The Canna Boss Babes founder Ishqa Hillman and photographer Lilli Kay Caroom, professionally known as “The Real Potparazzi,” want to find the women-owned, independent businesses often missed by traditional media coverage, so the two are hitting the road for a six-month, 40-state storytelling tour to find them.
Kicking off on February 2027, in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, and concluding August 20, 2027, the tour intends to document the communities, laws, food, businesses and people helping to steward cannabis culture in the U.S. Throughout their journey, Hillman and Caroom will share their findings through interviews, podcast episodes, photos, videos, livestreams and published stories. Along for the ride will be Pepper the pit bull and a tiny turtle named Mango.
“Independent businesses and local communities are carrying this culture, but too often the national story moves past them,” Hillman said in a press release. “We are going on the road to listen, document and connect people – not simply collect content. I believe community is how this industry remains resilient, and that begins with knowing our neighbors and understanding what each place is actually experiencing.”
Hillman has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, and has been building events, community initiatives and publishing cannabis media across Southern California, New York and Las Vegas since she launched The Canna Boss Babes, in 2020. Caroom, a photojournalist that has worked with Forbes and other national outlets, will be lending her editorial expertise to the project as well as her experience of living on the road as she has lived and traveled in a van since 2020.
“Van life has taught me that freedom on the road depends on preparation, awareness and respect for every place you enter,” Caroom said in a press release. “I have faced the possibility of imprisonment for cannabis more than once in Texas, and those experiences changed the way I travel. I want this tour to help women, especially women traveling alone, understand the laws and penalties from state to state, find safer and more reliable places to stop, and see that it is possible to explore the country responsibly.”
The tour will bring Hillman and Caroom to dispensaries, lounges, farms, industry events, restaurants, lodging partners and community hubs as well as create opportunities for regional interviews, content collaborations, education stops, co-hosted events and locally grounded introductions.
Hillman and Caroom are asking for recommendations for people, places and businesses that should be included in the coverage in addition to potential collaborations, sponsors and funding partners.
More details at: https://www.thecannabossbabes.com/ontheroad.