Stoned Girls CEO Breeanna Whitehead

"Of course I know how to roll a joint." Martha Stewart said that in an interview with Andy Cohen. Martha Stewart and Breeanna Whitehead would probably be friends. Pothead, rule breaker, weirdo—these aren’t the words you generally associate with your boss, but the employees at Stoned Girls are led by an interesting woman. Breeanna Whitehead is a founder of Stoned Girls, a company dedicated to hot girls and weed. The website is plastered with half-naked women smoking bongs and Whitehead wouldn’t want it any other way. Although medical and recreational marijuana has been legalized in some states across the US, running a business about weed is still frowned upon.

In the beginning, Whitehead struggled to make business connections because of the content she works with and even had trouble banking. But like many trailblazers of our time, this businesswoman has not given up. Stoned Girls was created in 2014 and has expanded over the past year because of her marketing team and the company’s networking skills. As her twitter bio says, Whitehead is “trying to save the world, one outrageous cause at a time.” Right now it’s all about the marijuana, but her success with Stoned Girls will take her far in the years to come. In an exclusive interview with Potent, the Whitehead talks about her company, the business of weed, and which presidential candidate she would smoke with.

Who is Breeanna Whitehead?

I imagine someone asking me this with a perplexed look on their face doing their best Barbara Walters impression. Is there a non-douchey way to answer this? I’ll take a stab at it. The readers can judge me based on it. I am a total weirdo. I am also a complete rule breaker. If you tell me something can’t be done a certain way, I will do everything I can to prove you wrong, or learn my lesson my way. My team calls me a robot due to my love of data and fondness for technology. That and I don’t sleep much. I am an avid lover of hip-hop and pop culture. I try and consume as much media as possible. I am a political junkie and love all things Aaron Sorkin. Oh, and I own a few companies and like weed.

What events lead to the creation of Stoned Girls?

A few years ago, I heard that there was a large adult focused company based out of Charlotte, North Carolina (home) and told the people I worked with that if I didn’t work with them, I wanted to go there. Six months later, I didn’t work there and got a random phone call from the guy that started it offering me a job over the phone, sight unseen for double what I was making. We chatted afterwards and realized that we were both assholes that worked what other people would consider too much. I took the gig and 120 days later the project got shut down by the DEA. Jerks. His success and entrepreneurial expertise made it easy for me to decide on building a company or two focused on my ideas. He hit me up a few months later about the weed industry and from there Stoned Girls, Naked Weed Report, and Stoned Tube were born.

What is the overall mission of Stoned Girls? How long has your business been operational?

To be perfectly honest, to make money while I get to smoke weed with my 16-year-old self’s stoner idols and hang out with naked chicks. And to provide a funny place to read about the world of weed. Lately, it seems like it’s to piss off as many feminists as possible. The sites launched September 11, 2014. We have been working on it since around April 2014.

Have you encountered any challenges in growing a business that is pro-marijuana?

Yeah, like I mentioned, we had to develop a “more tolerable” type strategy while sticking to what we are. I have a blast talking to the offended business owner that thinks I am the scum of the earth for contacting them. “Wait. You smoke weed, sell it in a store-front, banks won’t take your money because it’s federally illegal, but that chick’s nipple is the problem?” Or you get the uppity stoner that’s super evolved and above such cheap tactics. My response is usually very “Will Smith doesn’t have to cuss in his records, well I do. So fuck him and fuck you too.” I don’t even know if that’s the right lyric, but I am going with it.

What kinds of companies do you look for when trying to network?

Depends on the brand we’re pushing at the time. Despite my irreverence, this industry is really exciting because of all of the new people bringing really interesting cool stuff to the table. Lately, it’s really about brands that “get it.” Ya know?

With many banks still hesitant to handle money gained through “semi-illegal” substances, have you encountered any opposition from banks when trying to do business with them?

Oh man, yeah. The guy I mentioned before that got all of this started owns a processing company, so you could call them a sister company of sorts. They were all over us and even turned us down initially. We’re good now.

Has the stigma around marijuana based businesses changed over the years?

Where I am, people look at me like an alien. Most conversations end with a judging look and me saying something like ‘Welp. This was a good talk.” When I am outside of my city, in New York City, Colorado, Vegas, really any where on the west coast, it’s a totally different story. I think in 10 years, I’ll start hearing a lot of “Man, I wish I had thought to do that.”

Are they any future projects that you are excited about?

Soooooo many! I love what I do and it’s really cool to sit down, and figure out how it becomes real. We have a few more brands in the pipeline for Q1 2016. Hopefully they see the success that the Stoned Girls brand is seeing now.

Finally, with the 2016 election all over the news, if you could smoke with any of the political candidates, who would it be?

The winner. Honestly, any of them, then I would put it all over my sites. They all seem like they need a hit or 12. I am super excited to see who wins and how they handle the cannabis industry.