Tina Ulman

President

A resident of Las Vegas for over 13 years and a graduate of UNLV, Tina Ulman is President and Co-founder of the Chamber of Cannabis. Tina has served the cannabis industry through various roles which simultaneously contributed to the growth and development of the Las Vegas cannabis market. In 2022 Ulman was appointed to the Cannabis Compliance Board Subcommittee for Diversity, Social Equity, and Inclusion. In 2021 and 2022 Ulman was awarded Las Vegas Cannabis Activist of the Year and Speak of the Year in 2022.

Ulman is a native of Detroit and committed to changing the system that imprisoned her family members and loved ones for over 30 years for non-violent drug offenses. Tina has been a sales and marketing leader for 17 years. Most recently serving as the NV Director of Brands/Wholesale for The Source Dispensary/CAMP and as the NV Brand Manager for Old Pal. Prior to cannabis Ulman worked for Wyndham Resorts as a sales executive and marketing director in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle, and Southern California. She hopes to continue to change the world, one doobie at a time, for many years to come.

Dani Baranowski

Vice President

Dani Baranowski is a multipotentialite and passionate cannabis advocate with a tenacious commitment to blaze an impactful trail in the cannabis industry. Prior to cannabis legalization, at age 18, she was charged with a cannabis felony and received a plea deal that changed her life. Recognizing that others continue to be unjustly penalized for cannabis drew her to participate in the legal industry and fuels her commitment to advocacy.

Dani is a graduate of the University of Utah, with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, with an emphasis on Culture and Identity. Throughout her professional career, Dani has had the opportunity to travel and educate consumers internationally on the benefits of cannabis from Canada, to Columbia, to Croatia in her roles in sales and marketing.

Dani currently is a brand manager who positions companies to provide high-quality cannabis products and awareness that resonates with consumers. Developing actionable corporate social responsibility is one of the highlights of her role, as reinforcing and strengthening community allows brands to connect and engage with consumers in meaningful and positive ways.

In 2020 Dani co-founded the Chamber of Cannabis, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit and Nevada’s largest cannabis business trade organization composed of over 400 industry leaders and 70 businesses looking to build a more inclusive industry and community, restore justice, and move cannabis commerce forward. The Chamber successfully took a major role in passing AB 341 – the Cannabis Consumption Lounge Bill, which she believes was a pivotal moment in cannabis history, as well as AB 400 for Cannabis DUI reform. The Chamber was recently awarded, “Nonprofit of the Year” and for her work, Dani received recognition for “Women Inspiring Nevada” from Las Vegas Weekly, as well as a Certificate of Congressional Recognition from the United States Senate. Dani serves as Vice President of the organization and serves on the committees for Community Impact, Political Impact, and Public Affairs and Influence. She believes the power to direct the cannabis industry is within everyone’s reach, it simply takes grabbing hold of the opportunity and running with it.

Abby Kaufmann

Secretary

Abby Kaufmann is a seasoned start-up professional whose knack for facilitating cross-departmental collaboration, strong attention to detail, and solutions-oriented approach has allowed her to serve in a wide array of roles, within both the traditional CPG industry and the budding cannabis industry.

Her professional experiences range from coordinating supply chains, production schedules, and shipments for a regional non-cannabis beverage brand to serving as the product owner for Equio®, an industry-leading cannabis market intelligence platform. During her time as Director of SaaS Product for New Frontier Data, Abby oversaw the development of six new dynamic data dashboards, the restructuring of their CRM consisting of 160k+ contacts, and introduced a free subscription offering to remove cost barriers to accessing critical data for industry entrants.

In addition to her role on the Chamber of Cannabis Board of Directors, Abby is currently employed by CRB Monitor, which helps to provide financial institutions with solutions for identifying and monitoring cannabis-related risks and opportunities.

Abby was raised in North Carolina and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she double majored in Communication Studies and Hispanic Culture & Literature. Her interest in Nevada’s legal cannabis industry and desire to participate in the legal market is what spurred her cross-country move to Nevada in 2020.

During her early years, Abby founded a non-profit to promote positive body image after struggling with an eating disorder herself. It was during this time that she found her passion for cannabis as a tool to help with her recovery and ongoing mental health.

Deena Vallina

Treasurer

Deena Vallina is the CEO and Founder of Bud Counters, a CannAccounting firm specializing in accounting and tax for the cannabis industry. After graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder with a Bachelor’s in Accounting and Finance, she’s held many positions in Fortune 500 companies and small independent organizations.

As a Dope CFO VIP Network member, she is expertly trained in the nuances associated with tax and accounting in the cannabis space. Her passions include educating the public on cannabis and its multi-faceted uses. She also seeks to inform those seeking advancement within this dynamic and rapidly evolving space on financial literacy and business acumen. Deena has been appointed to the 2023 Board of Directors for the Chamber of Cannabis, Las Vegas, a 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to building a thriving, inclusive, and diverse marketplace.

