You’re Hired: Angela White & The Success Center
Angela White has dedicated her career to opening doors in the cannabis industry for those who have historically been left out. As a driving force behind the Success Centers in San Francisco, she has helped countless individuals, particularly those from marginalized communities, gain the skills, knowledge, and opportunities needed to thrive in this growing field. Through job training, mentorship, and advocacy, White is not just connecting people to careers in cannabis; she’s helping to reshape the industry itself. In this interview, she shares what fuels her passion, the impact of her work, and what she’s most proud of on this journey.
CashColorCannabis: Speak to us about the Success Centers and how you started working with them.
Angela White: About eight years ago, maybe eight and a half years ago, I got a phone call from Liz Jackson Simpson, the CEO here at Success Centers. She wanted to start a cannabis program. And so, through my daughter, who said to her, “Why don’t you call my mom?” She used to run a dispensary in San Jose, and she has a good background and could help you assemble a program.
So I started talking to her probably about six months or so, talking about, you know, things that I would do if it were, if it were my program. And she called me one day out of the blue and said, Well, I need you to work for me. And I’m like, well, when? And she said yesterday. I quit my job that Monday morning. I was here at Success Centers on March 5, and I just had my seventh anniversary of working with Success Center.
CCC: Well, congratulations on that. That’s a journey, and honestly, I was unaware of you running the dispensary in San Jose.
AW: Well, this was during the medicinal era, so things were different. I laugh about stuff now. When I started, WeedMaps would come by the office. They had a salesperson who would come by to collect payment for your subscription. Not so sophisticated. So that’s how long ago this has been. The vendors would come in with big bags, and I would look at the product.
Unfortunately, they’re no longer in business. But it was very rewarding work.
CCC: I love that story. So clearly, your sweat equity brought you here to the Success Centers to help make that a success. Please speak to us specifically about what the Success Center does to help people become successful in this new industry.
AW: So when I first came to the Success Centers, I was hired as a job developer for the cannabis industry. I found that it was a lot different working to help people get jobs in cannabis, as opposed to some of the larger companies like Amazon, where they hire a large number of people.
Well, the cannabis industry hires in smaller amounts. So, I created an event called the cannabis job shop. It’s now called the Budding Industry Job Shop. I would bring in multiple employers.
So, I went into the industry and found mentors to come in. We started doing the Equity For Industry workshops, where I bring industry professionals in to teach our people about business. You know, running the cash-only business, dealing with your agreements with the landlords, bringing in everybody I could think of to help walk us through this process.
It’s one thing to have an opportunity to have a business, but then how do you run that business? After many workshops and programs. We had no funding for me to be here; I just used my imagination. I just went to people and talked to folks and got them to come in and help us. And from there, we now have several folks who have businesses. We have the first Latina female in San Francisco who has a business. We have a male applicant who has his dispensary. Several folks have manufacturing businesses, and one of the first organically certified cultivation licenses in California is Black-owned. So I’m just very proud of the work that we all do here. And it’s not just the Success Centers, but the village of folks helping, because it takes a village, as they say.
We also put together a curriculum to teach people how to get these entry-level positions and understand dispensary operations. POS system training. We also incorporated a Microsoft digital literacy program so they know how to run software and how things work with the computers. We’re helping them with interviewing. We got this curriculum, and it works. It is helping our people move up in the industry, and that’s what we wanted.
CCC: What are the requirements of staying in the program?
AW: In our cannabis training program, you must maintain an 80% or higher GPA with test scores, attendance, and everything we put them through. It’s sort of like a boot camp, because it’s five weeks long. The main thing is that we have so many barriers in our community, and when we graduate, it’s a lovely graduation for them.
I have seen so many adult men break down in tears because they’ve completed something and feel good. I cry a lot because it makes me proud to be a part of someone reinventing themselves. I’m so proud of this program that we have. I want them to win. I’m trying to create winners here at Success Centers.
To learn more about the Success Centers here.
