Juneteenth!

Today is Juneteenth, and tomorrow I have a paid holiday because of it. 

Oregon has an embarrassing history of institutional racism, and I try to make time to study that history.

Because of my job hunt, I've subscribed to all sorts of newsletters to learn about new job sectors and to network.

To observe Juneteenth, here's an interesting telling of history (and a good job at converting the story into the promotion of a retail brand) from The Green Paper, which is a newsletter that covers the cannabis industry. 

The Model Behind Josephine & Billie's Success

Today is Juneteenth. 

On this day 157 years ago, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to ensure all enslaved people were freed. 

This came a full two and a half years after The Emancipation Proclamation was signed. 

Juneteenth honors the end of slavery for African-Americans, and it was finally made a federal holiday last year. 

It’s a day that deserves recognition, and we know that while Juneteenth marked the end of slavery in the U.S. - but it by no means marked the end of Black oppression in America. 

The root of Jim Crow laws began immediately after slavery was abolished in the United States, starting with the black codes. 

Black codes dictated how formerly enslaved African-American people could work and for how much compensation. 

Jim Crow laws took hold and began to spread over the years - and they went much deeper than black codes. Jim Crow laws looked like this one in Georgia: 

"It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race.” 

Jim Crow laws were upheld in a landmark case, Plessy vs. Ferguson, in 1896, which continued allowing Americans to be segregated by color. 

Segregation continued for decades until The Civil Rights Act was signed in 1964 and The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. 

The Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, which outlawed discrimination in renting and selling homes. 

This was the last piece of Jim Crow laws, which took hold in the United States for over 100 years after slavery was abolished. 

This deep history sets the scene for today’s story: early-1930’s America.

Segregation, cannabis, and alcohol prohibition are alive and well (until 1933, when alcohol prohibition ended - but racism and cannabis prohibition didn’t - make it make sense). 

To get around the ban on alcohol, Americans frequented speakeasies. 

Speakeasies were illicit establishments that sold alcohol. Sometimes they were just a dimly-lit room with a bottle of bathtub gin. Super appealing. 

But, because of segregation, African-Americans weren’t allowed at speakeasies. 

Enter the tea pad. 

Tea pads could be found all over the U.S., but especially in Harlem. It was reported that by 1930, at least 500 tea pads were in New York alone. 

These tea pads were basically jazz clubs for African-Americans and cannabis was often consumed. Patrons could purchase cannabis for 25 cents or less. 

It honestly sounds like the best time. Way better than bathtub gin. Tea pads were true spaces of solace and refuge for African-Americans during the Jim Crow era, especially for cannabis consumers. 

This brings us to Josephine & Billie’s. 

I’ve loved the Josephine & Billie’s (J&B) brand since I first heard about it, and I can’t remember exactly when that was. 

The Los Angeles-based retailer officially opened dispensary operations on October 29th, 2021. But J&B’s serves as much more than a retailer. 

Let’s start with the name.

Josephine & Billie’s pays homage to Josephine Baker and Billie Holiday, two of the most influential Black female performers and activists during the 1930s. 

Baker and Holiday were both performers, but they also committed their platforms to dismantling racism and segregation. 

The movie The United States vs. Billie Holiday depicts Holiday’s refusal to stay quiet about racism, even as the U.S. government (the cannabis industry’s favorite villain, to be specific - Harry J. Anslinger) threatened and harassed her until her death in the late 1950’s. 

Josephine Baker has similar tales, as many influential Black men and women from that time do, and the name Josephine & Billie’s pays homage to them.

But that’s just the name. 

I hesitate to call J&B’s a retailer because they really are an experience.

Before entering, customers use the password “Billie sent me!” to encourage an exclusive, yet welcoming environment. The password is easily accessible online, so anyone can visit J&B’s, but actually using the password reaffirms that “I belong here. This space wants me here.” 

J&B’s has products for and welcomes everyone, but it was designed by Black women and with Black women in mind. Everything about the space supports women of color. 

Whitney Beatty is the founder and CEO of Josephine and Billie’s. COO Ebony Andersen joined a little while later and as she put it: helped Whitney make concrete plans out of her Pinterest board and the ideas in her head. 

Whitney knew a space for Black women was crucial in cannabis. Industry operators slowly becoming more and more diverse, but we aren’t there yet. 

