the next episode in our 21 digital film series is now online the series examines the simple question of does where you live in the state affect how you live 21 profiles one person in each of our 21 counties and looks at the social determinants that affect that person's life the latest film introduces us to Hudson County's Shayla Cabrera who started a small community business called Tia planta that focuses on Horticulture and plant-based medicine but Shayla now has bigger aspirations as she's become one of the only women in New Jersey with a license to grow cannabis representation in this space is personal for Shayla whose father is still incarcerated for selling marijuana she joins me now Shayla thanks so much for being with us today in the piece you mentioned that your dad has been incarcerated for selling marijuana you now yourself are one of the first women in the state to be licensed to grow cannabis what does that mean to you um I am just so proud to be able to stand strong for a body of marginalized people that have suffered due to the criminalization of this plant I'm proud to be in this position and happy to be able to innovate in this industry you have been licensed the challenge now remains finding a location right which is not a unique challenge it's something that a lot of folks who've gotten the license from the state are now facing just kind of detail what that struggle is and and what goes into finding the right location right so uh as you mentioned there this is a common issue with a lot of people here that are basically local New Jersey uh residents trying to find the proper location that is zoned within a municipality that has opted in and allows cannabis operations within their their cities so as you can imagine the zoning is quite tricky and that being said also and in order to raise capital for these spaces it's kind of like a hamster wheel you need the capital for the space you need the space so that you have the proper financial model so that you can raise the capital so this is something that a lot of us are uh position a lot of us are in so the state has said its focus is on these social Equity applicants right people like yourself who've been affected in one way or another on the war on by the war on drugs and yet there are all of these hurdles does it feel like these hurdles are insurmountable and like the effort is not really supporting these businesses in the way the state said it wants to it just takes the right kind of personality um you need to be able to Pivot and persevere in this industry because it is so new so even people that have access to Capital are having difficulties entering the market I do wish that there was more support for a small social Equity operators such as myself so that we could have you know a little bit of help getting into the market it's very difficult what does it mean to you to be able to carry this forward as you still watch your dad Behind Bars it's very painful um to have to to know that there are so many people that are still suffering from the criminalization of the plant but that gives me the power and the stream to forge forward and continue on my path because I just I feel grateful to be in this position we wish you all the best on your journey thank you thank you so much [Music]