Business View Magazine | June 2019

32 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 WOMEN IN CANNABIS Diane Czarkowski, one of the industry's original cannabis entrepreneurs, was recently honored by CBE (Cannabis Business Executive) as one of their 2019 Power Women in Cannabis. A long-time advocate for encouraging women in the cannabis industry, Diane shares, “There are a lot of women getting involved, now. We’ve lost a little headway from the percentage, especially women in leadership roles since the early days, because a lot of companies have been purchased by companies or investor groups led by men, but the cannabis industry is above the national average for women employed in business leadership positions. And we’re making a big push for that. I think it has an appeal to women because it covers so many areas we are passionate about – healthcare, social justice, environmental issues. And a lot of the medical programs have been driven by mothers of very sick children that are benefitting from cannabis. Often, women who are interested in bringing related programs into their communities want to network with other people who are interested in doing that. There are a lot of groups like Elementa, Women of Weed, and the Denver Women of Cannabis forming across the country and holding networking events. It’s great to see.”