Bri Padilla

Executive Director

Bri Padilla has put her multimedia training and advocacy background to work for organizations at every level in the industry. A dynamo in the cannabis space, Bri has worked as a writer, researcher, educator, and translator to help businesses develop everything from SOPs and marketing strategies to websites and blog content. She is passionate about using her knowledge to help to develop canna-businesses, legitimize their brands, educate their audiences, and engage with the communities they’re trying to heal.

As a digital marketer for multiple Nevada dispensaries and brand ambassador for companies including Cannabella and Apothecanna, Bri has also been able to successfully leverage her experience into outreach efforts that help cannabis businesses succeed online and off through education. Bri’s commitment is also reflected in her continued community work as an advocate. Bri currently works as the Secretary for the Chamber of Cannabis and is a CORE member of the Cannabis Equity and Inclusion Community. She is also a founding member of Las Vegas’ NORML chapter and served as one of the Las Vegas market leaders for Women Grow since 2018, before relaunching as Lady Led Collabs in 2021.

Nicole Buffong

Board Member

Nicole Buffong is an advocate and international speaker that began this career after being diagnosed with HIV in March 2017. Determined to not take synthetic drugs for the rest of her life she went against doctors’ recommendations and launched her own holistic healing initiative, becoming a pioneer in the green foods movement.

Entrepreneur, cannabis patient, and health equity advocate, Nicole is used to wearing many hats. Nicole currently serves as Western Regional Director for Minorities for Medical Marijuana, a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization that provides advocacy, education, training and outreach to underserved communities. At the end of 2020, Nicole was also selected to serve on the Board of Directors for The Chamber of Cannabis in Las Vegas, a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization designed to unite cannabis industry professionals to advocate for a more inclusive, transparent, and accountable industry.

Nicole currently serves on The Board of Directors for a third year with the Chamber. In July 2021 Nicole was nominated to be on the Board of Directors for another advocacy group called ACHEM (The Association for Cannabis Health Equity and Medicine). ACHEM is a mutual non-profit organization founded to support the enrichment, promotion, participation, and service efforts of BIPOC healthcare professionals and healers in order to achieve health innovation and health equity within the cannabis space.

Nicole’s experience in executive and community outreach operations also includes launching the Georgia Chapter for Minorities for Medical Marijuana in 2017 and launching the Nevada State Chapter in 2019, bringing a diverse perspective to the new, and rapidly growing hemp and cannabis industry. Pairing passion with philanthropy, Nicole seeks to become an International Cannabis legislative lobbyist fighting for health equity throughout the African Diaspora. Nicole is also excited about expanding the legal Cannabis industry throughout the Caribbean region to ensure that the region has the resources it needs. Nicole’s experience includes being on all sides of the patient and caretaker role, building a campaign to achieve legislative goals, a magnetic public speaker and thought leader.

Davin Homan

Board Member

Davin Homan is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certified cannabis executive and professional entrepreneur, with in-depth, hands-on experience in building a cannabis cultivation and production facility. He has earned his stripes by leveraging a successful and diverse background in sales, marketing, and management into a career as a leader in cannabis. 

Davin runs the Sales & Marketing division at Aether Gardens and focuses on sales, branding, product development, operations, and marketing.  

As the Chair of the Commerce Committee on the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Cannabis, Davin’s passion and community involvement help strengthen commerce and improve justice in order to positively impact the NV community. He has more than 15 years of experience in finance, hospitality, wine and spirits, and cannabis.

Christine Gamez

Board Member

Christine Gamez is the General Manager of Pure Tonic Dispensary in McCarran, NV. As a young adult, Christine was a medical mystery and had an abundance of unanswered health questions. Over the 12 years of searching for an answer, plant medicine came knocking at the door. In 2016, Christine had brain surgery to aid in her healing. It was then that she saw a drastic change in holistic medicine, Christine was not only able to find healing, but also found a space in the legal cannabis industry and opened Blum Dispensary.

As a graduate of Truckee Meadows Community College, she utilizes her passion for healing and knowledge of business to help break down the stigma in the Northern Nevada community. Christine has launched a few dispensary locations and is focused on ethical business, educating the community on healthy consumption, and normalizing parenthood in cannabis.

When Christine isn’t in the shop or working in the community, she can be found on the ski slopes, floating in the river, or hanging with her husband, son, and three dogs.

Hadhinah Felice

Board Member

Hadhinah Felice was born and raised in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. She received a BSc. in Software Engineering and MSc. in Internetworking Technology from the Technical University of Malaysia, Melaka in 2009 and 2012 respectively. She emigrated to the USA in 2014 and traveled to all 50 states. Upon the completion of the successful journey, she wrote a book in her native language about her 50 states adventure and is now a published author in Malaysia.

She has been in the cannabis industry for almost 4 years as a compliance consultant, focusing on audit, METRC, and inventory management. Her other area of expertise is Consumption Lounge compliance. Cannabis saved her life when she was suffering from several illnesses. Now she is a cannabis advocate and an international activist with involvement in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand.

