Meet Jasmine Johnson, The Founder Of Florida’s First Black-Woman‑Owned Cannabis Ecosystem – AfroTech
Jasmine Johnson is behind a historic cannabis ecosystem in Florida.
Johnson, who has a background in property management, real estate, and asset management, has embraced a business-driven mindset shaped by Miami, where she was born, and her upbringing in a family that builds and runs their own ventures. As a child, Johnson witnessed and participated in the early stages of her parents’ entrepreneurial journey in real estate, property management, and asset management, which included her mother’s acquisition of a brokerage called Frank K. Cooper Real Estate. Her parents went on to acquire and finance a 44-property portfolio they managed, and Johnson began working there day-to-day from elementary school through high school taking calls or joining her mother to collect rent, she shared in an interview with AFROTECH™.
GŪD ESSENCE
Today, Johnson, a Florida International University graduate, manages 25% of her family’s portfolio through Johnson Property Management Services (JPMS), which operates as a public-facing arm of the family business and oversees nearly $300 million in assets, she noted. The business operates out of an office in Little Haiti, Miami. She took over JPMS after obtaining a sales associate license in 2016 and becoming a broker in 2018.
The family asset then contributed to Johnson’s brainchild, GŪD ESSENCE, which is Florida’s first Black woman‑owned cannabis ecosystem and the first Floridian minority-woman-led company, according to Johnson. A $10.3 million loan directly from her family’s real estate portfolio has supported the venture, which has science-backed formulations.
“We are not a high-debt family. So we don’t just pull out money and spend it frivolously … Even though we are asset-rich, they would’ve taken a risk, which I do not take lightly, because our properties are all in our trust. And my mom’s really adamant about this being passed down through our bloodline,” Johnson said.
There will be a total of five GŪD ESSENCE dispensaries, with Miami serving as a pick-up location and Clearwater as the flagship location, both currently operating under the Farm Bill. Johnson aims to convert the dispensaries to Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (MMTCs) once she is granted that license between April 11 and June 11. Just 23 of these licenses for MMTCs have been awarded in the state, according to the Office of Medical Marijuana Use.
This will also apply to the locations planned for Jacksonville, Orlando, and Titusville, which are projected to open by June.
“The technical difference is, under MMTC we can sell THC high-potency. So where people are like, ‘Oh, I’m trying to get 30% THC,’ which is the psychoactive effect under the Farm Bill, you can only get up to 0.3%,” Johnson said. “So it’s that one cannabinoid out of the hundred cannabinoids that you can’t sell under the Farm Bill. And that’s the one that of course many people are attracted to.”
She added, “If you have anxiety, if you have issues eating, if you have pain, all the other cannabinoids can give you remedies … So it’s just a miseducation on the regulatory level that they don’t know more than two cannabinoids exist. The most common [are] CBD and THC, but there are about a hundred others in between that.”
As it relates to the Clearwater location, which officially opened on Nov. 11, 2025, it offers flowers, herbal teas, pre-rolls, topicals, and edibles. There is also a general manager, an assistant manager, and a wellness technician on hand. The location offers intimate classes in yoga, sound therapy for bone healing, and puff-and-paint sessions, as well as chef-led demonstrations that showcase different ways to cook with cannabis. The aim is also to position the business as a wellness and well-being venture, not just a cannabis business, Johnson noted.
“Our goal is to say ‘We got topicals, bath bombs, even candles and incense that all help stimulate this wellbeing and wellness that you may be looking for.’ We’ll figure you’re coming to our store because you want a wellness or wellbeing experience,” she said.
“The goalpost is to expand a common knowledge of the plant and not necessarily just try to push you towards 25%, 35% THC. That to me is where your anxiety could feel that if you’re not guided properly, you can have a negative experience associated with cannabis,” Johnson continued.
Reflecting on her foray into the industry, which has been a long-fought journey, she acknowledged Florida did not have a social equity plan or pathway for people who looked like her to have ownership in the cannabis sector. Her ambition remained with people of color and women who also could relate to the challenges of obtaining a license. Johnson also mentioned mentors such as Wanda James, who was the first Black woman to own a cannabis dispensary in Colorado, and Hope Wiseman, who made history as the youngest Black woman cannabis dispensary owner in the U.S. at 29, per CBS News.
“Watching them do it kept me motivated in the process,” she expressed.
Her overarching goal is to build a vertically integrated operation in Florida encompassing cultivation, processing, and retail, and to open 150 locations in the state and employ 5,000 people.
