Dasheeda Dawson

Dasheeda Dawson is a global cannabis advocate, award-winning Fortune 100 business strategist and bestselling author of How to Succeed in the Cannabis Industry. She has nearly 20 years of business development, strategic management and brand marketing excellence while leading transformative business units for philanthropic and for-profit corporations. For the past five years, she has worked as a cannabis industry educator, senior executive leader, and strategy expert for multiple businesses, municipalities, and media outlets across the country. Currently, Dasheeda is the City of Portland (OR) Cannabis Program Supervisor for the Office of Community & Civic Life, responsible for overseeing all regulatory, licensing, compliance, and equity initiatives for the city’s cannabis industry. Supported by ongoing cannabis tax revenue allocation, her office also oversees the Social Equity & Educational Development (SEED) Initiatives, a vehicle for monitoring, measuring, and reporting on Portland's cannabis tax revenue’s return on equity investment, including administering the SEED Grant Fund, a community reinvestment fund. She also serves as chair of the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition (CRCC) and Chief Strategist for Cannabis Health Equity Movement (CHEM). Dasheeda received her MBA from Rutgers Business School and completed her undergraduate degree in molecular biology at Princeton University.