Meet Mark Kazinec

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Kazinec and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor behind my success has been maintaining honesty and integrity in everything we do at Best in Grass. We pride ourselves in transparency in the judging process, honesty in how we receive and review scores, and never allowing anybody to pay to play, pay to win, or sway contest results in any way. Additionally, we bring a fun and approachable community style to our brand, which makes people feel more warm and welcome into our universe. I make sure to meet every single person who walks through the door at our award shows, introduce myself, and make them feel special as they enter our event. Lastly, there’s a big issue in the cannabis industry in terms of getting real, honest feedback. We solve that issue by providing every brand with honest feedback reports that come directly from these consumer judges who have tested & reviewed their products anonymously.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Best in Grass exists to create a cannabis ecosystem powered by real people, authentic experience and earned trust. We’re executing the most transparent, organized, and consumer-driven cannabis competitions across the States with a red-carpet cocktail attire awards show, and consumer feedback reports that provide key insights for businesses. Most businesses in cannabis are struggling, with no money for marketing or research. Our model solves that: No pay to play, no favoritism, no nonsense. We get brands into the hands of new consumers better than anyone else. Our award shows are unlike any other event in cannabis, and our trophy is the heaviest, shiniest, and most beautiful trophy I’ve seen in the game. I want the world to know that cannabis can be integrated into their lives in healthy and impactful ways, if they so choose, and we’re here to help them Find their High, and Find their Why. We also want the businesses in our industry to know that a competition can be organized and executed with professionalism, integrity, and value.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If a friend is coming to visit Los Angeles, I’m inviting them to stay with me because nothing is more fun than hosting friends. We’d wake up, I’d cook an amazing egg breakfast, Cuban coffee, farmer’s market berries, and guava nectar to start the day right. Maybe we’d pop into Bluey’s Cafe on Venice Blvd for a fix of espresso. More daytime activities could include Mar Vista’s farmers market, a drive on PCH to see the beauty of the coastline, cold plunge and hot sauna at LikeMinded or visiting The Broad museum downtown. My Fujifilm Instax 90 is often attached at the hip, so we’re capturing one-of-one moments to keep forever. Depending on the appetite of my friend, we could go thrift store hunting at Crossroads Trading or hit Abbott Kinney for a stroll through the scene of vendors. Salt & Straw would likely be melting on my spoon unless I’m munching down a unique slice from Gjelina TakeAway. I’ve been skateboarding for 25 years and counting, so if my friend skateboards, we’re hitting up Stoner Skatepark for a cruise. If not, maybe we’ll do a hike where possible or go see a hilarious Morgan Jay live show. Food and friends are some of the most important things in my life, so whoever is coming to visit me is going to try a lot of good food, whether out or in my kitchen, and they’ll meet my broad community of friends in the cannabis, music, comedy, wellness, skateboarding, and other spaces. Welcome to my life.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I owe a lot of my success to the Hollywood talent agencies for beating the work-ethic into me. Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. That said, I found new ways to work smarter instead of harder. Authors such as Dan Sullivan, Mark Manson, Oliver Burkeman, and Gino Wickman have helped reshape my vision of productivity, and how to focus my time on the top-producing tasks of my business. Friends of mine in LA who have found great success on their own such as Cooper Rivers, Andre Herd, Kevin Hekmat, Alex Banayan, Ben Teller, Paul Coggiola, Alex Canter, and many more have also been there to support my journey, and have simply been great friends to bounce ideas and feelings off of. Lastly, cannabis industry veterans such as Kraig Fox, Brett Fink, Matt Nissenbaum, Jake Kuczeruk and more have helped connect me to some of my top clients, and I couldn’t thank them more.

Website: https://bestingrass.io

Instagram: @mayor_mark

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-kazinec-3148b82b/