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October 3, 2024 31 mins

On The Revel, Co-Founders Discuss Legal Cannabis Dispensaries, Revelry Festival Day 1 & 2 + More

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up as way up with Angela Yee and I
mean way up, like up really really high.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
And we have the founders of on the Revel.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
We have Lulu Sway here, and we had Jacobe Holland
thank you guys for joining us.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Thank you an honor.

Speaker 4 (00:16):
Super excited to be here with you.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Edgelin, Well listen, so am I and I just want
to get into this like right away because.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'm going to be joining you this weekend and this
on the.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Revel, This Revel re event is a huge deal, and
this is all about cannabis business to business operations. This
is a great way for people to connect, but people
who also are this has this is a very inclusive
event as well. Right, So let's talk about this started
eight years ago, if I'm not mistaken, twenty sixteen, all

(00:46):
years eight years ago, and think about what the cannabis
industry was like eight years ago in New York to
where we are today.

Speaker 5 (00:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, So back then, there's actually just a medical program
that TOPS had like one hundred thousand people at that point.
And Lulu and I had both been working at cannabis
companies in other states. So when we connected in New York,
we were both living out here, and it was like
there was nothing that really kind of had the true

(01:14):
reflection of like New York's culture.

Speaker 5 (01:15):
When we would go to.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
An event, there was a lot of suits and finance bros.
And like, you know, I'm a half black male, I
was in my twenties, was a Chinese woman, and like,
we just have a different experience with cannabis and our community,
and so when we would go to these events, it
just felt like we weren't reflected, right, And that was
so early in New York's legalization process that you know,
we've kind of grown with the industry and it's cool

(01:38):
to see that, Like the industry doesn't have to be
all finance bros. Like this is cannabis, we're talking about
smoking weed. Like there's people every type that want to
be in part of this industry and there's space for them.

Speaker 5 (01:49):
So that was kind of like our whole goal for me.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Know.

Speaker 6 (01:50):
He would also say, it's like all the conferences we
went to or mail Paleman stale right, And that was
pretty much a really true reflection, especially back in twenty sixteen.
And when we met. We're both nerds, Like our whole
team are nerds. Love we're total nerds. So I'm a
ux designer and researchers by trade. Jacoby's a mathematician, Peter

(02:12):
on our team's a neuroscientist. Saki is an advocate activist.
Jason from our team architected the m RTA the bill.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
He's a human rights lawyer.

Speaker 6 (02:22):
So you've got a bunch of nerds who are really
passionate about one thing. I think for all of us,
what ties us together is being of service and having
that mission behind everything that we do. And you know,
being very much experienced driven has really allowed us to
like attract people along the way that are also like that.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
And that's how we started.

Speaker 6 (02:43):
That's how you know, On the Rebel came to be
in twenty sixteen and.

Speaker 4 (02:47):
We plugged away.

Speaker 6 (02:48):
And back then there was a lot of events in
New York around around activism, around you know, finance and investment,
but there really wasn't people talking about what was happening
on the ground.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
And that's where Jacobe came from Colorado.

Speaker 6 (03:01):
I came from the Washington market, and we just brought
people that we fucked with.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Can I see that?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Leep?

Speaker 5 (03:08):
You?

Speaker 4 (03:08):
You know, so people people.

Speaker 6 (03:10):
That we met in other markets that we really loved
and you know, had the same same ethos. So we
just started bringing them to New York and inviting them
to speak to New Yorkers because New Yorkers.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
Do business different. Yeah, it's not the same.

Speaker 6 (03:23):
You know, people here want to shake hands, look at you,
look at you in the eye. And we just started
seating the people, the good people that we loved to
come into New York and and here we are.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Well, Lulu, lista with you. What is your personal background
with marijuana?

Speaker 6 (03:37):
Oh, so my back, my background is a little bit different.
I'm probably one of the only Asian families where people
are My family's okay with cannabis because I'm an immigrant.
We landed here in the eighties to Eujune, Oregon, and
my parents had no idea what Americans were like because
you know, we're from northern China, but there's no exposure.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
To the West.

Speaker 6 (03:59):
And the people that took us in to teach us
about culture, to teach my parents English, your babies had me.
They're all cannabis growers, and I'll call them distributors. So
I grew up with the aunties and uncles who were
already you know, I guess quote unquote legacy. So I've had,
you know, influence of the plant since I was a kid.

