Gina Vensel, Co-Founder of Plant Media Project – Interview Series

Given her extensive work in cannabis advocacy, PR, and event planning, it’s clear that Gina Vensel wears many hats. Along with co-founding the plant medicine marketing agency Plant Media Project after nearly two decades of working in marketing and promotions, Vensel also serves as the Director of Communications and Events for the Students for Sensible Drug Policy and advocates for further reform of both cannabis and psychedelics across her home state of Pennsylvania and throughout many other states too.

What subjects did you study while attending the University of Pittsburgh, and how did those subjects become relevant and useful in your career in cannabis advocacy and education?

At Pitt, I studied Creative Writing, Poetry, and Women’s Studies. Studying these areas helped me establish clear communication skills and helped me find the most creative and effective ways to discuss stigmatized topics like plant medicine.

What were the first few years of your event planning career like, and how did Easy Street Promotions come into existence? And what issues or hurdles did you see in the world of event planning that required the assistance of a company like Easy Street Promotions?

I started doing business as Easy Street during my first job with Pittsburgh City Paper directly following college in 2002. I was booking bands and hosting special events and needed a company to be taken seriously as a young female entrepreneur. Many of my clients at City Paper had modest media budgets, and I learned that many didn’t want to purchase advertising campaigns as much as they wanted to hire me to produce special events for their companies or organizations. Once I had a roster of clients, I decided to leave my job at CP to run Easy Street as a full time job and converted my project to an LLC.

Throughout the nearly two decades of Easy Street Promotions’ operations, what have been some of the most notable highlights of the company’s existence? What were some of the most newsworthy and/or high-profile events that you produced/hosted? 

I’m so grateful to have worked with an array of incredible companies and organizations that have resulted in meaningful and memorable experiences at Easy Street. Last year I hosted the Inauguration for our Allegheny County Executive and produced a massive party (the very same evening) at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. I produced fundraising events for organizations like Allegheny County Parks Foundation, 412 Food Rescue, Tree Pittsburgh, Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh, and many more. One memorable event was an exclusive VIP event for Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Light Up Night with a view of fireworks from the tallest skyscraper in Pittsburgh.

Prior to cannabis events and media, what industry events did you primarily plan? How would you say those industry events differed from cannabis industry-focused events?

My love for live music has always driven me to special event production. At first I mostly booked concerts and local festivals. Cannabis was always this quiet participant in music events for years before PA became a medical state, and so it felt like a natural transition to begin using music events to spread educational awareness and fight the stigmas against cannabis.

How did Easy Street Promotions first venture into the cannabis industry and cannabis-centric events? And do you feel that it’s been a worthwhile business move overall?

My company helped promote the very first event for NORML when the Pittsburgh Chapter was just starting in my hometown. It was a music and art event that raised funds to start our local chapter in 2011. I wasn’t going to allow the stigmas around plant medicine to stop my mission to advocate; however, it was not always easy and I am sure I could have gotten more event business in the corporate world if I wasn’t so vocal about my involvement in cannabis. I decided long ago it wasn’t about the money but about trying my best to make a difference in the world, so I refuse to look back with any regrets.

Because cannabis is still only medically legal in Pennsylvania, how does that impact the overall scope and possibilities of the cannabis-centric events that Easy Street hosts?

I cannot host cannabis events and accept money from MMJ sponsors because of statewide and national laws surrounding cannabis. My bank in Pittsburgh threatened to cancel my accounts (both professionally and personally) after doing a launch party for a CBD beauty company in 2019, so I started Plant Media Project to keep my non-cannabis work separate. My business partner lives in Maryland and we incorporated PMP in Bethesda, and found a safe bank that allowed us to work with plant medicine companies.

Would the events differ greatly if they were hosted in a state with recreationally legal cannabis?

Right now all events that I produce in PA around cannabis are for educational purposes only. Our Office of MMJ has to approve every event that a state licensed cannabis company attends, so keeping alcohol away from the event, placing age restrictions, and making sure that education is at the forefront of the event is imperative. I cannot wait to see how events can change in my home state once cannabis becomes adult use in PA!

How did you form Plant Media Project, and how does the organization utilize both its members and technology to advance plant medicine education and advocacy? And what subjects are usually discussed on the Vine podcast?

The creation of Plant Media Project (PMP) was a direct response to not being able to safely bank or produce events as Easy Street while working with plant medicine companies and organizations. We started the podcast during the pandemic as a way to raise awareness around cannabis and psychedelics while sharing educational information from top leaders in the space.

What is your role with Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and how would you describe the importance of that role and the work you do?

I am the Director of Communications and Events for SSDP. In this role I am able to support the mission of the organization to fight the War on Drugs, and use my skills as a marketing professional to help share news and stories about the great work that we were doing at the organization. We are also ensuring that Student leaders as well as board members have the opportunity to participate in drug policy reform events, campaigns, share expertise as speakers at conferences and special events. It is an honor to have this opportunity to work with such an amazing organization to help do the important work of drug policy reform.

As a resident of Pennsylvania, what would you say are the major roadblocks or reasons that recreational legalization hasn’t been signed into law yet? I have family in Pennsylvania myself who are medical patients, and the medical program in the state seems pretty robust, at least from an outsider’s perspective.

I have been lobbying for cannabis for many years in the state of PA, and we have never been able to get the support of conservatives in our state. Now that we are surrounded by so many adult use states, and many of which are making lots of tax revenue from cannabis, we are now starting to see some conservatives reconsider their position on the plant. We are hoping that 2025 will become the year that Pennsylvania gets on the right side of history.

How would you envision a federal rescheduling changing the operations of both Easy Street Promotions and Plant Media Project as well as your role with SSDP?

I hope there will be a time where I can bring plant medicine events back into the Easy Street fold, but for now I plan to continue to run all plant medicine advocacy events through Plant Media Project. I plan to utilize my work at SSDP to fight for drug policy reform. Should we see federal rescheduling within this new year, it means that there is even more work to be done to continue to educate our communities around the importance of drug policy reform. In Pennsylvania in 2024, there were 12,000 people incarcerated for cannabis, and this is in a state where over 700,000 medical cannabis patients. We need to fight for justice not just for legality! We need all cannabis prisoners released, their records expunged. My goal for the future is to continue to raise awareness and advocacy around the safety and positive outcomes of using plant medicine safely.

Thank you for joining us, Gina! To stay up to date on the Plant Media Project, please read its informative website.