Speaker 1: Yeah, what's going on everybody, and welcome to a new
Speaker 1: episode of my canon Cast.
Speaker 2: I'm Cana, Dave and I'm Groovy. On today's episode, we
Speaker 2: have special guests Rebecca LaToya, founders and owners of Collexium.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us, ladies.
Speaker 3: Yay, this is our first five person recorded. This has
Speaker 3: been crazy for me to figure out, but we got
Speaker 3: to go in excited to have everyone here learn about
Speaker 3: Collexium Detroit brand and have their hands a little bit
Speaker 3: of everything. We already got the products on the table demoing,
Speaker 3: but we always like to talk about who we're talking
Speaker 3: to first, so we love to hear how we all
Speaker 3: got into cannabis and just we y'all are people go
Speaker 3: back history?
Speaker 4: Yeah, LaToya, you want me to go first?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 4: All right? So yeah, my name is LaToya Rucker. I'm
Speaker 4: the CEO and co founder of Collexium. I got my
Speaker 4: starting at cannabis through being a caregiver. It had just
Speaker 4: became legal and Michigan and I was definitely not for
Speaker 4: any illegal anything, so it had to be legal for
Speaker 4: me to even take interest. But my grandmother used it
Speaker 4: recreationally and she was getting up in age and having
Speaker 4: a lot of chronic pain and illnesses, and opioids just
Speaker 4: did not work for her body, and so cannabis was
Speaker 4: that alternative, and I was I was able to see
Speaker 4: in real time, like how it can improve somebody's quality
Speaker 4: of life. So that's my why.
Speaker 3: You Recca.
Speaker 5: Cannabis helped me, like as an adult in corporate America,
Speaker 5: deal with things like anxiety and chronic headaches and just
Speaker 5: frustration of being.
Speaker 3: An adult, you know.
Speaker 5: And then my dad, who was a veteran, he struggled
Speaker 5: with a lot of similar things pain management, needed help sleeping.
Speaker 5: So I started researching more natural ways that he could
Speaker 5: achieve those because you know, a lot of older people
Speaker 5: trust the doctors a lot, so they always are going
Speaker 5: to the doctor. And one time I asked him, I said,
Speaker 5: you go to the VA all the time. Why haven't
Speaker 5: you got better? And he could not answer me, and
Speaker 5: I was like, maybe we should research some things that
Speaker 5: could help you get better. And so I just started
Speaker 5: researching like the medicinal parts of cannabis. Because at the
Speaker 5: time Michigan had the caregiver program. Different states like California
Speaker 5: and Colorado, Washington State where had programs and dispensary. So
Speaker 5: I was like Oh, it's an industry, it's something going on,
Speaker 5: and I just start really kind of like lobbying and
Speaker 5: advocating for it. And then Latoy and I met, and
Speaker 5: I really got an opportunity to really learn about the
Speaker 5: cultivation side of it and like the plant science and
Speaker 5: it all really it all really connected. And then the
Speaker 5: last thing I'll say is, you know, after I learned
Speaker 5: all this, the plant is healing, and then I saw
Speaker 5: these grows and I was like, oh shit, this is official.
Speaker 5: I was like, but why is it illegal? Like that
Speaker 5: is what led me to collection, which we'll get into.
Speaker 5: It's like it was so much positive, but the government
Speaker 5: was trying to make it seem so bad and I
Speaker 5: just couldn't figure it out because I'm a logical person
Speaker 5: by trade, coming from like engineering, so I'm like one
Speaker 5: plus one is two, but this is not too It's
Speaker 5: not what is going on. So that just led me
Speaker 5: down this journey.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for that.
Speaker 3: And I like that he came from two different backgrounds,
Speaker 3: probably complimentary to the brand itself, you know, because we
Speaker 3: are very much the same. Like he's very much marketing
Speaker 3: and business and I'm very much creative and on this,
Speaker 3: like on all this tech stuff as y'all see. So
Speaker 3: I think that can build a stronger brand.
Speaker 5: Absolutely definitely.
Speaker 6: And the passion for the medical side too, and taking
Speaker 6: care of your family, you know, that's huge.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had so many family members that, you know.
Speaker 4: Once my grandmother like got a hold of it, she
Speaker 4: spread the words all her friends, and I started making
Speaker 4: literally anything somebody would ask. I would try to make
Speaker 4: pizza infused with cannabis, bombs and fused with cannabis. Like,
Speaker 4: I tried it all, you know. I love that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I kind of want some pizza infused. That sounds good.
Speaker 3: What was so, how long have you been in growing
Speaker 3: and the involved with like actually the cultivation.
Speaker 4: Side, so from a caregiver perspective, says too that and nine.
Speaker 4: But we got our cultivation license around two years ago.
Speaker 2: Okay, is that when Collectium opened.
Speaker 4: So we started doing more marketing back in the pandemic. Like,
Speaker 4: so we launched officially in twenty nineteen, yeah right, but.
Speaker 5: We had products on the shelf in twenty twenty.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So your retail license, uh, not your retail license, your
Speaker 2: cultivation license. What kind of uh do you mind me asking?
Speaker 2: How do you like do you guys grow as it
Speaker 2: you were kind of like nutrients used or anything, like.
Speaker 5: All right, this is Latoya's time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I straight up like I could put my
Speaker 3: mic down as well. That suggests you all too, We'll
Speaker 3: listen in now. I love Edge because this is so
Speaker 3: informative though, you know.
Speaker 2: Because I think it's a game changer for you to
Speaker 2: have your own flower inside the retail stop absolutely store
Speaker 2: instead of somebody else's.
Speaker 3: He vertically integrated. I feel like it's very powerful.
Speaker 2: I think I think it's almost like a not a must,
Speaker 2: but it just helps you so much better. And if
Speaker 2: you fall in love with the flower, you're going to
Speaker 2: continue going to the store and supporting that's a brand over.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And like I just came from retail, and like
Speaker 5: we talked about, we come from different backgrounds, so I'm
Speaker 5: really good at selling and being like out there, and
Speaker 5: LaToya likes to do more of the you know, behind
Speaker 5: the scenes stuff that I could never really do, you know,
Speaker 5: So it works out. But yeah, it helps when I'm
Speaker 5: in the store and I get to talk about, you know,
Speaker 5: we grew this weed, right, and I get to tell
Speaker 5: them about where it came from and how it makes
Speaker 5: them feel I get to show on pictures in my
Speaker 5: phone of the live plants and the cultivation. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: I've done that.