In addition to her career and life accomplishments, she is trained and certified in Nevada Cannabis Facility Security in accordance with the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Regulations(NCCR) and Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS).

Grace Music

Board Member

Grace Music

Grace Music entered the cannabis industry in the retail space. Following a lengthy career in retail management managing for fashion brands and high-end luxury in the retail/outlet and wholesale space for 15+ years, Grace made the switch from the fashion industry to the cannabis industry.

Grace joined the company Green Thumb Industries in early 2020, starting off as an Assistant General Manager, before being promoted to General Manager. Grace has assisted with the opening and operating of the two newest retail locations in Las Vegas and has been able to support when and where needed for the NV/CA market with retail management operations and onboarding training for the market. In addition to her role, Grace has a passion and is an advocate for volunteerism.

What started out as volunteering from a young age, in adulthood led to becoming a part of a local female nonprofit group for 4 years in Las Vegas, 2018 – 2021, where all members had commitments to serve in our community in a variety of forms and were very involved. With this experience and passion for serving the people in our community, Grace helped launch Social Impact for retail for GTI in Las Vegas. Grace’s goal is to continue to lead in the industry with hard work and integrity and serve our community, always trying to help make our city a better place for all those in it.

Rocky Hernandez

Board Member

Rocky Hernandez is the Store Manager at Cannastarz as well as the Director of Sales and Marketing with Circle S. Farms / Cannastarz / 420Sahara. She has over 15 years of retail management experience with 4 years working alongside the executive team of a Fortune 500 company. Rocky specializes in team building and can oversee the work of a sales staff, manage all marketing aspects, and social media management, in addition to tackling performance issues, maintaining budgets, and keeping track of inventory.

Rocky is a powerful force in the cannabis community, she uses her positive attitude and tireless energy to be a staff writer for Vegas Cannabis Magazine, she has designed several billboards and magazine ads in Vegas-related publications and has been a guest on many podcasts, and expo panels. Rocky is inspired daily by her wife and 3 children. In her free time, Rocky loves to read, and create designs, and is also one of the owners and co-Host of High Budtenders Podcast.

Darlene Mason

Board Member

Darlene Mason has been sharing her infectious energy and love of the plant since entering the cannabis space in 2018. Darlene Mason started in retail cannabis as a patient and budtender educator and, from there she moved her talents into wholesale as a brand ambassador and now as Sales Manager for FlowerOne. Darlene is passionate about spreading knowledge and understanding of the cannabis plant and how it can be used to help with a multitude of medical issues. Her passion for cannabis and her community is what motivates her day in and day out. “Character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.”

Edward Lira

Board Member

Edward Lira was born and raised in a small border town, just south of Arizona. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2018 with the desire to be a part of an inspiring impact and to support the cannabis industry. Currently, Edward serves as Chair for the Events and Community Impact committees for the Chamber of Cannabis.

Edward is an HR Generalist and Corporate Social Responsibility leader for Green Thumb Industries, a multi-state cannabis wholesale, and retailer; Rise Dispensaries as formerly known as Essence dispensaries with operations in Nevada and 14 other states. Edward is fluent in English and Spanish.
With five years of expertise in HR and three years with Green Thumb Industries, he is particularly experienced in the areas of employment law, providing support and advice to operational managers and executive staff, whether that’s recruitment and employment, training and development, labor relations, benefits, and the development of organizational culture.

Edward is dedicated to creating robust cultures that promote continuous business growth and cultivate a positive and respectful work culture. As a corporate social responsibility leader for GTI, he coordinates and leads volunteering events on monthly basis and has established connections with Las Vegas community partners American Red Cross, Three-Square, Safe Nest, LV Rescue Mission, Get Outdoors Nevada, The Center, Animal Foundation, Nevada SPCA, Vegas Roots, City of Henderson, and United Way of Southern Nevada.

A long-term advocate for well-being through the power of cannabis and volunteerism, Edward commits a lot of his time to organizing and hosting philanthropic volunteering events to support, perpetuate and normalize the cannabis industry as a good community partner. Edward also dedicates time to planning events and ensuring our industry has fun spectacular events that recognize our people, leaders, and businesses. When Edward is not working, he likes to study new languages, cook all types of food, and hike trails during his free time.

Brooke Eastham

Editor-in-Chief

Brooke Eastham is passionate about elevating and empowering the groups and individuals she supports. She is a mentor to cannabis innovators, an entrepreneur, and a corporate leader in marketing operations and sales enablement. As an editing enthusiast, a data queen, and a development devotee, Brooke’s goal is to bring her skills, dexterity, and ambition to the cannabis space.

Brian Applegarth

Tourism and Travel Advisor

Brian Applegarth is one of the pioneers leading the advancement of cannabis travel and tourism. Brian is the Founder of the California Cannabis Tourism Association and Partner of Cultivar Brands, a strategic marketing agency specializing in international business development at the intersection of the cannabis/hemp and travel/tourism industries. Connect with him on Instagram @briancapplegarth or online at www.brianapplegarth.com.