, chocolate mousse, truffles, and then we eventually moved onto delivering medicated lunches. We did chicken wings and things like chicken broccoli cheddar soup.
So I was just going through life: 1) trying to learn how to make money with the plant, and then 2) actually learning how to do these different things. So now if somebody asks me, “Man, how did you learn all this stuff?”, it was about trying to make a buck and wanting to learn how to do it.
…if somebody asks me, “Man, how did you learn all this stuff?”, it was about trying to make a buck and wanting to learn how to do it.
M: We were just eyeballing it, and truthfully back then if you were ordering, it was mostly for medicinal, and you didn’t really have any inexperienced patients that was trying to purchase, unless it was a new patient. For the most part the patients coming to us had real medical issues that they were trying to help with higher doses that you can’t really achieve by smoking it. That business only lasted eight months.
M: There’s a lot of my story that I don’t normally share, but I’m starting to try to get it out. Something that I don’t normally share you know… it’s kind of in the back of my mind.
So I started my first delivery, and then that didn’t go too well – I didn’t even have a car when I first started, but I got caught up and after that it started a chain of events, because I had been institutionalized. I got arrested for a parole violation ‘cause the cops said they smelled weed on me when I was walking by, it wasn’t good. That’s how they [cops] do it. They could say they smelled something on you and it gave them reason to search you. For a while I was in and out of prison until I got caught up and was in jail for 8 months.
I didn’t even have a car when I first started, but I got caught up and after that it started a chain of events, because I had been institutionalized. I got arrested for a parole violation ‘cause the cops said they smelled weed on me when I was walking by, it wasn’t good. That’s how they [cops] do it. They could say they smelled something on you and it gave them reason to search you.
After I got out of the pin, I did all of the court-required counseling. They also make you do a program, and I was like, well if I’m going to do anything I need something that’s going to help me in the future. I don’t just want to be just wasting my time. So I signed up for Youth Build and since I’d already had a high school diploma, they put me in a program to learn data tech.
Eventually out of that program, I got my first job and then I got a job at HP.
M: So I was working at Hewlett-Packard and that’s when I decided to open up my second delivery license called Green Cure under Prop 215 again with a partner. It was going pretty good. I stopped working at HP a year in and realized we weren’t able to find enough good product to keep our shelves filled, so I opened another 215 non-profit medical grow named San Francisco Roots.
We ran Green Cure for the next three years. So when legalization was on the horizon, I found out we were further behind [in paying taxes] than I had thought. My partner was into some serious stuff and because I was working with him, the DA thought I was involved and I got caught up in the dragnet of his deal.
My partner was into some serious stuff and because I was working with him, the DA thought I was involved and I got caught up in the dragnet of his deal.
M: Yea. When I was in jail I had no money, I had no way of feeding myself, or any contact with anyone to give me proper representation. The first couple of weeks was digging within myself to stay sane and reassuring myself that everything is going to be okay, but I was locked up with guys who were in the pin for …. I was in there with some serious cats.
M: After the shock of how long it could be, I had a glimmer of hope that felt like a second chance. This is a crazy story:
When I was arrested my grandma had broken her ankle and was in a nursing home at the time so no one knew what had happened. Crazy enough, my pitbull [Dahlia] had just had puppies when my house got raided. One of my friends who was a vet worked at SPCA and he heard a call come in that a pitbull and puppies were coming in from the Sunset. When my Dahlia got there, he knew it was her ‘cause he was the only one that could get close to her and the puppies, which put out a bat signal to my circle [of friends].
When my Dahlia got there, he knew it was her ‘cause he was the only one that could get close to her and the puppies, which put out a bat signal to my circle [of friends].
So I’m in there and I got some more fight in me knowing that there are people are out there who care about me, ‘cause his ex-girlfriend came to my court hearing to tell me what happened and that they were getting a proper lawyer for me. So I had to make the best of it.
My mom, who lives in Milwaukee, sent me math books so I went to a program with a math teacher and met with their counselors. Once I began realizing I was more in control of things than I thought, I felt like I had a second chance to do right.
The biggest change for me was before 2011, I was institutionalized and I started getting into the mindset that when I got busted for something I would think to myself, “I’m going to jail and I can do it,” and started realizing something wasn’t alright with being alright going to jail. After that point I was a lot more determined to be in the legal cannabis industry.
