For Kee, one of the most rewarding aspects of Toke N Paint has been seeing guests’ surprising creativity in such a low-stakes environment.
Check out this great Harvard Crimson article by Josie F. Abugov about Kizzy Kee’s high hopes for her Toke N Paint business, experience with the Cannabis Control Commission’s Social Equity Program, and advice from EON Co-Founder Shanel Lindsay about joining the regulated market….
Toke N Paint is only one of Kee’s many ventures. An up-and-comer in Boston’s cannabis scene, and one of a new generation of Black entrepreneurs, she’s working on opening her own dispensary, which she expects to start running next year. She’s also starting two podcasts alongside the Candy Man: one on “weed politics,” a morning show that sits at the intersection of cannabis industry news and larger headlines, and another called “Bars and Blunts,” that seeks to highlight local musicians invested in the cannabis industry.
This wasn’t always Kee’s plan. She says that she was selling weed on the black market until Boston attorney and activist Shanel Lindsay, who serves on the Massachusetts Cannabis Advisory Board, approached her and encouraged her to go legal. Eventually, she enrolled in the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission’s Social Equity Program, where she attended workshops, classes, and trainings on cannabis entrepreneurship in Massachusetts.
The program shifted Kee’s perspective in a number of ways: she became knowledgeable on the difficulties of cannabis cultivation and learned the upsides of relying on automation instead of additional employees. “I did almost a year of classes with them,” Kee says. “I feel like they give you the knowledge, the tools that you need, to get ready to come out on this crazy world.”