(04:21):
As soon as we landed in America, and when I
was curious about cannabis, my aunt actually went and got
it for me, so I was thirteen. She was like, look,
I want to know you're having good product. I want
to know that you're could be safe. So I would
rather watch your ass than have you go out and
do with your friends. So she gave me eight bong
hits at thirteen.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
I think I think she was.

Speaker 6 (04:46):
I think she was trying to do the like, let's
get you so sick that you don't like it so.

Speaker 4 (04:51):
You don't do it again. It kind of had the
opposite effect.

Speaker 6 (04:54):
So it's been, you know, part of my life for
a very long time. In Eugene, Oregon, where it's very
hippie dippy, there was a lot of use around using
it as medicine, not just something social.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
So okay, so you didn't grow up necessarily with this
stigma around it at.

Speaker 6 (05:09):
All at all, So you know, and it's I think
really the fact that my parents are hardcore Chinese like communists,
dragons are cool with, are cool with, you know, cannabis
is pretty fucking rare, and that just speaks to me
how community can really help destigmatize because then you have,

(05:32):
you know, the families start being okay with it, and
then all of a sudden, the families within the community
you start being okay with it, and then the community starts,
you know, having a different approach.

Speaker 4 (05:40):
So I'm a.

Speaker 6 (05:41):
Huge believer in being able to bring community together. Just
like this is why we were having you on our
show is you're such a huge philanthropist and everything you
do has been around community and expanding things, and.

Speaker 4 (05:55):
So where we're so stoked to finally have you.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
And I'm excited that I'm able to beat the Jacobe
wespend your experience.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
You know. So I'm originally from Colorado, and like she said,
I'm a nerd. I was a math major and when
I was kind of halfway through college, one of my
friend's mom was the CEO of a cannabis company there.
And so this is probably like twenty thirteen, this is
pretty new. It was adult use and it was an

(06:24):
opportunity for me with an engineering degree to like actually
get hands on and like learn how the tables are
designed to you know, optimize, And you know, I had
been around cannabis. I was kind of a good kid
in high school, but my family were foster parents, so
we brought in all kinds of kids that were just
going through a lot of things, and oftentimes you would

(06:45):
see how, just like getting in trouble with the law,
a lot of times, cannabis could just like put you
in a tough situation and it propels.

Speaker 5 (06:53):
So I've been around that.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
I honestly didn't think too much about this as a career,
and by working at that that particular spot.

Speaker 5 (07:01):
It was called mindful.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
I had found out around the same time that my
uncle was sick with cancer and he lived out here
in New York, and the one thing that really helped
him get through all his keemo was cannabis.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
So that's the same thing with my uncle when you
get cancer, Okay.

Speaker 5 (07:17):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
And like you'll see a lot of people that are
kind of anti cannabis once you need it or you're
desperate to try things. Somebody in family, Yeah, completely completely.
So it was starting to get not too sustainable for
him to go get product on his own or like
interact with other people. So I'll just say that I
magically made sure that he had what he needed in

(07:40):
New York. And then in twenty sixteen he was in hospice.
I came to take care of him in his final months,
and I had no intention of being in New York.
I was just like, you know, uncle, I'll be here
whatever you need. And I didn't realize that going through
that experience with him would bring me into New York

(08:02):
and like build this whole community of people that were
passionate about cannabis. And you know, he passed three months
after I came, but it just, you know, part of
his legacy I think of is kind of my own story.
It kind of put me into this world where you
know that I met Lulu a couple months later, and
you know, Peter probably like six seven months later, and

(08:22):
this whole New York cannabis community really came together and
we've seen the beauty. So like I was working in
the industry at that point when I came to New
York met all these people. It was clear that all
of the community that was out here were either legacy
operators kind of doing it on the low, or people
from the finance side kind of putting money into companies
in California. But like, we needed to show people like

(08:45):
the legal game in New York if we're going to
build like a sustainable new economy of like legal operators
that looked like us.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
You know, that's important to me just to hear about
both of your backgrounds and experiences, because to your point,
there are a lot of people people getting into this
business and strictly thinking about it from a financial point
of view, where they may have been against it prior.
They may not use it or really know anything about
cannabis or any of the products around that, but they

(09:14):
want to make some money. And there's a lot of people,
like we stated, who were really affected by the laws,
who really use it, but somehow they're not able to
be included in the way that they should be. You know,
people's lives and families were affected by cannabis laws. And
so just to hear both of your stories and to
also understand why it's so important that something like on

(09:36):
the level exists. When you guys started in twenty sixteen,
how many people, I mean, the first one were actually
really small. We were called the Cannabis Tech.

