My name is Anja Charbonneau, and I’m the founder of Broccoli.
I have always loved books and magazines. When I was growing up, I never had a role model working in a creative industry, who could show me all of the kinds of creative work being done in the world. I understood that there were authors and illustrators, photographers, etc, but I had no understanding of the hidden work being done by art directors, editors and publishers, I worked as a freelance photographer, which was my introduction into the world of publishing.
My first publishing job was with Kinfolk, I was their creative director, working on the quarterly print magazine, books, and website. This is where I learned about how to make a magazine, thanks to my editor Georgia Frances King, who was the resident publishing expert. When I left Kinfolk, I decided to start my own publishing project, starting with Broccoli, a magazine for cannabis lovers.
Now, Broccoli is three years old, and we make all kinds of cannabis media (the magazine, a podcast, an industry newsletter) and we recently published our first book with two artists we admire, called Snail World: Life in the Slimelight. It has nothing to do with weed, but it’s a very fun photography book and makes sense for us in the Broccoli universe.
I’m Broccoli’s founder, which means in addition to my editorial jobs (editor-in-chief and creative director) I also do all of the business stuff, production management, etc. Broccoli is my full time job!
Recently, there have been important legal and cultural shifts happening with cannabis, where it’s being legalized in more places and people are becoming more comfortable talking about the subject. I wanted to create a space where we could discuss and interpret cannabis in a creative, thoughtful way, sharing all kinds of perspectives and stories about this interesting plant. There were a few cannabis magazines already, but they were very male dominated, and they were never showing cannabis in a beautiful way. Broccoli is a way to help normalize cannabis use, and make it reflect the lives of creative people who consume.
I started Broccoli with my own money, we don’t have any investors. Since then, we have been funded through advertising, subscription sales, and merchandise. At the end of 2020, we made our first products that aren’t made of paper, including a blanket and some hair accessories. Easy, fun things that our readers might like. We use Instagram a lot, but I think a lot of people are getting tired of the platform. We also have a newsletter, and an industry newsletter called The Broccoli Report where we talk about cannabis entrepreneurship. We have also hosted events, but that’s on hold for now. I often wish for a new way to connect with people that feels more personal than social media.
