Bright Women, Bold Futures 2026 Collective: Mskindness B. Ramirez, M.Ed.

This week, our Bright Women, Bold Futures spotlight features a leader who is bridging the gap between traditional academia and the future of the cannabis workforce.

Mskindness B. Ramirez, President of Kind Works EDU & Founder of Club Kindness

With over 25 years of experience in classrooms and communities, Mskindness B. Ramirez, M.Ed., is a master of transformation. As the President of Kind Works EDU and the founder of Club Kindness, she has moved from teaching high school mathematics to developing federally recognized apprenticeship programs for the cannabis industry.

Mskindness’s journey is rooted in an “Education first, judgment never” philosophy. Her transition from a skeptical, rule-following educator to a powerhouse of advocacy and workforce development was sparked by a personal health crisis that revealed the deep divide between stigma and science. Today, she is building the infrastructure for a more equitable industry, ensuring that passion is backed by the systems needed for long-term success.

1. What is a defining moment in your career that quietly shaped the leader you are today but that most people don’t know about?

A truly significant moment that many people don’t know about happened before Club Kindness was even a thought. In 2012, I was a high school math teacher going through a really painful pregnancy after a bad slip I suffered at 26 weeks. My body was struggling, but I was doing what good rule-following people do. Listening to my doctors and taking “most” of what they told me to take. Yet I was still miserable. When opioids became the only solution they continued to offer, I knew I needed to look elsewhere for solutions that better suited my family.

I definitely had access to cannabis at the time, and I knew something about its “proposed” health benefits, but I had been raised to believe it was dangerous. So I had to do a lot of reframing before finally trying it. But after making my own new moon to full moon tincture (google it), what shocked me was not just how much it relieved my pain. It was realizing how misled I had been and how wrong I was about the plant.

That moment forced me to face my own bias as both a mother and an educator. If I had been that misinformed, how many other people were too? That realization planted the seed for everything I do today. Education first. Judgment never.

2. Beyond your title, what responsibility do you feel you carry as a woman building in this industry?

I feel a responsibility to bring honesty and humanity into this space.

Cannabis still carries a lot of stigma, especially for women, mothers, and people from communities that were harmed by prohibition. And as a Black woman building in this industry, there is an added weight that comes with that. I know I often walk into rooms where people are still deciding whether I belong there. So I carry the responsibility of showing up grounded, prepared and clear about the work.

Part of my responsibility is helping to normalize thoughtful conversations about the plant. No hype. No shame. Just real education. I also feel responsible for helping build pathways for people who might never have seen themselves in this industry before. Through workforce training, consumer education, and mentorship, I want people to know there is space for them here too.

And at home, that responsibility extends even further. Because I am raising cannabis aware children who understand the difference between stigma and science. If we want this industry to grow responsibly, that work has to start with honesty in our own households.

“Good intentions are not the same as good infrastructure. Passion alone will not guarantee sustainability.”

3. What originally called you into cannabis, and how has your relationship with the plant evolved alongside your leadership journey?

Cannabis first came into my life out of necessity. I was a teacher, a mother, and someone who had been taught my whole life that the plant was dangerous. But during a difficult pregnancy, when traditional medicine stopped offering real solutions, cannabis gave me relief when nothing else could.

At first my relationship with the plant was very personal. It helped me heal and get through what was one of the most difficult parts of my life. I am an educator through and through, and there was no way I could ignore what that experience had revealed. I realized how much misinformation people were carrying, including me. And I was called to do something about it.

What started as personal relief turned into curiosity, then research, followed by conversations with other parents and patients who were asking many of the same questions. That curiosity eventually became Club Kindness. And from there the work grew into advocacy, curriculum design, and workforce training through Kind Works EDU.

Today my relationship with Cannabis is much less about consumption and much more about holistic health. It opened the door for me to educate, to build systems that create opportunity, and to help people engage with this beautiful plant in a more thoughtful and informed way.

4. What is a lesson you learned the hard way that now informs how you mentor, hire, or collaborate with others?

Good intentions are not the same as good infrastructure. That’s a hard lesson for a lot of new entrepreneurs to learn!

Early in cannabis, a lot of us were building things from passion. We cared about the plant. We cared about the community. But passion alone does not create lasting opportunity. Without clear training pathways and real workforce systems, people still get left behind.

That realization shapes how I lead today through Kind Works. If we want real equity in this industry, we have to build structures that support it. Apprenticeships, credentialed training, and community support systems are how we move from conversation to action.

So when I mentor or collaborate now, I look for people who understand that change takes work. It means listening to the people closest to the problem and building systems of repair alongside them. Passion alone will not guarantee sustainability.

5. When you think about legacy, not success, what do you hope other women see as possible because you chose to lead boldly?

I often reflect on how many more doors are open for women like me, because of the women who bravely left them ajar. I seek to leave that same legacy for those who follow my work.

That includes my daughter. I want her to grow up seeing that she does not have to shrink herself to lead. She, like other women, can be mothers, partners, teachers, and still build something powerful in the world. We do not have to choose one version of ourselves to succeed.

When I stepped into cannabis education, I came from a traditional classroom and there was no blueprint for what I was trying to build. But leadership sometimes just means being the first person willing to say, “This needs to exist,” and then doing the work to create it.

If my daughter and other women see that and think, maybe I can build something too, then that is the legacy that matters to me. Because the goal is not just to rise. The goal is to rise in a way that makes space for others to do so alongside you.

Mskindness B. Ramirez isn’t just teaching a curriculum; she is architecting a future where education replaces judgment and systems replace stigma. Through Kind Works EDU, she is ensuring that the “Bright Future” of cannabis is a professional, sustainable, and inclusive one.

One Story. One Movement. Many more to come.

Mskindness is a vital voice in our Bright Women, Bold Futures collective, a group of leaders proving that when we lead with truth and infrastructure, we build legacies that last.

Stay Tuned. Our next spotlight drops soon. You won’t want to miss the next leader who is redefining what’s possible in the world of cannabis.