Jimi DevineTHC Design’s CEO Marlon Coburn reminds us there are various paths for communities of color on their way to the top of the cannabis industry.
When it comes to Black History Month and cannabis, much of the time the spotlight deservingly finds its way to Social Equity operators who beat the odds to make it. Coburn is an excellent example of another way people from the communities impacted the hardest by enforcement can take the reins of the industry itself. This is also an argument to be made that given the scale of THC Designs operations, Coburn is now one of the most prominent Black voices in cannabis with actual product-touching experience, given his start as a compliance guy.
Coburn describes his pre-THC Design days as being in health care from college to cannabis.
“I was doing all health care, mostly labs, and then I got into pharmaceuticals. And yeah, I was doing the whole normal, I guess climbing-the-ladder normal stuff,” Coburn told L.A. Weekly. “I was always in compliance. So my background was all SOPs, making sure the business is operating compliantly whether it’s day-to-day operations, safety, all the above, licensing, all that stuff.”
THC Design XJ-13
Coburn enjoyed the work and wasn’t necessarily looking to leave. Coburn said he was on a trajectory, while it wasn’t an exciting one, he knew he was on solid footing for the future. That changed when he got a message on LinkedIn in the fall of 2018.
“But back in the day, there was a little bit of the spammy stuff but nowhere near like how it is now. I think I would have missed any opportunity that comes through LinkedIn today,” Coburn said of the original recruitment letter from FlowerHire.” They hit me up on there. They’re like, hey we’re recruiting for this cannabis company. They’re looking for someone to run all of their compliance. Would you be interested in talking, and I was like, first, I didn’t think it was real.”
After letting it sit for a few days, Coburn looked into the company. He realized the offer was legit and decided to give them a call. They gave him the whole breakdown about this legacy, LA, cannabis brand that’s been around doing it forever. But they’re really trying to make sure everything’s good on the legal side, and they need help.
He would end up getting interviewed by THC Design’s president Tom Shaw who had previously served as Goodwill of Southern California’s CFO.
“I go in for my first interview with him, and we hit it off right away. It was just like the vibes were there. And one of the things he said that really stuck with me was how many times you have the opportunity to be a part of a brand-new industry,” Coburn said of the meeting. “And I was like, yeah, I likely would never have this opportunity again. And also as I was someone passionate about cannabis, it seemed to just fit perfectly.”
He thought about it for a week or so. He told THC Design to give him some time to talk to his family.
“And that was my first realization of how deep stigma is,” Coburn said laughing.
Coburn pointed to the evolution of cannabis that was happening in 2018 when convincing his wife. It just became legal at the beginning of that year. Coburn argues it was still fresh for most people in California if you weren’t actually in the trenches doing the hard work on the regulatory side. 
Some of his peers would start to show biases he wouldn’t have expected. And he knew it was a risky career move from his straight-edge healthcare career that was going well, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
“As soon as I got there. You know, I saw the cultivation. I did a tour of the cultivation facility. I saw all the operations. I saw the people that are working there, and it just felt this energy, I felt, I felt like there was a good, good vibe,” Coburn said. “The team seemed like they were really, really into each other. And I had this, you know, right from the beginning, I felt like we all were kind of in this thing together.”
A new thing they had to figure out together. The transition would take about four months and he started at THC Design in March 2019 as director of compliance.
Coburn believes as boring as compliance may be, it helps you to learn every aspect of the business because you have to go through and understand, at least to a certain extent, a surface level of how things are done, and the way they should be done from a compliance standpoint. Then finding ways to get around all the regulations and the confusion.
“So I learned a lot in my first few months about cannabis because I had to go dive right into how you do each thing at the company,” Coburn said.
Black cannabis entrepreneurs have had a rough few years. Locally, the community as a whole lost millions sitting on properties in LA as the city worked to figure out the social equity program. It was such a shitshow, it makes you want to celebrate its survivors that much harder. We asked Coburn how he balances celebrating his success and proof it’s possible with the wider community’s misfortune.
“I definitely don’t hate. I think that that is a very flawed system in so many ways,” Coburn said. “I spent a lot of my first few months at THC Design going to those DCR meetings every month and realizing why everyone was banging their head against the wall because none of it was actually falling into place the way that they intended it to. It’s a challenge on the social equity side and I applaud everyone that’s gone through it. It’s so tough and then finding partners, it’s hard to find partners that you trust no matter what the game is, but we’re talking about giving ownership up and then being in control of all that it is. It is not an easy thing to do.”
Coburn is happy to provide the representation that allows younger Black people to see what’s possible for them in cannabis, but at times it can feel a little tricky, given he is an introvert by nature. He admits that was a lot easier as a compliance guy than as a CEO, but he’s coming out of his shell a bit as this interview shows.
“Much easier. I could just kind of dive back into the couch and not really be the center of attention,” Coburn said. “But I think representation matters a lot. And I’ve learned more and more, I do need to start talking about some of the successes that I’ve had, and some of my peers have had celebrating them. I mean, to me, that’s what Black History Month is, right? We’re always going back and reflecting and celebrating some of these achievements.”
You can find THC Design products all over California.
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.