We were lucky to catch up with A’Dazia Ferrell recently and have shared our conversation below.

A’Dazia , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you as a business owner?

My previous employer was in business close to 50 years without employee resources. No training manuals, no training videos, no list of resources to get acquainted with the job description or role, and no one available to train new employees.

I was hired on under Accounting Administrative Assistant as an extension of the CFO, but my skills and knowledge proved to be of value in creating the aforementioned documents. But those were in addition to being trained on the role I was hired on for, and the ambiguity in training me for payroll. Eventually, some one-off tasks that were weeks long projects were completed and I could move forward on what was set aside.

There was a new hire who was poorly trained. This was coupled with miscommunication between the CFO and the Project Manager, the supervisor & trainer of the new hire. Despite them bumping heads, I could never get a proper training on payroll because we were having extra weekly meetings to clear misunderstandings and shift role responsibilities. Despite my seniority and good work they sacked me due to my personal habits that did not affect my job performance.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in the Metro Valley of Arizona. Education was important to my single mother, who had her hands full with 2 kids, a full-time job, and night school. After I got to a certain age I became less of a child to her and more of an adult due to responsibilities placed on me that were not part of my brother’s life. I took pride in it, because I gained the freedom to roam. But I couldn’t get her to help me get a paying job because she considered my school to be my main responsibility.

I learned then to volunteer. Multiple summers were spent at my local library, where volunteer opportunities were born in my small world. Eventually came my invite to their Teen Advisory Board: a group of year round adolescent volunteers for community events. I snagged the role of President and took that title seriously. Attended every meeting, participated in most events, and helped the library staff often. It was home to me.

Those experiences led to my volunteering for the Phoenix Comic Convention, the local pop culture convention held annually in Downtown Phoenix. I was part of the marketing division, subdivision Street Team. That was a team who attended events around town, setting up a booth and practically cheerleading the convention leading up to the event dates. We had raffles, pins, stickers, etc. I got to do amazing things in my community. When the convention dates rolled around, my job was done and I could enjoy it 100%.

Both of these experiences, coupled with the fact that I experience an insane amount of stigma from using cannabis regularly as a black female seeking employment, led me to the ultimate risk: entrepreneurship.

I knew I had potential to start a business. The education my mother prioritized? I left art school to attend a college-level high school that in retrospect was like a how-to guide for fundraising and business development. Since starting this journey in earnest after being fired for following the drug policy in enacted by my employer at the time, I’ve not struggled as hard as my peers at completing certain aspects of entrepreneurship. And so far, I feel more fulfilled and successful than I ever had for an employer before me.

Inner Journey was founded in October 2022 by myself and my life partner, who invented Hippo’s Salve™. Guillermo Carrillo developed this patent-pending therapeutic pain relief cream infused with cannabis, vitamins, and minerals to help combat cannabis stigma, and the opioid crises in America. During the tail end of the pandemic, his grandmother was victim of a car accident. She was already prescribed fairly strong pain management pills, but wasn’t excited about the prospect of an additional one, or an overhaul. Being an elder unfamiliar with cannabis, smoking it was intimidating and edibles only went so far. He thought about how best to fix this and invented Hippo’s Salve™. Its topical application allows for pain relief directly to non-sensitive areas of the body (please do not apply to the face or genitals).

She was impressed with the results, and continues to use it when she needs it. But feels like she can enjoy things more.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Cannabis is the new frontier! This industry has plenty of bad actors and bad business operation standards. And the unfortunate truth is that despite programs existing to address the disparity it is still a struggle, as a black woman, to earn money. Working as an employee for someone else always undervalues what I can contribute by under compensating my hourly worth. At least as an entrepreneur I choose how I get paid, when I get paid, and the amount I get paid. Like any other industry, cannabis is like wrestling with a dinosaur.

My perspective is to approach it like the alcohol Prohibition era. Because that’s exactly where we are, in the extended Prohibition era of cannabis. I’ve heard no so many times growing up from my parent, from family, from friends, from strangers, from potential employers, and from my lover. Cannabis is a giant no with loopholes that, if tackled properly results in a legitimate business. And to be grandfathered in should legalization happen in my lifetime would be an honor.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

In 2015 I started working as graduation drew near. After being propositioned by a new business owner opening a restaurant in the area at the drive thru, I thought I would see if it was worth my time. I drove to the address according to Google, which was a few blocks West of my job at the time, and had an interview on the spot.

My charm and wit won them over, and I started as a hostess the following week. It was great timing because the turnover at my previous job was high and it was looking like I needed to go as well. On my first shift, I had my attention on learning my role. I remembered attending restaurants with hostesses that were clueless and unhelpful as a patron and thought I’d like to do it differently. Indeed I did, as I caught the eye of a sushi cook by the end of my shift. He worked the courage to chat during my shift dinner before I left for the evening. And we played billiards downtown, a perk from 1 of his 4 jobs.

I learned more about him, grew to like his character, and found he was great company. About a week later we become exclusive and traveled the country. A good travel partner makes a good business partner in my opinion. And business is another type of marriage, after all.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hipposcanntherapy.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/innerjourney_cann?igshid=MTk0NTkyODZkYg==
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innerjourneyltd/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@InnerJourney-cann?si=oZ3iDEHr-KsyslRT