The biggest change for me was before 2011, I was institutionalized and I started getting into the mindset that when I got busted for something I would think to myself, “I’m going to jail and I can do it,” and started realizing something wasn’t alright with being alright going to jail. After that point I was a lot more determined to be in the legal cannabis industry.
M: I was in the pin for a month and the lawyer went to bat for me. I got released on tight restrictions against the DA’s orders. By that time, the DA was like off his chair reading all of my previous charges. Somehow the judge saw something in me and let me go, as long as I agreed to do something like 5 days a week with a program with the city.
At that point I didn’t care that I didn’t have money, I was just happy to be out. I got my grandma out of the nursing home and became her caretaker ‘cause she had Alzheimer’s. I’d cook, clean, make sure she was bathed, and not wandering around at night. I wasn’t the easiest to raise. She had my back and never gave up on me, it was my turn. She still had a little income coming in to keep the lights on so I enrolled in classes at CCSF so I could go to school and focus on something positive that was gonna keep me out of trouble, then come back and take care of my grandma.
I got my grandma out of the nursing home and became her caretaker ‘cause she had Alzheimer’s. I’d cook, clean, make sure she was bathed, and not wandering around at night. I wasn’t the easiest to raise. She had my back and never gave up on me, it was my turn.
We took a break here to speak about family. The interview resumed as follows.
M: When I got out, I knew I had to create something that’d take care of my family. I had done it so many times, I knew I could get it right this time.
Luckily I still had San Francisco Roots still open, which was my sole business at that time, and I was able to turn that cultivation into a brand slowly.
I really worked hard once legalization was coming. I recognized that we didn’t have the assets to be able to cultivate on the legal market, so I partnered with a few cultivators and a distribution company that wanted to carry my brand. I realized that cultivators always need genetics to cultivate that the distributors are going to want to buy, and the distributor wants a brand that has the proper product to bring to the market that people will want to buy. So while I was still able to cultivate under my license, I used that license to really build the brand around our indoor flower, and by the time legalization came we were able to float the product to our new cultivation partners and our new distribution partners to remain on the shelves in the new legal market.
M: I started to vend my flowers to outside dispensaries and I knew that I had a superior product, but for some reason I couldn’t get the dispensaries to pay the price that I was asking. I was complaining to one of my buddies [Mingo] about it and he was like, “Well I know what you got to do.” And that’s when he made a logo for SF Roots for me, and he sent me down to see Sticker Farmer and I got my first jars made.
So I took the same product that I had gotten lowballed before back to the same dispensary, and I was able to get more than what I was asking for previously.
M: I think it went from $1,600 to $2,100, something like that.
M: That’s when the first lightbulb went off with the branding, and after I made progress with that I started going to a lot of 215 medical marijuana events that were held on a weekly basis. I built an events team so I was able to hit multiple events in the same day eventually. I started off me and one other person, we would go to events, we had our week full of events and then I realized I could grow the team to help really spread the brand, so I hired a couple more folks and by that time I’d have a team in Sacramento, I would have a team down in Tracy, and I would have a team in San Francisco some nights. But we were able to do a handful of shows every week and by doing these smaller events between Sacramento and Tracy, we were able to build a real strong grassroots following of people who actually knew us and knew our product.
Transitioning from the medical market to the rec market, oh Jesus, so that was really the equity community in San Francisco that has been my backbone. ‘Cause I came from a community background, I have that community now. I’m a hustler, so yeah I know how to sell weed, but this was definitely a new ball game.
A year or two years ago, Original Equity Group put together a 6-week course on licensing. I went to that and also went to SUCCESS Center’s free workshops. That was instrumental. Other than that I started at the Office of Cannabis in San Francisco and would grill them about what their equity plans were ‘cause I was still fighting my case and I didn’t want it to be for nothing. They were one of the main reasons I made it through – they supported me and kept telling me to keep pushing and that I had a real shot.
I started at the Office of Cannabis in San Francisco and would grill them about what their equity plans were ‘cause I was still fighting my case and I didn’t want it to be for nothing.
Now mind you, I’m still fighting this case the whole time that I was just accused of. So that was one of the things in the back of my mind like, a) will I even be able to do this if I do get convicted of these charges; b) what’ll happen if I get convicted of these charges before any of this comes to fruition. So a lot of what I did was on blind faith and I kind of just had to go with my gut and believe in myself that everything would work out.
