“I was born and raised in Newport News, Virginia. I am bi-racial; my mother is Native American of the Meherrin Nation and my father is Filipino from Manila.” 

My mother was born in Brooklyn, New York, after my grandparents left the tribe for better work opportunities in the city. Mom excelled in school and was very athletic, receiving a basketball scholarship to college. However, the family had grown so much (Mom was the second oldest of eleven children) that it became too financially difficult for her parents to keep them all in the city. So, my grandparents moved them all back to our tribal area in Ahoskie, North Carolina, thus ending my mother’s collegiate aspirations as she was tasked with helping to raise her younger siblings.  Working in Virginia Beach one summer, she met my father. The two got married after several months and settled in Newport News, Virginia. 

My father, many years older than my mother, was a merchant seaman who fled Manila at the age of 14 in the bow of a ship after witnessing the execution of his entire family.  Luckily, he was not discovered until the ship was far out to sea.  He was put to work on the ship and seafaring became his lifelong job with him rising to the position of Chef.

“When my father was home from sea twice a year for about two months each time, we would shop for our food, clothing, and furniture, everything we needed, where white people shopped…However, when he was not with us, it was the reverse.” 

Virginia was very racist when I was growing up, the Capitol of the Confederacy, in fact. However, the Hampton Roads Region was dominated by the military and the ship building business. We lived in a black community, even though when my parents bought their home, they were the first non-white people to live in that neighborhood. When my father was home from sea twice a year for about two months each time, we would shop for our food, clothing, and furniture, everything we needed, where white people shopped. We attended movie theaters without being relegated to the balcony, never had to go to the back of the line for anything, attended all white beaches. However, when he was not with us, it was the reverse. 

I grew up with segregation and the beginning of integration. I have always been politically motivated. I was the first person of color to be Student Mayor of Newport News….it was not a pleasant experience and my mother made me resign.  I was active my entire school career, joining every club I could and playing almost all the woodwind instruments in the marching band, jazz band, and symphonic band. I even marched in the Cherry Blossom Parade several times. 

Between that experience and my annual school trips to Washington, DC, I fell in love with the city and vowed that I would someday make it my home.  I did just that in 1972. 

“I come from strong, adaptable survivors who never let anything as paltry as bigotry stop them from striving and achieving their goals.”

I give you all this background to speak to how my growing up influences me today.  I come from strong, adaptable survivors who never let anything as paltry as bigotry stop them from striving and achieving their goals. I learned hard work from my parents, and I learned about standing up for justice and what you believe from my school life and the experiences of desegregation. All of these experiences have helped me shape my ideals, aspirations, and activism.

I have been in the public relations/public affairs/government affairs business for many years. I always wanted to have several businesses. When I found out DC had legalized medical marijuana, my curiosity became very strong. Thus, I began traveling to conferences, conventions, several trips to Denver to meet those in the industry, learning everything I could from established cannabis leaders. I quickly saw minorities were not in the industry. I quickly saw only white women were in the industry.

That’s the moment I realized I was going to work to shake up the status quo by pursuing a license in my city. With my co-founders, Sherri Blount and Yolanda Caraway, we decided to FOIA the cultivator and dispensary licensees in DC. Our research found that out of 10 cultivation licenses awarded by the city, only one African-American male had been awarded a cultivation license, Corey Barnette of District Growers. Out of the 5 dispensary licenses awarded, only one African-American woman had been awarded a dispensary license, Dr. Chanda Macias of National Holistic Healing Center.

“At that time, 25% of the medical marijuana cardholders lived in wards 7 and 8, the most economically challenged wards in the city. Yet, not one dispensary was located in these wards, rather all in the affluent white wards.”

At that time, 25% of the medical marijuana cardholders lived in wards 7 and 8, the most economically challenged wards in the city. Yet, not one dispensary was located in these wards, rather all in the affluent white wards. Thus, the economic impact was disproportionate for medical marijuana patients in Wards 7 and 8 due to the fact they had no choice but to use public transportation or for-hire transportation at a huge cost just to get their meds. That’s when I made it my full time job to change the status quo and pursue a license which meant having to get the laws changed in DC.

One of the largest issues in cannabis industry and policy is the lack of diversity of ownership, not only of being a licensee, but also the lack of diversity in the ancillary cannabis businesses. Ancillary businesses are the architects, the insurers, the lawyers, the accountants, the application writers, the cleaning companies, the security companies, the IT companies…. any form of business required to run any company. I have personally witnessed white people get business from cannabis companies who have never been in business or don’t have any knowledge of cannabis simply because they are a close relative or a friend of a friend. They get the opportunity to learn and to grow…with capital support. People of color in various businesses that support the cannabis businesses don’t even know the opportunity exists because it’s kept in “that” community. 

