The iconic moniker Cannabis Cash Queen is so catchy, Cannabis & Tech Today had to get to know Jennifer Makris, the woman who wears it well. Firstly, where did it originate?
“I appeared on a podcast where the host referred to me that way!” said Makris. “In that moment, the Cannabis Cash Queen was crowned! It clicked that it was the perfect brand name. I immediately secured the URL and social handles.”
Growing Up with Entrepreneurs
Makris grew up in an entrepreneurial household, and always knew that building a brand and legacy was in her DNA. Her parents owned and operated a travel agency, and she was responsible for coordinating the movement of people and goods from point A to point B, encompassing the basic logistics of planes, trains, and automobiles.
Her first career move directly out of college was a successful stint at Cintas, a company specializing in uniforms, corporate apparel, and facility services. At Cintas, Markis gained valuable experience building a solid professional playbook by making hundreds of weekly cold calls. Asking strangers for appointments and ultimately generating business by providing services and deliverables to various industries proved to be an invaluable skill.
From Dirty Uniforms and Restaurant Towels to Trucks, Guns, and Cash
From there, Makris went on to work for Brinks, the armored truck and cash logistics company, where she was responsible for cash management solutions for banks and retail businesses.
While cash management services evolved as her area of expertise, Makris was working with state banks and credit unions in Florida, managing their cash vaults, branch cash forecasting, and treasury services for their retail customers; I.e., smart, safe, and secure cash in transit services.
When the state legalized medical marijuana in 2018, those financial institutions were the only ones willing to bank cannabis cash.
“I organically grew a network of cannabis friendly financial institutions and transit companies that could move cannabis cash safely and securely, and with insurability from point A to point B,” Makris said.
Once the cash was on site, Makris utilized her experience in placing devices such as smart safe cash counters, known as teller cash recyclers, to automate the cash-handling process. She was able to generate a return on investment (ROI) because the cash touching process takes time.
“When you can show a business owner that you can reduce their labor costs, that’s really where you can build an ROI, and increase security, by reducing employees’ fast pilferage exposure risk,” Makris said. “When I work with operators, whether in a traditional retail environment or the cannabis industry. Aside from the people and the product, the cash is the most expensive and riskiest thing in that building. So, if I can build in procedures, SOPs, devices, and processes that streamline and automate the process, that’s the win for everybody,” Makris explained.
The Trifecta
Building those three pillars of cash, cannabis-friendly banks, and transit operators, while partnering with manufacturers of equipment and hardware, Makris realized she was onto something distinctive.
“I have a niche offering that is necessary in this industry, and retail agnostic, but specializing in cannabis because of the cash intensity,” Makris said. “It was so new. People didn’t know what they didn’t know, but I knew I had a specialty and expertise in this area that I could bring to the market. So, I put all of those three components into a nice little box, wrapped it up with a green bow, and Cannabis Cash Consultants was born.”
Makris was offering her services to the industry, but it was extremely challenging to scale and gain exposure for her work. She discovered the Cannabiz Media platform while providing Cash Automation Solutions (CAM) to cannabis dispensaries. She had experience using the platform for industry data and lead generation.
“I knew how powerful the Cannabiz Media tool was, so when I started my consulting company, I knew that it was a resource I needed to maintain,” Makris said.
Makris met with the Cannabiz Media team at MJ Biz Con in 2022, coincidentally, the same year she started Cannabis Cash Consultants.
“I shared my positive experience and expressed my affinity for Cannabiz Media with their team at the expo,” Makris said. “The timing was perfect because they wanted to appeal to more banks and credit unions, an industry I had worked within closely and had established relationships. It made sense to leverage my network and experience working with cannabis-friendly financial institutions to represent Cannabiz Media in that capacity. It was a professional compliment to the work I was already doing in the space.”
Markis remains ebullient when plugging the platform.
“I don’t know what I would do without Cannabiz Media in my business,” Makris said. “When their leadership team enquired how I was utilizing their platform, I shared that I worked with banks and retailers and was well-versed in compliance and regulations, which was something they hadn’t leveraged during their previous decade in business. They were licensing their platform to ancillary companies like mine, and nutrients and lighting companies.”
Also Read: Last Week in Weed: September 2- September 9, 2025
Cannabis Cash Queen
A couple of months after that fateful meeting at MJBizCon, Cannabiz Media reached out to Makris to build out an additional revenue stream from verification licenses, compliance, and regulation. In addition to its foundational component, which was lead generation and marketing, they asked Makris to join their team as their director of banking and compliance. With this move, the Cannabis Cash Queen had arrived.
While she finds this work to be fulfilling, Makris believes she makes the most impact at the government level by aligning herself with the Florida Cannabis Action Network, engaging in grassroots work, and collaborating with them on their business committee. She is also the incoming president of Cannabis LAB (cLAB).
Makris was recently invited to speak at the Cannabis Banking Symposium’s Women in Cannabis breakfast event, which focused on building a personal brand. The focus of her remarks centered on her “personal journey” and how she built recognition and influence in the industry as the Cannabis Cash Queen.
Her talk directly aligned with the session’s intent to highlight how women in the cannabis industry are forging ahead, shaping their identities, leading with purpose, and carving out a space for themselves in a competitive, often male-dominated field.
Rather than use the breakfast event as a platform to promote a company, product, or service, as is the ubiquitous banal norm at many conferences, she opted to inspire others with a frank and candid conversation about personal brand development, leadership, and visibility.
“I planned to speak authentically from my experience in the field,” Makris said. “How building a distinct brand identity has allowed me to make an impact, including the work I’ve done with Cannabiz Media.”
Makris has come full circle, as she will also appear at MJBizCon on a panel entitled, Don’t Get Lost in the Crowd: Standing Out as a Cannabis Service Provider.