Speaker 4: The table. It's definitely farm the table. Yeah. So as
Speaker 4: a caregiver, I started off using canna. Like cana to
Speaker 4: me was just a really clean neutrient line. And again
Speaker 4: I'm coming from like a medical perspective, so I did
Speaker 4: a lot of research on all the different type of nutrients.
Speaker 4: I've had advanced hydro you know, throwing you all kind
Speaker 4: of stuff and use this for you know, the next
Speaker 4: six months. And it's like, I really liked how clean
Speaker 4: canda was and just use that. And so as you scale,
Speaker 4: you're like, okay, affordability, something that doesn't cost so much.
Speaker 4: And so Psycho to me is that's what we use.
Speaker 4: Is very similar to Canada as far as how many
Speaker 4: parts you use, and just in different phases of flower
Speaker 4: and how you give the plant a little bit of
Speaker 4: p K or you give a little the plant, you know,
Speaker 4: different things during those flowers.
Speaker 2: I've seen those nutrients out there. Yeah, I've heard of
Speaker 2: canon too back in the day as well. A lot
Speaker 2: of growers you're using that impact.
Speaker 4: So we grow in coco one to two gallons uh,
Speaker 4: you know drip feed. We use HPS ninety ninety lights
Speaker 4: throughout our facility, full hps. HPS.
Speaker 3: That's cool. I love it because that's where like that,
Speaker 3: that's where it came from. You know, you see this
Speaker 3: big LED bush you know all the time everywhere. I've
Speaker 3: seen actually checkerboards.
Speaker 4: Now, yeah, you know that's new.
Speaker 3: And I love people going HPS for as long it
Speaker 3: took them forever to switch over.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I use LEDs now. I was HPS for the longest,
Speaker 2: but I'm just like a small time.
Speaker 4: And yeah, but we're considering LED because you know, you're
Speaker 4: trying to save money. The costs of cannabis in Michigan is,
Speaker 4: you know, completely plummeted, so you have to figure out
Speaker 4: how to grow an economical pound and that may require
Speaker 4: you to you know, switch over to LEDs and really
Speaker 4: kind of figure out some ways to cut costs but
Speaker 4: still have a quality product.
Speaker 2: Right, absolutely, absolutely, And I say that's great. I love
Speaker 2: that you come from a medical aspect because when you're
Speaker 2: coming from a medical aspect, you're going to you want
Speaker 2: the best product for your consumer to try, and you
Speaker 2: don't see that as often with a lot of these brands.
Speaker 2: There's something. I mean, there's a lot that we see
Speaker 2: it with, but there's some brands, like the big brands,
Speaker 2: that they don't care about it. And when you show
Speaker 2: the passion with it, it comes out within the product
Speaker 2: and I absolutely love that. Do you have any specific
Speaker 2: like strains that are like collectium like people's like the
Speaker 2: ones you too, like your name brand.
Speaker 4: Yeah, people really know. It's like for our Morascottie cake.
Speaker 5: Our cream, our pink pea which is pink pussy. Some stores,
Speaker 5: you know, some stores are sensitive. Some stores, you know.
Speaker 3: I remember there was a string called wet Pea out there.
Speaker 4: Tricks or whatever, and dog Ship.
Speaker 5: Those are three most distinct.
Speaker 2: Scotti cake sounds good, like that.
Speaker 5: Sounds That's been one of our That was one of
Speaker 5: our first strains we had on shelves. So it's more
Speaker 5: of our one of our o G strains that we
Speaker 5: bring back sometimes.
Speaker 2: So you're doing, you guys do a different R and
Speaker 2: D then I'm assuming.
Speaker 5: So recently, you know, as a as a salesperson, I'm
Speaker 5: going to the growers like I need new flavors, you know,
Speaker 5: but also as a smoker, you know, LaToya is more
Speaker 5: of an edible lover and so I have to sometimes
Speaker 5: her feedback of what flower people like. You know, I'm
Speaker 5: more of flower power. I love cannabis and how versatile
Speaker 5: it is. But I mean I'm a flower power child.
Speaker 3: All right, let's let's go through the table here. So
Speaker 3: we got flower flower edibles is your choice? Your choice? Wow,
Speaker 3: that's awesome. I love that. That's such like sinus issues.
Speaker 3: That makes sense. And then okay, summer you flower hash
Speaker 3: or that dabs your hybrid. Personally, I am Dabs. I
Speaker 3: am team Dabs. I don't know, I just love it
Speaker 3: so much. I love it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, okay, I got them, all right, Yeah, we want.
Speaker 4: To do that. We want to get into the live
Speaker 4: rocks and gang. We think we got some strands that
Speaker 4: will definitely wash you know that can can try homes
Speaker 4: because people love our trim. You know, they'll smoke our trim.
Speaker 4: So it's like, if it's coming out like that and trim,
Speaker 4: I can't what it would be like for hash.
Speaker 2: Definitely, I would highly recommend trying to. I mean that's
Speaker 2: a new I mean not new, but a lot of
Speaker 2: people are enjoying the hashtags are enjoying it.
Speaker 3: I think flower will always kind of be king. It
Speaker 3: would always be the top notch. Everyone's going to flower
Speaker 3: because it creates all the rest. Right, it's the plant,
Speaker 3: but cultiv that's why cultivations like so important. But people
Speaker 3: have got so good at washing like that because it's
Speaker 3: become more common knowledge. I feel like and I'm just
Speaker 3: so impressed with some of the turps that you can get.
Speaker 4: You know, it smells just like the plant, Like literally
Speaker 4: you can't tell the difference. So I think that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2: Maybe be a little bit more potent to sometimes that's the.
Speaker 3: Big fan. So we got a little bit of your products,
Speaker 3: so you're vertically integrated. You grow what we talked about
Speaker 3: your edibles. We see you got like strawberry shortcake. Here,
Speaker 3: let's talk about some of your products like outside of
Speaker 3: the oh.
Speaker 5: So, one of the reasons we started Collectionium is because
Speaker 5: of professional women the tway and I professionals and entrepreneurs
Speaker 5: prior to cannabis, Like, we noticed that cannabis in a
Speaker 5: professional setting was like stigmatized. Like people could call happy
Speaker 5: hour and get drunk, but nobody would, you know, back right,
Speaker 5: you know, but they smell a joint outside just the
Speaker 5: whiff of a joint, and it's like all hell yeah,
Speaker 5: you're a druggie. Do you need somebody to talk to?
Speaker 5: And I came from corporate engineering, but I always prefer cannabis.
Speaker 5: I actually don't even drink alcohol. I haven't for fifteen years.
