She Was Supposed to Go to Law School. Instead, She Opened a Dispensary.

The deal was law school. 

So, when Fred Shubrick heard of his daughter Payton’s plans to open a cannabis dispensary instead, there was some frustration. 

“I told her, ‘Get away from me. Don’t talk to me right now. Our deal was law school,’” Fred Shubrick remembers. 

“Saying I wanted to be a lawyer has a certain level of prestige around it. Saying I wanted to be a legal drug dealer and own a cannabis dispensary — well, that was profoundly frustrating for my dad,” Shubrick says. “He grew up in Westchester County, New York, in the ’80s and saw the War on Drugs in real-time. He also saw people brutalized for cannabis use. And I can only imagine what strength it takes to go from that point of view to then support your daughter in this business.”

Fred Shubrick raised his four children in a dry household. No liquor — no smoking, either. He had seen drugs and alcohol harm friends and family. He wanted to shield his children from such things and ensure no opportunities were denied them. A strategic thinker, Fred Shubrick named his three daughters Payton, Jordyn and Taylor to ensure they’d avoid sexual discrimination by those who’d judge a person based on a feminine first name. He believed in their ability to do whatever they wanted in life and envisioned his children coming into careers requiring an advanced education and entrepreneurial spirit. 

Just not in the cannabis business.

Since opening her business, Shubrick has become a national figure, one of the youngest Black, female owners and operators of a cannabis business — 6 Brick’s Cannabis Dispensary in her hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts. Such descriptors, though, don’t begin to approach what a statistical anomaly Shubrick is. Google “young, Black, female entrepreneurs operating cannabis businesses in the United States.” You won’t get staggering numbers, or even single-digit statistics. Instead, you’ll be served a list of girl-boss stories such as: “6 Women on the Highs and Lows of Working in Weed” or “9 Pioneering Black Women Transforming the US Cannabis Industry.” 

“Transforming” is a reach. Black Americans own only about 2% of the cannabis companies in an industry expected to generate $32.4 billion in 2024. In Massachusetts, the number of women-owned cannabis businesses hovers around 10%. Shubrick holds one of just four licenses in Springfield, the state’s third-largest city (behind Boston and Worcester) with a population of more than 155,000.

“IT GIVES YOU FREEDOM” 

Massachusetts voters approved adult-use cannabis in 2016. At the time, Shubrick was working at MassMutual, a life insurance and financial services company, and interning for a member of the Springfield City Council. She had a courtside seat at discussions about how the city would approach the legalized recreational-use cannabis industry. She could see that the industry would generate millions for those entrepreneurs who were able to get a license. Why shouldn’t their family and Springfield benefit? Shubrick asked her father.

Fred Shubrick came around. In fact, 6 Brick’s is a family-run business with Fred filling the role of head of facilities and expansion. Shubrick’s younger sister Taylor is head of marketing and community responsibility. Mom, Dawn, is the executive secretary. They opened 6 Brick’s in 2022, after three years of applications, permits, capital raising and countless meetings with civic organizations either interested in or apprehensive about the business.

“I’ve always said I’d support my children in whatever they wanted to do,” Fred Shubrick says. “I sacrificed for them so that they would have it better than I had. And I always said, ‘Every job has an income and that income is going to dictate how you live your life, to a degree, in terms of material things or taking nice vacations.’ I’m always thinking ahead. I don’t just live for today.”

His daughter nods. “I have a distinct memory of going on a cruise with extended family,” Shubrick says, looking at her father. “And you shared with me that you were sending me because you wanted me to understand that if I worked hard, I could play hard, too. And that was a very important memory because it showcased that working hard has a silver lining to enjoy life. It gives you freedom.” 

About freedom: To fully understand what drives Shubrick, you have to go back farther, three, maybe four generations to a time when a person could be owned by another.

Though he does not say so outright, the family stories Fred Shubrick tells illustrate a family ethic of self-reliance, an inclination to seize or make opportunities, and a commitment to personal responsibility. You get the sense that these are non-negotiables, a Shubrick family ethos and inheritance that traces to Payton Shubrick’s paternal grandfather, who left home as a young man, putting hundreds of miles between himself and the plantation his family had worked as slaves.

“My dad was born in 1933 and grew up in the South,” the elder Shubrick says. “And he ran away from a plantation. So, he has a history that’s a little bit different than what’s been portrayed in our country. I tried to give Payton an upbringing a little different than what I had. My aunt in New York had an insurance business and Payton spent summers working in her agency, filing papers and filling out life insurance applications. She was 13 or 14 years old.” 

