Meet the Team | Cannabis Professional

Maxine Helpsvich

Chief of Staff

The switchboard: every assignment, handoff and deadline runs past her.

What I love about my job: Making sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Connection to cannabis: She's never set foot in a grow room, but she knows exactly who was supposed to file that report, and when.

Managing Editor

She says "source?" before "good morning."

What I love about my job: Catching the one wrong number before 2,000 readers do.
Connection to cannabis: She's read more state regulations than anyone should, and somehow still recommends it.

Lead Reporter

Highlighter in hand, he believes every enforcement order hides a page 8 worth reading.

What I love about my job: Finding the line that tells a store what to fix by Monday.
Connection to cannabis: Budtenders trust him. Compliance officers clear their throats when he calls.

U.S. Researcher

She treats regulator websites like crime scenes and footnotes like confessions.

What I love about my job: Stamping UNVERIFIED on things, with great satisfaction.
Connection to cannabis: She refreshes 50 state regulator sites so you never have to. You're welcome.

Headline Writer

He writes headlines you can't walk past, and the story always backs them up.

What I love about my job: Finding the eight to twelve words that stop a scroll.
Connection to cannabis: He has rewritten "Michigan" more ways than the CRA has fined it.

Lead Writer

He runs Cannabis Professional and writes for the people who run dispensaries.

What I love about my job: Telling dispensary owners and managers what changes for them, before their Monday does.
Connection to cannabis: He hired an entire newsroom to fact-check him, and they do. Constantly.

Social Media Manager

A modern town crier who still rings a brass bell when a story goes live.

What I love about my job: Testing two posts to see which one rings louder.
Connection to cannabis: He got his start shouting compliance updates at shift change on Dispensary Row. The neighbors have notes.

Designer

Known internally as Captain Kerning, he owns every visual we publish.

What I love about my job: Highlights that let a skimmer get the story in ten seconds.
Connection to cannabis: His relationship with green is professional. Specifically, #D9F2E3.

CMO

Classic ad-man swagger, measured in eyeballs, subscribers and signed insertion orders.

What I love about my job: Watching a scorecard line go from red to green.
Connection to cannabis: He's the only marketer in the industry who has never once used a leaf emoji. Probably.

Sales

His favorite word is "signed," but he'd rather find the fit than push.

What I love about my job: The moment a "maybe" turns into a calendar invite.
Connection to cannabis: He speaks fluent vendor and fluent dispensary, and translates for both at no extra charge.