Melissa Boston

Melissa Boston WAKANNA FOR LIFE

Ground-Breaker, Trailblazer, and Game-Changer are the words that come to mind when you think of Melissa Boston, CEO of WaKanna For Life, a Chicago-based Cannabis and CBD company. Bringing over thirty years of experience and knowledge in the sales and business development arena, this WOW Woman is disrupting the marketplace through her innovative leadership and marketing strategies. Melissa was instrumental in establishing two Cannabis/CBD startup companies, where her leadership led to explosive growth for both companies with direct oversight of ten employees and a multifaceted marketing and sales team. Her wisdom, wit, and marketing skills went to work as she and her team were able to redirect a company headed for imminent closure from eight thousand dollars a month in sales to over thirty-five thousand dollars a month in only thirty days. Over the next eighteen months, she grew the company’s sales by over twenty-four hundred percent, hitting a high six-figures of two-hundred thousand dollars for two consecutive months.

More recently, this business powerhouse led the second company to a record $1.2 Million in sales within seven months by implementing her innovative marketing techniques. These techniques generated an astounding $392K for the company alone in one month. In addition to her extensive experience in the cannabis industry alone, Melissa has received MVP status for six of the eight companies she ever worked for full-time and has helped rapidly grow the sales and daily functioning of many businesses.

One such business is a multi-billion-dollar international shipping company that hired her as an import-export specialist, but she was quickly promoted to a business development account representative and ultimately to Account Sales Manager. She increased the customer base, managed customer growth and attrition, and facilitated client presentations with an ability to efficiently close sales. Her work grew one account from $7M to $33M in annual sales.

As CEO, Melissa leads operations and strategic direction of their enterprise, with full responsibility for all bottomline factors. She created the company’s website—vital to its success—which included writing all content and verifying that all information was FDA-compliant. Through her efforts and continued mentoring of the marketing team, they have maintained a strategic and active web presence since the company’s inception. Through her strategic insight and implementation, her team has diligently grown the company’s revenue to over three million dollars ($3,000,000.00) in sales as of November 2020. Currently, thirty-five states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis-related products for medical use, of which sixteen have legalized the recreational use of marijuana as of April 2021. As more and more Americans accept the idea of legalizing marijuana across all lines, the growth of Wakanna For Life is unlimited in a space that is still underserved by women and women of color in particular. Gender and racial diversity in the Cannabis industry remains an uphill climb as the start-up costs can range anywhere from seven hundred thousand to open an existing retail store to more than twelve million dollars for a newly constructed cultivation space.

From licensing, staffing, technology, taxes, and security systems to the facility, operational and legal compliance, the capital requirements are a steep investment to start, sustain, and scale the business long-term. Still, through Melissa’s creative marketing and strategic leadership, this WOW Woman is blazing the trail for many women to enter the lucrative Cannabis/CBD Market. She is undoubtedly a remarkable example to follow as she disrupts this market both as a woman and a woman of

color, breaking records in this highly caucasian, male-dominated industry. Of course cannabis has its positive and negative traits which is why included in her larger vision for the company, employee oversight and development, and regular interaction with the public; Melissa has been integral in creating a safe, effective, compliant scaffolding that could hold the company’s high-quality products. In this regard, she worked directly with labs on the homogenization of all products, secured independent Certificates of Analysis (COAs) on all products, and worked with pharmacists to implement product recall practices. Through her oversight of ensuring their products undergo rigorous testing, they have not had to undergo any product recalls. Melissa and her team have developed and implemented training that details product knowledge, friendly and efficient customer service, and compliance with federal and state regulations to further ensure public safety. They are also teaching about the entrepreneurial benefits of the cannabis business and offering opportunity to those who see this as a viable path to business ownership. She believes strongly in community involvement and has helped put together a CBD Education course and CBD Social Media training for the general public. In November 2019, her company was also responsible for paying rent for several seniors in the community facing eviction and homelessness. Through this new and promising opportunity, not only is Melissa forging an alternative path to health and wellness; she is also providing socio-economic benefits to a diverse generation of young men and women who do not fit into the mold of the traditional business systems of old. In her most recent role with an international company, she constantly raises awareness in others of what is possible. Leveraging her passion for public speaking and wellness products, she has established markets in over forty countries in just a few years, including Turkey, Ukraine, Singapore, and China, making her one of the primary faces of the company. Melissa’s powerful driving passion for wellness, community, and healing ultimately metamorphosed into a published book on general health for the human body. In her new book, she shares her extensive knowledge of plant medicines, diet and exercise routines, and mindfulness practices to coach the reader into living a more fulfilling lifestyle. As an international speaker on wellness and body nutrition, she brings her passion into all aspects of her own life and work and infuses her knowledge within her career in the cannabis industry.