Our Leadership Team

Our Leadership Team

Cannabis Equity Employment (CEE)

Cannabis Equity Employment was founded by Jesse Marie Villars and Cord Schlobohm due to their experience trying to hire people with cannabis convictions for their dispensary Baked by the River. At that time there was no resource or job board in New Jersey specifically designed to connect people with past convictions to jobs in the cannabis industry. Since its launch on April 20, 2022, Cannabis Equity Employment has registered numerous job candidates with past cannabis convictions and sold memberships to some of New Jersey’s larger licensed cannabis businesses. CEE has also received recognition and support from the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission and will be promoted by the Commission as a social equity hiring resource for all licensed cannabis businesses in the state.

CEE Leadership Team

Jesse Marie Villars, Co-Founder & CEO

Jesse Maire is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cannabis Equity Employment and Baked by the River Dispensary. She has over a decade of experience with cannabis as a legacy market edible baker and cannabis activist. Her dispensary is a woman-owned, small business dispensary and the first state licensed dispensary in Lambertville, New Jersey where she also lives. She formed Cannabis Equity Employment with her business and life partner Cord Schlobohm to promote greater representation of the legacy market in the legal cannabis industry and provide opportunities to individuals who have been harmed by the war on drugs.

Cord Schlobohm, Co-Founder & Executive Director

Cord is the Co-Founder and President of Cannabis Equity Employment. With more than a decade of experience in the legacy market and as a cannabis activist, Cord strongly believes it is part of his responsibility as a cannabis entrepreneur to open that opportunity wider for others with dreams of a better life. After noticing that lack of any service that connected businesses with people with past convictions, he and Jesse conceived of an online job board, a simple proven way to align people with opportunities and an opportunity to highlight their skills for the legal industry without shame.

Adrian Clarke, Chief Operating Officer

Adrian is the Chief Operating Officer of Cannabis Equity Employment. As the technology leader of the team, Adrian brings hands-on technology background to the organization and a wealth of knowledge and experience forging strong relationships between technology and other business partners, implementing robust technology operations strategy, utilizing advanced problem-solving to and business development, and managing the budget/IT spending. Adrian focuses heavily on excellence in customer service by streamlining and automating technology throughout CEE, directly align technology strategy with overall business goals and objectives.

As a product of the imbalance of the public system, Adrian understands the disparity of education, wealth, and ownership, which has manifested itself in the now flourishing cannabis industry in New Jersey and beyond. Adrian is here to help bridge the gap.

Afia Dash, Director of Sales

Afia Dash is the Director of Sales for Cannabis Equity Employment. Dash is a mother of four, an artist, and an activist. She has a background in marketing and public relations for independent film, as well as experience in communications for an international NGO. Growing up Dash was privy to the life-altering, horrid effects of the War on Drugs, which directly impacted her world when a family member spent almost a decade in prison for a low-level drug offense and ultimately took his own life. Once skeptical about the legal cannabis industry’s potential to help anyone but large corporations seeking profits, after hearing Jesse and Cord’s stories and learning about CEE, Dash recognized the tangible chance to make a difference. Dash quickly found a home and a kinship with the CEE team and came on board to lead their sales efforts.