Speaker 5: It's just my choice. I don't really like it. I'm
Speaker 5: a smoker, you know. I like plant medicine. I like
Speaker 5: other plants to get into that, you know, get I
Speaker 5: like plant medicine plans fun. So we started Collexium because
Speaker 5: we wanted a cannabis brand that accepted all people, but
Speaker 5: that women really could see themselves in, because a lot
Speaker 5: of times women were even stigmatized for smoking. I remember
Speaker 5: one time I was dating this guy and I smoked
Speaker 5: in front of him, and he was like, Oh, that's
Speaker 5: so unattractive, and I was like, that's the last time
Speaker 5: I'm gonna see you.
Speaker 3: Really.
Speaker 5: Yes, it's you know.
Speaker 3: It's almost like the opposite for David, here's the door.
Speaker 5: Especially back in the day, you know, it was you know,
Speaker 5: smoking is more of like a manly thing. And I know,
Speaker 5: you guys can admit, even in the legal industry, a
Speaker 5: lot of brands are very manly.
Speaker 3: You know, it's a male dominant industry, right it needs
Speaker 3: a shift.
Speaker 5: But that's how it is, right, and we just wanted
Speaker 5: to add like a classy touch with a little bit
Speaker 5: of femininity, not like really, but like, you know, a
Speaker 5: little bit. And so the name Collexium, even in this
Speaker 5: even in the name of it, is talking about the
Speaker 5: female part of the plant. So anyways, so a lot
Speaker 5: of our products are marketed towards women. So for like,
Speaker 5: our gummy line is dessert flavor, because we know a
Speaker 5: lot of women, you know, they like desert. I mean
Speaker 5: a lot of people do, but oftentimes, you know, a
Speaker 5: woman is mad, giver her, you know, a piece of chocolate.
Speaker 5: So we got you know, all dessert flavored gummies because
Speaker 5: also we didn't see that out there. We always see
Speaker 5: watermelon gummies and strawberry Kiwi, but we never saw each
Speaker 5: cobbler or strawberry shortcase.
Speaker 4: It's like Chokola factory, the Willie Walker and the chocolate
Speaker 4: factory effect. You know, it's actually the lasting god stopper.
Speaker 4: Like that last flavor is the dessert, right. It tastes
Speaker 4: just like blueberry pie.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and all of our flowers, I mean, we got
Speaker 5: some good marketing campaigns out there that's like make you
Speaker 5: hungry and then all our flowers, like our pre rolls
Speaker 5: are well. We always do effect base because even when
Speaker 5: I'm in the store, I always ask somebody, how do
Speaker 5: you want to feel? You know, and so instead of
Speaker 5: exactly yeah, you know, some of our test high, but
Speaker 5: but most of our strains are very flavorful, high turfy.
Speaker 5: And you know, people don't really you know, they shop
Speaker 5: the nose, nose, and a lot of people shop with
Speaker 5: their nose, you.
Speaker 3: Know, I've been I love that nose nose. I could
Speaker 3: trust my terms for days, because like you just know,
Speaker 3: if it's it's like food right, if it smells good,
Speaker 3: it's gonna taste good to you, you know, hopefully, but
Speaker 3: you know, if it's cooked right and it's grown right.
Speaker 3: But I think all your nose is the best, you know,
Speaker 3: that's the best way to go.
Speaker 5: And we don't have that issue.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of issues in the legal cannabis market,
Speaker 5: the price, the politics, the stigma, blah blah blah. But
Speaker 5: we can grow some good weed. You know. I'm at
Speaker 5: the stores all the time. I talk to buyers all
Speaker 5: the time. As soon as I open the bag, they like,
Speaker 5: oh yeah, that's that gap, you know, because I think
Speaker 5: you know, LaToya and the cultivation team. We don't cut
Speaker 5: corners because you know, I think because of our background
Speaker 5: and we also we want to be different. It's a
Speaker 5: lot of weed out here, especially in Michigan, is a
Speaker 5: whole lot of brands and we and when people smoke
Speaker 5: our we we we want to we want them to
Speaker 5: have a different experience. We want them to smoke and
Speaker 5: be like hmm, this is this is clean, this is this.
Speaker 3: Is smooth good.
Speaker 5: So yeah, you know so, and we oftentimes get that feedback.
Speaker 5: So yeah, dessert Edibles effect line. You know, a lot
Speaker 5: of femininity, but still a lot of gas. A lot
Speaker 5: of guys fuck with us.
Speaker 3: So it sounds like yo, folks on aesthetics a little bit.
Speaker 3: You just kind of make it look nice too as
Speaker 3: well as good quality smoke. Yes, and when you talk
Speaker 3: about all your products, where where's your shop?
Speaker 5: At? Gattet in Southwest Detroit And then the majority of
Speaker 5: the stores that we're in are in the Detroit area
Speaker 5: as well, because we do do wholesale as well of
Speaker 5: our problems, so most we're mostly in the Detroit area.
Speaker 5: A couple of suburbs, but yeah, we find us on
Speaker 5: we maps.
Speaker 3: Yeah there you go there, you go, there, you go.
Speaker 3: I have a question, and you know, because especially we
Speaker 3: just talked about male dominant industry as a female owned
Speaker 3: company as well as people of color, what adversities have
Speaker 3: you like faced or what I mean?
Speaker 2: Okay that I get, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, what haven't you faced? I guess, I guess what
Speaker 3: challenges have you seen in any advice you could give
Speaker 3: to other women or any people of color going in
Speaker 3: this direction? You know, because I feel like a lot
Speaker 3: you know, it's it's easy to learn, people have been
Speaker 3: through it.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sounds your reaction volumes, so you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: I think us starting by telling us, telling y'all our
Speaker 5: history is really the reason we're still doing this because
Speaker 5: the amount of barriers that we have overcame and are
Speaker 5: still overcoming. It's crazy, you know, just to grow we
Speaker 5: legally they make it like being Rocket Sciences. Probably being
Speaker 5: a Rocket Sciences is probably easier than what we doing.
Speaker 5: So so you know, to summarize it, it's really expensive.
Speaker 5: And when I mean really expensive, it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 5: You know, the startup costs, yes, but just maintaining the business,
Speaker 5: the margins are very tight, and like we kind of
Speaker 5: alluded to earlier. Like the marketing is a little messed
Speaker 5: up too. You know, a lot of people out here
Speaker 5: are just you know, want to buy cheap weed, which
Speaker 5: drives the prices down. They want to h C chasing too, right,
Speaker 5: They want to they want to buy thirty five percent
Speaker 5: weed for five dollars a gram. And I'm just like, bro.
