Whitney Beatty is the founder and CEO of Josephine & Billie's, the first dispensary in the nation designed around the medical and recreational needs of women of color. Named for Josephine Baker and Billie Holiday — two Black women demonized for their cannabis use — the South LA store is modeled on the teapads of the 1920s and built on the premise that education, not just access, is what brings a community into this industry.

Beatty came to cannabis from entertainment, rising from the William Morris Agency to Senior Vice President of Development at Warner Bros./Telepictures before founding Apothecarry Brands, the luxury cannabis storage company that won ArcView's 2017 Los Angeles pitch prize. Josephine & Billie's went on to become the first investment of The Parent Company's Social Equity Ventures.

She has spent the years since arguing that equity programs are won or lost on execution — and has taken a seat at most of the tables where that gets decided. She is a founding executive board member of the Black Los Angeles Cannabis Council (BLACC), and Vice President and executive board member of both the Cannabis Equity Retailer Association and Supernova Women. She sits on the City of Los Angeles' social equity working group, and teaches in Los Angeles County's Cannabis Social Equity Entrepreneurship Academy, training the operators coming up behind her. She founded The Box Project with fellow Black-owned LA dispensaries to put equity brands on shelves.