Fred Shubrick was a realtor at that time. He, too, took her to work. “Payton had a real understanding of business. Along my journey in real estate, I would bring her with me when I would have to go to housing court — because there was no babysitter,” he notes. “So we’d be at housing court, talking to lawyers and she’d sit in on all of my meetings.

“Every family needs a lawyer,” he continues, then laughs. You get the sense he hasn’t quite given up on that dream. “But when I heard what she wanted to do, I said to myself, ‘Let’s go at it. It’s gonna be a rollercoaster ride, but I believe in her.’”

“I SHOWED UP” 

Shubrick may well be the only Holy Cross student in history to have had designated desk space in the Office of Student Development. 

By her senior year, she was so involved in so many aspects of student life that Sandra Burke, associate director of special events at Holy Cross, set her up with a small table and chair. Burke also made a sign that read “Payton Olivia’s Office,” an allusion to the CBS series “Scandal” and its central character, Olivia Pope. Actress Kerry Washington played Pope, a Washington fixer esteemed by her colleagues for her smarts, her strength and her ability to handle chaotic situations with grace. 

Shubrick was so like Pope in manner, behavior and pace, Burke recalls. She was always on the move, dashing from one commitment to the next. 

“Payton spent so much time in my office that it just made sense to have this little space for her,” Burke says. “She always had a lot on her plate, but I knew she had the capacity to take on all she took on. If anyone could do it, she could.” 

“Choosing Holy Cross turned out to be the best decision ever, a pivotal life lesson in terms of allowing myself to evolve from the plans I held so near and dear to things working out better than I could have ever anticipated,” Shubrick says. “I showed up at Holy Cross with this structured understanding of the world around me. Holy Cross, slowly but surely over time, really broke down that structure each year with different defining moments.”

A student-athlete, there was the unfounded fear freshman year of having to compete against Army and Navy in women’s track and field. Sophomore year, there was the angst of figuring out whether law school was a course she wished to take professionally. By junior year, however, Shubrick settled in. She became co-chair of the Black Student Union and, with close friend and classmate Vicmarys Brito ’15, coordinated the 45th anniversary celebration of the BSU. 

“It was clear through every conversation, text and meeting that she understood BSU’s legacy,” Brito says. “And she became involved in [student government] to make changes that improved the student experience, especially the experience of the BIPOC community.”

“By senior year, I was just embracing different aspects of being a student,” Shubrick says. “I was an athlete. I was also student government co-president. I was BSU co-chair and a part of the Moot Court team. My time at Holy Cross created memories that made for a meaningful transition into my adult life. I engaged in my community. I showed up for the things I was passionate about. I also learned to navigate bias, discrimination and racism that helped me thrive in my professional career.” 

When Shubrick graduated with a degree in political science, Burke presented her with the “Payton Olivia’s Office” sign framed. It now hangs on a wall in Shubrick’s office. “She is a bright star,” Burke says. “She is Olivia Pope. She’s someone who not only takes her professional commitments seriously, but her personal connections, too. When you have a connection with her, you feel that she’s committed to it. And she’s committed to Holy Cross. She bleeds purple through and through.”

OF VIRTUES AND VICES 

As of February 2024, 24 U.S. states had legalized cannabis for recreational use. Brandon Gomez ’14 is a reporter for CNBC. He covers the fitness, cannabis and alcohol industries — “the virtues and vices,” he notes. “Interestingly, there’s a lot of correlation between the two — more and more so as cannabis becomes more legalized recreationally.” 

Legalization has created an interesting cannabis marketplace subject to the same headwinds other industries face, but also presents unique issues stemming from the fact that recreational cannabis use is not legal in all 50 states. The federal Controlled Substances Act classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug, a designation for substances having high potential for abuse.

There are the major concerns capable of undercutting independent proprietors’ pricing. There are community born-and-bred small businesses like 6 Brick’s, whose owners are Chamber of Commerce members who sponsor Little League baseball teams and attend city planning meetings. And there is the legacy market; that is, those selling cannabis illegally.

And legalization hasn’t made cannabis use socially acceptable in the manner of alcohol. 

Gomez has been monitoring those virtue-and-vice industries and looking at business impact — especially how big business is changing the cannabis market and making life harder for the independent contractor. “It’s a challenging space for an independent dispensary or an independent player because so many of those businesses are getting picked up by the big names — companies with the financial resources and the bandwidth to navigate state rules and regulations around cannabis sales.”

