The heart of NCIA is a powerful network of business owners, industry professionals, and entrepreneurs who share a common goal: building a fair, inclusive, and thriving cannabis industry. Through our “Rooted in Community” series, we shine a light on the members who help support and shape that vision every day. This month, we’re proud to feature Evergreen Member and NCIA Board Member Monica Gray-Fong, co-founder of Nice Guys Delivery – a retail delivery & distribution company leading the industry with a deep commitment to political advocacy and community. Since joining NCIA in 2017, Monica has been a dedicated advocate for the industry by participating in Lobby Days, speaking at our conferences, contributing to webinars, and serving on our Board of Directors for the past 5 years. We’re proud to have Monica and Nice Guys Delivery as part of the NCIA community and honored to represent their work and values!
NCIA: Give us a snapshot of Nice Guys Delivery. Where you operate, who you serve, and what makes your work unique?
MG: Nice Guys Delivery primarily serves individuals in California, particularly in Marin County, who are looking for high-quality, lab-tested cannabis products. Our customers likely include both recreational users and those seeking cannabis for wellness purposes. For those that cannot access cannabis by going to a Dispensary, we bring relief right to your doorstep.
NCIA: California is often seen as the heart of cannabis, especially since it was the first state to legalize medical use. But from an insider’s perspective, what’s the reality of working in the cannabis industry in California today?
MG: Ugh. California is terrible. The industry in CA is failing. Shrinking. AB564 already passed but the industry was failing before the tax increase and AB564 merely kept us at 15% and did not decrease it. They also just put a ban on intoxicating HEMP products. Not sure how much further that will take our industry…..
NCIA: What motivated you to join NCIA?
MG: Nice Guys Delivery is deeply committed to advocating for small business owners and the customers they serve in the cannabis industry. By joining the National Cannabis Industry Association, we are ensuring that our voice – and the voices of our patients and customers – are represented in shaping the future of the industry. This highlights our dedication to not only providing quality products and services but also to influencing policies and decisions that impact small businesses and the broader cannabis community.
NCIA: Can you share a favorite NCIA memory – perhaps a relationship or connection that your membership helped you build?
MG: Speaking on the SAFE(ER) banking panel at the conference in Long Beach. Meeting some really great people at that conference and being able to give my two cents on why banking is such a huge hurdle for the industry.
I have met so many wonderful people at the NCIA. I’ve met our current General Council, our Insurance Broker and so many other partners and collaborators throughout the years.
NCIA: How does Nice Guys Delivery stand out from the competition?
MG: We were one of the first delivery services licensed in CA after prop 64 passed. We’ve been around since 2016 (almost 10 years?!), been through the pandemic as an essential business, have been through every regulatory hurdle and have seen many of our friends in the industry come and go.
NCIA: 10 years is such an accomplishment in cannabis! How has your company evolved since it started?
MG: OMG. This is an essay in itself. It was just myself and my husband at first. The business was incorporated 2 weeks after I gave birth to our first son in 2016. We now have 40+ employees, 9 vehicles, 4 units in our building, so many systems integrated, security upgrades and more. I can go on and on about why my hair is now turning white.
NCIA: Any final words on why NCIA membership is valuable to Nice Guys Delivery?
MG: It is important that our voice is heard and at the table when cannabis reform happens at the National Level.
Monica and Nice Guys Delivery personify what it means to be truly rooted in community. Not only by serving their customers with care, but by standing up for the future of the cannabis industry through their advocacy and leadership. As a longtime NCIA member and Board leader, Monica’s voice continues to shape critical conversations around equity, access, and reform. We’re honored to spotlight her journey and grateful for the work she and Nice Guys Delivery are doing to push the industry forward.
Together with our members, NCIA is building a stronger cannabis industry – rooted in community and driven by shared purpose. Join the community, join NCIA.
NCIA Member Profile: CBCB – Cannabis Buyers’ Club Berkeley
NCIA recently had an opportunity to speak with Aundre Speciale, director of CBCB, a locally-licensed medical cannabis dispensary in Berkeley, California. CBCB is a patient-centered collective with limited membership, bringing patients access to medicine in conjunction with a natural perspective of wellness, and they offer educational seminars, support groups, and a variety of services.
