The Green Angels provide a new kind of cannabis business.
Now that cannabis is slowly gaining national legalization, mainstream society is accepting its presence in day-to-day life. Billboards on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip read “Got High?”, dispensaries have ripped off their privacy blinds and it’s just about as easy to get greens delivered to your front doorstep as it is to get Chinese food takeout.
Cannabis is growing into a billion-plus dollar industry, packed with opportunity for disruption. And Green Angels, an invite-only female-operated delivery collective is one company that is standing out amongst the crowd of new marijuana-centric businesses. The company’s newly-launched mobile site, makes it easy for their lucky few customers to purchase cannabis from a local dispensary and have it delivered by one of the company’s young lady handlers.
Founded by models in New York, the group recently made the transition to Los Angeles where they learned that a more legitimate enterprise doesn’t necessarily mean a less complicated one. Although cannabis is officially legal in California as of January 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions not-so-surprisingly terminated the US policy that allows legal pot to flourish, and as federal laws against the sale of marijuana remain on the books, weed is still a dangerous business. This is just one of the reasons the woman in charge (we’ll call her “Angel”) and her right-hand woman (we’ll call her “Mickey”) have been mysterious figures in the pot industry in recent years.
The company has almost entirely avoided press and advertising, relying solely on word-of-mouth–like any good old-school drug dealer. Angel, befitting her moniker, spends her company’s annual party rolling joints for the destitute living in Skid Row. Despite her icy blue eyes, she has a natural warmth, like she’s lived in Southern California all her life. At first impression, it’s difficult to imagine that she was once at the head of the table of a reputed multi-million dollar endeavor in New York. But moments after speaking with her, it’s clear that she was born for this business. “I grew up in a place where weed was considered a ‘hard drug’ despite the fact that many of those people were getting prescribed pills and actual ‘hard drugs’ from their doctors,” Angel says.
“I left home at a young age, before I was even a teenager. I modeled, did a few odd jobs, and worked as a pot trimmer. I discovered weed in a time of darkness. It became an instant mission.” Angel—who is tall and thin, sports mint green hair and a bare-face at our first meeting—no doubt attracts a lot of attention wherever she goes, which is an issue if your operating a business that aims to remain discreet.
Mickey, with dark curly hair and a supermodel figure, is more reserved than Angel and although she’s good-humored about talking to Playboy, it’s clear she’s a bit skeptical of any press. She is quick to shut me down when I pry into Angel’s childhood, the business in New York or rumors about a movie being made about their experiences. The ideal complement to one another, Mickey and Angel met on a shoot for a Spanish commercial. “She was immediately trying to recruit me. From the moment we met,” Mickey laughs. Together, they have materialized a dream they had for years, to design a way for users to easily order quality marijuana at the click of a button.
As progressive as the cannabis industry is, it also happens to be ruled by men—a fact that makes success a bit harder to come by for any minority. “It can feel like a boy’s club sometimes. But thankfully, I’ve gotten far more respect than disrespect. We need more women in the industry but we also need more men that are allies to women,” Angel recommends. When we bring up her official job title, she’s reluctant to call herself a founder. She deadpans, “Momager. And tell Kris Jenner I said ‘What up’.”
Jokes aside, it’s obvious Angel works hard to tenderly take care of her employees. While she tends to the homeless, her brunette partner hosts the party, tenderly greeting one beautiful woman after another with a hug as they ascend the stairs to the temporary office space in Beverly Hills. They sipped on mimosas and roll joints as they chatted without dreary office lights or stringent corporate rules. The women seem to be have genuine fun together.
Despite the unanimous symmetrical bone structure in the room, they’re not all models, Mickey contends. “It was never all models,” she says. When recruiting, the powerful duo explains that it’s all about finding an assortment of women who are equally creative and driven to achieve whatever they may hope achieve. Among their roster, a customer will find artists, actors, comedians, photographers, housekeepers, stay-at-home moms and DJs. “I only want to bring on people with big dreams,” Mickey continues. Diverse personalities also seem to be a secret to the website’s success. Each woman has her own clickable profile with a photo, a uniquely-curated menu and an arsenal of favorite products that they tote to ever one of their visit to clients—giving each of the women a chance to consult and develop their own clientele, who are also invited to make their own profiles. “Each Angel having their unique menu means that they can only carry what they love. We have an Angel who deals with chronic pain and has become an expert at CBD (a non-psychoactive extraction proven to help mitigate pain). Another Angel is super into edibles so that’s her thing,” she says.
“If Uber, Instagram, and Etsy had a baby for selling weed, we’d be it.”
“If Uber, Instagram, and Etsy had a baby for selling weed, we’d be it,” Angel notes. The self-proclaimed Momager was inspired to create the site after consistently witnessing her friends get banned from Instagram for uploading photos violating the platform’s terms of service. “Instagram notoriously deletes weed companies. People spend thousands of dollars on promoting their Instagram then one day, it’s all wiped away. I also have model friends that constantly get shut down for boobs or weed.” Angel declares, “On our site, you will only be deleted if you’re underage or break customer rules.”
Besides running a successful business with the best cannabis, each member is passionate about defeating the struggles struggles minority communities have historically faced as a result of the War on Drugs. When pressed about these concerns, Angel hold back when expressing outrage about over-policing in certain communities and racial bias in the judicial system regarding marijuana arrests. “We definitely have a diverse staff, and it’s important for me to be involved, and to support social justice efforts. All of the Angels are outspoken about this,” she says. Angel stresses the importance of decriminalization and wants everyone to understand their rights regarding the law. “As far as what’s out there now, the city of Los Angeles does have a social equity program planned that allows low income marijuana offenders fight their charges, but it’s yet to be funded. If you’ve been charged, look into your city’s social equity programs and start the paperwork now,” she suggests. Before clarifying that the business is invite-only for the safety of their employees, Angels insists that consuming and selling marijuana should be an inclusive endeavor. “It’s hugely important. For the LGBTQ community, trans women, women of color. In fact, one thing that has happened lately is that we’ve had transwomen text dispatch to ask if we deliver to them.” She continues by noting these women, unfortunately, have to take extra precaution due to previous negative experiences. “We want to make it clear that our Angels provide a safe situation for everyone,” she says. As the party comes to an end, many of the women who abstained from mimosas and joint-smoking sign on to do some delivery work. Others decide to engage in a makeshift photoshoot. “This is actually pretty common around here,” one of the women laughs. Throughout the party, they’ve traded makeup tips, swapped dating horror stories, and exchanged feedback about the mobile site’s capabilities. When they disjoint, they all hug and many make future plans to support one another in their various endeavors. Angel hopes to keep bringing women together, to inspire young women everywhere to pursue a career in the marijuana industry. “I hope that teenage girls everywhere will continue the Green Angels legacy. Fighting the good fight, to get people their medicine. Little worker chicks, it’s time to step up to the plate. I consider any girl anywhere selling weed an Angel. They’re putting profits back into their community,” she says. “That’s the legacy I think about.”