Health educator

Eva Losey-Grossman runs the Sierra Wellness Connection medical marijuana dispensary, which is expected to be fully operational sometime this week. She and her husband, cultivation-center manager Jeff Grossman, relocated to Reno from Florida, and say their new role is a dream come true.

Tell us how you got started in this industry.

Cannabis has always been sort of a hobby and something I’ve been interested in for most of my life, but I had a very bad freak accident in 2012, and after that I was injured permanently and spent the larger part of a year bedridden, and then in a wheelchair. Because of the nerve damage and permanent injuries I had, I realized for the first time exactly how powerful medicinal cannabis is, and the potential it has for painkilling properties, and as an alternative to some of the other options out there that are more addictive. … It basically allowed me to get out of bed and start walking again, and to be a functional member of society. I almost died, so it was a life-changing kind of experience that made me reflect upon what I’m doing with my life. I really thought if I was going to die, I want to make sure I leave the world a better place when I do. I want to do something to make a difference in the lives of others, and I want other people to have the option to pursue medical cannabis legally, so I decided to pursue this aggressively as a career option. One thing led to another, and here I am.

Tell us about your role in Sierra Wellness—what you’ll be doing here, and how you’ll be pulling this space together.

It’s awesome, because my husband and I have always worked as a team since we met. We met in Vail, Colorado, when we were both working at the daily newspaper there, and then we worked together in Daytona at the Daytona Beach News-Journal. We always call ourselves Team Grossman, and it’s really cool, because he gets to manage the cultivation facility here, and I’m managing the dispensary. So we still get to be a team. This is our dream job—something we’ve wanted to do for as long as we can remember. I pinch myself every day because I can’t believe this is actually happening, and that it’s real.

It’s all coming together, huh?

It was kismet. We’re very, very fortunate.

So are you a journalist by trade, having been in the newspaper business?

No, no … I would have loved to have been a journalist, but I was in the back room, doing boring computer stuff.

What’s your vision for the dispensary?

I really want the dispensary to be a place for education with a focus on making people comfortable—a place where people can learn and not feel intimidated. I also want it to feel like a normal retail experience—a place where people are excited and happy to be, and if people have questions about different strains and the ailments, we’ll be available to answer them.