Aundre Speciale of CBCB sits with the late Jack Herer
Cannabis Industry Sector:
Medical Cannabis Provider
Sustaining NCIA Member Since:
2014
How do you uniquely serve the cannabis industry?
My background is a mix of activism, politics, and industry. I have worked for cannabis reform for 25 years as an activist and lobbyist, gaining civil disobedience experience as well as political allies. Through my activism I have been able to hear directly from patients what their needs are, and I now currently operate several dispensaries throughout the state.
My model for dispensing medical cannabis has included opening community centers that provide free services to patients and the local community, working closely with community service providers and city government to create enlightened cannabis policy, and funding major cannabis research and reform projects. I currently share my operational experience by sitting on the boards of a number of licensed dispensaries throughout California. I have been inspired by and learned from the compassionate models of people like Jack Herer, Eddy Lepp, Dennis Perron, Val and Mike Corral with WAMM, Debbie Goldsberry and Don Duncan with Berkeley Patients Group (BPG), and many more.
Why should patients looking for medical cannabis services go to Cannabis Buyers’ Club Berkeley (CBCB)?
CBCB was started in 1996 by patients with a desire to help other patients. It continues in the same spirit. We have two employees who have worked at the collective for more than 15 years, and we have patients who have been with the collective since its beginning. I became director in 2007.
CBCB’s style is uniquely Berkeley, as are its compassionate patient-centered programs. We offer many support groups, educational seminars, wellness programs, and a compassion program that provides free medicine for patients, including children with epilepsy, chemo patients, veterans, and end-of-life patients. Many programs and services are run by patient volunteers, “patients helping patients.” CBCB believes in community responsibility and not only funds and supports cannabis research, campaigns, and advocacy, but also supports community events, projects, and organizations. Our patient volunteers walk the neighborhood daily picking up all trash, while an extra CBCB security guard patrols the neighborhood greeting neighbors. Our employees are compassionate and cannabis-educated and are happy to spend as much time as patients need to assist them in finding the medicine that works best. CBCB has an unusually large range of products to serve the individual needs of our patients. We offer free fruit, coffee, and tea, and hugs are handed out liberally. Our official motto is ‘choose love.’
Tell us about your past involvement in the California medical marijuana community. Where do you see the laws and culture heading in California in the future?
Aundre Speciale stands next to the Hemp Bus, 1991
My passion for cannabis advocacy began in 1989 at the height of the “just say no” era when my neighbor, Jack Herer, asked me to join him on the Hemp Bus, touring California and the country promoting hemp for fuel, food, fiber, fun, and medicine. Thus began my life-long love for and dedication to cannabis reform. I have been involved in countless cannabis campaigns and projects, including the federal hemp foods ban protests, and I was key organizer on behalf of defendants in the first federal trials of medical cannabis providers. I’m a founding member of Americans for Safe Access, where I developed its popular peer counseling program, gathered data for lawsuits protecting and expanding patientsʼ rights, and provided best-practices training for dispensary operators. I served on the board of the Marijuana Policy Project for three years, holding the vice chair position. I have been an early dispensary operator, opening dispensaries and working with several cities to craft medical cannabis regulations, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Venice Beach, Berkeley, South Lake Tahoe, and Oakland.
California has had a thriving cannabis culture for generations, and it is hard to get everyone to all agree what direction cannabis regulations should go. But I see California, along with the rest of the country and world, having access to adult-use cannabis, as well as hemp products, in the very near future. People are looking for safer, more natural products, from their medicine to their paints, and cannabis is the answer. Cannabis is the “new” in thing.
Why did you get involved in NCIA?
I love NCIA. I know NCIA’s executive director Aaron Smith from the amazing work he did with the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), and he has a long record of successful campaigns. With NCIA, he has proven to be a strong, effective leader who has assembled an incredible staff. I appreciate the caliber and experience of NCIA speakers and members, truly the best in the industry, with whom I can truly learn and exchange ideas about timely and relevant industry information.
If you are a member of NCIA and would like to contribute to the NCIA blog, please contact Development Officer Bethany Moore by emailing bethany@thecannabisindustry.org.
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