Speaker 6 (09:45):
Group because that doesn't sound funn Yeah, we're both in tech,
and we might because we were both we both had
tech platforms that we wanted to bring to life, and
it was an easy lift for us to use hack
to drop into cannabis because that's something that we were
very comfortable with and saw how it could be helpful.

(10:06):
So our first one, I think we had twelve speakers
and I think one hundred and fifty people showed up. Okay, yeah,
so it was it started off just amazing. We're just
surprised at how many friends from other markets were like, sure,
we'll drop into New York and talk to the people.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
So that first event, I remember like we were I
think we both put in five hundred dollars. We're at
like a little coworking space and we.

Speaker 4 (10:29):
Got the spot for free because Jakobe was doing their it.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
Yeah, exactly like you gotta make it work. You gotta
make it work. And I remember a woman came up
to me after that event like crying, and she was
a lawyer in the field. She'd been to many different
like cannabis events, and she was like, this is a
type of information and community that we needed in New York.
And I was like, whoa Lulu, Like, I think we're

(10:51):
onto something like this is important. And so then we
rebranded we kind of really thought about it, put some
energy behind it, but like, yeah, it was just like
people were really receptive to this small little meetup group
that we put together and then we've kind of just
grown it from there.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
And we Maps is also a big sponsor for you guys.
We Maps have been around for quite some time. I
remember that super early on.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, they've been clutched. I mean, so we had kind
of grown organically until about twenty twenty, like everybody else
that had an event company like we just shut down.
It wasn't working, and you know, we did some online
stuff and you know that was all good, but we
wanted to come out with a splash after you know,
the most intense part of the pandemic.

Speaker 5 (11:33):
So this would have been.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Like early twenty twenty one, we had an event and
that's the first time that we Maps got involved. We
kind of pitched them this idea, like we want to
create like an experience that like really attracts these different
communities that normally are not at the conference. And that's
you know, we want to bring in the DJs. We
want to bring in like good food, like not just like.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
The food, yeah, because you know, you need to eat too.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
And so they really believed in that, and you know,
I'm really grateful that we have partners like we maps
that it was kind of unproven what we were trying
to do there, and they kind of took a chance
on us, and then they've rocked with us for the
last like three or four years now.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
And we've also been watching a lot that's been happening.
As you know, I think some people were cautious too,
because you didn't know what the law, how it was
going to actually formulate from when they first said, Okay,
you can have these these dispensaries, but they have to
be legal. And I've seen in the past few months
so many shops that were not legal have been shut down.
How hard is that to get to get your license

(12:35):
to even have a dispensary.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
So there's a couple of things that touch on based
on what you said, Like all of those illegal shops
that popped up, it was a result of the Office
of Cannabis Management deciding that we're not going to criminalize
people for being a part of the cannabis industry, because
then it's like, why do we legalize in the first
place if we're just going to start handcuffing people again,
So the intent of that was great. As a result,

(12:59):
there's a lot of people that took advantage of it
and they were like, oh, well, if you're not going
to arrest me for doing this, I'm just going to
pop up shop without any licensing. So that made it
really tough for the people that did it the right way,
right the people that went to do it the right way,
it was a long it still is a long and
rolling process. It's not cheap.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
It's very involved, you know.

Speaker 6 (13:18):
I think the crux of how challenging it is is
all the paperwork that needs to happen.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
It's the compliance part.

Speaker 6 (13:25):
So like you could have a great brand, you could
have a bunch of customers, but it's the part where
you're reporting to the state and you have to have
your insurance. It's like all the paperwork stuff that's I
think the most challenging. And also stuff that we've experienced
is you know, getting for example, our event this this
coming up is I went to see seventeen different venues

(13:45):
to be able to have a space that's like at
least sixty thousand square feet in New.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
York City and okay, with us as a cannabisity.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, and so that was hard to get people who
would approve correct this event.

