John Schroyer
Janet Matula, executive, Gelato Canna Co.
Janet Matula, a longtime cannabis consultant and executive, helped build several companies during her career, most recently the Southern California-based Gelato Canna Co., a brand with everything from vape cartridges to pre-rolls to edibles.
Matula first entered the industry after a 2008 trip to a dispensary and recalled being “appalled” at the conditions she saw.
“I said, ‘I can do this better.’ That’s what got me into (the cannabis business),” Matula said.
A message she said she’d like to share with fellow women in the marijuana trade is to simply have confidence.
“Believe in yourself. Don’t let those obstacles deter you. Figure out a way to go around them. Don’t doubt yourself. It’s very easy to doubt yourself in this industry,” Matula said, adding that one of the biggest obstacles she’s had to overcome is “male ego” in the industry.
“The industry, 10-11 years ago, was all men. So to be able to be heard, you might be invited to the table, but you weren’t heard,” Matula said.
Some of the biggest problems she sees in the industry today, Matula said, stem from “overregulation” at both the state and federal level, and she hopes “common sense” will ultimately prevail for how the market is structured, which includes having better-informed oversight.
“There are many things that go on from a regulatory point of view that are very hard to understand,” Matula said. “The fact that … there are not people from the cannabis industry making (California state cannabis) regulations. We’ve got people from the (state Department of Cannabis Control) that come here that have never been in manufacturing. You have to understand the basics before you can really go in and inspect a facility.”
When asked what was next for her, Matula laughed, and responded simply, “I’m perfectly happy where I am, with Gelato. I’ve been in the cannabis industry for 11 or 12 years, and you have to take one bite at a time.”
