Feature Story
Bud Wizard
A Microbusiness Story of Perseverance
by Clayton Stallings, contributing writer Photo art by Bud Wizard
Have you wondered why you should consider purchasing your cannabis from Missouri’ s new micro-licensees? Because such purchases support these small businesses, true mom-and-pops, and those who were adversely affected by the war on drugs. And there are more reasons!
Samantha Blum was awarded a first-round Microbusiness License for wholesale cultivation and manufacturing by the state for a women-led cannabis company named Bud Wizard. The company specializes in high-quality craft cannabis products. She is also the chairwoman of the Missouri Microbusiness Association( MMBA). She has been writing for The EVOLUTION Magazine for over a year, updating our readers on the progress of the new Micro License Industry.
Samantha Blum with partner Anthony La Pietra at the grand opening of 816 Dispensary on 816 Day in August 2025.
Her journey to become one of the first handful of microcultivators to get their flower on dispensary shelves has been one filled with ups and downs, and at times even more challenging. Nevertheless, she and her family are experienced at overcoming tough times. Blum has 60 percent ownership, while her father holds the other 40 percent, making it a true family affair— a mom-and-pop-to-thetee business.
She met her life and business partner, Anthony La Pietra, in 2006, who built and runs Bud Wizard’ s grow. They have three daughters together, but before the very first one was born, they ran into some trouble with the law. They were profiled in a parking lot, which led to La Pietra getting a drug charge that caused them both to be homeless for over four months while Blum was pregnant with their oldest daughter. Thankfully, they finally got into a home just days before she gave birth to their first daughter.
They both have been lifelong cannabis advocates, embracing the dream of someday being able to grow and sell cannabis legally. When they first applied for their Micro license, they were shopping for investors at industry events for their million-dollar business plan, which, unfortunately, they would never find.
Before they won the license, their plans had changed to a more affordable deprivation light greenhouse, and La Pietra cashed in his entire retirement plan. Next, they combined both of their salaries to fund everything.
Blum works as a recovery specialist at an intensive outpatient treatment center and educates people on how cannabis can help in recovery during peer support. La Pietra was in sales and an MMA fighter.“ I trained with some pretty big-name fighters,” said La Pietra.“ The martial arts background helped both of us to have the mental strength to start this new business by knowing the value of hard work.”
Blum says,“ One thing that his coach, James Krause, would always preach to us was in order to elevate yourself, you have to elevate everyone in the room around you, and through other people’ s success, you will become successful yourself.” This is the very reason she became the chairwoman of the Missouri Microbusiness Association( MMBA).“ We did a lot of research on how other micro markets fail, and we knew we needed to unite. We need that community. We need that collective voice, and I want to help elevate the other micros as well.”
After winning the license, they moved with their three kids, including La Pietra’ s disabled mother, from a four-bedroom house into a single-wide trailer on Blums’ father’ s property. However, they had to remodel the gutted trailer before they could even build their greenhouse.
They did all the work on both the remodeled trailer and the greenhouse buildouts, only hiring help to spread the gravel for the greenhouse floor.“ We invested our entire lives into the grow,” said La Pietra,.“ Labor is expensive. The quote on the security fence alone was $ 40,000. We ended up finding a cultivation facility in Oklahoma that shut down, and we worked a deal to buy their fencing, then we hauled it back to Missouri and installed it ourselves.”
24 March 2026