I’ve spent most of my adult life living on both sides of this industry. That’s the whole thing.
The short version
I’m a cannabis professional, hobby grower, and author based in Colorado. I advise ancillary cannabis businesses, ghostwrite for cannabis founders, and help adults grow their own at home through books, a weekly publication, and courses.
The longer version is more interesting.
How I got here
My relationship with cannabis started well before it was a career, or a legal one. The traditional market was my first classroom. I learned early that packaging matters, that product quality speaks for itself, and that there’s real entrepreneurship in industries that operate without a formal rulebook. That foundation shaped how I think about cannabis as a business long before the legal market gave me a title for it.
In 2014, I launched Annoté, a cannabis advertising agency — my first formal, public step into the industry as a professional. It didn’t have a long run, but it was the right move at the right time: it connected me with people I wouldn’t have found otherwise and made clear that cannabis needed better communicators.
By 2016, I’d moved to Colorado and started building something different. CannaVenture® was a cannabis-friendly outdoor adventure series covering hiking, disc golf, and camping, designed around people who wanted to enjoy cannabis in the great outdoors and disprove the lazy stoner stereotype. We ran 50+ events across Colorado and nationally over seven seasons. Discs-N-Dabs® followed, a cannabis disc golf campout and tournament that ran nine events over six years. Neither had a playbook. Both taught me what it actually costs to build a brand from nothing in an industry still figuring out its own rules.
Alongside the events, I was a staff writer for several cannabis industry publications, most notably Hemp Connoisseur. That combination — events and editorial — opened doors I couldn’t have knocked on any other way. It put me in rooms with the growers, breeders, operators, and executives actually on the frontlines fighting alongside this plant every day.
Those relationships were earned. That’s what real legacy is built on.
Then, in June 2019, I started growing my own.
The grower part
Growing cannabis at home changed how I understood everything else.
I’ve grown 40+ varieties over the past six years: apartments, closets, tents, and basements. I’ve made dry sift and water hash and rosin. I’ve dealt with pests, humidity swings, bad genetics, and the particular satisfaction of a harvest you’re actually proud of.
I didn’t start with a green thumb. I started by reading everything, asking questions, making mistakes, and figuring it out. That process, and the community I found inside it, became The Hobby Grow.
The Hobby Grow is a weekly publication and podcast for home cannabis cultivators. 2,700+ subscribers. Written and recorded by someone who’s still in the grow room, not just talking about it from a distance.
The growing side of my work led to the launch of ETHOS Multipass Magazine — a global digital publication for cannabis cultivators that I created and served as Editor in Chief of for Colin Gordon and ETHOS Genetics. That relationship led to Clean Growing, a co-authored book on Integrated Pest Management that has been an Amazon Top 100 Bestseller in its category for over a year, and eventually to Seeds of Success, co-authored with Colin, released in 2026.
The professional part
A B.J. and M.A. from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, one of the top-ranked journalism programs in the country, gave me a framework for how to communicate. A decade in cannabis gave me something to say.
I advise ancillary cannabis businesses: seed companies, labs, brokers, equipment manufacturers. On revenue growth, margin improvement, positioning, and sales. The brands I work with have proven products and real customers. What they usually need is clarity about where to focus, what’s actually working, and how to talk about what they do in a way that converts.
I also ghostwrite for cannabis founders. Books, content, social presence. Helping the people who’ve built real things in this space find the words for what they’ve built, and get it in front of the people it’s for. My co-authors and clients include some of the most recognized names in cannabis cultivation. I’ve spoken on the international stage at MJBizCon and guest lectured at the University of Missouri three times.
The through-line across all of it: I’m not just a professional in this space or a grower — I’m a cannabis consumer and connoisseur. I’ve been one since 2009. Over 15 years of buying, trying, and caring about what’s good. I speak the language of this industry from every angle: builder, grower, extractor, and end user. I know what your customers read, what they trust, and what actually moves them. Because I am one of them.
Four books. One Amazon bestseller. 2,700+ subscribers. A podcast. Courses for home growers at every level. Advisory work for ancillary cannabis brands. Ghostwriting for founders.
All of it in cannabis. More than a decade of it.
What’s next
If you’re a cannabis brand or founder: I offer BizDev Advisory and Ghostwriting services for ancillary cannabis businesses. If you’re at the stage where the right outside perspective could make a real difference — let’s have a conversation.
If you’re a home grower: The best place to start is The Hobby Grow — free, weekly, and written for exactly where you are right now. Subscribe here →
Quick Facts
- Based in Colorado
- 12+ years in cannabis
- B.J. & M.A. — University of Missouri
- 4 books published (1 Amazon bestseller)
- 2,700+ newsletter & podcast subscribers
- 44,000+ combined social audience
- MJBizCon speaker (international stage)
- Started growing: June 2019
- CannaVenture®: 50+ events, 7 seasons
- Discs-N-Dabs®: 9 events, 6 years