Adam Torres and Dennise Mejia discuss Mega Mix Expo.
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Show Notes:
Listen to Mega Mix Expo coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Dennise Mejia, Co Founder at ICBWA, explore the upcoming Megamix expo.
About Dennise Mejia
Dennise Mejia-Guerrero, was born in Bogota Colombia and migrated to the United States at the age of five. Dennise is a self-made serial entrepreneur and owner of various companies. In 2003, Dennise became the Founding CEO of California Physician Network LLC. Providing currently multiple professional services, Consulting, Medical Billing, Non-emergency transportation and worker’s compensation lien litigation services to medical providers and in 2014, Founder- CEO of Donaly Express Inc. A local trucking freight service company that catered in Southern California. Co-Founder Vice President of ICBWA International Cannabis Consulting Business Women’s Association.
About ICBWA
The mission of ICBWA is to help women unleash their power and potential as business owners in the cannabis industry. They will stand as a premier resource in their ventures as business owners and help catapult them in the emerging cannabis market.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today I have Denise Mejia on the line and she is a CEO over at. I see B.
W. A. And also on the board of the Megamix Expo, which for those of you that have been watching this series or listening to this series for a long time, you know, I am excited. It’s at Megamix Expo dot com and it’s going to be March 12th and March 13th over at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It’s gonna be a huge business expo.
And I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be my first time out there. But Denise has been there for a bit. And first off, Denise, welcome to the show. Well, thank you. Thank you so much. I just want to correct it. It’s a co founder of the ICBWA. Oh, wonderful. Sure. So that being said for Megamix Expo, how did you first get involved?
I’m just curious. Let’s see, I’ve had a long standing relationship with Tony, who’s the founder of the event, Megamix, as well as the administrative staff. And it’s been a collaboration, mutual collaboration, as I’ve worn many hats in the community. And every year it’s phenomenal. We grow a lot of diversity, a lot of opportunity, and a lot of resources.
Were you there from the beginning? I want to say it’s probably, I want to say I was there probably the last two years. Oh, and yes, yes. So it’s been it’s been an amazing opportunity. Yes. What do you think? I mean, I, I cover a lot of conferences all around the country and I’m really impressed with the way that done interviews throughout this during this series and got to know a lot of the vendors that will be there and otherwise it’s a really special thing happening.
What do you think makes this so special? Why are people so attracted to this event in this area? Yeah. The attraction is the necessity to have resources. The attraction is a necessity to create and build new relationships. The leadership sometimes in communities is not very supportive. So, you find communities joining forces and coming together to collaborate and.
Be able to make your services and or your businesses approachable and accessible to local communities to the small business industry as well as to the entrepreneur community. But what’s most important too, is to also challenge the next generation. So the university, the local education that surrounds the areas.
That make a mix expo has exposure to it’s imperative to have these types of services because in the university capacity, they have job fairs, but they don’t have relationship building in the community. So, this type of a particular event, because of the diversity, and because of the programming and the resources, it makes it very attractive and very accessible to the community in so many ways.
That’s amazing. And to see the growth, I know last year was at Santa Anita Park as well, and I had the privilege of going to kind of check out the layout and things like this. And I think it’s like doubled in size or something, which it was big last year, by the way, but I saw all the new, like all the new space.
I mean, talk to me about some of the programming and maybe the vision that went into this expansion. Cause it’s super interesting. Being a part of the board with the organization helps you to be strategic as to what are the needs. So, I have a concept being a mentor in leadership to lead with the needs, and you really have to voice out what your community is in dire need of.
Sometimes it’s not what we assume it is when we’re community leaders. We have to make outreach to our community. And when you have an event that provides those resources, it’s very attractive and it creates. Domino figure where people know that when they go to these events and they provide resources and banking resources and credit repairs resources and job opportunities and the new sustainability opportunities that are coming and then you have all the small businesses in different areas in different fields, it becomes something to go and be curious about.
Versus going to a 1 space, 1 room of 1 lecture when you can diversify the opportunity on 1 or 2 days of an event. And so that only brings people to commingle a little more and develop those relationships a little more. So that diversity is imperative in every way in every community. And events like this be happening on a regular basis.
And the fact that you have the diversity where there’s different languages, there’s a Filipino community, there’s Spanish community, there’s Asian community, there’s a combination of things. So we’re not limiting to a specific community. We are making sure that we grasp and allow all kinds of people to attend. Amazing. Let’s talk a little bit about what you’re doing over at ICBWA as co founder. So tell us, a little bit more about your company. So International Cannabis Consulting Business Women’s Association is made to help women unleash their power and their potential as business owners in the cannabis industry.
And so we stand as a premier resource in their ventures and their business and business owners to help them catapult them to the emerging cannabis market. And when we visualize this, we visualize this to ensure that all women would have the opportunity, since it’s an industry that’s male dominant to hold valuable and equitable and powerful position in the cannabis space.