Speaker 6 (13:55):
So we're not even touching the plant, so we're ancillary.
But imagine if someone who's trying to open up the
store trying to convince, you know, a landlord to be
cool with them.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, and the community board, you have to go in
front of the board and make sure that they're okay
with it. And yeah, I'm sure like distance from a school,
I'm sure all those things apply to Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
And you also have to remember, like while you're trying
to get your business set up, there's a completely new
agency that's getting stood up for the government. Right, so
there's new staff that they need to hire. They're not
fully staffed appropriately. They're trying to come up with the
new rules based on what they learn from other states,
and sometimes they get that part wrong, right, there are
it systems. Yeah, they're not ready for the influx of

(14:37):
people either. So you have like two you both your
company you're trying to start and this agency and they're
very infant stages both going at the same time, and
so there's like all of these kind of miscues, these
changes of information, lack of information that could be really frustrating,
and you kind of have to bake that into your
business plan from the beginning.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Knowing that there's going to be some challenges.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
And it's.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
So what can we expect from I know, day one
and day two of this two day on the revel
Re events.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
What's day one?

Speaker 6 (15:08):
So Day one is our Buyer's Club, which is our
trade show. So this is our fourth one. This is
where we do heavy vetting, so operators come through. So
this is connecting the stores with the brands and the
cultivators and the distributors and the processors.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
So like we put them all in.

Speaker 6 (15:26):
The room and hopefully all the pos get signed and
you get to, you know, meet the people who've been
talking to on the phone or emailing for months.

Speaker 4 (15:34):
So we have about one hundred and eighty.

Speaker 6 (15:36):
Brands on day one, that's huge, and about two hundred
and fifty retail stores.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
A little like if you think about the way New
York is structured, like half of the dispensaries are in
the New York City area, but majority of the cultivators
are upstate, right right, So if you're a dispensary and
you want to know what you're going to cover or
what you're going to carry on your store. You've got
to go all the way up state and like, if
you're lucky, you're going to see three or four farms

(16:03):
in one day. That's an expensive trip. You know, you're
not at your store operating. And then same thing for
the cultivators and the brands that are upstate. And don't
get me wrong, some are downstate or on Long Island,
but for a lot of them, they got to come
down to the city and they're trying to like hit
everybody rapid fire, and they only have a little bit
of time. So what we've been able to do is
like kind of merge these two worlds right, Like all

(16:24):
of the retailers can be a one spot. You could
check out majority of the operating brands right now, and
like Lulu said, our goal is for you to like
sign pos, like get a contract so you know that
those people are carried on your shelves as soon as
you open.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
It's like the Magic Conventions for fashions.

Speaker 6 (16:39):
Yeah, this is where we've created a space where if
you want to handle business in cannabis New York, you
come to our event, right and it's become almost like
a Debutant's ball in a lot of ways because we've
got new brands, new products, new companies, and they're all
coming to like debut and that's one of the most
beautiful things to see because you know, people, your audience

(16:59):
is is listening to all the news out there seeing
like New York is, it's shitty, nothing's working. But we
get to see firsthand, like there's a really beautiful thing happening.
It's not easy, but no one's giving and uplifting and
highlighting all the operators that are working their ass off
to make this happen, and we get to host them and.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
They're vetted out, which is great because I think that's important.
You know, I got to make sure because I feel
like everybody has a brand. Everybody's trying to but to
go someplace where this has already been I know if
you're here, you're credible.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
I know you've been vetted out.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, and there's going to be other people that can
co sign that have worked with you there.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
So it's a great networking opportunity too.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
I love the feedback that we've gotten this is that
like nine out of ten people are exactly who I need.

Speaker 5 (17:43):
To talk to.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Okay, what do you think about You go to so
many like trade shows or conferences, like you kiss a
lot of frogs to like find the right person because
we vet them, which is stressful and it's so annoying
for us to do it. But when you get there,
you're actually meeting the people that you that you were
supposed to meet.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
You guys like sample a lot of stuff.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Oh of course, we have to look at Peter smiling
over here. We got the sample bag go around for
the under Revel team as I thank you, but.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
If you need me ever, we.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
Need to try some products.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Yeah, all right, and then day two, yeah, Day two
is festival.

