Pamela Pho, VP of Marketing and Sales at Monko, on Having a Seat at the Cannabis Table

Her deeply personal journey into the industry

Pamela serves as vice president of marketing and sales at Monko, a luxury cannabis retailer. Her expertise across cannabis tech sectors includes wholesale e-commerce, laboratory testing, manufacturing systems, point-of-sale solutions, seed-to-sale tracking and e-commerce platforms.

We spent two minutes with Pamela to learn more about her background, her creative inspirations and recent work she’s admired.

Pamela, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I grew up on the border of Tennessee and Virginia, deep in the Appalachian mountains on a working farm. As an adult, I’ve lived in London and spent 15 years in California. Now, I reside in Richmond, Va.

How you first got interested in cannabis.

I worked as a literary agent and in the video game industry in content marketing for 20 years when California legalized recreational use of the plant. I started going to Airfield Supply in San Jose near my house. I talked to the budtenders to help find products to ease me into using cannabis. I learned about their marketing struggles and how advertising compliance and social media companies were making things super hard. I saw a problem that I wanted to tackle. It was hard for me to enter this space as my father was a federal prisoner for cannabis crimes with a three-decade stint in prison. I came to cannabis for the marketing problem, but I stay for people like my dad.

One of your favorite projects you’ve ever worked on.

This article I wrote on the Pink Tax and Cannabis is my favorite. I was able to marry my goal of highlighting women’s issues with a cannabis focus.

A recent project you’re proud.

Monko hosted a salon dinner with 44 people from the DMV area at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C., to discuss how to roll out recreational cannabis to the city in a way where everyone has a seat at the table. My CEO at Monko is a returned citizen, the chairman of the I-71 Committee, and deeply devoted to social equity. 

The biggest challenge cannabis marketers face today, and how to approach it.

That depends on whether you are B2B or B2C, but it all comes back to compliance and loyalty. How do you fill the top of your funnel with leads? And how do you create loyalty?

One thing about how the cannabis industry is evolving that you’re excited about.

Rescheduling at the federal level may create more chances to advertise on social media with the same sort of stipulations as the alcohol industry.

Someone else’s work, in cannabis or beyond, that you admired lately.

I’ve enjoyed reading Mehka King’s posts on LinkedIn. He’s insightful, thoughtful and artistic in the way he builds his audience.

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring.

I cannot stop raving about Legends and Lattes. Cozy fantasy is not a genre that I knew I needed until I read it. Vi’s adventure of being an orc who sets aside her sword to open a coffee shop in an idyllic town was so warm and delightful.

A visual artist or band/musician you admire.

I love listening to music while I’m creating content. Unfortunately, I can’t listen to English lyrics or I’ll start jumbling my thoughts. A few years ago I found K-Pop. It’s upbeat and repetitive which makes it the best for writing. My favorite is Big Bang.

Your favorite fictional character.

Gong Yoo’s Goblin in the K-Drama series Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.

Someone worth following on social media.

Brad Bogus was my first boss and educator in cannabis marketing and is a powerhouse and wealth of information, as well as an activist. 

Your main strength as a marketer/creative.

Educational content that converts.

Your biggest weakness.

I’ve been strengthening my skills by analyzing data to run stronger campaigns. Customer retention is one of the largest pain points. I began with a simple “We miss you” campaign in February and now run an entire 30-, 60-, 90-day lost-customer initiative that relies on e-mail nurture and SMS. I’ve been able to increase our retention 62 percent in five months.

Something people would find surprising about you.

I worked in book publishing for 20 years as a literary agent and have an agency named after my dog, Steven.

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in the cannabis industry.

I probably would have started my own marketing consultancy for publishing. But I like working with people like Monko CEO Terrence White, who are fighting for everyone to have a seat at the cannabis table.