Canna Industry: Mennlay Golokeh Aggrey Author & Xula Co-Founder
Mennlay Golokeh Aggrey is one of our favorite canna- bosses. Mennlay is the author of The Art of Weed Butter and the co-founder of one of our favorite CBD brands Xula. Through her visibility, she hopes to create more space for Black women and femmes in the cannabis industry, a goal she has been at for 16 years.
Mennlay currently resides in Mexico City, where her work explores cannabis, foodways, and the diasporic connections between Africa and Latin America. You can listen to her wisdom and candor on Broccoli Talk where she is a co-founder. Mennley is also the founder of a mutual aid dinner project, Cenas sin fronteras, and on the board of the Floret Coalition, the anti-racist cannabis collective, funding monthly equity-oriented actions. We are members and highly recommend joining if you can!
High Herstory : You reside in Mexico City — how do you anticipate adult use legalization to be executed, and from a sociopolitical perspective, how can we help push for an equitable industry there?
Mennley: Yes, Mexico is dangerously (I say that in the best of ways) close to legalizing weed—for real this time. It’s been the same song and dance with bills being written and not passed since cannabis and all drugs were decriminalized Nationally in 2017. But I’ve been told by people who have links inside the government that it's happening this time. The Senate, basically an equivalent to the Lower House of Congress in the U.S., is expected to pass the new version of the law. Once it’s been voted on, the last step will be for the executive branch to sign off.
This is huge and will bring Mexico into the fold with Uruguay, South Africa, and Canada as being a federally legalized country. But some critics, myself included, say that this bill caters mostly to suits and large companies, mostly comprised of white men from the United States and Canada who will have access to control of the market from seed to sale. This current bill doesn’t do enough to protect those most vulnerable—small weed businesses, and small legacy farmers who have been growing cannabis for decades and are up against the very real threat of cartels. (though most cartels have switched out of weed and into the fentanyl and opioid market).
by Tzetelina Garneva
High Herstory: A while back, we saw your infused take on a Passover Seder plate. Are you currently working on any dope, symbolic food displays infused with cannabis this year?
Mennley: Yes, I recently took myself out to the mountains of Moreles, Mexico for the month of March (while pulling 10-hour days with normal work) to research and write more intentionally about the food that connects us—infused and not. Stay tuned.
High Herstory: Your book, The Art of Weed Butter, is a blueprint for many new and seasoned edible chefs. What drove you to write this ultra informative guide?
Mennley: Honestly, I applied to an ad that was in the Green Binders FB group two years ago. They were looking for an edibles recipe developer. I had some experience whipping up quick recipes for Whoopi & Maya’s digital channels and really needed the extra cash, so I took the project on. Full disclosure, unlike most books, you are given a year or three to write, edit, develop, test and photograph your recipes. I was given three months. So I set out to make something simple, easily, and digestible for the reader and homecook.
Accessibility in cannabis is so important so writing and developing inexpensive and approachable recipes just seemed crucial. I’m really taken aback and honored by the response The Art of Weed Butter has received for being such a rushed (the equivalent to fast-fashion in the publishing world) writing project. But I feel hashtag Jah blessed for the platform to write about the basics of cooking with weed while reminding folks of the state of injustice—namely, the incarceration of Black, Brown and Indigenous folks—that persists alongside the legal weed movement today.
by Tzetelina Garneva
High Herstory: We were thrilled to hear about the launch of your botanical hemp brand, Xula, just last November. Tell us a little bit about how you and your partner developed your unique blends, who they’re intended for, and how they’re meant to be used - especially through a global pandemic!
Mennley: Xula is 6 months old since launch and almost 3-years old since conception, Karina and I, my business partner, are extremely grateful and excited to finally be out in the world, despite how difficult it is to launch a business internationally during a pandemic. So for readers who don’t know, we are a Latina and Black-owned hemp brand conceived and based in Mexico City while growing our own hemp in Southern Oregon on Cow Creek Umpqua land utilizing the best regenerative practices available to us.
We wanted to offer something different than just diet weed aka legal weed aka CBD and thought it prudent to look to ancestral plant-medicine and modern science alike to create herbal supplements that support all bodies, but specifically bodies with wombs. Our products are focused on helping women, femmes, and NGC people with a uterus feel good in their bodies through the transformative power of herbs. Each of our six products focus on anxiety, menopause, menstrual cramps, sleep, and hormonal toning.
High Herstory : Any other projects you’d like to share?
Mennley: There are so many, but I want to mention the Floret Coalition, an anti-racist collective of small businesses in the cannabis and cannabis-adjacent space supporting and funding Black Latinx and Indigenous communities through equity-oriented actions via monthly donations and social campaigns.
Together, to date, The Floret Coalition’s 135+ brand members have donated over $60,000 to the organizations we have partnered with thus far but we are always looking for more members to join and as a member of the board, I feel it’s my duty to share the word and encourage awareness of these type of equitable giving circle collectives. We can’t undo the past, but we must work diligently to ensure a fair and equitable future.
High Herstory: How can our audience best support your businesses and keep up with your industry moves?
Mennley: I guess by following me on Instagram, but beyond that, I think this audience owes it to themselves not to just buy my products or whatever my current hustle is, but more so really educate themselves and engage in ways to support their bodies and the bodies of their community through herbal care. We know the pharmaceutical industry isn’t looking out for us, so it’s up to us to look out for the health and wellness of ourselves and communities. But yeah, to keep me and my community fed, shop Black, shop local, shop womxn, and vote for more equitable laws within the cannabis space. Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk :)
