If you step into your local dispensary and see Matt Rosensweig standing next to a decorated table with a smile on his face, and you ask him what he’s doing, he’ll tell you that he’s there “spreading the love for District Cannabis.”
Working as a brand ambassador, promoting and educating people about any Cannabis-related topic requires not only a wealth of knowledge but also an effective way to communicate this information that anyone can understand. Carrying a passion for Cannabis and an enthusiasm to help a stranger, all Rosensweig needed to do was wait for someone to walk through the door, and he could get to work.
“I love making people happy, I love having that interaction,” he said. “We’re in the Cannabis industry; nobody should be frowning.”
Rosensweig was born and raised in Pikesville and attended Towson University after graduating high school, earning a degree in psychology. “I love interactions with people and what goes in people’s minds,” he said. Fresh out of college in 2007, Rosensweig took a position working with Child Protective Services in Baltimore.
“My parents always told me growing up you care more about others than you do yourself,” he said, adding that all of the jobs he’s worked since he was 14 have been customer service-based, McDonald’s and summer camps among them. With CPS, he said it’s the “most rewarding, toughest job you’ll ever have.”
Ten years into his tenure with CPS, Rosensweig enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Maryland’s School of Social Work through the department and graduated with his Master of Social Work degree in 2018.
After 15 years of service with CPS and earning his master’s degree, Rosensweig felt he needed a change of scenery. Luckily, a friend had recently moved to Houston and offered to help him find work pertaining to his master’s degree. He was offered a remote position doing social work for a hospital in the area while still living in Maryland, so he decided to pack his stuff and move to Texas in 2022.
Reflecting on the move, he said, “I don’t want to go back on my life and wonder what if.”
Working remotely was a strange transition at first, Rosensweig said, due to the contrast of being out in the field and interacting with people in the city to talking to someone on a screen multiple times a day.
“I did Uber and Lyft on the side just so I can get my people interaction,” he said. “I can’t sit anywhere all day, my ADD won’t let me.”
In 2024, Rosensweig was laid off from his remote position. He knew he wanted to get into the Cannabis industry at some point, but it was a bit more challenging with where he was at the time. He said with other coworkers also being laid off, a lot of them would be looking for the same type of job, motivating him to look at something in the Cannabis industry. Upon hearing that District Cannabis was looking for a brand ambassador, he interviewed for the job and got hired, moving back to Maryland a short time later.
“I said, ‘Screw you guys, I’m going home,’” he said, laughing as he quoted Eric Cartman from “South Park.” “I’ve always had an interest in Cannabis. I wanted to learn what aspects make it help you,” adding that he wrote papers while in his master’s program about the benefits medical marijuana could bring to Maryland.
Rosensweig first tried Cannabis when he was 18 after being introduced to it by his best friend. From there, he said he’s been in love since the first hit. In addition to helping with anxiety and stress, Cannabis has also greatly reduced the severity of the hand tremors he’s had since he was a kid.
Rosensweig is constantly on the move in this role with District Cannabis. While there is no “normal” day, he credits his previous job experience — particularly his time in CPS — for helping him handle the ebb and flow that comes with working in a different spot every day.
“That job really opened me up to seeing how different the world actually is, how people live differently than I do,” he said. “But still, at the end of the day, I’m helping people, but in way different capacities.”
Even though he’s been in the industry for less than a year, Rosensweig said his goal is to learn every kind of position in the industry in an effort to not only be the best brand ambassador for the company he’s with, but industry-wide across Maryland and beyond. Being a visual learner, he said, creating and participating in content for Instagram and TikTok became a big part of helping him to get his work a larger reach.
“I got five months in the industry, and I’m nominated for Brand Ambassador of the Year,” he said. “I studied brand ambassadors before I started this job, and I wanted to do something completely different than what everyone else was. I want to be that guy.”
While his method of consumption varies, Rosensweig’s go-to strain is something heavy in myrcene or caryophyllene with some purple hues in its buds. This combo helps relax him, he said, adding he only resorts to smoking something with more energizing terpenes like pinene or terpinolene if he has a larger task to do.
Rosensweig and his brother often communicate with each other through quoting different movies and television, admitting that watching a lot of comedy — specifically “The Three Stooges” and anything starring Chris Farley — helped shape his bubbly, outgoing personality. When asked what quote would best describe his journey, one that came to mind is from Michael Scott in “The Office”: “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence, and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way.”
