Megan Archer got her chemistry degree, her master’s in environmental toxicology and her first job as an analytical chemist in the cannabis business in her home state of Illinois, something that combined “two things I love.” And when the company needed someone to learn extraction, Archer stepped up.
“I said, ‘You should let me try that. I’m a chemist, I love cannabis. Let me get a crack at it,’” she says.
But after four years of building out a lab, she felt a little constrained by that state’s “overly regulated” market and limited licensing structure. When Fluresh executives in neighboring Michigan offered her a position in early 2020, Archer jumped at the opportunity to move to booming market with “a lot more room for growth.”
Today, Archer is the director of processing at Fluresh, overseeing both extraction and infused products for the company, including both the Fluresh and the newly launched Carbon product lines made with live and cured rosins, as well as soft-gels and a drink enhancer, with gummies and pastilles on the way.
She loves the excitement of the cannabis industry and even the challenge of hitting a “chaotic, ever-moving target,” and says it is fun working to build a new industry, particularly as a woman in a male-dominated field.
“What I love about the cannabis industry in general is it’s helping people, even if it’s being used as a recreational product,” she says. “Let’s keep in mind the real idea of what cannabis is. The money will follow if you do your job properly.”
— Brian Beckley