In Massachusetts, the landscape is different for independent dispensaries. An individual or multistate operator is limited to three retail stores. This prevents multistate operators from dominating the market or absorbing independent dispensaries, such as 6 Brick’s.

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As a young, Black woman, Shubrick is a statistical anomaly in the cannabis industry, in which women-owned dispensaries number at around 10% and Black-owned at about 2%.

For colleges and universities operating in states where cannabis is legalized, safeguarding student safety and wellness got more complicated seemingly overnight. 

When dispensaries began opening in and around Worcester, Michele Murray, senior vice president for student development and mission, began an ongoing discussion with Shubrick about how students’ health and wellness might be affected. Post-graduation, Shubrick had stayed active in the Holy Cross community, serving in various capacities on the Holy Cross Alumni Association’s (HCAA) board of directors and as co-chair of President’s Council. Most recently, Shubrick’s volunteerism has included advising Murray on the cannabis industry as it relates to her work in student development.

“We wanted local cannabis businesses to be on the side of the College to help us keep our students safe,” Murray says. “Payton gave us the tools to do that as effectively as we possibly could. We need to deal with the reality of where the state is and what’s happening to our environment. Payton really cares about this institution and she cares about its students. I knew she was going to be a straight shooter who had the best interests of the students in mind. I couldn’t have imagined a better partner to help me, and my colleagues, get the information we need to serve students as best we could.”

“YOU WALK INTO A ROOM LIKE GOD SENT YOU THERE” 

Dip into media coverage of 6 Brick’s and you gain an appreciation for how often Shubrick is called upon to be an authority in the field — that is, for some. There is that segment of society that will never accept Shubrick’s argument that cannabis, used responsibly, can be about wellness; that is, reducing stress and anxiety and inducing sleep. And then there is a faction within the industry whose regard for her vacillates between patronizing and racist.

Last February, global media company PopSugar named Shubrick a “Black Health Hero,” a distinction given to physicians, doulas and other health care professionals, according to the company’s website. In a piece written by Ariel Baker ’18, PopSugar associate editor, Shubrick shared some of the frustrations she’s experienced as one of the only Black, female CEOs in the cannabis market.

“I had so many experienced operators essentially tell me that I was in over my head,” Shubrick said in the interview. “I always say that ignorance is bliss when it comes to building a business, so while I was unaware of exactly how large of an undertaking building 6 Brick’s was going to be, these people were comfortable creating a narrative that I simply wouldn’t know what I was doing because of my gender and the color of my skin.” 

Holy Cross trustee Ron Lawson ’75 first met Shubrick when she volunteered to coordinate the BSU’s 45th anniversary celebration. Though they are not blood relations, Lawson calls Shubrick his niece. “That’s how much she means to me,” Lawson says. “She is one of the best things that could’ve happened to me in my life.” 

The two have served on the HCAA’s board together and watched each other ascend: he to the board of trustees, she to President’s Council co-chair. In 2018, Shubrick received the HCAA’s Young Alumni Award.

When asked for his take on Shubrick’s ability to take criticism — or handle herself in a roomful of much older male CEOs, as has happened — Lawson says he has no worries. 

“She commands any room she walks into,” Lawson says. “She leads by inclusion and consensus. I think any leader worth their salt does that. One of the things I’ve advised her on is that you walk into a room like God sent you there. And I know she focuses on the Jesuit motto of men and women for and with others. Men and women for others has been inculcated into her family. She’s employing folks from the community that no one else would ever give a second chance to. She always tries to engage the community in whatever she is doing.”

“I WANTED AN INTENTIONAL LIFE” 

These days, Shubrick receives visitors in the former office of the publisher of The Republican Daily and Sunday Republican, a 200-year-old newspaper initially called The Springfield Republican, established by abolitionist Samuel Bowles II in 1824. The newspaper was the first in the country to publish the work of a Black poet, 16-year-old Lucy Terry’s “Bars Fight.” It was also the first newspaper to publish Shubrick. When she was 12, Shubrick wrote for “Unlisted,” a kids section designed to encourage young journalists. 

“The same publisher and CEO, George Arwady, who gave me the grace to open my business here, was cutting $25 checks for my little articles back in the day,” Shubrick says and smiles.

