Beth Conway, founder of the New Jersey Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, shares her journey from coaching small business owners to creating a vital resource for New Jersey’s cannabis industry. Seeing a gap in local support for entrepreneurs, Beth built an organization that champions small businesses, mom-and-pop shops, and women risking it all to succeed. Pilar and Beth discuss building networks, empowering communities, and driving growth in an evolving industry.

Over the past 10 years, Brandi Gregge has founded and grown both a successful medical aesthetics company, Mint & Needle, and an important non-profit for survivors of domestic abuse, Empowerment Beyond Scars. Looking at where she is now—a leader and innovator in her field, a multi-award-winning business owner, a go-getter who is feeling (in her own words) “sexy and confident” in her mission—it’s hard to imagine that her path here was chock full of failure. Pilar and Brandi discuss the importance of constantly re-centering a business around its values, identifying the right people to join your team, and making sure to identify the growth inherent in every failed step.

Andrea Zujko is the founder of Dance Medicine Education Initiative, which trains physical therapists and dancers in best practices for healing and preventing injuries in dance. Andrea and Pilar discuss the process of finding your way from a job you know you’re interested in to a job you never dreamed you’d be in. Along the way, they highlight key elements of tenacity, flexible thinking, and curiosity that make it possible to pursue a new path and create a new business.

Melissa and Pilar discuss figuring out where your gifts are most aligned with others' needs, identifying what kind of work you most want to do, and starting a business from scratch. Melissa Carson founded Canopy Strategies to help leaders of small and mid-size organizations achieve the clarity and confidence needed to maximize their competitive advantage.

For more about Melissa and More Canvas, visit www.morecanvas.com/conversations