Smoke Cartel Inc, a publicly traded cannabis company in Savannah, Georgia, has named Darby Cox as their new CEO. The online marijuana accessories retailer is the first public cannabis company to appoint a woman.
According to Green Rush Daily, women executives in the cannabis industry have been declining:
Between 2015 and 2017, the percentage of women who hold executive positions fell from 36 percent to a mere 26.9 percent. Though this is still higher than the national average of 23 percent, gender equality is still a long ways off.
As cannabis grows into a major industry, now is a pivotal time not to lose the industry’s characteristic diversity.
Cox is no stranger to Smoke Cartel. She co-founded the company.
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“When we went public, we made the decision to switch roles as we thought it would be a little bit better suited to our personalities and our skill sets,” Cox explained to GRD shortly after the announcement of her new, historic role.
Cox herself is a medical marijuana user. “You want to buy it from somewhere that’s fitting it to your lifestyle, that understands that what you’re doing isn’t a crime, that it’s apart of your routine, that it’s apart of your life, an enhancing feature, and not really a detriment,” she said.
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Cox’s appointment comes on the heels of Savannah, Georgia’s decision to decriminalized cannabis.