Speaker 3: Like what the fuck? It's crazy because like we used
Speaker 3: to be like when you paid a little extra, you
Speaker 3: got you knew you were getting some quality, you know,
Speaker 3: like it was almost like a flex to pay more.
Speaker 3: Now it's like I want a two dollars pre roll
Speaker 3: infuse please, Like yeah, with what right?
Speaker 5: It's just the trend, the trend of the of the
Speaker 5: the marketing of the industry and stuff like that. It's
Speaker 5: also a barrier that we are overcoming now because when
Speaker 5: we first got into this game, you know, the margins
Speaker 5: were a little better, so it made it made sense
Speaker 5: because we're running a business. Yeah, we passion and all
Speaker 5: that stuff, but we running a business. We got bills
Speaker 5: and employees, so you know, the margins is tight, and uh,
Speaker 5: the education is just not really there, you know. So
Speaker 5: if I could summarize it, funding, the trends and just
Speaker 5: the strict regulations to you know, we've had bank accounts
Speaker 5: shut down, social media accounts flag I mean, just all
Speaker 5: type of stuff jump through just to grow and sell weed.
Speaker 4: I would just say, I mean to piggyback off what
Speaker 4: she's said about being a rocket science. It's like, just
Speaker 4: imagine the hardest thing you've ever done in life, and
Speaker 4: this is it. This is the most challenging thing that
Speaker 4: I've ever faced. So I would say to people, like,
Speaker 4: you know, don't rush into it right, build it slow
Speaker 4: and and really focus on being authentic, but also just
Speaker 4: being a business person and trying to keep your overhead
Speaker 4: as low as possible when people shoot high numbers at you, like, no,
Speaker 4: just it. It's reality. The reality is, like she said,
Speaker 4: the margins are thin, so you got to be thinking long,
Speaker 4: long term. This isn't a get rich quick, it's not
Speaker 4: a you know, money overnight type thing. This is a dedication.
Speaker 4: It's a discipline. And at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: like we are farmers and look at how farmers are
Speaker 4: treated in this country.
Speaker 3: It's you.
Speaker 4: It is the backbone. You have to you have to
Speaker 4: eat to live and they're to me, a yeah, And
Speaker 4: so it's like one of those things where you just
Speaker 4: have to constantly, like put nothing but positive energy into
Speaker 4: you so that the situation, whatever it is you face
Speaker 4: on a daily basis, it doesn't get the best of
Speaker 4: you because it for some people that could. And I
Speaker 4: can see why people walk away, you know, I understand.
Speaker 4: I empathize. I wouldn't have had this story three years ago, right,
Speaker 4: But really, just like us putting our feet out there
Speaker 4: and going scaling our business model, it has taught us
Speaker 4: a lot, and I think we're stronger for it at
Speaker 4: the end of the day.
Speaker 2: It's good, that is true.
Speaker 3: Sometimes when you go through those tough times, it builds
Speaker 3: that strength up. You know, it's real, that's really man.
Speaker 5: Let me get out, let me say. It's just very hard,
Speaker 5: you know. And on the business standpoint, a lot of
Speaker 5: times I think about is it even worth it? Because
Speaker 5: there's several other industries that you can go to and
Speaker 5: and make money, make a living, you know, and a
Speaker 5: lot of US cannabis professionals we stressed out work life
Speaker 5: balance is what is that? Is that Japanese?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 5: So I think the reason that I'm stealing it and
Speaker 5: maybe LaToya too, is really the people that we are helping.
Speaker 5: We consistently get DMS messages about that's fire, that's helped
Speaker 5: me with my headaches, with my cramps, et cetera, et cetera,
Speaker 5: and that is what keeps pushing us forward. And you know,
Speaker 5: maybe one day the business part will catch up. But
Speaker 5: you know, also I also try to have some optimism.
Speaker 5: And you know, a lot of brands are consolidating right now,
Speaker 5: but we see us expanding and growing and doing more
Speaker 5: products and doing merch and stuff. So that's positive that
Speaker 5: even though this is hard as fuck, you know, but it's.
Speaker 3: All about the model. You have, a lot of these
Speaker 3: business came in buying huge and just kept stacking licenses.
Speaker 3: Now something five thousand plants that they barely can maintain.
Speaker 3: So now their quality goes down and then all of
Speaker 3: a sudden the price drops eighty percent, and now how
Speaker 3: are you going to keep that overhead? Like if you
Speaker 3: scale correctly, We've seen businesses be okay throughout this even
Speaker 3: you know, but they're only five people operations with machines
Speaker 3: helping them. It's not seventy employees with six thousand plants
Speaker 3: that don't even taste good. Because then when you gain that,
Speaker 3: they're gaining all those numbers. It's like your quality goes right,
Speaker 3: you got to really scale correctly. Yeah, yeah, how big
Speaker 3: is your team over at?
Speaker 4: So on the cultivation side, I would say for four
Speaker 4: of us that are there most times within six you know, including.
Speaker 3: Part time you got have helped trimming and other like
Speaker 3: smaller Kingston Okay, cool harvest activities.
Speaker 4: It's a lot of work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's the thing like some of these
Speaker 3: these companies, you know, these camps comes to here like
Speaker 3: under ten people. A lot of them are, you know,
Speaker 3: like and it's tough.
Speaker 5: We work very hard. Our team is very hard working.
Speaker 5: And you know, Latoy and I are cute today on
Speaker 5: this podcast, but every you know, every other day we
Speaker 5: are and what we are working like, you know, I
Speaker 5: manage our our harvest a lot of times because it's
Speaker 5: something I found myself to be really good at because
Speaker 5: I have like this project management background. So I signed
Speaker 5: role and it works, you know, it's it's it's working,
Speaker 5: so you know, but it's hard work. You know, I'm
Speaker 5: wearing workout clothes and gyp shoot.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: So a lot of a lot of people think the
Speaker 5: cannabis industry is sexy, and I think a lot of
Speaker 5: the ancillary side is, but a lot of us operators
Speaker 5: is not sexy at all. We are very hard working, so,
Speaker 5: you know, I think that's another reason we've been able
Speaker 5: to be successful and grow is because we are not
Speaker 5: afraid of working because it's hard work.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot of grindings industry, and then all
Speaker 3: the politics and then the sales, and then then there's
Speaker 3: just a lot of.
Speaker 2: You know, even you guys have had bank accounts taming down.
