Meet The Queen Of Legal Weed
Inc.|May 2017

Can a 58-year-old former insurance executive build the first national marijuana brand? With these gummies, she just might.

- Maria Aspan
Meet The Queen Of Legal Weed

Nancy Whiteman still mourns those candied, spice-dusted almonds. “They were so good. They were so stinking good,”she sighs longingly. And so stinking hard to make—legally.

Because Whiteman, the unlikely co-founder and co-owner of the most successful specialized candy business in Colorado,didn’t stop with the curry powder and sugar and salt. She also dredged those almonds through syrup infused with THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

After all, that’s what her seven-year-old company, Wana Brands, makes: treats that can get you really, really high. The Boulder-based business, which Whiteman runs with her ex-husband, ended last year as the best-selling purveyor of marijuana-infused edibles in its home state of Colorado, according to industry data firm BDS Analytics.

Whiteman may have begun her legal-pot career rummaging through weed-extraction videos on YouTube and testing recipes in a kitchen that was “one step up from an Easy-Bake oven,” but Walter White she is not. Nor is she even Mary-Louise Parker’s Nancy Botwin, the housewife-dealer of Weeds. A 58-year-old mother of two, Whiteman presents as more sales rep than druglord: russet hair in a sensible bob, a sly sense of humor tucked beneath a Northeastern reserve, and the professionally tidy business casual of someone who started her career in suits. “Whatever your stereotype might be of somebody in the marijuana business, I’m probably not it,” Whiteman, a former insurance marketing executive, wryly acknowledges. “I think a lot of times people are just surprised.”

この蚘事は Inc. の May 2017 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

この蚘事は Inc. の May 2017 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

INC.のその他の蚘事すべお衚瀺
Karen Dillon
Inc.

Karen Dillon

I moved my wedding to attend a company offsite. It was a terrible decision, but a vital lesson on balance.

time-read
3 分  |
Winter 2024/2025
The Ultimate Home-Based Business
Inc.

The Ultimate Home-Based Business

Thirty years since her breakout on Friends, Courteney Cox is taking on a new role-entrepreneur.

time-read
8 分  |
Winter 2024/2025
An Uphill Battle
Inc.

An Uphill Battle

Zwift has been through layoffs and a leadership change in 2024, but co-founder and CEO Eric Min says he's learned that building a startup, like cycling, is an endurance test.

time-read
3 分  |
Winter 2024/2025
The GLOW UP
Inc.

The GLOW UP

How Glossier broke free from DTC, survived the skeptics, and finally achieved profitability.

time-read
8 分  |
Winter 2024/2025
The Snack That Gives Back
Inc.

The Snack That Gives Back

With a new partnership, SkinnyDipped is supporting women founders worldwide.

time-read
2 分  |
Winter 2024/2025
A New Path to SuCCESS
Inc.

A New Path to SuCCESS

AllTrails may have achieved the impossible-an app that truly helps you get away from it all.

time-read
8 分  |
Winter 2024/2025
The Back-lash Survivors
Inc.

The Back-lash Survivors

Don't challenge Elizabeth Gore and Carolyn Rodz to a game of highs and lows. The Hello Alice co-founders will win-by a long shot.

time-read
6 分  |
Winter 2024/2025
The Spa Surge
Inc.

The Spa Surge

Prime IV Hydration & Wellness has successfully weathered stormy waters.

time-read
2 分  |
Winter 2024/2025
Riding the Waves
Inc.

Riding the Waves

With Beehiiv, Tyler Denk built a buzzy newsletter platform and a brash online persona. Both are lucrative.

time-read
8 分  |
Winter 2024/2025
Home Economics
Inc.

Home Economics

How Chairish brought the circular economy to furniture.

time-read
2 分  |
Winter 2024/2025