Whitney’s been navigating the complicated social equity applicant process in Los Angeles since 2019, where the social equity program has drawn criticismfor lack of transparency and accountability. 

But now, Josephine & Billie’s is paying homage to early-1900’s tea pads while creating a space that makes Black women feel welcome. Every corner of the space is thoughtfully and carefully designed. 

“Being in the planning and development world, you see no spaces designed by Black people," Ebony told Yahoo, referring to her planning and development background. “And this is one. We were very intentional, very mindful of the culture. We’re looking at it through the lens of a Black woman. OK, what kind of things do we want to see in a space? What makes us feel comfortable? We don't get to walk into CVS and then necessarily feel like the space is designed for us, right? But here we do. You can see [pictures of] Black people on the walls. You get to see little nods to our grandmother like the flocked wallpaper or the velvet drapes. We almost put plastic on the sofa! Eventually we’ll have a dish of strawberry candies. It's those little things that make you nostalgic and make you feel welcome and feel seen and feel heard.”

I’m obviously not a woman of color. So while I’m welcome at J&B’s (and plan to visit one day), I’m not their target audience. 

But I love that I’m not their target audience. I love that I wasn’t in the conversation during planning and execution. 

I love that because Black female cannabis consumers need safe spaces to exist and shop. I love that because I have a fascination for the underground Jazz movement during that time and J&B’s brings that back to life for everyone to experience, regardless of your race. 

But - I also love that because it’s the model of success in cannabis. 

J&B’s will carve their name in cannabis history and stay there because they’ve chosen their lane and are staying in it.

It’s, in part, why I think The Parent Company (where Jay-Z serves as Chief Visionary Officer) chose Josephine & Billie’s as the first investment for TPCO’s social equity venture fund.

I’ve talked about positioning your cannabis brand to stand out before, but I didn’t touch much on the idea of features like “women-owned” or “Black-owned.” 

These are two very important parts of a brand. But if you aren’t looking through the lens of a woman with every decision you make, “women-owned” easily becomes just another sentence for consumers to gloss over. 

Josephine & Billie’s does a phenomenal job at keeping their core audience in mind with every single thing they do. 

They know exactly who they are selling to and why. As Ebony said, they are making business decisions through the lens of their target audience. They are sensitive to the needs and desires of that audience. 

And that target audience will feel that when they walk in the room and see wallpaper they might have seen in their grandmother’s house or portraits of Black women on the walls. 

But as I mentioned, J&B’s welcomes everyone and has educational resources everyone can benefit from. For example, J&B’s flips the traditional THC starting point on its head - and that’s something we all benefit from. 

Instead of shopping for products by THC content first, consumers start by looking at terpene profiles and go from there. There are gorgeous, on-brand posters with information about terpenes to give consumers a starting point. 

Products are also organized by effect, which is another thing we all benefit from. Signs like “relax”, “uplift”, and “rest” separates product types and consumers can shop by effect. 

Black women can also take solace in the Black-owned brands portion of the store. It’s a fantastic way to support brands owned by people in their communities. 

Targeting a particular cannabis audience looks different for every brand. In J&B’s case, creating a supportive in-person environment is key because they are a dispensary. Hence the importance of the right decor and the space as a whole. 

Interestingly enough, an online cannabis brand, with the same core audience and the same mission as J&B’s will have an entirely different strategy than Josephine & Billie’s, but they can still achieve the same success by positioning themselves correctly.

Cannabis brands have to go far beyond including “woman-owned” or “Black-owned” on the label if that’s their true target audience. If it’s not, those things are good to know - but probably won’t be the driving force for most consumers to purchase that brand over another one. 

What I'm thinking 

Cannabis businesses face the challenge of operating in so many different capacities. For J&B’s, they are in Los Angeles. They serve the Los Angeles market and make transactions in person. 

A wellness company like Brown Girl Jane casts a wider net and serves an online audience, but Brown Girl Jane is serving the same people who would visit Josephine & Billie’s if they were nearby. The strategy is just different. 

Cannabis operators have several challenges that traditional business owners don’t. But knowing your core audience and serving them well guarantees you loyal customers for the long haul. 
Josephine & Billie’s is a prime example of doing just that.

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