LEADING BY EXAMPLE

VERONICA ACEVES HUNT lives with her husband and four children in Lake Forest, where she was a stay-at-home mom for 13 years. However, Hunt is also an entrepreneur. At age 22, she helped to pioneer the food truck industry in Chicago, starting with one truck called Burrito Buggy. After 15 years, she had grown the business to four trucks and three stand-alone restaurants downtown. In 2016, she and her husband, Andrew, opened Elevele, a licensed medical marijuana dispensary in Highland Park. Veronica acted as General Manager and helped drive sales from less than $500,000 in 2016 to more than $9 million in 2020. In 2022, Veronica, along with a diverse group of owners from all walks of life, opened Illinois’s first social equity dispensary—Green Rose on Ontario and Wells. Two more locations are coming soon.

What does the idea of power mean to you? I love having the ability to control a situation that will empower those around me to succeed.

What has been the most significant barrier in your career and how have you persevered? When we were operating our Burrito Buggy truck business, the city changed the laws and we could no longer vend 200 feet from restaurants in downtown Chicago. It killed our business. But God opened another window and we proceeded to open three Burrito Buggy restaurants in the Loop.

What are you most proud of doing? Getting into the cannabis industry not knowing a thing about it and working hard to learn the business and ultimately succeeding.

Who is your role model and why? My mother, who came to the U.S. at the age of 17, not knowing a lick of English. She married my father at age 18, and had twins 10 months later. She learned English, and when my parents became empty nesters, she became a career woman.

How can this generation of leaders support the next generation of leaders? We can support them by leading by example and giving them opportunities in the cannabis Industry.

For more information, visit greenroseil.com.