The cannabis industry has certainly exploded in size since the days of guerrilla gardens strategically placed in the Emerald Triangle. These days you can openly seek and procure joints, flowers, edibles, vapes, oils, tinctures, and more; and according to stats, the global sales of adult-use cannabis products of the legal variety have gone up to 16.5 billion USD last year. The market is showing no signs of slowing either—its projected expansion in upcoming years is around 25.3%.
Various factors both big and small have contributed to this. On one hand you have the blessed relaxation of laws surrounding cannabis and derivatives, and increased legalization rates, jointly leading to widespread acceptance, be it in the medical field or among the population. Also to be thanked are the hordes of researchers, entrepreneurs and manufacturers toiling behind the scenes to eradicate stigma and raise awareness, as well as provide access to efficient and safe cannabis-derived products to people who can benefit from it.
Considering how things were before the past decade, it’s safe to say that the compound has a progressive industry which has changed a lot in very little time. That said, there’s still a long road ahead with plenty of room for improvement. Part of the latter is impelled by Priscilla Vilchis and similar entrepreneurs, looking to bring some refreshing change into the sphere.
Breaking Barriers Amid Competition
Cannabis brands are a dime a dozen these days, and the increasingly high number of products occupying the shelves in dispensaries, shops, grocery stores, and supermarkets means it’s a very competitive market, and so just the best in the crowd can succeed substantially.
Priscilla Vilchis, though, wasn’t intimidated by the competition to be found in a setting which draws parallels to the Wild West. A self-made magnate, Vilchis is plenty used to high-stakes operations, having come up managing some of SoCal’s top physicians. In her twenties, when she was yet to make her foray into the cannabis industry, she was a medical practice consultant, and part of her job as such was to assist medical professionals in navigating regulations and negotiating with insurance companies. Suffice to say she was great at it.
Fast forward to now, and she’s running a prosperous cannabis empire under the name Premium Produce, which has operations in Vegas and Lynwood, California. She’s currently counted among the most successful entrepreneurs the industry has seen. Years of unremitting efforts paid off and helped her cross many hurdles inherent to the field, such as when she became the first as well as youngest minority female CEO to obtain a license in the cultivation and production of both recreational and medical marijuana in Nevada. Some people also started calling her the “Queen of the desert” after that.
Vilchis’s interest in cannabis can be attributed to her entrenched passion for innovation as well as for advances in medicine. With an already solid background in healthcare experience, she made the natural move into the cannabis sector. It was at this point, in 2104, that she found Nevada to be the most promising state in terms of investing in marijuana.
She has been fighting ever since to build her company from almost scratch, and as can be surmised, it wasn’t anywhere near easy. The many challenges she faced on the way include lobbying to submitting applications, maneuvering through the legal environment, and throwing her money behind a venture that had no guarantee of succeeding. In the end, however, her vision was finally brought to life, and she now owns and is CEO of a $10 million laboratory and cultivation facility stretching across 25,000 square feet in Vegas. The installation produces 16 strains of cannabis, and Vilchis’s signature brand Reina touts among the best-rated products currently in the market.
Spreading Awareness About Cannabis
For Vilchis, educating the public regarding cannabis is extremely important, as is ensuring access to resources for education. For one, she is acutely aware how much misinformation is floating around and causing harm in the cannabis world.
This topic is especially sensitive in many minority communities, especially the Latino one. In the latter children are taught while very young to expect death if they ever consume marijuana. Vilchis, being a Latina and having been raised with a similar teaching, knows how this can have a bad impact. What she points out is that people in such communities are completely ignorant of the good effects marijuana can have, and for this reason, she fights to shed light on what most people only have misconceptions about.
This is where her deep knowledge in the matter comes into play, alongside her persuasion skills too of course. Vilchis takes on the voice of a passionate advocate when her community members choose to listen, and presents facts and hard evidence to help them better understand the plant and its varied benefits. She even consults with organizations thanks to her expert opinion, and has been in various well-regarded publications, all of which has cemented her status as an expert.