…a lot of what I did was on blind faith and I kind of just had to go with my gut and believe in myself that everything would work out.
From the time that I started SF Roots it was kind of one of those things where I was already fighting the case. I don’t even know how to explain it now that I think about it, it was super weird because I had to teach myself to keep what was going on with my case to myself. I was starting this business and of course if you’re starting a business nobody wants to follow you if they know that you’re facing that type of pressure. So I just walked as fine of a line as I could to make sure that the business would survive and make sure that everything that I’m creating around me for other people was still going to be there.
M: I’d say the biggest challenge of the first couple years of cannabis is having to compete with corporations that seem to have an endless burn budget. It went from Mom-and-Pops, small craft – yeah you had some big players, but pretty much an even playing field that was led by the consumer turned into a more capitalist market that was led by how much dollars you had to spend. So now you had brands coming into the market and they could afford to give away products, they could afford to purchase shelf space, and those were things that, being a small equity business, we weren’t able to do. Luckily I started on the 215 market, so I had a handful of connections that were still in business and I guess you’d say, I owe it to that original grit where I would just continuously keep showing up banging on doors until we were able to get products on shelves.
I guess you’d say, I owe it to that original grit where I would just continuously keep showing up banging on doors until we were able to get products on shelves.
M: I think it starts off with our outlook. Me being from San Francisco, being a member of the community, I understand that I wouldn’t be here without the people who came before me, without the people who are beside me, and without the people who are behind me. So just with that thought process everything that we do, even the way that I built my company is like, everybody who I employ, they have their own personal mission that we come together as a company to push. And then in turn, we’re able to take on mentees. There’s a handful of equity applicants that we are helping to push to market to get through the pipeline.
I understand that I wouldn’t be here without the people who came before me, without the people who are beside me, and without the people who are behind me.
We show up to whatever community events we can. I mean, the biggest thing is just actually being a part of the community that you say you’re from. It’s really easy to point out people who just put checks, as opposed to people who are walking that line with you. In SF Roots there’s not really a hierarchy – even though I’m the founder and CEO, I still be jarring eighths with my crew, I’ll still be trimming with my crew, even my Creative Art Director, she’ll be trimming – so we all wear multiple hats, we’re all in it. I guess you’d say it’s the spirit of community that everybody embodies on my team that allows us to move in the community the way that we do. It’s not like we’re selfish – we go out of our way to give back. That sounds generic but…
M: Yeah. Raise all ships.
It’s really easy to point out people who just put checks, as opposed to people who are walking that line with you. In SF Roots there’s not really a hierarchy – even though I’m the founder and CEO, I still be jarring eighths with my crew, I’ll still be trimming with my crew,
M: How we been able to sustain it – well, starting off we’re just a super small lean team. Knowing that we can’t afford to make mistakes in the way that other companies can has really defined how we do things. For instance, one issue that I’m seeing now that I have a distribution that I’m a partner in, and seeing other companies and how they operate – I’m starting to notice that other companies don’t take the same due diligence as we do. Meaning that our flower is cultivated at the farm, before it leaves the farm we get testing done, we bring it down, we trim it, we test it again, and then it goes in for lab testing. So we have two to three rounds of testing before it even gets certified. One of the biggest reasons is that we really care about quality and quality control. The math behind it is, we would rather ensure that we are producing and providing a clean product the whole way through the process, as opposed to getting to the end of the process and finding out that the product is dirty or it doesn’t meet market standards.
our flower is cultivated at the farm, before it leaves the farm we get testing done, we bring it down, we trim it, we test it again, and then it goes in for lab testing. So we have two to three rounds of testing before it even gets certified.
M: For a small company like us, that could be detrimental. Say we purchase 50 pounds of flower from our farm, we bring it down, we package it or we manufacture it which adds more cost to the flower, we put it in for testing, we put it out to market, then we find out it has pesticides. Now all the money that we’ve invested into that product is gone, and 9 times out of 10 that’s going to be our nut. So I guess you would say it’s insurance, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Also coming from a cultivation background, I know how easy it is to have something pop up unexpectedly. So that’s also the prior experience of just knowing that you could have something happen, or something could have been overlooked.
