From Homeless To Queen Zulu: Dr. Chanda Macias’ Journey To Cannabis Leadership And Brittney Griner’s Inspiration
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Forbes in January 2025. It has been updated in May 2025 to reflect new developments, including Brittney Griner’s canceled appearance at the Women Grow summit.
“I believed in the plant, even when everyone told me I was throwing my life away,” says Dr. Chanda Macias.
Macias stands out in the cannabis space as a scientist, entrepreneur and trailblazer. As the CEO of National Holistic Healing Center in Washington, D.C., she became the first Black woman to open and operate a medical cannabis dispensary on the East Coast. But her journey wasn’t easy.
Raised in a working-class family, Macias became a single mother as a teenager when her son’s father was incarcerated during the height of the war on drugs. “No one ever thought that I was going to go to college,” she recalls. Yet, she enrolled at Howard University, where she discovered a passion for science. “Yes, I was working two jobs and raising a kid, but I fell in love with science,” she says.
As Macias pursued cancer-related research, she began noticing the plant’s potential. “It was common knowledge that if you had cancer, you had to find someone to get marijuana,” she explains. Despite its illegality, cannabis was already a quiet staple of symptom relief in her community.
She delved into emerging research, especially studies out of Israel, and approached faculty about integrating cannabis into her work. “He said, ‘It’s illegal.’ And I’m like, ‘We’re scientists,'” she remembers.
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Although direct …