• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • News
  • Lifestyle
  • Wellness
  • Cuisine
  • Product Reviews
  • Subscribe
Cannabis News and Culture Magazine

Cannabis News and Culture Magazine

Cannabis News and Culture Magazine

Emerald Media News Subscription
  • Print Magazines
  • 100+ Minority-Owned Companies to Support
  • No Pipe, No Problem
  • Blunt vs. Joint
  • The Cost of Cannabis in Each State
  • Calculating Your Edibles Dosage
  • Flintts Mouthwatering Mints

Mary’s List

March 31, 2019 by Emerald Media Group Leave a Comment

Written by Ashley Priest


Those in the cannabis space are no strangers to innovation. Industry-goers are resourceful when it comes to solving problems. Several top cannabis companies started with a problem, in which they used an innovative way to solve it. Mary’s List, winner of the 2018 Boston University Cannabis Startup Competition, was founded by Denise Biderman. This month, Emerald Magazine had the opportunity to speak with Denise about her Do-It-Yourself mission in providing a unique solution for freelancers and other DIY go-getters in the cannabis space.

Q&A With Denise Biderman—Founder and CEO of Mary’s List:

Emerald Magazine: In your own words, what is Mary’s List?
Denise Biderman: Mary’s List is the first professional services marketplace for the cannabis industry that connects businesses of all sizes with freelancers and service providers on a project-to-project basis. Businesses can source professionals from around the country and pay them for services provided directly through the platform, leaving out the guesswork of how to get paid in the cannabis industry.

EM: What inspired you to start Mary’s List?
DB: Two things inspired me to create Mary’s List. While I was living in Colorado, I was working for an amazing consulting firm. The company’s reputation brought with it a hefty price tag; only a very select group could afford to pay $250,000-plus on a licensing consultant. That was hard for me to swallow. I kept wondering how I could help people from all income brackets apply for a license, while in the meantime, the altitude in Colorado was devastating to my health. I was so sick that after my last CAT scan, we decided it was time to move. While trying to find work, I decided that I could freelance as a licensing consultant. However, when I went to look for cannabis clients and source all the professionals I needed for a licensing application, such as a grow consultant or security consultant, there was no specific resource for me to do that. That’s when it dawned on me. I turned to my partner and said, “There’s Craigslist, there’s Angie’s List … why not Mary’s List? Mary’s List can be the hub for all things needed to help your cannabis business grow, from licensing to execution. Thus, Mary’s List was born in March of 2018.

EM: What were the biggest obstacles that you faced during the process?
DB: Finding a payment processor that could do payouts for us was absolutely this biggest hurdle we faced. We went through 14 before finding the right partner, lucky number 15! We’d all but given up. We thought about changing our entire business model and replacing it with a pay-to-introduce model without offering a payout solution, but our prayers were answered at the last hour, and we forged ahead. Now, every professional can become a vendor on our site, vetted through our processor, and they’ll receive payment right to their bank account for their work. Businesses can effectively pay for these services via credit card. I think this is a huge win for the cannabis industry.

EM: What is the biggest problem you were looking to resolve?
DB: Mary’s List was developed to solve three key issues:
1. Giving people an equitable chance at sourcing the professionals they need for a licensing application.
2. Opening up the talent pool in the space: Perhaps a graphic designer based out of West Virginia that familiarizes themselves with the regulations is the best fit for a California dispensary.
3. Giving people on the outside looking in an opportunity to enter the cannabis industry. There are lots of seasoned professionals out there who have tons of experience in their field but have not worked in cannabis. This is a way for them to transition into the space, one project at a time.

EM: How has cannabis personally helped you?
DB: Aside from anxiety relief and helping with my insomnia, when I was faced with my fourth knee surgery to have cadaver bone grafted into a hole in my knee, I was resolute that I did not want to use opioids but rather cannabis. I did my research. I found the right ointments and strains and only used cannabis post-recovery. After having used a machine that bent and straightened my knee for eight hours a day post-surgery, I was running on a treadmill within two months after that. That was when I decided to put my previous life as an attorney aside and put my research and writing skills to good use. Mary’s List not only provides a platform for professionals and business owners in the cannabis space to connect for projects, it also is a valuable tool for freelancers already working in the sector. It will be fascinating to see the continued success of Mary’s List and other DIY solutions in the cannabis industry in the years to come.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: education, employment

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Advertise Here

Categories

Sustainability

seaweed naturals

SeaWeed Naturals Combines the Power of Seaweed with Cannabis to Further Ocean Restoration

April 3, 2022 By Maggie Horton

fungi climate change

Research Finds Fungi Help Ease Climate Change and Benefit the Environment

March 30, 2022 By Julia Meyer

climate crisis and the pandemic

“We Can Act:” What Bending the COVID-19 Curve Teaches Us About the Climate Crisis

April 21, 2020 By Melissa Hutsell

Footer

  • Subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Press

Recent

  • Priscilla Vilchis and Lil Kim Launch Aphrodisiak: A Cannabis Brand Focused on Sensuality, Social Justice, and Inclusivity
  • First Latina CEO of a Cannabis Company Partners with Music Industry Trailblazer Lil Kim to Launch Aphrodisiak Brand
  • Aphrodisiak: The New Female-Led Cannabis Brand Empowering Women and Promoting Inclusivity
  • Las Vegas Welcomes Aphrodisiak
  • HighOnLove – Taking Pleasure to New Heights

Search

Copyright © 2023 · The Emerald™ · News & Lifestyle Magazine

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Cannabis News and Culture Magazine
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.