I first became interested in hemp after reading Jack Herer’s book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes. Jack spent years researching the forgotten history of Cannabis prohibition and the many benefits of hemp. He believed that hemp had the potential to save the planet and that all people who were unjustly imprisoned for Cannabis needed to be released. He dug up countless facts about how Cannabis was demonized and prohibited starting in the 1930’s. Jack shared his vision for a Cannabis revival by self publishing and distributing hundreds of thousands of copies of his book worldwide.
Jack’s research and passion inspired me to cofound hemp fashion and lifestyle brand Ecolution along with Steve DeAngelo in 1992. Steve and I created a line of 100% hemp clothing including jeans, shirts, hats and accessories made in Hungary and Romania. Our jeans were the first to be made from 100% hemp since Levi Strauss made the original jeans from hemp canvas used to cover the Conestoga wagons. The jeans were popular and we added hemp shirts along with a line of hemp hats and accessories. We grew the company to over $3 million in sales across the U.S. and Europe. We also worked with Adidas to design a hemp Supermodified skater sneaker that was a huge commercial hit. Ecolution sold over 25,000 pairs of hemp Adidas sneakers in just 2 years. After we sold the company in 1999, I continued to do business in Hungary brokering hemp twines, cordage and textiles for Elso Magyar Kenderfono.
I was a founding member of the Hemp Industries Association and was elected to the board of directors in the late 1990’s. In 2008, I was hired as Executive Director and I lead the organization through December of 2016. During my time there I established a new membership management web site, grew the annual conference into a well attended profit making event and grew the membership by more than 250%.
I cofounded Vote Hemp in 2000 with the goal of legalizing hemp farming and now serve as the president. We were the only group lobbying on Capitol Hill until 2013 and were instrumental in getting The Industrial Hemp Farming Act introduced in 2005 and passed in 2018. We also worked with many state officials to educate them and help pass state hemp farming legislation. Vote Hemp achieved its primary goal of bringing back commercial hemp farming with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill and I worked to ensure the implementation of the USDA Interim Final Rule works for farmers and sets a good foundation for hemp industry growth and success. I am currently advocating for changes in the 2023 Farm Bill to improve the hemp program.
With over 30 years of hemp and cannabis business experience, I consult on cannabis business, policy, government relations and strategy. I am currently an advisor the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Hemp Commission. I assist them in managing their hemp licensing program and help to promote hemp entrepreneurship on the reservation. I serve as an advisor to Solvent, a cannabis and hemp fintech firm that develops compliance and payment solutions. I also am a member of Elysian Holdings, a Washington, DC based startup and Bethesda Green portfolio company working the develop compostable packaging from hemp.
I am a frequent speaker at industry conferences and trusted source to the media on hemp policy and the industry, including NY Times, Forbes, CNN, Rolling Stone and the Washington Post.