Ricky Williams

Cannabis and Wellness: The Body and Beyond

2019, Culture

While a member of the University of Texas at Austin’s Longhorn football team, Williams won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s top college football player. He went on to the National Football League but suddenly walked away in the prime of his career while dealing with professional burnout and in response to the league’s ban on marijuana before making a successful return on his own terms. Since his retirement, he has been a high-profile cannabis advocate and entrepreneur and returned to Austin as part of SXSW’s Cannabusiness program track.

Co-founder, Real Wellness by Ricky Williams.
Ricky Williams was a running back at the University of Texas, where he had a record-breaking career and was a two All-American. In 1998, he was awarded the 64th Heisman Trophy. During his 13-year professional career, Ricky played for the New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens and was a Pro Bowl MVP and the NFL’s Rushing Leader. Now a sought after-speaker regarding cannabis and its restorative effects (as well as an advocate for its legalization and regulation in the US), Ricky has also devoted himself to mastering other healing modalities, and his approach is with the same intensity and desire to learn and become skillful as he applied to football.

Jess Dugan

Chief of Staff, The Oil Plant.
Jess Dugan is right hand woman to cannabis industry pioneer, Mara Gordon. She is the Chief of Staff at The Oil Plant & manages the Aunt Zelda’s brand. Her work draws on her experience as employee number one at The Arcview Group-- our nation's first cannabis investment firm--where she helped facilitate the funding of more than 60 companies with a capital raise of $50+ million and an additional $750k for drug policy reform initiatives.

Michele Ross

CEO, Infused Health.
Dr. Michele Ross is the author of Vitamin Weed: A 4-Step Plan to Prevent & Reverse Endocannabinoid Deficiency as well as Train Your Brain to Get Thin. A neuroscientist and serial social good entrepreneur, she founded the first 501c3 nonprofit research institute on cannabis and women's health. She is now CEO of Infused Health, a platform for cannabis education and health coaching aimed at helping women with chronic illness live their best lives.