Woman named ‘Marijuana Pepsi’ faces job discrimination: ‘It’s a problem, but…’

A US woman named Marijuana Pepsi admits that her unique name can lead to challenges in daily life, but she has no intention of changing it. Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck, 52, was given her name by her mother who hoped it would help her stand out. And it does, but not always in a good way.
According to the New York Post, Marijuana has a PhD in Higher Educational Leadership, works at Community College of Baltimore County. Despite her stellar credentials, she has faced discrimination in the job market.
Marijuana Pepsi revealed to the publication that she had job applications declined because of her name. Some critics have gone so far as to suggest that she should not be allowed to work in education at all because of her name.
“When people find out my name, they ask my nickname instead. I tell them if calling me Marijuana isn’t comfortable, they can call me Dr Vandyck,” says the 52-year-old woman.
“I always knew I would get a PhD as I’ve dedicated my life to education – and I thought if people would be calling me Marijuana Pepsi, I’ll be Dr Marijuana Pepsi.”
Dr Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck does not smoke weed, and neither does she drink Pepsi.
“People don’t believe me when I say I’ve never smoked weed – because ‘there’s no way someone called Marijuana isn’t a smoker,’” she revealed
“I do get hit up by marijuana companies, but I wouldn’t do anything with them unless it was centred around education. I just get high on life.”
For all her life, Marijuana has met people who whisper her name instead of saying it out loud. Some have even speculated that her mother was an addict. “Classmates and even teachers would whisper and come up to me asking if it was my real name.
“I would overhear people speculating if my mother was a ‘crackhead’ – I still have people say that to this day,” she revealed.
But she says her mother was not an addict, she simply chose the name so her daughter could stand out and be a “force in the world.”
But Marijuana Pepsi is not ashamed of her name and has no plans of changing it.
“I won’t answer to a different name to appease someone who is clearly in their head about what they think it means to call me my own name,” she says. “It’s a problem, but it’s not my problem.”