About Us
The Squad
Proud Mary CannabisProud Mary Cannabis was founded by Thunder Walker, a respected and multitalented real estate and construction professional based in Dallas, TX, where she was born and raised.
Walker has spoken at CushCon in Tampa and at the Women in Cannabis Expo in New Jersey. Women in Cannabis honored her at the expo with their “Woman on the Rise” award. In October she will host the first CannaSoul, a convention for people of color in or aspiring to the cannabis industry. A portion of the proceeds from CannaSoul will be donated to help nonviolent cannabis offenders get their records expunged. As a real estate developer, Walker is a veteran of over 2,000 residential and commercial doors built from the ground up. She is also the publisher of Women Pushing Dirt, a periodical that highlights women in real estate, especially women of color, and encourages other women of all races to step into the traditionally male real estate sector. Walker was born into a strong real estate pedigree. As one of the first Black real estate brokers and appraisers in Dallas, Walker’s father fought redlining and encouraged neighborhood diversity in the face of widespread institutional racism. She bought her first house at the age of 18 and became licensed as a real estate agent, mortgage broker, and appraiser, working under her father in the family business. No career is without its setbacks. An unlucky court ruling and her father’s decline due to Alzheimer’s Disease led Walker to release her licenses. She began a second career as a life coach, but yearned to return to real estate. Her upbringing and experience had taught her that real estate had no rival as a systematic, replicable path to wealth, freedom, and prosperity. When an electrical fire caused her house to burn down (no injuries or fatalities, thank God) she used the insurance money not to rebuild the house, but to buy land and break ground on her first condo development. She has since built a career as one of the pre-eminent Black female real estate developers in Dallas and beyond. Walker was introduced to the power of cannabis when she saw the benefits it conferred to her disabled daughter. In researching the industry, she discovered that only 13% of cannabis companies were minority-owned or employed people of color at the executive level. In addition, the number of women in the cannabis industry declined sharply between 2018 and 2022.
Meet
A native son of Oklahoma, JW was born in Holdenville, OK and grew up on the northeast side of OKC. JW graduated from Northeast High School and the Oklahoma University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and an MBA degree in business management.
JW has worked for and with many Fortune 100 companies as an employee and a business owner. During his engagement with these companies he has honed his skills in the area of sales, sales management, marketing, market research, training and motivation. His more than 40 years of experience in these disciplines enables him to help small businesses to be more successful and profitable.
His latest endeavor is the Oklahoma cannabis business. He is a partner in Proud Mary Holdings which is the parent company of Proud Mary Botanicals and Proud Mary Cannabis. This opportunity has afforded him the time to dedicate to his passion which is helping people to attain their goals. He believes that good health should be a priority and aims to help educate patients and others on the benefits of good help and using naturally occurring produce from the earth in attaining and increasing good health.