Philip “Randy” Gaines Jr.
Age: 37
Company: Artizen Cannabis
Title: Sales Manager
People who have worked in cannabis for 10 years are somewhat of a rarity.
Those who have been with a single company in the cannabis industry for more than a decade are nearly impossible to find.
In April, Philip “Randy” Gaines Jr. celebrated his 10-year anniversary with Artizen Cannabis and moved into a new position as a sales manager for the Washington producer/processor. It’s a fitting role for Gaines, who has an easy-going personality and has done just about every other job at Artizen.
“I guess you could say I’m a social butterfly,” he says. “I can talk to anybody. I could just sit down on the park bench and start talking to a complete stranger.”
Gaines grew up in Virginia, where even the most minor cannabis offenses carried potential prison sentences, before moving to Washington in his 20s. He started at Artizen on the labeling and packaging side of the business, then stepped up to fill the need for pre-roll production, then a supervisor of that department, then a delivery driver for six years. Over the next few years, he worked his way up from an assistant in the logistics department to assistant fulfillment manager to fulfillment manager to sales representative before being promoted to his current position.
“Still to this day, if they need me to hop on a forklift, I could do it. If they need deliveries done, I can go get behind the wheel again,” he says.
When Gaines isn’t working for Artizen, you can probably find him at his favorite fishing spot. But, no, he won’t tell you where that is.
“I can’t tell you that,” he says with a laugh. “You’ve gotta keep some secrets.”