Episode 235 - Melanie King
Episode 235 is the 33rd episode of Season 4.
Today we're joined by Melanie King, a cannabis events producer and marketer whose career has run through some of the industry's most memorable events. She grew up in Massachusetts and followed an unlikely path into cannabis, working in mental health administration at UCSF and Berkeley's Wright Institute, spending time as one of the Internet Archive's earliest employees in late-90s San Francisco and later running her own successful events and wedding planning business in Sonoma. She entered the cannabis industry in 2016 with CannaCraft, helping grow its events program from the pre-regulation days into headline activations like the first on-site cannabis sales at Outside Lands, Emerald Cup and countless product launches. Today, she leads field marketing and events for a cannabis retail technology company.
We discuss that journey from event planning to cannabis, what it took to build successful brand activations during the industry's early years and how cannabis events have evolved alongside legalization. Melanie also shares the story behind organizing a first-of-its-kind cannabis event at Fenway Park before opening up about a years-long health battle, the challenges of navigating a delayed diagnosis and the role cannabis and RSO played throughout her treatment and recovery. It's a conversation about resilience, creativity and building community through every stage of life.
Read the article covering Melanie’s story in Fat Nugs Volume 29. Connect with Melanie on LinkedIn.
Enjoy the show!
