In this episode of the Ganjapreneur Podcast, host TG Branfalt speaks with Blake Johnson, president of Prairie Island CBH, and Ben Halley, COO and founder of Honest Cannabis. Together, they explore how the Prairie Island Indian Community developed Island Peži, a vertically integrated cannabis enterprise in Minnesota, built on tribal sovereignty, Indigenous values, and regenerative agriculture.
The conversation covers the complexities of launching cannabis programs on tribal land, the importance of community engagement, and the tribe’s decision to invest in a 13-acre cultivation and processing campus. Blake and Ben discuss the intertribal collaboration taking shape in Minnesota, product trends at Island Peži, the tribe’s education and training efforts, and how this model of values-driven development can inform the broader cannabis industry as state markets mature.
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In this episode of the Ganjapreneur Podcast, host TG Branfalt speaks with Blake Johnson, president of Prairie Island CBH, and Ben Halley, COO and founder of Honest Cannabis. Together, they explore how the Prairie Island Indian Community developed Island Peži, a vertically integrated cannabis enterprise in Minnesota, built on tribal sovereignty, Indigenous values, and regenerative agriculture.
The conversation covers the complexities of launching cannabis programs on tribal land, the importance of community engagement, and the tribe’s decision to invest in a 13-acre cultivation and processing campus. Blake and Ben discuss the intertribal collaboration taking shape in Minnesota, product trends at Island Peži, the tribe’s education and training efforts, and how this model of values-driven development can inform the broader cannabis industry as state markets mature.
Laura Trujillo & Amanda Terpstra: From College Teammates to Cannabis Trailblazers
The Ganjapreneur Podcast
53 minutes 21 seconds
6 months ago
Laura Trujillo & Amanda Terpstra: From College Teammates to Cannabis Trailblazers
In this episode of The Ganjapreneur Podcast, host TG Branfalt speaks with Laura Trujillo and Amanda Terpstra, co-founders of BestBuds, a woman- and Hispanic-owned dispensary based in Woodbury, New Jersey. Lifelong friends turned business partners, Laura and Amanda share their remarkable story of bootstrapping a licensed cannabis retail business from the ground up—navigating community pushback, lawsuits, zoning battles, and a grueling fundraising process along the way.
Together, they break down how their complementary skills, entrepreneurial drive, and deep community engagement helped them overcome early resistance in a small-town setting. The conversation touches on fundraising challenges for women and minority founders, the changing product landscape in New Jersey, and why staffing and personality fit are critical to cannabis retail success. It's an inspiring and highly practical look at what it really takes to open—and sustain—a dispensary in today’s regulated environment.
The Ganjapreneur Podcast
In this episode of the Ganjapreneur Podcast, host TG Branfalt speaks with Blake Johnson, president of Prairie Island CBH, and Ben Halley, COO and founder of Honest Cannabis. Together, they explore how the Prairie Island Indian Community developed Island Peži, a vertically integrated cannabis enterprise in Minnesota, built on tribal sovereignty, Indigenous values, and regenerative agriculture.
The conversation covers the complexities of launching cannabis programs on tribal land, the importance of community engagement, and the tribe’s decision to invest in a 13-acre cultivation and processing campus. Blake and Ben discuss the intertribal collaboration taking shape in Minnesota, product trends at Island Peži, the tribe’s education and training efforts, and how this model of values-driven development can inform the broader cannabis industry as state markets mature.
