Joy Beckerman is an internationally renowned hemp law and policy expert involved in the hemp industries for over 30 years, and her extraordinary passion for this versatile, valuable crop is contagious! Joy is the Founder & Principal at Hemp Ace International, a Seattle-based consulting, legal support, and expert witness firm serving the global community; as well as Director of Regulatory & Legal Affairs of Zilis, an international leader in hemp extract dietary supplements and cosmetics; Co-Founder and Senior Advisor to Colorado Hemp Works, America’s first post-prohibition hemp grain processing facility; and host of the popular podcast Hemp Barons. Among multiple non-profit leadership roles, Joy President of the Center of the Study of Cannabis & Social Policy, a leading Director of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, consultant to the U.S. Hemp Building Association , and The Seminar Group’s National Hemp Continuing Legal Education Program Chair. After joining the hemp movement in 1990, Joy opened the first hemp store in New York state in 1994; and when the inaugural Vermont Hemp Bill passed in 1996, Joy relocated there with her family to serve as Secretary to the Vermont Hemp Council. After an extensive and successful dual career in compliance and complex civil litigation in Seattle, Joy founded Hemp Ace International in 2014. Joy works directly with lawmakers and regulators as a grassroots activist, both proactively and upon request.