Speaker 2: It doesn't even say banking for it's just such a while.
Speaker 5: It's the thing.
Speaker 3: It's a legal industry, but you can't put your money
Speaker 3: in the bank. It's never it's never even it doesn't compute,
Speaker 3: you know. I mean you're saying earlier like you're you're
Speaker 3: like a logical person like me too, Like that doesn't
Speaker 3: make sense legal my you know, sometimes like legal ish
Speaker 3: sometimes you know, yeah, and it's like that's just not
Speaker 3: right for these people. But we still got to pay
Speaker 3: our taxes.
Speaker 5: They don't. They collect their taxes though. Still I feel
Speaker 5: that the industry was gray if you will, gray if
Speaker 5: you will for a minute, it's not gray if you
Speaker 5: will for a minute. But then they wanted everybody to
Speaker 5: go legal, but us going legal. They make us feel
Speaker 5: like more of criminals than when we were caregivers. And literally, I.
Speaker 3: Mean she knew what you were doing.
Speaker 5: The CRA showing up all the time, giving you know,
Speaker 5: a billion dollars worth of fines. You know, you gotta
Speaker 5: track all this stuff, tag all this stuff. If one
Speaker 5: thing is off, I mean, it's just crazy.
Speaker 3: It's just And then this is the way. We've also
Speaker 3: heard CRA going in and doing like bus but like
Speaker 3: like they kind of come in doing their own version
Speaker 3: of a raid and over over a phone call. Because
Speaker 3: someone reported this to us, who reported it, We can't
Speaker 3: tell you. I mean, we can't tell you if it's
Speaker 3: not a credible source and you didn't do some research
Speaker 3: like the CIRA sometimes like I don't know, you're missing
Speaker 3: some important regulations, like and then they're focused on like
Speaker 3: these little things and I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 3: It's it's they're the cannabis police.
Speaker 4: That's what you have to understand. Like they're the cannabis police. Yes,
Speaker 4: you just have to you know, do the right thing
Speaker 4: right and have a relationship with them, have an open
Speaker 4: door policy. Look, we're open to regulations that's that's what
Speaker 4: we have to do in order to be in this
Speaker 4: industry unfortunately.
Speaker 3: And that's cool, but there's people with putting back door
Speaker 3: like distill on this market, back door flowers like those
Speaker 3: the people that we need the CIRA, that we do
Speaker 3: need the CIRA. It's like, I'm not saying we don't
Speaker 3: need them, we need them very necessary. I think sometimes
Speaker 3: they're distracted by bullshit. And I don't know if that's
Speaker 3: political meaning that's you know, leadership, or if that's literally
Speaker 3: like people just calling in and distracting people like old
Speaker 3: school politics. So I don't know, it's it's something that
Speaker 3: needs to be just kind of like it's a I
Speaker 3: don't I don't know, I have to fix for the CIRA.
Speaker 3: You know, it's something needed. But also it's devil advocated.
Speaker 3: They are just like the cops, like you know, they
Speaker 3: could treat you like they force the law, so they're forcers.
Speaker 2: Uh, do you have your own processing license or do
Speaker 2: like so you do you make your own notables or
Speaker 2: do you have someone go ahead?
Speaker 5: No, we partner.
Speaker 4: We partnered with someone, so we took our recipe that
Speaker 4: I have been you know, as a caregiver, making my grandmother.
Speaker 4: She loved gummies. That was like her favorite product that
Speaker 4: I would make for ours, the gummies. It's so basically
Speaker 4: just over time, you know, that recipe and creating sps
Speaker 4: for it. We got into the hand of a really
Speaker 4: great partner and they're making them for us.
Speaker 2: Okay, very cool. So you have a retail and then
Speaker 2: the cultivation license okay yeah, and so what's your You
Speaker 2: said you have infused pre roles. What are they infused with?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we use live resin yeh.
Speaker 2: And is it harder?
Speaker 4: What a processor? It's our it's our flower. And then
Speaker 4: we source the resin from the processor.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, yeah, you know. And then also does you
Speaker 3: know we talk about adversity and stuff like you started
Speaker 3: literally right when the pandemic would start, right pretty much,
Speaker 3: so it's like, you know, you started in like the
Speaker 3: time them. It was probably one of the hardest times
Speaker 3: to start any business. The cannabis. Who's so overregulated in
Speaker 3: my thoughts, but it was a crazy time.
Speaker 5: Chris know how he did that?
Speaker 3: But yeah, you're still standing, you know, right, and you
Speaker 3: got your own shot, Like that's cool, that's really powerful.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Brick and mortar ads a whole nother expense.
Speaker 4: You know, stress, I'm sure like you responsible, but I
Speaker 4: think now just based off of the way the industry is, like,
Speaker 4: it's really about strategic partnerships. You know. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 4: want to own one hundred percent of anything at this point.
Speaker 4: This is too much work. You know, you have to
Speaker 4: have a team and you got to have folks that
Speaker 4: you can rely on. And so I feel like that's
Speaker 4: kind of what we're doing is just you know, strategic partnerships.
Speaker 2: I like the Yeah, partnerships are key. I think in
Speaker 2: the industry too. They help you grow, They get you
Speaker 2: a whole new audience. If one partner, like somebody don't
Speaker 2: in turn to try that set product with you on
Speaker 2: it as well, how big is your whole team at class?
Speaker 2: You're not just to grow abouts your retail shop.
Speaker 5: I guess I probably would have to save like ten
Speaker 5: to twelve Okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, family feel for sure.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're not a corporation or corporate cannabis brand. Never
Speaker 4: sought out to really even do that like that. That's
Speaker 4: not where we come from.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think we prefer just to grow within because
Speaker 5: you know, a lot of cannabis companies are consolidating, right now,
Speaker 5: and you know, we've seen other operations and stuff like that,
Speaker 5: and they have you know, thirty plus people, but it's
Speaker 5: not thirty plus people amount of work. I went into
Speaker 5: a cultivation facility one time. I'm like, it's half of
Speaker 5: people can do the work. Matter of fact, five people
Speaker 5: could do the work if you had me here, because
Speaker 5: I know I work about a person and a half.
Speaker 5: So yeah, you know, I just think we always believe
Speaker 5: in just being efficient and just just being like small lure.
