Whether he’s dashing into coffee shops and small businesses in Baltimore or hanging out at a music festival, Mahmut Ilk (@ilk_mahm) always finds a window of opportunity to hustle. He’s been tapped into several different communities and wants to help elevate everyone he can. But as a new business owner, a goal he’s had for a minute is to combine two scenes close to his heart — Cannabis and EDM — into a newer, refreshing experience.
After attending various industry events and music festivals, Ilk turned his passion into action and began thinking of a more immersive event concept where people from either scene could step in and be welcomed into a unique community. He’s still figuring out what this pairing will ultimately look like, but he’s been working with some of his EDM-scene connections to bring the venture to life — like his business sponsoring a Baltimore festival next month.
“Essentially, the object of the game is to grow and get the community bigger. I like helping people, and it makes me feel good being able to make someone else feel good,” he said, adding that he never likes to settle when it comes to facing a challenge. “I just want to be better than I was the last day.”
Ilk was born in Istanbul, Turkey, but his family moved to Columbia, Maryland, when he was young. Even though he doesn’t remember much from growing up there, he said the family would still take trips back there in the summer.
“I had a great opportunity to be in another country for three months at a time,” he said about visiting Turkey.
After high school, he enrolled at Howard Community College to find his career path, but in his mind, he knew that he wanted to get involved in the Cannabis industry. This desire started well before he enrolled in community college, he said, but Maryland was still far away from introducing any kind of Cannabis program at the time.
“There wasn’t a path yet,” he said, adding that trying to get into the industry while living in a stricter household was also a challenge.
Ilk completed his general studies at Howard and transferred to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to study information systems. While what he was learning was interesting, he still wanted to work in a more fulfilling job field.
“I’m not someone who can sit in one spot in front of a computer all day. I need to be free,” he said.
Not too long after getting to UMBC, a friend reached out and wanted him to visit them in California. While there, Ilk said he got a taste of the Cannabis industry in a state that had passed recreational Cannabis legislation and knew it was the right place for him. About a month after he came back to Maryland, he said he packed up his things and headed back to the West Coast.
While he had tried different Cannabis from states around the country, including in Maryland’s underground markets, he said the combination of Cannabis and other creative ventures sealed the deal for him to go back.
“I moved out there and started applying to literally every dispensary I could see and handed them my resume,” he said, eventually landing a budtending job with Stiiizy.
From there, he moved to the inventory department, developing a specific process that the company would use as a template for some of its other stores.
“I would go into their new stores and go through a process, basically set up all their inventory space and then hop over to the next store,” he said.
The company had a unique setup where their cultivation, processing and retail space were combined into one building, giving Ilk a huge opportunity to learn more facets of the industry. He said he carried a lot of this knowledge with him to Maryland when he moved back around 2020.
With Maryland introducing a medical Cannabis program while he was away, Ilk signed up for his medical certification so he could land an industry job in the state. After bouncing between dispensaries and finding that he had worked almost every kind of position in them over the last few years, Ilk decided to try other work outside of the Cannabis industry, but returned shortly after and started taking on more tasks at his dispensaries related to marketing and community engagement.
“My real goal was to get into account managing. I wanted to get into wholesale; that never left my mind,” he said, adding that some of his new responsibilities included handing out discount cards around town and manning booths at events. “I was trying to be involved as much as possible.”
Wanting to work for all the brands that he enjoys, he took a step back from dispensary jobs to start his own business that not only helped himself but also others already in the industry or anyone trying to get a foot in the door. The goal of Elevated Solutions, Ilk’s business, is to provide dispensaries with marketing assistance and find brand representatives for their respective companies.
“Think about it: There’s 198 stores, roughly, in the state of Maryland, and you have two brand reps. How are you going to cover all of that? We’re that extra leg that companies can utilize to help find people to brand rep,” he said.
He started the company with the goal in mind for brands to be able to focus their attention and resources on other tasks, in addition to making it easy for interested people to join his team and pick up assignments. Ilk said he wants to make the brand rep position more accessible for anyone to get into and give them the opportunity to grow in the industry.
“It’s cool for people that just want a little side gig while still working in the industry, but it’s also creating opportunities for people who are in the same boat I am,” he said, admitting the struggle he’s had breaking into that field. “If you’re interested (in the industry), we’ll give you the avenue to work with the companies that you want to work with.”
While he enjoys a little bit of everything in terms of consuming, Ilk said ideally, when he’s looking for flower or dabs, he prefers a terpene profile that’s evenly balanced with myrcene and limonene.
“My all-time favorite strain, they don’t have it here in Maryland, is OG Cookies. It’s a cross between OG Kush and Girl Scout Cookie,” Ilk said.
As this interview ends, Ilk gets up from the couch and walks over to a large Monstera deliciosa plant in the living room, which he said he “brought back from the dead.” He finds his garden to be a place of peace and something he spends a lot of time getting lost in, pointing out the other monstera plants in the house and the small garden in his backyard. Like putting a new plant into the soil of his garden, Ilk is putting the same amount of energy and dedication into growing his business.
“I love the art, I love seeing something grow,” he said, looking out at his garden. “I don’t know, I literally see it grow every day in front of my face, and I’m like, I’m doing that.”
