With her Black Dragon Breakfast Club, the entrepreneur-activist hopes to shape a more inclusive and women-friendly industry.
Tsehaitu Abye was destined to be a cannabis community leader . Abye ’s founder , it turns out , has solution in the cannabis field as a cultivator , which she only learned about after she began building her Philadelphia administration , Black Dragon Breakfast Club . The cabaret ’s independent aim is helping BIPOC and fair sex reclaim their agency within the hemp and cannabis diligence . Put another elbow room : Abye is growing a community .
It seems culture runs in the family .
With experiences exist on a cannabis farm and organizing working class labor union — not to bring up the familial coincidence — Abye ’s background fuel her path as an enterpriser and activist .
Tsehaitu Abye|Photo courtesy of Tsehaitu Abye
The born - and - raised Philadelphian attended gamey school and college in Hawaii , where she worked on the state ’s first organize military campaign in 50 age , helping get a project union together for all the cordial reception worker at the airports . She return to Philadelphia to get her Masters of Business Administration , just as Western state were passing recreational cannabis police . Then it occurred to Abye : the union of business and protagonism in the legal marihuana infinite might be an ideal fit for her .
In January , Abye launched the Flower Puff Crew ganja wellness series with Black - owned commercial enterprise and practitioners to address the inequity in the wellness and wellness space . She ’s even branching out into merchandising and originative services .
Today , Abye ease community construction events , like Rise and Grinds , and out - of - state partnerships , like an upcomingPuff Pass Playevent on Juneteenth in Oakland , California celebrate the cannabis - well-disposed , Black grind and gamer prospect .
We caught up with the Mother of Black Dragons herself to find out more about how this community burgeon with Abye at the helm .
Thrillist : When did your family relationship with cannabis begin?Tsehaitu Abye : When I graduate college , I ended up living in California on a cannabis farm through the guy wire I was dating at the time . I got to see that life , learn how the plant grows . I was economize up money while I was there , and after two year , I went to Ethiopia to spend meter with my Church Father . I had n’t really known him at all , had n’t seen him in 20 - something years , and it was n’t that trip , but I ’d later watch that my Church Father in reality raise cannabis for much of his living .
How did that gem stay under wraps?It did n’t come up up when I visited him ; I did n’t hear that over the next five year that we stayed in cutaneous senses — I learned it during the pandemic , because we were verbalise every solar day at the starting time . At one point when I was sharing my day with him , he go , “ You eff I actually got exile for cannabis , right ? That ’s why I was in prison house and you get those letters ; that ’s what I was up to in Hawaii , while I was teach there . ” He tell me about this whole other part of my family story that I ’d never known about . My mom was very concerned about reputability , and I think she just considered cannabis to be part of the vicious side of thing that she did n’t want us to associate with .
Even though , by my mathematics , she fell in love life with your dad while he was mature weed in Hawaii?Yes , she did , haha . It ’s ridiculous . For me , marijuana is link to health and genial wellness , and through my newfound awareness of marijuana , I ’ve been able to experience a slew of emotional ontogeny . This shift in my relationship with cannabis allow for a shift in my relationship with my don , so this whole journey is a very personal one for me .
How did Black Dragon Breakfast Club get going?I work from West Coast vibraphone , pruning grapevine while water the greens , to the utterly zero - weed scene in Philadelphia . I postulate a community , but I also wanted to depart building something for whenever marijuana would legalize . Coming from hospitality , I entered the culinary and creative scene , where I adjoin a charwoman who was a fellow ganja lover and organizer . The more I utter about it , the more people I met with shared interest . After a certain point , I realize I already was building a line .
I spent two years [ 2016 - 2018 ] building the Black Dragon Breakfast Club community on societal media and in soul in Philadelphia ’s creative community through a monthly daytime Rise and Grind outcome . Initially there was a co - laminitis , but she has since left to start up her own project . Those 10 am meetups inspired the name : We ’re Black ; we’redragons[see definition on web site ] ; and we ’ve always wanted to be a secure community net for Black Dragons seeking creative space to research their wellness and turn their business .
What was the move from there?I did aBDBCpodcast for a while , but the penury for financial constancy became unmortgaged . I may number from a nonprofit background , but all that grassroots outreach entails a ton of marketing and sales skills . land in the creative residential area give me connections to gift , so we ’ve transitioned into a marketing / originative agency for those who have cannabis or hemp brand , are bring an event to our community , and those who just need support and ca n’t give a major way . I have team members that desire to build up their careers , so we ’re a great fit for brands that need more flexibility but appreciate what a difference great content can make .
There is a lot I desire to do . But when I really think it all through , at the origin of everything I need to do — if I do n’t change the means people look at cannabis , I ca n’t do any of it . So I ’m going to do my best to touch the percept of cannabis in everything I do , and marketing is the way to do that .
What is the Philadelphia weed tantrum like right on now?We have aesculapian , and we ’re hoping in the next two years amateur will tally the ballot . citizenry are definitely go like that ’ll happen . Philly StartUp Leaders hosted acannabis business accelerator programthat I enter in , and it felt very legitimizing to see that entrepreneurship taken badly . I ’m also the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Farmers Union , and they ’re in financial backing of ganja . Cannabis Noire , Stay Lifted , Philadelphia Cannabis Association — we’re all doing thing to help set the stagecoach for cannabis to be a supportive part to the metropolis .
What do you desire for the rollout of that inevitability?I hope it assist to mend the city . justly now , pitch-black people persist in to get point for possessing hemp , while medical dispensary maneuver down the street . This country is rich in so many mode , and yet our public educational activity system is so bad that it ’s the fix ofAbbott Elementary . There ’s so much that could be done . I desire we can get more profile for Philadephia and for PA — lawmakers need to recognise the people want to vote on legitimize cannabis . I ’m go to keep create experiences that convert the perceptual experience of cannabis , because that ’s at the source of all of this .