“Presenting your business plan over and over only to have “interested” investors say they will invest…. if you secure with your home, if you give them an enormous amount of equity, if, if, if. It got to the point where I was doubting my own potential.”

In this industry, there are numerous challenges for entrepreneurs to overcome, especially for those of us who are people of color. At the top of the list, the big issue is lack of capital and lack of access to capital. Presenting your business plan over and over only to have “interested” investors say they will invest…. if you secure with your home, if you give them an enormous amount of equity, if, if, if. It got to the point where I was doubting my own potential. But everyone who knows me well knows I am not a quitter. The more the door is slammed in my face, the more determined I become.

My proudest moment was receiving that letter in the mail from the DC Department of Health awarding a provisional license for my dispensary, Anacostia Organics, after months of postponing award decisions. All those years of hard work, sacrifice, determination, and persistence was coming to fruition. 

Corey Barnette, owner of District Cannabis, and Dr. Malik Burnett were my absolute first mentors. Through them I was introduced to Cathy Jolley Parks who was with a company called Franwell, that tracked cannabis from seed to sale. Cathy invited Yolanda, my business partner, and I to Denver where she introduced us to people in the industry. One person she introduced me to has become one of my absolute closest friends and mentors, John Lord, owner of LivWell. He has opened numerous doors of introductions and opportunities for me in this space. Locally, I surprisingly found out while buying some champagne one day at Schneiders in DC, that my friends of many years, Josh and Rick Genderson, were in the cannabis business during our catch-up at the counter conversation. They introduced me to numerous local and national industry people, and encouraged me to follow my dreams. 

I am a listener and someone who trusts their inner circle of family, friends, and colleagues. In all honesty, the advice I’ve received in this growing cannabis industry has been solid. When I became interested in the industry in 2014, it was small in comparison to the growth now. I was fortunate to have sincere and trusting friendships with people who wanted me to succeed. Their guidance, mentorship, and accessibility to me has been priceless. I am truly blessed.

More about Linda Greene:

Linda Mercado Greene is the Co-Founder, Board Chair, and CEO/Owner of Anacostia Organics, a minority woman-owned medical cannabis dispensary in the District of Columbia and the first to open in DC to serve the most undercapitalized demographic population in the city. She has gained national status in this new industry as Chair of the DC Medical Cannabis Trade Association. Linda is on the Executive Team as Strategic Advisor of the Cannabis Trade Federation (CTF), and the Chair of the CTF Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force comprised of the top civil rights leaders and advocates in the US. CTF is one of the largest cannabis national coalitions of industry related businesses. Linda has always utilized her personal political relationships to forward the progress of diversity and inclusion legislation, decrimalization, policy development, banking, and record expungements in cannabis. She is the Host of a daily podcast, “Cannabis Conversations Podcast with Linda Mercado Greene”, on DCRadio.gov, 96.3HD4, and SoundCloud, which is the only DC government funded cannabis broadcasting. Linda is crisscrossing the country for speaking engagements and media interviews relative to the burgeoning cannabis industry to include the MJBiz Conference in Las Vegas, Women Grow Annual Summit in Washington, DC, and the Concordia Annual Summit in New York City.

Linda is also the Founder and CEO of The Linda Greene Group, a nationally and internationally renowned full-service public relations company located in Washington, DC established in 1989. Linda’s diverse career spans from serving as a political advisor, strategist, and fundraising consultant to many members of the United States Congress, to planning national events, to representing and providing consultation to African Heads of State, including the late President Nelson Mandela, His Majesty Otumfou Osei Tutu II (Asanthane) and other delegations, the African Ambassadors Spouses Association, to being a senior executive of an institutional investment firm, to representing many acclaimed entertainment and sports figures. She has orchestrated many political victories in her home base of Washington, DC, planned and managed Mayoral Inaugural events, and proudly served as Chief of Staff to The Honorable Marion Barry. She has been appointed to serve a second three-year term on the Historic Preservation Review Board by Mayor Muriel Bowser, and recently traveled to Ethiopia at the invitation of the Mayor for the Mayoral Diplomatic Trade Delegation.

Linda proudly served as the National Director of Fundraising for the Million Man March in 1995. A sampling of her numerous boards and memberships service include the Minority Cannabis Business Association, the National Cannabis Industry Association, the Anacostia Coordinating Council, the Anacostia BID, Covenant House, the DC Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Greater Washington, Washington Performing Arts Society, and the National Cannabis Festival. She has been featured in Big Buds Magazine, Hemp Connoisseur, Cannabis Business Executive, the Washington Post, the Washington Informer, and the Washington Afro.

Linda attended Virginia Union University and Christopher Newport University. Amongst her many honors are MEA Magazines “50 Women of Influence and Power”, a DC Council Recognition Resolution, and one of the top 100 people to watch by Hemp Connoisseur Magazine.