ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ALYSHA LIGHT
&
KRISTEN GROSSI JOINT PR
A LYS H A L I G H T
BY N E A S H A H O D G E
What do you get when you put together two amazing friends from the windy city with a passion for storytelling in the emerging cannabis market, entrepreneurial spirits and captivating personalities? Well, the dynamic duo that is JOINT PR. After speaking with Alysha Light and Kristen Grossi, it’s easy to see why the pair are a match made in PR heaven. These two senior level communications experts, who have 30 years of combined experience creating PR and communications strategies for hundreds of clients across diverse industries, decided to expand their talents to the cannabis industry. “We saw cannabis often being treated like a hit or miss business, and not being executed at a very thoughtful level. With our combined experience, we felt confident we could bring a fresh perspective and high level of quality to the space,” Alysha explains. 56
CA N N AC U R I O U S M AG.C O M
WITHSTANDING INDUSTRY CHALLENGES The ladies, however, aren’t shy in expressing the challenges they faced representing cannabis brands compared to other industries, especially with cannabis not fully legal everywhere. Kristen shares, “There’s still a stigma and red tape around what journalists can and cannot write, especially with lifestyle media. Some parenting and wellness brands are still wary when it comes to talking or writing about cannabis brands or topics. We’ve, however, been able to find creative ways around that whether through affiliate programs with product round-up stories, or thought-leadership pieces.” Alysha echoes the same sentiments. “The education piece is huge! There is the hurdle of constantly having to educate reporters who are not as familiar with the industry. They put up a brick wall and don’t want to cover the story.” She tells an anecdote of a client who wrote an article on why it’s time to normalize parents' use of cannabis, similar to how parents consuming alcohol is normalized. “We encountered parenting media that loved the article, but they were concerned it did not ‘fit in’ with
