Kika Keith
GORILLA RX WELLNESS
P E R H A P S the most prominent face — and loudest voice — of L.A.’s social equity scene belongs to Keith, the fairy godmother of the movement, who has arguably done as much as (if not more than) the city itself to shape the dispensary landscape, thanks to her role as co-founder of the Social Equity Owners and Workers Assn. (SEOWA). That’s the group whose 2020 lawsuit against the city highlighted the troubled application-processing system and ultimately led to the settlement that doubled the first round of social equity licenses to 200. On top of that, she’s the founder of Live Development Group, which by late January had helped more than 70 applicants; 15 of them had been granted licenses.
Before embarking on her adventures in cannabis commerce and activism, Keith honed her business skills slinging a different kind of green. Back in 2008, she says, successfully getting her brand of chlorophyll-enhanced water on the shelves of Whole Foods taught her a lot about business, focusing on wellness and tenacity.
That earlier company, Gorilla Wellness, also inspired the name of her Crenshaw Boulevard dispensary, Gorilla Rx Wellness, which opened to great fanfare on Aug. 25.
But anyone who has spent more than five minutes with Keith will tell you that opening the doors of her riotously colorful, joyful neighborhoodproud shop, with its “Crafted on Crenshaw” neon sign, was not the end of the fight.
“We need to be proactive,”
Keith said. “We need to have a whole flourishing supply chain for social equity brands.”
She envisions a future where brands by and for people of color, women and the LGBTQ community are showcased, promoted and lifted up by the social equity dispensaries as a way of further leveling the playing field.
“If we just get a hundred of us open, with all of us having that extra consciousness about supporting our fellow social equity entrepreneurs ... then we’ve created a vertically integrated social equity ecosystem,” Keith said.
“Yes, I think 100 dispensaries is the sweet spot. That gives us the ability to properly compete. That’s why I continue to organize. That’s why I continue to educate.”