Speaker 6 (18:15):
So you know, one of the things that I love
about New York is I always say, like this is
an epicenter of culture, so fashion, music, food, art, everything,
and a lot of my friends in those worlds like
aren't always called into some of the existing cannabis events
because it's you know, it doesn't resonate with them. So

(18:36):
for us, we really wanted we start receeding this concept
at this festival. We've done a couple of block parties
which we've tried to get you to speak out multiple times,
but you've been busy, so this one. We really are
doing one to address to expand the addressable consumer market,
which is increasing our consumers who might be not really heads,

(18:57):
but they're curious.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
So that's where you're coming to speak.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
We have mus we have Jolley Badass, Yeah my Booklyn
Brother Joey Badass is going to be performing.

Speaker 6 (19:05):
So it's our public day, So people who are interested
in cannabis, consumers of cannabis, wanting to learn about how
to enter the cannabis market, as you know, an entrepreneur
or someone that wants to work in the field come through.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
We've got, you know, a beautiful set of speakers.

Speaker 6 (19:21):
You're a keynote speaker, and then Joey Badass So Dallas
and Code of the Kid are going to be performing.

Speaker 5 (19:27):
Yeah to the friend shout out.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Sorry sorry, but I mean, if you think about the
way the legal cannabis industry is in New York right now,
technically a brand can't pop up at a dispensary, so
like you know, you'll see this at like liquor stores
and someone's tastes of wine. You can try it, and
then then the consumer gets to know about you in
a way that maybe they wouldn't have.

Speaker 5 (19:45):
If you were just like a bottle on the shelf.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Right, That's that's a challenge that a lot of the
brands have out here. And then another challenge is if
you're a consumer and you go to a dispensary, it's
pretty overwhelming. There's like a bunch of products of brands
you've never heard of, with all these colors.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
And it's that's true.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Because yeah, yeah, but I really that's.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
When I do really lean on the whoever's working there.

Speaker 5 (20:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
The tenders, right, the butt tenders are so important because
they're really great at, or should be at being able
to give you direction on what it is that you know,
because sometimes you want to be able to get some
products so you can stay awake and clean the house.
Sometimes you want something that's going to help you go
to sleep at night, or to get on a flight
and be like I just want to knock out on
this flight and be relaxed. I want to have to

(20:26):
you know, I don't want to have my mind racing
and thinking about all these different things. And then sometimes
I'll give you some products that are like I never
even would have thought to try this, you know. There's
like these sodas that I've been drinking that have tac
that are amazing And for my friends who maybe don't
necessarily drink and don't necessarily smoke, they'll do that, you know,

(20:47):
and it's a nice Beverages.

Speaker 5 (20:49):
Are the highest growing category.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
It feels like we're used to it, like the alcohol coffee,
Like that's how we're used to kind of bringing in
different like conscious changing.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
It's so amazing to me to see something that was
so stigmatized, that was criminalized that now those very same
people are like, how can I invest in this business?
And I'm doing X, Y and Z even you know
with mushrooms. Mushrooms used to be something that people were
look at you so crazy, like you did what?

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Oh my guy, you're a druggie.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
Now everybody's like, do you have some micro dosi? Micro
dose rooms all the time. It's just the funniest thing
to see how stuff is changing.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yeah, I mean, look, you mentioned the bud tenders. They're
welcome on Saturday. We want them to come through. The
attendees that are just consumers. The whole point of day
two is for you for the attendees to come through
and take their time learning about all the products there.
So you're not like you know when you go in
the spencer and you're overwhelmed, all of a sudden, you

(21:48):
can really get to know the people behind this. Like
you might see a package on the shelf. This is
a small farmer. They're really hustling to try to make
these you know, inventory runs all the time, or these
big brands that have all of this cool, flashy stuff,
Like maybe that's for you, maybe it's not, but the
fact that you have an opportunity to come learn, educate,
you can try product there. We're working with people travel

(22:08):
Agency and do Be. There are retail and delivery partners
so you can see a brand you like and then
you know, put it in an app and we'll deliver
it to you at the event so you can try something.