Speaker 5: You know, we don't want to have a barrier to
Speaker 5: our growth. But we never wanted to just have all
Speaker 5: these I get I call them fluffy jobs, like people
Speaker 5: who really don't do anything. They get paid a salary
Speaker 5: and they not really working, you know. And that's happened
Speaker 5: in a lot of these bigger cannabis companies, right and
Speaker 5: therefore and therefore then they have to do all these
Speaker 5: and I don't want that to happen. You know, you
Speaker 5: got these big ass companies that lay off all these
Speaker 5: people at the same time. Why because it wasn't no
Speaker 5: work for them to do in the.
Speaker 3: First place, right, They just tried to they try to
Speaker 3: get this so so efficiently. I said, a lot of
Speaker 3: people don't plan for the future. A lot of people
Speaker 3: are just like now and not now, and they don't
Speaker 3: really think. And like said, if it's top heavy, they're
Speaker 3: making their money still, they're not too where they're going
Speaker 3: to underpay people at the bottom and not treat them
Speaker 3: well and then let them go and not care about them.
Speaker 4: I think, you know, yeah, and I think we're pioneers too,
Speaker 4: Like this is still in its infancy from a business perspective,
Speaker 4: and so we don't know, we can't even really guess
Speaker 4: what cannabis is going to look like in twenty years,
Speaker 4: you know, like just imagine what has happened in the
Speaker 4: past ten you know, so much as you really don't know.
Speaker 4: So it's like I think everybody jumped the gun a
Speaker 4: little bit here, you know, and I feel like we
Speaker 4: all have to kind of like reevaluate.
Speaker 3: Get three thousand dollars pound, yeah, something that used to
Speaker 3: be illegal. People were just like yeah, and.
Speaker 4: Then like going to people with you know, pitchre decks
Speaker 4: and financials and saying, hey, invest in me, and who
Speaker 4: wouldn't if you you know, promising all these things, and
Speaker 4: so it's just that's the part of it. It just
Speaker 4: really still bothers me. It just frustrates me because we
Speaker 4: always were very conservative, you know, because we saw what
Speaker 4: happened in Colorado, we saw what happened in California, and
Speaker 4: so we knew this was going to happen. It's just
Speaker 4: we didn't realize it was gonna happen so quickly, you know.
Speaker 4: And I just hate that jobs were created and then
Speaker 4: had to be taken away.
Speaker 3: We've heard multiple layoffs. It's like, you know a lot. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean I don't want to just one or two offhand,
Speaker 3: but like it's just crazy to think that you could
Speaker 3: just And that's why when you hear about like we
Speaker 3: have twelve people, it's like you care about each other.
Speaker 3: It's like you know each other a little bit. When
Speaker 3: you have these big corporations, it's like I don't think
Speaker 3: they care, you know what I mean, it's easier not
Speaker 3: to care, you know.
Speaker 4: Whenever you get venture capital and hedge funds and it
Speaker 4: just changes things. It's so many brands that I just like,
Speaker 4: even outside of cannabis, that I just you know, you
Speaker 4: gravitate to because they speak to you or whatever. But
Speaker 4: then once they go public, what happens, Like things change
Speaker 4: and the product isn't the same, and the consistency isn't
Speaker 4: the same, and so it's like you really have to say,
Speaker 4: you know what lane you want to be in and
Speaker 4: not be I guess enticed by corporate money to you know,
Speaker 4: it's get it.
Speaker 3: It gets having to eat. But capitalism, like really being
Speaker 3: a capitalist can be like it just becomes a little
Speaker 3: like like, you know, I really have a booker here.
Speaker 3: It's just capitalist. I like I met and liked exty.
Speaker 2: It's just like my.
Speaker 3: Note, it's a nopad. So it's funny that you said that.
Speaker 3: I just got to say that, like, you know, because
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, it's like I get it.
Speaker 3: We got to eat and feed our family. But that
Speaker 3: doesn't mean you get to screw over everyone else to
Speaker 3: be a monopoly, you know, especially in a this is
Speaker 3: planted medicine, This came from caregiver roots, This saves lives
Speaker 3: with artists. So and then people want to treat it
Speaker 3: like it's like just a commodity, and it's like, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, hamp has all these you know, things it
Speaker 3: can do. But like people forget the roots sometimes and
Speaker 3: it's like sometimes we're fortunate because we've seen the Bridge.
Speaker 3: We've seen it like being so so illegal. You know,
Speaker 3: just to smoke a joint in public, you can get
Speaker 3: arrested or people are thrown in jail, you know. And now,
Speaker 3: like you said, now it's like so different within ten years,
Speaker 3: Where is it gonna be in twenty years? It's crazy?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, So you were talking about the future
Speaker 2: for collection, What would you like to where would you
Speaker 2: like to expand, Like, would it be the crowd being
Speaker 2: in a retail shop, would be out of state.
Speaker 5: Probably would be all of the You know, it's hard,
Speaker 5: but I think we also have this niche that others
Speaker 5: are really not. I'm trying to stay away without custom
Speaker 5: fucking with I don't really.
Speaker 3: You can we smoke here. We're pretty much twenty were tied.
Speaker 5: So I think we have a lia that people really,
Speaker 5: you know, they're so focused on this value we category,
Speaker 5: you know, we that doesn't really smell like anything, or
Speaker 5: that's very cheap, that's not our category stuff. Right, seventy
Speaker 5: of the cannabis in Michigan has been remediated. We had.
Speaker 2: Why he didn't realize it was that high.
Speaker 4: Yes, and soon you'll be able to know that. Now
Speaker 4: you don't know it.
Speaker 2: I cannot but soon if that's.
Speaker 4: You know, if that goes through, you'll know whether it's
Speaker 4: real media or not.
Speaker 3: But we talked about that for so long, like why
Speaker 3: is it not known? And again again like people are
Speaker 3: gonna put bullshit in their bike. It's like, well, we
Speaker 3: used to smoke brick weed, Like but give them.
Speaker 4: Let them that's what it's going to say.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like if you.
Speaker 4: Smoke brick weed, yea, even weed is way better than.
Speaker 3: People will do it. But let people know who don't know,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, because like there's so much miseducation.
Speaker 3: It's like let them know so then they can see them.
Speaker 3: What is you mediation? Like look it up, we need
Speaker 3: that microwave, Yeah, weed, bake the turn.
Speaker 4: But it's the scale that when you're doing things at scale.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have there's gonna be sometimes fast, some errors
Speaker 2: issues understandable absolutely, I mean it does happen.
Speaker 6: Then we know that you need to prioritize consumer safety
Speaker 6: medical patients.