So ICDWA, we envision the to have something in a more diverse and inclusive industry with women in different backgrounds that can be part of the forefront in growth and innovation in this industry. What kind of opportunities do you see in the industry right now? Like, , , you’re living it day in and day out and, and also, you know, consulting on it.
Like, what kind of opportunities are you seeing? I think what we’re seeing today is the medicinal side of the cannabis and the benefits that the medicinal component brings to the table. There is over saturation on growth of growing the flower as well as the saturation in dispensaries, et cetera.
But I think because we are now seeing, and I better tell you, cannabis has been here for many, many, many years. This is not something new. It’s been there. It was just put on the back door on the back burner until the agenda would allow us to explore this opportunity. And if you kind of do a little research, and I tell people, reach out to just Google 1941 Ford first, first cannabis vehicle.
So back in the day, 1941, they built the first hemp based vehicle, which is stronger than steel and lighter than metal. So there’s history with cannabis. And in today’s industry, The way people are seeing in the open opportunities for the research now, globally, not locally, but globally all throughout the world, they have now are looking to support the research capacity so that we focus on the benefit of cannabis in the sense of pain, relief, anti inflammatory, anxiety, epilepsy, cancer, sleep disorders.
Multiple sclerosis and the plant does have different benefits in it because of the straining. Each plant, male and female, have different strains and different purposes. So, as the research develops and they work on the proper dosaging and the proper components of how those compounds can treat. Specific conditions or better the conditions are completely comparable to the pharmaceutical industry.
So, you see the components of the pros and cons of the cause and afters, the side effects and so on and so forth. Clearly, the studies have shown that in today’s medicinal world in the cannabis industry they obviously see the limitations I’m seeing the, the challenges that, they have trying to override.
A pharmaceutical company that had made millions and billions and billions, right? So we’re more of a threat than we are of a benefit to the community of the corporate world. Because big pharmaceuticals haven’t had a big data space in governmental capacity. So now that you’re bringing the experts, you’re bringing the actual physicians learning more, educating themselves more, getting involved a little more, understanding it more.
Doing the research, doing the statistical background with actual patients. And now that they see the statistics, well, the statistics are obviously eye opening to the industry in so many ways that it’s obviously opening the more interest on allowing reform and regulation to modify so that we can explore this opportunity.
So, that’s, pretty much in a nutshell how I would say that that has been an impact to the industry. Now, now, I know you’re on the board for Megamix when you’ve been there , for years. I’m just curious. Are you going to have a booth there? So you’re going to be at the, I should assume, right? You’re going to be at the next one.
Are you going to have a booth? Like, people can come by and meet you and learn more or I’m just absolutely. Yeah, the intent is to be there and, and have the access to resources. Our organization focuses not only on helping women, but providing the resources, such as banking HR insurance, and educating, because cannabis in general, regardless how you look at it, is like any other business.
And so the idea is to comply and teach compliance. So the capacity of being able to run your own business as a woman entrepreneur to be able to facilitate the structure and the guidance as to how to do it legally without exposing yourself to black market and putting yourself at risk. But being more educated and what you can and cannot do and every state has different regulations and they’re all running.
They all diversify. So that’s the whole animal in itself, depending where you live and when you plan to explore the opportunity. Now, you’ve got cannabis, you’ve got CBD. So there’s a difference between both. They both have some have pros and some have cons. So there’s certain things that you can do and there’s certain things that you can’t do in each state with their regulation.
So it’s imperative that women that want to go into the industry understand how there’s a lot of women that would like to get into the industry from a medicinal standpoint. Just a masseuse, a massage therapist, a spa facility alone can incorporate a concept with CBD, but, you know, they’re concerned with, will they get in trouble?
They get, you know, do you require a license? So, it’s a whole different animal in itself, but it’s not that it’s not doable. It’s just a lack of resource and information. So that’s where ICD comes in to implement and help in that in that aspect of it. Amazing. Well, Denise first off, if somebody wants to learn more, if it’s been great having you on the show, if somebody wants to learn more and they want to connect with you offline, how did they do that?
They’re welcome to go to our website, icbwa ca. org. They can go straight to the website. There’s access in social bilingual, so they can check off on the English or Spanish. You’ll be able to see a little bit about us, some information, a membership capacity. There’s people who are interested in becoming members and getting involved and being more active.
We’re currently going to be submitting application. Opportunities for new board members, we’d like to diversify our board and different women, different opportunities in the industry to also be the voice to power in this industry. So, and you’re welcome to also reach out to me directly at 818 812 8127.
Fantastic. If everybody listening, just so you know, we’ll definitely. Put the link in the show notes. So you can just click on it and head right on over. And we’ll also have the link to megamixexpo. com. You can also come meet Denise in person and myself as well. I’ll be there on site both days. I’ll be doing some live podcast interviews and some other fun stuff and making my rounds and checking out, seeing all the booths and all the different vendors.
That’s going to be a great time. So again, go to megamixexpo. com and get your ticket. And Denise thank you so much for coming on this show. It’s been a lot of fun and I look forward to meeting you in person. My pleasure and thank you so much for having us join you and hope to see you soon.