A woman called Marijuana Pepsi from birth says she’ll never change her name – even though she doesn’t smoke weed, or drink fizzy drinks or alcohol.
Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck, 52, was given her name by her mom – who said the name would ‘take her around the world’ due to its originality.
Growing up, Marijuana said she would be questioned on the moniker and whispered about – and people assumed her mother took drugs or was in prison, which is untrue.
Marijuana has a PhD in Higher Educational Leadership, works at Community College of Baltimore County, and is founder of Action as Empowerment Center for Change.
She has always been asked why she hasn’t changed her name – or been told that she should change it.
People are sometimes so uncomfortable saying the moniker that they would nickname her Mary – even when she asked them not to.
She isn’t a fan of pop such as Pepsi, and she has never smoked weed – although she gets approached by marijuana companies “all the time” asking to work with her.
The academic said she’ll never change it – to make a point that you can’t judge someone by their name alone.
Marijuana, who lives near Live Oak, Florida, said: “Classmates and even teachers would whisper and come up to me asking if it was my real name.
“I would overhear people spectulating if my mother was a ‘crackhead’ – I still have people say that to this day.
“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.
“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.
“It’s my superpower because I don’t have to live within the expectations of others – people think things about me based on my name but I define success on my own terms.”
Marijuana, now mom to son, Isaac Sawyer, 21, grew up fielding questions about her name every day.
She would get whispered about and hear school parents asking each other “what kind of mother would name her child Marijuana?”
They would even suggest her late mother, Brandy ‘Maggie’ Johnson, was a hard drug user, or a criminal.
But Marijuana said her mother was neither – and selected the name because it would make her daughter stand out and be a “force in the world.”
Marijuana is unsure herself why her middle name, Pepsi, was chosen – although assumes it is to make the name even more unique.
She has had job applications declined, and had people suggest she shouldn’t be allowed to work in education despite her extensive qualifications – all on the basis of her name.
As an accomplished director and academic, even people who are aware of her academic achievements tell her when they meet her that she’s “nothing like I thought you’d be.”
As she grew up, she would be asked if people could call her ‘Mary’ or nicknames or abbreviations, but only accepts being called her full first name.
She explained this is because she isn’t ashamed of the name – even if it makes others uncomfortable.
Marijuana said: “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.
“It’s a problem, but it’s not my problem.”
Marijuana is asked daily if she does drugs or drinks alcohol – which she doesn’t and has never.
She is often asked if she drinks Pepsi too – which she doesn’t.
She said: “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’.
“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.”
