Last Prisoner Project Managing Director Mary Bailey is joined by leaders from around the cannabis industry to discuss how cannabusinesses can benefit from embracing inclusivity and why hiring individuals that have been incarcerated due to the war on drugs makes sense.

Tune in to learn....
  • A brief history of cannabis policy reform
  • How recruiters are working to get cannabis prisoners hired
  • Ways organizations have been fighting hiring bans in legislation and rule-making
  • How education is being leveraged to help the members of the legacy market join the legal industry
  • Ways you can get involved and help those that have been affected by the war on drugs
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Managing Director, Last Prisoner Project
Mary Bailey serves as the Managing Director of Last Prisoner Project, a non profit organization focused on releasing cannabis prisoners and helping them rebuild their lives. She is also the CEO and founder of Alpha Agency, a Maui based production company specializing in creating events that inspire positive social change through music, education, and community engagement. Mary’s passion for cannabis advocacy and community education inspired her to become the Executive Producer and founder of Maui Cannabis Conference. As a firm believer in the power of cannabis to heal, she is dedicated to changing the stigma surrounding cannabis and to inspire a more socially conscious cannabis industry.
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In 2011 Stephanie Shepard was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana in New York. Beyond selling just 4 ounces of cannabis, her only involvement in distribution was simply stepping forward as a potential caretaker to a man who had sold marijuana and was struggling with a life threatening illness.

For her kindness, she was rewarded by our “justice system” with a sentence of 120 months in federal prison and five years probation as a first-time, nonviolent offender.

Stephanie is now released and living in Northern California, but while incarcerated her beloved father passed away. Stephanie will never recover the time she lost or the moments with her family that were cruelly taken from her by the federal government. She is adamantly working towards her goal of working within the legal Cannabis industry while advocating with LPP in the fight for restorative justice for those who suffered as she has from Cannabis criminalization.
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Community Engagement Manager, Vertosa Inc.
Evelyn LaChapelle was convicted in Federal court for depositing cannabis profits into her bank account in 2013. She received a 7 year sentence and four years probation as a first-time, nonviolent offender.

She was released February 2019 after serving 5 years in custody. Looking forward to rebuilding her life in Northern California. She quickly gained employment at a prominent hotel as the catering and sales coordinator, two months later she was terminated after a co-worker discovered her conviction.

She then joined the Last Prisoner Project as an ambassador and uses her story to spread the message of prison reform, reentry obstacles, and our need to decriminalize marijuna. She has found her place in the legal cannabis industry as the Community Engagement Manager at Vertosa.
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Executive Chancellor, Oaksterdamn University
Dale is based in Oakland, CA, focused on enhancing the debate for cannabis policy reform since 2007. She took over as President & CEO of Oaksterdam University in 2012 after a crippling federal raid to ensure OU’s legacy of cannabis education. Now Oaksterdam is proud of over 50,000 students from more than 40 countries becoming the most engaged professional advocates and business people in the world. Quality training for the cannabis industry is her passion and the Oaksterdam mission. Education is the foundation in establishing the political and social climate that will encourage cannabis policy reform.
Dale Sky Jones created the blueprint as the spokeswoman and legislative liaison for the first statewide legalization effort, the Prop 19 campaign in California, igniting the international debate in 2010. Over the next seven years, she served as Chairwoman of the Board for the diverse Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform (ReformCA) whose efforts led to legalization in California. She is a founding board member of the National Cannabis Industry Association.
Dale is focused on civil rights issues and who is allowed to participate; recognizing small business as imperative to our new national cannabis policy to address the inequities created by prohibition, and vital to the success of the cannabis industry. Her time is often spent educating legislative and government entities, attending various research and policy conferences, local community meetings, occasionally speaking at conferences, and participating in debates to encourage descheduling marijuana. Dale and her husband, veteran cannabis crusader Jeff Jones, stay busy keeping up with remote-schooling their young sons, Jackson and Jesse, and daughter Quinn.
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Founder & CEO, Cannabiz Team
Liesl Bernard is the founder and CEO of the industry’s premier cannabis staffing agency–CannabizTeam. Above all, she is passionate about people and helping companies create a competitive advantage by recruiting exceptional talent. Liesl has over 20 years of global executive search and placement experience. Prior to launching CannabizTeam and CannabizTemp, she was working with Fortune 500 companies. Her vast background in global Executive Search and Staffing with a strong focus in all verticals of the cannabis industry formed the foundation to create the world’s fastest-growing cannabis staffing agency in the global market. Liesl and her team continually aid in the cannabis industry's hiring with their fine-tuned ability to understand each client’s business while taking time to learn the skills, personality, and culture fit required for each unique placement.
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Founder & CEO, Vangst
Karson Humiston is the Founder & CEO of Vangst, the cannabis industry’s leading recruiting platform. Since launching in 2016, Vangst has connected more than 10,000 people with jobs at over 650 leading cannabis businesses around the US. Karson was featured on the 2018 Forbes 30 under 30 list. Prior to founding Vangst, Karson founded On Track Adventures, a student travel organization based out of St. Lawrence University.
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CEO, Green Flower
With a vision of building an education company that would change the world’s understanding of cannabis, Max Simon co-founded Green Flower in 2014. Green Flower has since become the industry leader in cannabis education and training, producing thousands of hours of online courses and high-quality video content covering every facet of cannabis today; bolstering a network of over 700 top cannabis experts; powering the cannabis curriculums of multiple Universities across the US; and successfully training cannabis workforces around the world.