DispQueen always knew she would enter the cannabis industry and she created a five-year plan to transition from laboratories (where she worked as a hematologist) to eventually researching cannabis. After meeting her husband, DispKing (who also had interest in cannabis as a business and used as much as her) and joining forces, the Maryland-based couple established DQ’s Lifted Kitchen, a separate cannabis brand that enabled her to not only make edibles, but create concentrates, grow/cultivate and teach about cannabis.

Burg Watching caught up with DispQueen as she talked about her goals, the obstacles she’s faced as a black woman in the industry and what she has coming next.

1. Describe DQ’s Lifted Kitchen. What’s a typical day like for you?

My store is simultaneously open during my main business, The Throne LLC, with my husband but my mornings are dedicated to prep for the day/week.

Mondays are typically spent posting a weekly menu. Sunday night is usually when I brainstorm it, based on things I’ve done that’s been popular. Cookies are on the menu every week because they’re versatile, small and easy to dose for those who may be new or inexperienced in using edible medication.

Tuesdays are my inventory day, which is usually all infusing different items [that] are typically fats like butter and oil or preparing my infused tea to be bagged.

Wednesday and Fridays are the busy days, which is when delivery takes place [and] can involve us going from either side of Maryland or sometimes exclusively in Baltimore. It just depends on who has ordered and how we decide to do our route.

2. What led to the creation of DQ’s Lifted Kitchen? How long have you been in business?

We used to do “Edible Wednesdays” at The Throne during the first year because I myself had edibles to maintain and dose during the day due to having a musculoskeletal disease. It started to get popular and busy, so DQ’s Kitchen was born to help organize and separate it from the main store since the kitchen is helmed by myself. I’ve now been in business two and half years, but edibles is not a new territory. Within that time period, I’ve started to distinctly brand myself as someone who makes edibles out of not only EVERYTHING, but I like to experiment with different recipes of different cultures and putting my own flare or reimagining desserts one wouldn’t expect to be infused.

3. What are your ultimate hopes and goals for the business/brand?

This itself is just an extension from our starting point of opening the first black owned hometown dispensary within Baltimore but beyond that is to change the stigmas, create more financial channels for other cannabis businesses and being able to do lots of other things with multimedia, content creation, research and philanthropy. The idea is that everything we create should be able to give something back to Baltimore, which has already disproportionately handled the cannabis stigma up until Marilyn Mosby changed how cannabis is handled in a street level within the city, which is a start but more work to be done.

4. What obstacles have you faced (especially in regards to the cannabis industry and being black entrepreneurs)? How has it been rewarding?

I deal with a lot of push back: trying to get a dispensary license has been a long process due to a lot of corrupt events that have happened within the cannabis industry specifically in Maryland.

I did volunteer work and activism in cannabis and a lot of folks want to take all your free for free and benefit themselves. There are white People who are known to specifically use black people as props to their own goals or using black people who want to be in the industry unfairly with pay, promotions, so many things not only from the outside looking in but inside looking out.

The disparity hasn’t changed much since the cannabis industry “began” here about five to six years ago but so much corruption has occurred that a lot of problems that were prophesied have come to be.

We continue to fight against it all the time and still plan to open our dispensary without using investment from any of those parties that may want to use us to create an image that isn’t real.

5. Has being in the cannabis industry affected your personal and/or professional life (due to the stigma of marijuana)? If so, how did you handle it and would you do anything differently?

Absolutely, though I’m very proud of the work I do and have been able to build a community around cannabis with my husband, we are very dedicated and committed to work, so off time is limited. I don’t have as much time for a personal life or my own person goals and balancing being a parent as well has been difficult especially with virtual school.

I am becoming more protective of my privacy nowadays. I regard myself as an open book but at the same time, I understand you gotta make some of your life off limits and for you and your loved ones but thankfully most of our families are truly supportive of what we do, and a lot of my friends (who I didn’t expect support from) have been amazing but there’s still people who don’t talk to me or think that because I have a “public image” that I’m a different person but in reality I’m still the awkward cannabis geek I’ve always been, I just get to live it full time now. Sometimes the way people talk to me makes my friends feel weird because they see strangers inspired by me and don’t really see me as “DispQueen”, and it’s true, I am just me, I’m just taking risks most people wouldn’t want to take.

6. How’s business going? Has the pandemic affected sales?

It’s great! I’ve been doing some more complicated recipes since I began like trés leches cake, infused cinnamon buns; I’m always trying new stuff!

The pandemic really didn’t affect me much at all except how I navigate, and being safe not only with preparation, but down to delivery.

7. What makes DQ’s Lifted Kitchen different from other cannabis businesses?

The only thing different really is me. I’m what makes DQ’s kitchen what it is, I take everything I learned from labs and applied it to this and it’s made me great and consistent at what kind of work I provide and that is what sets me apart.

Also, people like to see what I’ll come up with every week, it’s a challenge!

8. What excites and concerns you about the industry? What changes would you like to see?

I’m enjoying seeing more content creation and shows based around cannabis cooking and normalizing folks being able to medicate no matter what their ailment and folks being able to showcase their specific talents into cannabis.

I want to see better social equity plans in place, as well as with cannabis laws and incarcerations. I want people to understand and appreciate cannabis more because I feel like people are missing the big picture and its magic due to the legalization paths in the country, and it’s becoming a money grab for so many companies and celebs who have nothing to do with cannabis and just want money.

9. What advice do you have for people looking to be in the cannabis industry and those who are new to cannabis?

Don’t expect everyone to just support you out the gate, they won’t. But it will come. You will hear a lot of no and can’t take things personally. Know when to decompress and be a regular person. Life isn’t all networking.

10. What’s next for DQ’s Lifted Kitchen?

My hopes are to have more staff so I can step away more and make more shelf stable items because making fresh edibles every week is awesome, but it’s a lot more work than it looks like. I just love making sure folks can medicate safely and discreetly and the awesome messages they send after. It makes my day.

You can find DQ’s Lifted Kitchen on Facebook and Instagram and The Throne LLC on Facebook.