Bryant Mitchell is the founder of Blaqstar Farms. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Blaqstar has four licensed locations encompassing more than 60,000 square feet. But that wouldn’t be if the entrepreneur hadn’t craved the path he wanted to walk.
Building His 40 Acres
Source: Bryant Mitchell, Blaqstar Farms
Mitchell owned a dispensary in L.A. He wasn’t happy. Couldn’t get behind the quality of his weed. Mitchell had learned the craft of winery in Sonoma. Knowledge he’d take with him for growing weed. Knowledge that influenced his desire for clean, consistent medicinal cannabis.
Mitchell had 16 years in project management, business consulting, operations efficiency and process design. He worked for Deloitte Touche, Accenture PLC and IBM Strategy. Operating primarily in oil and gas, he learned from the ground up how to design operations. Skills that Mitchell put to work on his vision for better marijuana.
Mitchell wanted a product that was clean with the right taste and smell. He wanted sustainability. A brotha investigated legacy strains, aiming for quality over quantity and weight. Harvests were lab tested until he had a growth with the taste and smell he wanted.
The Vision to Make It Positive
Building the business in positive ways was important to Mitchell. “I wanted to create a brand that changed the negativity around all things Black and promoted strength and excellence in the Black community,” he says.
He’s the son of Orange, Texas’s first black police officer. At an early age, he swore off drugs because of the devastation it inflicted on family and friends. He’d change his mind, but he stuck to bluntz.
He focused on education, grabbing an MBA from the University of Chicago. While working in the Bay Area in 2004, a friend coaxed Mitchell to check out the cannabis space. Mitchell started smoking to manage pain.
It was through this use that Mitchell understood the immediacy of legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes. “It can help us clean our environment, provide medical benefits, and along with hemp, change the industrial landscape for the betterment of the planet. Last, it can help right some of the wrongs created by the War on Drugs, etc.”
Brotha Gonna Work It Out
Source: Bryant Mitchell, Blaqstar Farms
Mitchell had to overcome serious financial challenges to get his vision on track. At the time, banks weren’t rushing to fund cannabis. Nor were they leaping to hand a brotha money. “Imagine trying to get it for a business that we are historically put behind bars more than anyone and is federally illegal.”
Mitchell bypassed conventional financing. He used personal money and investments from friends. Mitchell drove 450 miles two times a week to watch and learn wine distillation practices. He applied them to growing marijuana concentrates. The man lived in the warehouse where he grew product, utilizing safe practices under the idea if his chemicals hurt him they’d hurt his customers.
Mitchell was innovative, focused and determined. That drive put Blaqstar on the billion-dollar cannabis industry map. “We’ve been doing this the right way for years. … I’d love to be one of the first, if not the first, African American company to be listed on the stock market exchange for cannabis.”
He’ll do it too.
