Five Questions with Matt Frost, Founder and CEO of anna

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Talking Hard Work and Hip Hop with Matt Frost of the AI-Powered Cannabis Retail Solution, anna

One of the perks of working at a cannabis PR and marketing agency is getting to know our awesome clients—and getting an insider’s look at some of the most innovative brands and companies out there. In this monthly feature series we ask a different client the same five questions, and we share those tasty tidbits with our readers.

This month we’re excited to spotlight Matt Frost, founder and CEO of anna, an AI-powered cannabis retail solution.

Five Questions: Matt Frost

What is your favorite part about leading anna? The people. I am really privileged to choose the people I work with on a daily basis.
What was your most interesting job before working in cannabis? For about half a summer, I worked at a ritzy private golf club in the south shore of Massachusetts. I met a lot of cool people, while I had the liberty of cleaning their cleats.
Where can we find you after work? Trick question because I'm a workaholic.
Tell us your go-to karaoke song: Given my era of hip hop knowledge, anything Slim Shady or Lil Wayne.
What advice would you give to other cannabis industry professionals? This is going to be an industry like any other, once water finds its level. With hard work and dedication, you can become anything you want in this industry.

RICARDO BACA

FOUNDER & CEO

A proud Colorado native and one of Denver Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs, Ricardo Baca is a serial entrepreneur, three-time Marketer of the Year, 24-year veteran journalist, two-time TEDx speaker, and drug policy architect.

Ricardo launched Clio-winning PR and marketing firm Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency® in 2016 to super-charge businesses throughout the U.S., Latin America and Europe. Grasslands was awarded a Clio Award for its public relations program, two Emjays Awards for Public Relations Agency of the Year, and a Small Business Award from the Denver Business Journal.

In 2023, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed Ricardo to the state’s first-ever Natural Medicine Advisory Board to contribute to policy development around the state’s psychedelics framework. In 2025, Ricardo launched Buy Colorado Day in partnership with the State Legislature, creating a new holiday—and powerful economic driver—that celebrates innovative Colorado brands of all kinds via consumers all over the world.

Capping off a wide-spanning career in journalism, Ricardo made international headlines as The Denver Post’s first-ever Cannabis Editor in 2013, as seen in the feature-length documentary film Rolling Papers. Numerous accolades followed, including Ricardo being named one of Fortune magazine’s 7 Most Powerful People in America’s Marijuana Industry, one of Brookings Institution's 12 Key People to Watch in Marijuana Policy, and one of Time magazine’s 140 best Twitter feeds.

In 2022, Ricardo co-founded Colorado fine art biennial Biome with the mission of celebrating fine art via community, inclusivity and biennial exhibition. Before that, Ricardo co-founded Denver music festival The Underground Music Showcase, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025.

Ricardo is proud to sit on the Board of Directors for Colorado Public Radio, where he serves as Treasurer, and on the Board of Advisors for the reMind Psychedelics Business Forum.

A regular speaker at SXSW, Ricardo still contributes columns and op-eds to top publications, including Rolling Stone, Nosh, the New Hope Network and MJBizDaily. He has also been interviewed by The New York Times, The View, The New Yorker, This Week With George Stephanopoulos, The Colbert Report and NPR’s All Things Considered.

Ricardo lives in Denver with his wife, two dogs and two cats.

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