How an Outcast Stoner Built a Cannabis Empire
episodePreviously titled “Guilty Pleasures Founder: The Story Behind Michigan’s Largest Female Cannabis Farm” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
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How did Millie Montana's personal journey with cannabis begin?
The reason I started medicating was just trauma response, depressed, and you kind of turn to it for some relief. And when I realized how much it helped me, that's when I became such an advocate. Like if it can help me in this way, like I can only imagine what it does. And that's when I started on my journey and hearing other people's stories, you know, Millie Montana, founder of Millie Montana Industries and pioneering cannabis entrepreneur who's built brands from seed to sale. With over a decade in the industry, she now runs Michigan's largest female-led outdoor cannabis farm, cultivating more than 200,000 plants while breaking barriers and building a legacy for the next generation. It's undeniable how great this is.
That's really why I just started advocating for it so hard. Well, I could tell you when I started, everybody was judgmental. I think I've been in an addiction phase where... It spans the globe like a super high school internet. Elvis! Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over until I win. The Living Your Legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy. That's extraordinary. The impossible. Oh, that is sensational. Open. Chicago was the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.
Welcome to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast. For Inside Success, I'm Ray Gutierrez. Joining me today is Millie Montana, building quite the empire.
What entrepreneurial opportunities did Millie find in the cannabis industry?
My show notes say here that she is building guilty pleasures by Millie. Millie, there isn't any pleasure that isn't pleasurable unless you feel guilty about it. Why? Why should I feel guilty about your pleasures? You know, when I started Guilty Pleasures, my original thought was when I retire, I want to open a bakery and I'm going to smoke weed with my girlfriends, make a bunch of fun desserts, and I'm going to call it Guilty Pleasures. And then the opportunity came along in cannabis and I figured, why not just use it now? And we did so much fun marketing on it. I mean, it was such a great play on... everything. I mean, at the time when the market was like a gray market, you know, it is a guilty pleasure because it's not fully accepted in society yet.
It's not fully. Isn't that nuts? Yeah. It's the year 2025 and folks still haven't figured it out yet. I know. And this was back, this was probably like 10 years ago. Oh gosh. Um, so it was, it was really fun at the time and, you know, we were able to do it. We did shelve it for a little bit and I focused on, um, outdoor farming. Um, and the reason was because the market, uh, was just saturated prices were very low. Um, it was just becoming too expensive to operate. Um, so we focused on outdoor farming because at that point I can just make my own oil. And then the cost of good comes down for me significantly. So there's a chance I might bring it back. We'll see. But definitely just focusing on, you know, the infrastructure behind the products now.
Right on. Yeah. You and I share a very similar journey. East Coast, raised, I saw Detroit, Michigan in your show notes, born and raised in Miami, Florida, but you made it out to San Diego. I made it out to the Bay Area. Okay. Talk about how does the difference, let's start with the green, the difference between East Coast and West Coast and when it comes to the mindset of being an entrepreneur. Yeah. Yep. So I moved to the West Coast when I was in high school. And I really didn't like play with cannabis until like maybe halfway through high school. And I was in the West Coast. So it was a lot more accepted there. And, you know, the attitude towards it was just very different. It's less dangerous, too. Yeah.
And I had a lot of, you know, family in Michigan still. And it was still like a weird hush hush thing. Like, don't tell anybody. You know what I mean? And And when I graduated high school, I'm like, this is my life because I love cannabis. You know, it just does so many good things for people, and I want to learn more about it. So I just started, you know, trimming. I was doing all the little basic jobs, whatever.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
How did Millie Montana's personal journey with cannabis begin?
0:00–1:43
2
What entrepreneurial opportunities did Millie find in the cannabis industry?
1:43–10:17
3
What challenges has Millie faced in the evolving cannabis market?
10:17–13:13
4
How does cannabis culture differ between the East Coast and West Coast?
13:13–18:29