We recently connected with Ayanna Lawson and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ayanna, thanks for joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I want my legacy to be known as the one who helped start a movement. Women and minorities make up less than 5% of business owners in the cannabis industry. I want to not only show people the medicinal value of cannabis but also show them that there are lower-risk ways to be a part of this billion-dollar industry.

Ayanna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

You’ve probably seen me take home the Canna Tank prize at the 2019 National Cannabis Festival business competition. Or may have read about Front Row Travels® in the Huffington Post, Forbes, Travel Pulse, and Conde Nast.

I am the CEO of Front Row Travels®, a full-service 420-friendly event, and travel brand. I cultivate travel experiences for cannabis enthusiasts and the brands they love. As a pioneer in the cannabis travel industry, I have been featured in industry-leading publications such as Maryland Leaf, Vanguard Media Online, and Canna Curious Magazine.

I created Front Row Travels® to help break the stigma of cannabis use, especially in the Black community. Black women suffer from some of the highest rates of stress, anxiety, and depression, yet we are the least likely to get help. Although plant medicine has been shown to help reduce these factors, there is still a stigma regarding its use. It’s time we break the stigma.

Whew. When I am not busy being a panelist, contributor, and expert. I am trying to live a balanced(ish) life, being a wife, mother, advocate, patient, and traveler, and taking my “research and development duties very seriously. (It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it.)

How did you build your audience on social media?

Growing a following as a cannabis brand on mainstream social media platforms is HARD. It takes a special level of commitment and patience when using social media to grow your audience. Because cannabis is currently listed as a Schedule 1 drug according to the U.S. Federal Government it goes against the “community guidelines” on most social media platforms. This often leads to social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, or Tik Tok being shadowbanned or deleted altogether. No matter the size of the following.

Despite the constant threat of banning/deletion, these mainstream platforms are helpful tools to scaling my brand. Informative posts, polls, and games are some of my favorite ways to connect on social media. Providing your audience with consistent, valuable, and engaging content is paramount when building your brand on and offline.

If you’re just starting to build your social presence for your brand, don’t focus on the number of likes you do (or don’t) receive, Focus on providing consistent and engaging content.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Travel has been a part of my life since I was a little girl largely due to my grandmothers. I would join my paternal grandmother on her annual road trip to visit family up and down the East coast. New Jersey, Massachusetts, or North Carolina, I looked forward to traveling every summer.

My maternal grandmother took her love of planning trips for club members and family and turned it into a business. She was a travel agent for a period of time and planned everything from cruises to bus trips to Atlantic City and amusement parks. She loved Las Vegas and hosted an annual trip to Sin City all the way up until she was 85.

It’s as if I was born to travel. I started on the traditional side of the travel industry in 2017, cruises, all-inclusive stays, or Disney I planned it all. In May 2018, I decided to focus strictly on 420-friendly travel, and how it can be used to help break the stigma of cannabis use. As a patient, I also found it difficult to navigate ever changing cannabis laws and regulations. Cultivating safe spaces for consumers has allowed me to scale FRT significantly over time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.frontrowtravels.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontrowtravelsllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontrowtravels

Image Credits
LYoung Photograpghy