Delivering service
Mila Johnson Perez
Age: 31
Title: Founder
Name of Organization: El Nopalito Delivery
Mila Johnson Perez is a business owner in the cannabis industry and founded a delivery service to help people during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A native of South Side Chicago, Perez is an entrepreneur, cannabis advocate and community leader. As the founder at Nopalito Creatives Inc. she is focused on promoting diversity and representation in cannabis, launching culturally reflective cannabis ancillary products and creating a digital hub for street vendors and small businesses.
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At the height of Covid-19 she launched El Nopalito Delivery Service, a service for small businesses, restaurants and food initiative efforts that provided free delivery of personal protective equipment, produce, and other supplies to families in need. The company also delivered and administered COVID tests to those who were not able to travel to a testing site.
Prior to diving into entrepreneurship, Perez gained experience in technical support, logistics, operations, data analytics and fraud/risk prevention at large startups such as Uber, Venmo and Fetch Rewards. She has been a panelist on several webinars discussing entrepreneurship and the importance of representation in the cannabis space, including the ESDC, Little Village Chamber of Commerce and Chibizhub.
Outside of the office, she is a member of the Illinois Women in Cannabis committee, dedicates time to community outreach efforts in Chicago, and spends time with her three dogs.
“Success is measured by your willingness to fail. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Find your Why early.”
