Women of Influence: Emily Paxhia

Poseidon Investment Management is a leading cannabis venture capital firm co-founded by managing partner Emily Paxhia with her brother, Morgan. Paxhia has spent nearly a decade reviewing thousands of cannabis companies and is active in the investment decision-making and oversight processes. She collaborates with her partners to create deal structures, ensuring that proper governance is carried out at the company level. 

“I work with my colleagues to draw more women into leadership in cannabis,” she says. “More than half of the founders in our newest vintage fund are female. Further, I have an amazing group of female leaders with whom I frequently communicate.”

According to Paxhia, cannabis is an emerging market that faces exogenous issues, which create levers around the industry’s growth or stagnation.

“We’ve seen more progress faster than I’d have thought on the state-to-state level when we first launched Poseidon,” she says. “However, the disappointment I feel about not achieving even perfunctory reform on the federal level is palpable… I believe in action. Each day, I’m working with leadership to drive change in whatever form possible. We’ve leaned in on our efforts since 2013 and will keep pushing until it’s achieved.”

This story was originally published in issue 48 of the print edition of Cannabis Now. Read it now on the Cannabis Now iTunes app.