Speaker 4 (22:19):
There's going to be one hundred and seventy six brands there.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
I feel like this would be a really peaceful event.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
Yeah, we're all gonna be nice and it's amazing, like
versus like alcohol. You see, everybody's just happy, it's just
all love, like it's great.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
I always feel like this is also inexperience that much
like music and sports brings people together, this brings all
different ages, all different ethnicities, like everybody.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
You know, it helps people really bond.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
It's like a through line to all of these other industries,
like we talked about fashion sports, like you're saying, like
cannabis is intersecting in all of these little worlds, and
it's just kind of been on the low for decades
and really in the line like ten years, everybody's starting
to kind of bring it out.

Speaker 5 (23:02):
It's coming to light.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
Like we have one panel that's all former athletes played
in the NFL WNBA, like representing that it's always been happening.
It's just always on the love. And so now we
can kind of bring all those cultures together because we
have this unified you know, cannabis love.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
And I've watched that progress too from you know, you're
getting test that you can't do any anything, you can't
have any weed. But then all of a sudden it
turned into well when you're retired, yeah, you know, it's okay,
and people are investing in businesses. You just can't do
it if you're active because it's frowned upon. Kids are watching.
But now it's turned into more like a I feel
like it's just okay.

Speaker 5 (23:38):
Now if you.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
Look at the the cannabis advocates that are athletes. Most
of them are retired, right, It's like once they're kind
of off that contract, you realize that they're ready to
talk about anything. But it's the one still in a contract.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
Like, yeah, but I feel like that's it's going to
start to change a little, you know.

Speaker 6 (23:55):
So what's really interesting too that you know a lot
of kids are teaching their parents about cannabisiness grandparents, so
it's it's it's really to see like the families that
are having conversations, and you know, and because you're part Chinese,
you know how difficult it is to have anything move

(24:15):
within our culture. But then all of a sudden, like
Grandpa and grandma, Auntie and uncle are open to it
because you know, pain relief, arthritis, all of that.

Speaker 4 (24:25):
The tiger bomb. I think somebody should make tiger bombs.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Gave me tiger bomb last year. That's like our cure
all for everything. Like here's a little tiger bomb.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Just make sure you use that. That's that is a
great idea.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
And then as soon as the grandparents are cool with it,
it just trickles down into and.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
I feel like they don't talk about it necessarily though.
It's just kind of like my brother. So my brother
for the longest, if anybody who knows my brother, he's
the person that he will like actually make stuff like
he's always made like rice, krispy trees and his own
jolly ranswers and done everything like organic cookies whatever. He
can make anything. And so with my family, he'll just

(25:02):
bring stuff over and like my uncle who had can't.
They would be like, where's your brother, because you.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Know, we need him.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
And now everybody's exactly you know, and it's fine, but
they don't necessarily talk about it.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
It's at one spark that starts to make it like
kind of okay, but oh my gosh, my.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Cousin got married and at the wedding it was like
being handed out like yeah, it was just the funniest thing.
So it is nice to see the progress that's come.
And it's a shame to see so many people have
suffered though because of what the law used to be.
But I do really want to see those same people
be able to participate. I know that was allegedly the plan,
so let's just make sure that does happen.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
I think that it's one of the most important things
when it comes to legalizing cannabis. That like first and foremost,
it's like for a social justice reason, Like people shouldn't
be getting locked up over this, right, and if like
that's the foundational thing as well as the fact that
it's a medicine, then we can worry about making money
off it. Yeah, like that that should come second. Third, right,

(26:00):
the problem as we see it from the markets that
we worked in, it became an economic thing immediately, yes,
and then oh, you know what, there's not many black
people in here, let's start a little program, you know,
five years after legalized the exactly, and that's that's such
a hard hield of climate at that point. So the
way it was legalized in New York, the MRTA, like,

(26:21):
like we said, one of our team members kind of
helped write it, Jason Starr, And it was kind of
putting people first. And so you'll see that the first
round of licenses for retail, they call them card licenses.
They've gone through a lot of struggles too. Like I
said earlier, like it wasn't perfect, but we have more
black and brown dispensaries in New York than all of

(26:41):
the other states combined.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
So like it's been a challenge and in the media.
You see that like you know, the program is failing.
There's all these legal shops, but like we also have
done some really really good things and there was automatic
expungement for like nonviolent cannabis offenses, and so like we're
making like really positive strides in New York cannabis. And
I feel like if we're going to have our events
and like glorify like all the cannabis community, it's still

(27:06):
important that we include all the people that built the
demand for this product that people are making money off of.
So we have that in our panels. We have that
included in every part of our program.

