HIGHER 2025 Sets the Standard for Cannabis Culture, Equity & Power in Its Third Year

The 2025 HIGHER Cannabis Conference, held June 27–29 at Location 215, delivered a powerful and deeply intentional experience for cannabis leaders, culture workers, and community builders from across the country. Now in its third year, the conference, founded and curated by Sheena Roberson of Cannabis Noire reaffirmed its place as the most unapologetically Black, community-rooted cannabis convening in the country.

HIGHER 2025 was a full-spectrum experience: part strategy lab, part ceremony, part cultural revival. From keynote addresses to community care activations, this year’s experience centered ownership, equity, wellness, and truth-telling in a way only HIGHER can.

Key Highlights from HIGHER 2025

MJBiz Black Launch: The weekend marked the official launch of MJBiz Black, a new media platform dedicated to amplifying Black cannabis narratives and reshaping the landscape of industry journalism. The initiative is rooted in accountability, visibility, and cultural power.

• Soft Army Living Lounge Debut: Guests entered the first-ever Soft Army Living Lounge, a sanctuary previewing Sheena Roberson’s forthcoming lifestyle brand rooted in softness as resistance. Designed as a space to pause, reset, and reconnect, the lounge offered a full-body reminder that rest is revolutionary.
  

• Immersive Wellness Experience by Sacred House: Led by Morgan Dominique, founder of Sacred House and HIGHER’s official wellness sponsor, this activation offered attendees a deeply embodied journey of healing. Through sound, ritual, scent, and energy work, the space reinforced wellness as core infrastructure  not an afterthought.
  

• Signature Mocktail Bar: The HIGHER mocktail bar was a centerpiece throughout the weekend, featuring elevated herbal beverages and community-first brand collaborations. Featuring Drew Davis of Gem Life and Faye Coleman, co-founder of Pure Genesis, the bar fused flavor with intention. Coleman also delivered a moving keynote, sharing her personal and entrepreneurial journey, including the debut of Whoop Tea, her new collaborative beverage line with Whoopi Goldberg.

VIP Welcome Dinner with Amina: HIGHER opened with a stunning VIP dinner experience, hosted in collaboration with Amina, who brought intention, intimacy, and cultural care to every detail. This Welcome Day gathering grounded the conference in ritual hospitality and celebrated those helping build the future of cannabis from the inside out.

• Unforgettable Energy from MC Starfire: Guiding guests through the weekend with unmatched energy and presence was our MC “Starfire”, whose voice, brilliance, and commanding flow gave every panel, announcement, and transition the charge it deserved. She carried the room from start to finish.

• Roz McCarthy Keynote with Trulieve: HIGHER also featured an inspiring keynote from Roz McArthur, who shared her groundbreaking partnership with Trulieve, reflecting on the road to retail success, brand visibility, and true product ownership as a Black woman in cannabis. Her story of resilience and clarity resonated across every track.
  

• Panels Named for Works by Women of Color: From “The Bluest Eye” (colorism in cannabis) to “For Colored Girls Who Considered Microloans” (funding and capital access), each session pulled from powerful literary traditions to frame real-world industry challenges and community-sourced solutions.
  

• The Check Was Never Cut Fund Launch: HIGHER 2025 was the launch site of The Check Was Never Cut, a new equity emergency fund and storytelling campaign supporting Black women exploited by performative partnerships. The fund launches with direct support to Megon D. of GreenOut, and a collective demand for repair.
  

• Field Trips & The Revival Tour Preview: HIGHER 2025 kicked off the first stops of its upcoming Revival Tour, with activations in Philly and more scheduled across its chapter states. These field-based experiences from dispensary takeovers to infused culinary pop-ups  are taking HIGHER’s mission on the road.

Not a Conference. A Call.

HIGHER is an uprising. A blueprint. A safehouse. A sacred return.

“This year wasn’t about getting bigger. It was about getting sharper,” says Roberson. “We brought softness and strategy, we called the industry out and called our people in. This is the future of cannabis  rooted radically, for and by us.”To support The Check Was Never Cut, learn more about Soft Army, or follow the next stop on the Revival Tour, visit www.cannabisnoire.com or follow @officialwoc_higher