Speaker 4: Especially to for sure for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you have any new to me to cut
Speaker 2: you off? We're still in the talking about your future, right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm just saying about our niche. You know, I
Speaker 5: think we are actively trying to expand the cultivation right now,
Speaker 5: just because you know, we're doing really good in regards
Speaker 5: to people want our one, our flower, wanting more flavors
Speaker 5: from us, so you know, we need more space to
Speaker 5: do that, and you know, we're really passionate about also
Speaker 5: women in cannabis. We we think that this is really
Speaker 5: only the beginning. I think, you know, there's going to
Speaker 5: be so many other products that are going to come
Speaker 5: out that are tailored to women and how you feel
Speaker 5: and all that stuff, and we want to continue. Like
Speaker 5: LaToya said, this is just the beginning. We got pre
Speaker 5: rolls and gummies, but we want to do other sophisticated
Speaker 5: type of products and stuff like that. So yeah, I think,
Speaker 5: you know, we want to get more into product development,
Speaker 5: especially you know, for women in cannabis, because you know,
Speaker 5: that's just we don't see that. We feel like if
Speaker 5: there are products out there for women in cannabis, women
Speaker 5: should make them.
Speaker 6: Yes, and we're definitely lacking that too, especially feminine care
Speaker 6: and medical products exactly.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 5: And we have some some product ideas you know for
Speaker 5: feminine care and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Cool, there's definitely a market too.
Speaker 6: You know, I've talked to a lot of women about
Speaker 6: it and they you know, they feel like they would
Speaker 6: definitely really want to try it and utilize it.
Speaker 3: You know, we need you need that representation, You need
Speaker 3: that brand representation to feel connected to that brand.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It's like that, like if it's lacking, then why are
Speaker 3: people going to support it? And I feel like you're right,
Speaker 3: you have a niche that you've you know figured out,
Speaker 3: yes and shout out if any of other brands, you know,
Speaker 3: take note.
Speaker 2: How many flavors do you currently run?
Speaker 4: Twelve or thirteen? Yeah, yeah, twelve or thirteen. Then we
Speaker 4: kind of hold stuff back and then put certain strands.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm really loving our e eighty five strand.
Speaker 4: It's one of the frosty strands seen.
Speaker 5: It's really it's just this is our first harvest of it.
Speaker 5: It's a new strand. So it just dropped in stores yesterday.
Speaker 5: I'm several stores and like Detroit Saginaw type areas, so.
Speaker 2: It's a gas.
Speaker 4: And it's just so that's my favorite I haven't seen
Speaker 4: really have it.
Speaker 5: We've got a lot of a lot of strands that
Speaker 5: are beautiful, like esthetically, like they got a lot of
Speaker 5: purple and pink, pink, and orange.
Speaker 3: I love those hues.
Speaker 5: That's just yeah, And that's one of the strands. Is
Speaker 5: really pretty when you look at it.
Speaker 3: But I haven't I don't know too much about it.
Speaker 3: Actually requested some people having white pages. But people talk
Speaker 3: about flavonoids and flavonots or something doing with those hues
Speaker 3: tied to the urbs and stuff, so you have more
Speaker 3: hues and more color. It's just like food. It is
Speaker 3: one flavors, you know. So I've always loved I mean,
Speaker 3: we all know who didn't love purple. I used to
Speaker 3: love purple weed. When I saw purple weed, I was
Speaker 3: like sick, Like you know what I mean.
Speaker 7: I paid extra twenty five a g may get twenty
Speaker 7: five dollars an ounce the back in the Yeah, there's
Speaker 7: five dollars a hit a bunt.
Speaker 3: Now it's like five dollars for three and freeze per
Speaker 3: rolls like they don't even get it. Michigan's crazy right now,
Speaker 3: and you're seeing people fall left and right. So it's
Speaker 3: awesome to hear that. You know, you're thriving. Yeah, tough
Speaker 3: economy out there, yeah, so.
Speaker 5: But we also want to expand to other states that
Speaker 5: are just opening either if it's just our products, because
Speaker 5: we feel like, you know, we have an experience that
Speaker 5: we could bring to newer operators. You know, we've been
Speaker 5: in it for a while. I'd be sweet if you
Speaker 5: get you can get out get.
Speaker 2: Another different states. There's a couple brands in Michigan that
Speaker 2: started in Michigan going out to other states. I think
Speaker 2: that's awesome.
Speaker 5: Not like a lot, but like similar states to Michigan.
Speaker 5: They have like a diverse population that you know, kind
Speaker 5: of believe in home grow, you know, similar type vibe
Speaker 5: maybe two or yeah, maybe two or three. Other states
Speaker 5: there are similar to Michigan, not like you know, some
Speaker 5: states out there, like Georgia for instance, is like, you know,
Speaker 5: the strictest hill. I don't want to go to that.
Speaker 3: I don't know how you want to do so weed
Speaker 3: in the South and I get into Oklahoma and it's
Speaker 3: just like because they have such a like stigma of
Speaker 3: hate towards That's what I'm saying. I have family like
Speaker 3: in Kentucky and they're like, yeah, they don't, like we don't.
Speaker 3: It's like hush hush, like and it's just crazy that
Speaker 3: it's still like that in some places.
Speaker 4: You know, it's weird, so we want to go.
Speaker 3: You gotta let that. You gotta let those markets figure
Speaker 3: it out first, you know, because and look how long
Speaker 3: is Michigan taking to.
Speaker 2: Figure it out?
Speaker 4: You know, it's still it's still true.
Speaker 3: We'll let you know. It started to an We started
Speaker 3: this journey medical.
Speaker 4: Twenty twenty five. That's crazy, yees.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, but we're getting We're not towards the end.
Speaker 3: But I mean, anyone you want to shout out and
Speaker 3: think like from the team, because we always want to
Speaker 3: shout out like that, because if the homies aren't even
Speaker 3: help you get here on the way, like help.
Speaker 2: You become leaesus.
Speaker 4: Thank all our supporters. People have like been following our
Speaker 4: journey and you know, like re Becca said, send us
Speaker 4: encouraging things to keep us going. You know, I go
Speaker 4: to events and they're like, are you were collecting? Like
Speaker 4: it just gives you that sense of fulfillment, Like you know, Okay,
Speaker 4: it's tough, but you got folks out there that is
Speaker 4: really like lifting you up and sending you positive energy
Speaker 4: and positive vibe.
Speaker 5: I would like to thank our staff and all the
Speaker 5: bud tenders in our store, but also all the stores
Speaker 5: that we're in we got we got like super fans
Speaker 5: out there. I'll go into a dispensary and they'd be like, Oh,
Speaker 5: it's the collector.
Speaker 3: See some lady.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, I tried your pink pea, you know.