M: If you’re in the industry you could support by giving them a fair shot. People hear the word “equity” and they associate it with lower quality flower because we might not have all the bells and whistles.
It’s weird to say now, but I’ve been in the industry a lot longer than the people who are in the industry now making six figures. That means I know what the best genetics look like and went through that learning curve a long time ago.
Think about it this way: you’re getting into the tomato industry and there’s a family that’s been growing tomatoes for the last 20 years, and instead of going to that family for their advice and knowledge, you just hire somebody out of college ‘cause they look good on paper.
Think about it this way: you’re getting into the tomato industry and there’s a family that’s been growing tomatoes for the last 20 years, and instead of going to that family for their advice and knowledge, you just hire somebody out of college ‘cause they look good on paper.
Notice all of those mega cultivations haven’t been able to survive, ‘cause they didn’t hire the cannabis grower that maybe didn’t fit your corporate culture but has 10 to 15 years experience. A lot of these people went for the fancy paperwork instead of the actual tried-and-true cultivators.
As for consumers, like any other product, educate yourselves on the people behind the brand, on the brand’s stories, how it’s produced. Ask yourselves, “Where does it come from? Is it funded by an endless money pit, or is there a community behind this product that is actually supporting?”, and be able to actually communicate those stories to their peers. Because I believe that that’s where it would start first – the education to the industry and then also peer-to-peer knowledge, because that’s really where it is. It’s saying hey, instead of supporting this big box retail, you know you have these legacy or equity farmers that have been in the industry.
Ask yourselves, “Where does it come from? Is it funded by an endless money pit, or is there a community behind this product that is actually supporting?”
M: In the next 5 to 10 years I see SF Roots – we would have completed our statewide distribution of the product. Prior to the virus, we were starting talks with cultivations in other states to pick up our genetic line, so we foresee at least being available in 2 other states as a multi-state operator at that point. And just really having some effective programs in place for equity applicants and other people of color trying to get into the industry. I believe that we’ll definitely be holding the torch and pushing the line for more people of color to be in the industry because that’s one thing that I notice now – that’s one reason why we help and mentor and don’t really worry about inviting more people into this market – is that when I started industry, it was with a lot more people that look like me, and now it’s not. So I believe that the people that were in the industry and the people that love the plant shouldn’t be blackballed, shouldn’t be priced out of it. I just think that there needs to be more color in the industry, period.
…when I started industry, it was with a lot more people that look like me, and now it’s not. So I believe that the people that were in the industry and the people that love the plant shouldn’t be blackballed, shouldn’t be priced out of it. I just think that there needs to be more color in the industry, period.
Even my last couple of times in the pin, I would always try to come out of it with a positive outlook, which in turn changed the way that I would think about the situation. Instead of taking losses, they were lessons. Everything that I’ve been through, even though it might have been a loss, it ultimately became a lesson because I learned how to avoid that situation and how to improve. I guess you learn how to avoid the pitfalls in the industry by experience. I can’t tell you just one time because I fucked up a lot! Somebody who was continuously fucking up, I had to believe in myself.
I can’t tell you just one time because I fucked up a lot! Somebody who was continuously fucking up, I had to believe in myself.
One of the times my grandma was coming to see me in jail, I think I had to do 8 months, and you know once I got my mind wrapped around it, it was like, “How am I going to come out of this 8 months stronger than when I went into it?” I took the time and that was the time I had my mom send me some math books – I didn’t know multiplication at the time, I didn’t know division – and that’s what I put my mind on. I learned skills that I didn’t have and things that I was able to teach myself. My grandma would come and visit me and she would look at me and she was like, “How are you so happy in here, what’s going on with you?” And I’m like, ”Grandma, I talk to myself and I was like, man, I’m the best thing I have for myself”.
My grandma would come and visit me and she would look at me and she was like, “How are you so happy in here, what’s going on with you?” And I’m like, ”Grandma, I talk to myself and I realized, I’m the best thing I have going for myself”.
As long as I’m always in my corner, it’s always going to be alright as long as I’m rooting for myself, and that’s been my driving factor: never give up on yourself. You know, it’s always going to be alright, it might be hard but you know you can figure it out. Instead of getting mad, use that energy to actually find a solution to the problem.