Shubrick’s office is a sophisticated and joyous space, featuring glass and chrome furniture set against fire engine red walls. On a gray couch sit pillows featuring the dancing figures of artist Keith Haring. Other accent pieces — “Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation,” a book on the influence of American artist Jean Michel-Basquiat and a painting of James Baldwin — reflect an aesthetic governed by good taste and informed by a love of Black art and culture.

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Since its opening in 2022, 6 Brick’s is already a four-time award-winning dispensary, including a Best Massachusetts Recreational Dispensary, and a Young Entrepreneur of the Year honor for Shubrick from the New England Cannabis Convention.

Shubrick is talking about how she started carrying a day planner in seventh grade. She says she felt keenly the responsibility that came of being the eldest and took it upon herself to keep track of her schedule. “I was a classic nerd,” she says. “I didn’t like the idea of missing a deadline or a homework assignment, so writing everything down became a kind of insurance policy for me, a way to be successful about how I was spending my time.

“I think now, though, as I dive a little deeper into it, it was also acknowledging that I wanted an intentional life,” she continues. “That was something I learned from my grandfather early on — relative to the way he chose to live his life. He was a Black man out of Georgetown, South Carolina, where discrimination was not just discrimination, it was racism. My grandfather saw the remnants of slavery; he saw neighbors having crosses burned on their front yards.”

In order to make a living, Shubrick’s grandfather’s family made the decision to stay and work the plantation land. It was not uncommon for formerly enslaved families to do so. Shubrick’s grandfather, though, headed for Ossining, New York, where he would open a convenience store. Leaving South Carolina changed the trajectory of the family’s life, something his granddaughter thinks about often. She wants to be that change for others, too, especially those contending with criminal records for something she now does legally.

“We intentionally designed this space to ensure that we had messaging that acknowledged the checkered history of cannabis,” Shubrick says. “In Black and Brown communities, especially in areas like California, Colorado and Michigan, you have people locked up for participating in the legacy market, and on the same street they were arrested on, on which their lives changed forever, there is now a legal dispensary.”

Shubrick pauses, then shakes her head. She is well aware of the colossal task she’s set for herself in trying to move the public to rethink their ideas about cannabis and the people who work in the industry. Again, she finds strength in the example of her grandfather: 

“My grandfather was running away from the plantation that our family was once enslaved on. He was a phenomenal man who achieved things he’d never thought were imaginable and who continued to instill life lessons in me until his passing.”

One important lesson: Don’t waste time. 

“My grandfather knew there were opportunities I would have that he could never have dreamed of,” she says. “I mean, he didn’t go to middle school. We would have discussions about not wasting opportunities, and I think that created the framework and a structure for me about how I wanted to live my life. We pretend that discrimination and slavery were so long ago, but they really weren’t when you map it generationally. And, so, I think he was a driving factor in terms of my being such a structured person because I acknowledge the opportunities I have had that my grandfather didn’t. And I’d be doing him a disservice and his parents a disservice and their parents a disservice, if I just let life happen to me.” 

Her grandfather’s name? 

“Hercules,” she answers. “Hercules Shubrick.”

Shubrick often switches to plural pronouns when talking about the business. There comes a moment that makes it clear why. This business is but a chapter in a much longer, multigenerational story whose ending is unwritten. And an iconoclastic one, at that. 

“I would attribute a lot of my success to both my grandfather and my father, two strong men, who, despite society’s perception, continued to do what was best for their families and themselves. And as we thought about 6 Brick’s, it was important to me for folks to see an active and engaged Black father because of the rhetoric around absentee dads — which is not historically accurate. We’re changing the narrative. I don’t want that part to be lost.”

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With sister Taylor; father, Fred; brother, Frederick; mother, Dawn and sister Jordyn in 2018, when she received the HCAA’s Young Alumni Award.

Student, athlete, sister, daughter, CEO, community leader, advocate, niece: In all roles, Shubrick uses her position to challenge assumptions — about women, Black fathers, minoritized business owners, female entrepreneurs, justice, youth, age, race, cannabis users and the cannabis industry. And while Shubrick’s arguments are voiced in contemporary terms, listen closely and you’ll hear echoes of Jesus’ parable of the weeds in the Gospel of Matthew (13: 24-30). As in, set aside judgment. Leave the weeding to the reapers.

“There is a lot of unconscious bias that we possess naturally as human beings,” Shubrick says. “I would ask folks who read this article, who now possess this information, to be intentional and think about the ways in which, as Holy Cross alums, we truly believe this message of men and women for and with others — which is not just a message but a mission, right? We should be living that in all aspects of our lives, not just at times of convenience.”