Profiling with Trey - Episode 1 - Vivianne Wilson & Matt Maurer
Welcome to profiling with Trey, where we bring together the Cannabis community, highlighting advocates, entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to impact the community in a positive way.
Today Trey is joined by two very special guests, Vivianne Wilson Founder of GreenPort Cannabis and Matt Maurer Co-Chair of Torkin Manes LLP's Cannabis Law Group and the Chair of the Franchise Law Group.
Wilson, founder of GreenPort Cannabis in Toronto, is the first Black woman who is an independent owner and operator of a licensed Canadian cannabis retail business. Her company aims to bring diversity to Canada’s cannabis industry. “We’re celebrating the history of the plant,” she said. “We’re recognizing and celebrating the people who introduced this plant to the world. At GreenPort, we’re giving a voice to the voiceless by bringing much needed representation into the Canadian cannabis market because currently it does not exist.
The delay on the opening of GreenPort speaks to a larger issue, Wilson said, where Ontario’s cannabis market runs the risk of being dominated by a few major players, while she is having difficulty setting up even one cannabis store. “We’re not just opening another store, We’re creating a community where everyone can feel welcome” and represented especially given the history of cannabis and the criminalization of those in racialized communities.
Matt Maurer is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer in the Litigation Group with over a decade of experience advocating on behalf of his business clients. He provides business and regulatory advice to a wide range of cannabis industry stakeholders, including licensed producers, producer applicants, owners of businesses that provide ancillary services to the cannabis industry, entrepreneurs with start-up aspirations and foreign businesses who are looking to enter the Canadian market or enter into partnerships with established Canadian cannabis businesses.
Check them out: https://greenport.store/ & https://www.torkinmanes.com/
