Although she started out as a model in the cannabis industry, Kayla Kurnik is more than a pretty face. Under her previous social media moniker, Kannabis Kayla, she gained a quarter of a million followers modeling and promoting various cannabis products before Meta shut down her account. “I don’t think Instagram agreed with all the types of modeling I was doing,” she says. “Once enough people report you, you can lose a page pretty quick, which felt inevitable.”
But for Kayla, that was just the beginning. “I knew it was going to happen,” she says about her account getting shut down. “I used to joke with my friends in the business that the day my account gets taken down is the day I quit. Everyone thought I was kidding, but then, the day my account got taken down, I quit. This is my sign.”
With so many connections in cannabis, Kayla realized she could do more than modeling and influencing; she wanted to get into sales. “A lot of people hire me as just a pretty face but then they come to find out I actually have a brain,” she laughs.
Her foray into the cannabis space began after she traveled the world as a full-time model for five years. “It’s a rough industry,” she says. “There’s just a lot of nasty people in the world.” Deciding she needed a break from working with photographers and models in that capacity, Kayla started doing cannabis and car shows instead, hosting pop-up events in Washington, D.C., and around the country.
Through her work as a promoter, a California-based grow-op reached out to her and invited her to visit the farm, so she learned about the growing and manufacturing side of the industry, too. Her favorite part about that experience? “Smoking unlimited weed, obviously,” she laughs. “That was the incentive, but it was really cool. I love to learn, and I love plants in general. I’ve always been that girl with 50 house plants, so it gave me a much bigger appreciation for the whole growing process.”
After experiencing firsthand the amount of labor and love that goes into the growing and manufacturing process, Kayla says she left California with a much bigger perspective. “It’s not just some magical plant that appears in the store one day,” she says. “There’s a lot of hard work and dedication that goes into it.”
It's not just some magical plant that appears in the store one day. There's a lot of hard work and dedication that goes into it.
Beyond growing and promoting, Kayla has also worked in cannabis marketing, coordinating events, running social media for different brands, and helping with marketing strategy. Her work in this space led her to start her own digital marketing company, KK Marketing Worldwide.
She’s fascinated by the evolution of marketing in general, especially in cannabis. “At trade shows, you can tell which booths are still stuck in older, simplistic ways, and it’s not working anymore,” she says. “One company set up an entire skate park in Champs this year. You’ve got to have that ‘wow’ factor to be loud and stand out.”
Even though she has access to a huge variety of products through her influencing and marketing work, she’s an old-school stoner at heart. “I love to smoke joints,” she says. “I’m a raw paper kind of girl.”
Although Kayla says cannabis modeling and influencing was relatively easy for her to get into, it’s not always the easiest place to stay. “You have to have a strong desire to want to be part of the company. A pretty face will fade pretty quickly if the passion’s not there.”
When asked about being a woman in the cannabis space, Kayla walks a fine line between calibrating her expectations in a male-dominated industry while not compromising her values. “I don’t tolerate certain things, but I do accept it for what it is,” she says. “There are weirdos in every industry, but cannabis is definitely less weird than the modeling world.”
“I think a lot of the time, women in any field get put down or don’t get the credit they deserve,” she continues. “I’ve always strived to work hard to build my own name and reputation to prove just how capable I can be.”
Although the road hasn’t always been smooth, Kayla has always known her worth and refuses to settle. Her best advice for anyone aspiring to do the same? “Find your circle and stick with them,” she says. “You don’t need to work for all the companies. Don’t undervalue yourself. [When I made the move from influencing to direct sales], some companies didn’t want to pay me so, I stopped working for them.”
One of the women in her circle is Angela Mazzanti (@angela_mazzanti). They met while working at a trade show a few years back, and Kayla has admired Angela as both an influencer and a person ever since.
After taking some time off, Kayla is back in the cannabis space again and excited to be here. Total Product Expo (TPE) in January of this year was her first show back after almost a year and a half. “It feels really good to be able to get back into it,” she says. In addition to the free weed, Kayla says her favorite part of this work is the people she’s met and gets to work with along the way. “I have friends all over the country now,” she says. “Wherever I am, I know if I need something, I always have someone I could call.”
Do you know a powerhouse woman making waves in the cannabis industry? Whether she’s leading, innovating, advocating, or inspiring, we want to hear her story! Our Women in Cannabis spotlight celebrates the trailblazers, changemakers, and unsung heroes shaping the future of the industry. Nominate someone who deserves the recognition—because their work deserves to be seen! Submit your nomination now, click here!
