Maria Calabrese
Green Bee Life Founder & CEO
"Determined to understand how cannabis works and can improve lives, I created Green Bee Life to share trusted information about emerging plant-based remedies."
"My evolution in the cannabis space went from being paranoid, to skeptical, then curious, and now enthusiastic, proud, and informed."
I grew up in the D.A.R.E.* era, when marijuana was dubbed a “gateway drug,” and went on to become a law student wanting to stay on the “right” side of the law. As such, I felt both uninformed of the benefits and inherently fearful of weed.
*D.A.R.E. was a drug abuse prevention education program intended to give kids skills to resist peer pressure to use tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. It taught a fear-based, "zero-tolerance orthodoxy" that was drummed into the head of every child growing up in the US. indoctrinated to grossly misunderstand cannabis, to the point of fearing it.
In a catastrophic car accident just one year into my graduate studies, I suffered severe injuries – including a broken back that led to four major spinal surgeries. All the while, I leaned on my rescue pup and animal best bud, Juanita who was there for my highs and lows for 17 years.
Ultimately, cannabis — alongside much love and medical care — gave my poor girl enough relief from severe arthritis, congestive heart failure and loss of appetite to extend her life for nine more precious months and culminated in a peaceful passing. After seeing firsthand how it helped her, I began researching and using cannabis medicinally for my own pain management and health.
Having to find a way to live with 35 years of chronic pain, I found myself on an opioid regimen that was unsustainable to my long-term health, and experiencing trauma caused by repeated surgeries. I had to find something else to help me! At the time, I wished that there was a reliable, unbiased source of educational content about cannabis. Instead, I was met with:
All of which just caused me even more anxiety. Perhaps you can relate? While disruptive, these experiences have opened my eyes to the cannabis space, for which I am eternally humbled and grateful.
In a catastrophic car accident just one year into my graduate studies, I suffered severe injuries – including a broken back that led to four major spinal surgeries. All the while, I leaned on my rescue pup and animal best bud, Juanita who was there for my highs and lows for 17 years.
Ultimately, cannabis — alongside much love and medical care — gave my poor girl enough relief from severe arthritis, congestive heart failure and loss of appetite to extend her life for nine more precious months and culminated in a peaceful passing. After seeing firsthand how it helped her, I began researching and using cannabis medicinally for my own pain management and health.
When I was in law school, my favorite quote was “Eve was framed.” Neither the apple nor the cannabis plant is forbidden, rather God-given and every being’s right. It’s time to start a new cannabis conversation.
Join me on my journey to build the educational platform I wish existed when I needed it so that others don't have to experience the same uncertainty when seeking relief. Together as a Hive, we can rise above the stigma and fill the information void, elevate the conversation to a place that inspires cannabis confidence — and improve lives!
Hear Maria's First Time in a Dispensary
Maria Calabrese, J.D., former CEO/Co-Founder of Griff Entertainment and MC Squared Entertainment, thrives off giving a voice to the cannabis industry and community, cultivators, educators, advocates and brand innovators while helping them get the exposure they deserve to unleash the full potential of cannabis as a wellness solution.
Her education and experience include marketing, law, cross-cultural communications, traditional TV/film management and production, branding, advocacy and mentorship. Collaborating with raw talent to produce groundbreaking work is what has kept her deeply seated in the entertainment industry for over twenty years. During this massive shift from traditional television to new media, her focus has remained on the empowerment, management, and profitability of content creators and cannabis educators and brands across all mediums.
Like traditional broadcasting, she believes new content does not need to just compete for eyeballs, but can say something meaningful and be commercially viable at the same time.
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