Speaker 6 (27:15):
The other part that's really beautiful about what we've done
in New York is that now it's set a standard
for any other market that comes online. It's going to
be written into their initial drafts as well.

Speaker 5 (27:28):
So hopefully, well they should it should be.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
It should be.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
We have a precedent.

Speaker 6 (27:32):
Yeah, they can have some friends that are helping write
for some of the upcoming markets, and that's like they're
texting like who what you need to what needs to
be included?

Speaker 4 (27:40):
Who should we talk to? Like this is really important.

Speaker 6 (27:42):
So it's nice to know that, like you said, it's
set a precedent for future markets and.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
For people who aren't here.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
You guys also do have an online community, So I
want to make sure that anybody who can't make it
this weekend for whatever reason, they can still participate in
and know what's going on with dope people online.

Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely so we you know, from the pandemic,
we kind of had to pivot to doing a lot
of things online. And we have Peter in the room,
our head of content in community, and you know, one
of our core things is like democratizing all the information.
So if you want to start a dispensary, if you
want to, you know, go legit from being an illegal
underground cultivator to.

Speaker 5 (28:20):
Go on you know, above board.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
All the information, all of our speakers, it's free. We
put it all online. And like if you're like, we
have people in our community, they really have like looked
at everything, they've learned all that they can from our content,
and then you know, we're accessible. We try to make
sure that, like we hit us on Instagram, whatever, if
we can help you, we're sending stuff your way.

Speaker 4 (28:38):
Yeah, all of our past speakers are all on YouTube.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
You know what I like to I saw you guys
as finding somebody was like, I'd love to open up
and you guys, sorry, there's another like, yeah, that's Peter.
And there's also a Reverie Buyers Club directory too. Yeah,
and make sure people know about that as well.

Speaker 5 (28:55):
Oh that's the gold.

Speaker 6 (28:57):
So that's been called the Bible because it has it's
the most concentrated information of contact information of all of
our operators in New York. So there's no there's no
directory of database as of yet because everything's kind of
like been piecemealed.

Speaker 4 (29:13):
Sometimes you find an ocum.

Speaker 6 (29:15):
You know, people don't really want their information out there
because you're going to get spammed with all of these things, right,
so you know, we it speaks a lot that people
have trusted us to keep this information specifically for our operators.
So the directory is is something that you get if

(29:35):
you're an exhibitor and if you're a retailler, okay, and
that is purposely for them to do business and make
it easy for them to do business.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
All right, Well, you guys, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
I'm really excited to be there this weekend and a
lot of people are excited that I.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
Will be there this weekend, so I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, you know, this is something that I feel like
for so long, since I was in high school and everything,
that it's been like.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
A dirty little secret that you know. So it's nice
to see how far we've come.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
I know we still have a lot left to do,
but thank you for the work that you guys have
been doing and trying to make sure that this is
something that can be more fair and more equitable for
people and to bring people together, and so the inclusivity
is one of the most important parts of what it
is that we do and to do it the right way,
you know, to go from like you said, from going
from being like maybe one of these illegal shops to

(30:26):
now being able to operate in the right way because
there are people who have.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Been doing this for so long that deserve the opportunity
because they're in it, you know.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah, yeah, Look, I'm really grateful to be here on
your show. Like you've been an amazing advocate just for
all the things that you do in the community, and
like you're the exact type of people that we want
to have on our stage because it shows the precedence
of like the character of the people that we want
to be in this industry. So We're really honored for
you to be participating.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
And how can people get tickets if they still haven't
gotten them and they want to come out.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yeah, to get tickets, go to revelry andy dot com.
You're gonna want to get the Cannabis Festival tickets.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Okay, all right, we'll get a code, right Oh.

Speaker 5 (31:06):
Yeah, yeah, we got to get it. We got a code.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
We got a code way up twenty for twenty percent
off on the Canus festival time.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
I like that, Yeah, servicing people.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
We got twenty is the code way up twenty.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
All right, Well, thank you guys so much. I'm really
looking forward to it. And we got to keep this
conversation going, so we'll keep it, you know, next time.
Every time something happens, I'd love to be able to
tap

Speaker 5 (31:26):
In love it, appreciate you, all right, it's way up
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Angela Yee

Angela Yee

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