Cannabis Chops Deepen: Meet Russ and Courtney
The backstories of our team members provide insight to the strengths they bring to our range of diverse backgrounds and talents.
Meet our two newest team members: Russ Hudson and Courtney Gomez.
Russ Hudson, Project Manager
Cannabis has been Russ’ life work — as a consultant, researcher, and author. In his role at Canna Advisors, he brings together all the people and information needed to win cannabis business licenses.
Favorite part of your job or most interesting client/situation you’ve worked on?
I once had a client in Spain that developed medicated, edible business cards.
Describe a really big accomplishment:
Wrote a 600-page scientific textbook about terpenes and flavonoids in cannabis.
What cities have you lived in?
I am from Maine and currently live in Virginia. I’ve lived in too many US states and cities to list here, as well as the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico.
What do you do in your spare time? Long distance running, chess, guitar, family time
Tell us a little about your family:
I have a 10-year-old daughter named Stella (she is the main character in my children’s book about cannabis called What’s That Weed?), a wife, a partner, and we all live together in a big house with 6 goofy dogs.
What are you watching right now?
All the adult cartoons: Family Guy, South Park, The Simpsons, BoJack Horseman, Futurama, Disenchantment, Big Mouth, Paradise PD, F is for Family, Robot Chicken.
Interesting/little-known fact about you? I hold a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwondo.
Favorite author? Robert Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon. Richard Bach, Yuval Noah Harari, Mikhail Bulgakov
Favorite smells? Terpinolene, D-limonene
Favorite sounds? Classical guitar, coonhound vocalizations
Favorite places? Barcelona, Spain. Quebrada Ganado, Costa Rica
Favorite way to consume cannabis? Water bong
Will you name a few items on your bucket list?
Open a laboratory. Earn a pilot’s license. Earn a PhD. Publish a work of fiction.
What do you order at a bar or coffee shop? If you’re talking about a coffeeshop, I order a haze or a diesel.
If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Is inter-dimensional teleportation a superpower? That. I want that.
If you created a cannabis strain, what would you name it?
I’d properly call it a chemovar and name it based on the top tested phytochemical content.
What else should we know about you?
I’ve been jailed for cannabis “crimes” including cultivation and trafficking.
Courtney Gomez, Staff Accountant
What inspired you to work in the cannabis industry?
I have had a relationship with cannabis most of my life primarily with many of the significant people in my life. I have also worked with organizations that have done work to help people in the criminal justice system who have been negatively impacted by charges related to cannabis.
What jobs were you doing before joining Canna Advisors?
I worked in government contract accounting most of my career before now.
Describe a really big accomplishment:
I moved to the Virgin Islands for graduate school with my kids and lived there for a year and half for probably the most amazing and unique experience for all of us.
What cities have you lived in?
I’ve pretty much always lived in the Boulder area (Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, and Longmont). For a year and half we lived in St. Thomas, USVI.
What do you do in your spare time?
What’s that? LOL. But if I do have any I like to go to kickboxing, dance, hang out with family and friends, and travel as often as possible.
Tell us a little about your family:
I have 6 kids, from 18 to 6 and a cat named Mischief.
Travel memories/trips of note?
I’m a little Disney obsessed so some of my favorite trips are to Disneyland and Disney World.
Interesting/little-known facts about you?
I have a Disney and Harry Potter obsession, so much so I have a giant Disney castle silhouette hanging in my living room that I made with my son’s girlfriend
Favorite quote?
“It’s Friday, you ain’t got a job and you ain’t got sh*t to do, Imma get you high.” (I’ve watched the Friday movies a few too many times in my life.)
Favorite authors?
Anything historical fiction or sci-fi but I’ve lately been reading books by Deepak Chopra and Michael A. Singer
Favorite smells? Fresh laundry, plumeria flowers
Favorite sounds? Ocean waves crashing and the sound of rain
Favorite places? A beach! Or Disney.
Favorite foods? Tacos and sushi
Favorite way to consume cannabis?
Mostly edibles like gummies or I’ve been into the Ripple dissolvable packets, also
Will you name a few items on your bucket list?
Visit Venice, Italy, go skydiving with my daughter, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef
What do you order at a bar or coffee shop?
My favorite drink is the Venetian Cream at the Laughing Goat or if I’m not there I’ll get a latte with oatmilk and stevia
If you could have any superpower, what would it be? To multiple myself or control time
If you were a MLB player, what would your walkout song be?
It’s always changing but I will have to say “95.south” by J. Cole
If you created a cannabis strain, what would you name it?
Something Disney related, probably something like Minnie’s Cookies
What else should we know about you?
I am scuba certified and love to go scuba diving every chance I get.