Speaker 5: And so thank you to all the boodtenders and all
Speaker 5: the different stores. Has ever recommended any of our products,
Speaker 5: that ever saw any of our pre rolls our flower
Speaker 5: to anybody, I really want to shout them out.
Speaker 4: The blood Tenders, thank you, I like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because because they're the ones who put that FACR brand.
Speaker 3: You know, people like as much as you know, the
Speaker 3: backbone is important and you know everyone the whole, you know,
Speaker 3: but that is really ends up being your person. They
Speaker 3: remember you from it. The buttonder is so key, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, did you have did you have any questions?
Speaker 6: Yes? So what are some like ways that you guys
Speaker 6: like take care of yourselves, like self care? You know,
Speaker 6: I know it's a lot of hard work in the
Speaker 6: cannabis industry, especially on the cultivation side, and so you know,
Speaker 6: what are some ways and tips that you'd like to
Speaker 6: share with everyone like that.
Speaker 5: That's a good question. I think the re you know,
Speaker 5: one of the reasons that I got into cannabis was
Speaker 5: the health and wellness component. Before I was in cannabis,
Speaker 5: I own gems. I was a trainer, I was a
Speaker 5: cycling instructor, yoga instructor, and I still like, it's still
Speaker 5: my life. And so I think using cannabis as a
Speaker 5: part of my wellness journey is like the first way
Speaker 5: I do self care. But then I also work out
Speaker 5: every day. I'm active in every in a way every day.
Speaker 5: I'm also vegan, so I really really am passionate about
Speaker 5: just having a nutritious lifestyle. I think when you feed
Speaker 5: your body good food, that is self care. It literally
Speaker 5: is self care to feed your body good food and
Speaker 5: living food. And then I also, you know, I cut
Speaker 5: my phone off at a certain time. I'll even tell LaToya,
Speaker 5: you know, after this certain time, don't call me about
Speaker 5: work or whatever unless somebody break it, you know, emergency
Speaker 5: and you know, or even like on Sunday, I try
Speaker 5: to I try to take some time to do something
Speaker 5: that does have nothing to do about work. Go to
Speaker 5: an art gallery, listen to music, watch us stand up
Speaker 5: comedy or something like that, to go out to eat.
Speaker 5: I love food, so I also try to take some
Speaker 5: time to just cut things off and just like be
Speaker 5: Rebecca versus Rebecca the entrepreneur and CEO.
Speaker 3: At well Put.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So massage therapy is for me. Yeah, that's my thing.
Speaker 4: That's what helps me keeps me grounded. Running is something
Speaker 4: that I like, really learned to love. It's really a
Speaker 4: part of my meditation practices. It's running. So I try
Speaker 4: to run I don't know, anywhere from four to six
Speaker 4: miles a day.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Or I walk because I have a dog, and
Speaker 4: so it's also exercise for him, you know, and I
Speaker 4: don't have to worry about, you know, anybody messing with
Speaker 4: me on the mean streets of Detroit with my dog. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but he's a baby. So there's that whole thing. But
Speaker 4: what else do I like to do? I like cooking.
Speaker 4: I enjoy cooking for my family and for my plans.
Speaker 4: So just finding like those little things to just kind
Speaker 4: of help keep you sane. It's super important being an
Speaker 4: entrepreneur because both Rebecca and I have other things that
Speaker 4: we do outside of cannabis's that's also the catch. Like
Speaker 4: I have a childcare center. She has a consulting job
Speaker 4: and she does a lot and social equity and incubator
Speaker 4: with Kalamazoo and Detroit and so like we do a lot,
Speaker 4: so you've gotta find that time for yourself. It's so important.
Speaker 3: That balance is key because otherwise you get burned out
Speaker 3: and then you can't do anything. You know, then you
Speaker 3: get you get dragged down for even longer. You know,
Speaker 3: you got that. You got to take care of yourself.
Speaker 4: So important.
Speaker 5: Always say we're not robots, We're not. You know, work
Speaker 5: is very important, but it's not all to life.
Speaker 3: And you know, especially being in cannabis or being in
Speaker 3: an industry where you're like passionate and creative already in
Speaker 3: you know, like we're there's the soul, there's the mind
Speaker 3: and the body, right, you got that's why you run.
Speaker 3: You gotta still keep yourself busy, right you're at the gym,
Speaker 3: you know, Like I think there's that balance of all
Speaker 3: parts of you.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Sometimes we're so focused on money sometimes because that's survival
Speaker 3: out here, right, But but there's a balance for sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So we have a a.
Speaker 4: Funny question, nice all serious for us, I like real, you.
Speaker 2: Know, I appreciate that not self careschi and a lot
Speaker 2: of people need to do it more often. If you
Speaker 2: don't wear yourself out. But we've asked every guest this
Speaker 2: that's coming on the podcast. You each get ther own answer.
Speaker 2: So imagine you're opening edible bag, or imagine you're breaking
Speaker 2: up some weed and account of Genie pops out and
Speaker 2: grants you one wish to change anything within the industry.
Speaker 3: What would you wish for one instant? One instant?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker 5: That's not a funny question, you know that is we
Speaker 5: do say.
Speaker 3: I think what it is is a it's a random question.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not gonna say.
Speaker 3: No one's ever seen, no one's ever said called this out.
Speaker 3: You've done that hundreds of times.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well I'm ready already. Yeah, still think it over there. Honestly,
Speaker 4: this whole t a c bullshit, Like the Genie, That's
Speaker 4: what I would ask. I'm just gonna give you all
Speaker 4: just stop it as it's again we're talking about you know,
Speaker 4: we're in our infancy, and so to base it all
Speaker 4: off of that number is just so ridiculous to me,
Speaker 4: because again, the plant has way more molecules in it
Speaker 4: than that, and so why is that one thing the focus.
Speaker 2: There's so many cannabinoids within the plant, so much.
Speaker 3: Benefits Just how long the high could be like, yeah,
Speaker 3: like how good is the highest the high right for
Speaker 3: you is?
Speaker 2: They?
Speaker 4: Yeah, get rid of that whole tac phenomenon. Like, let's
Speaker 4: just call it what it was in the beginning. It
Speaker 4: smelled good, it looked good, it tasted good, it made
Speaker 4: you feel good.
Speaker 2: That's why I like how you guys break it down
Speaker 2: by like a facts on the packaging. It's not based
Speaker 2: off Yeah, that's like that's going to put it for
Speaker 2: the consumer.
Speaker 3: It's how you feel, you know.
Speaker 5: For me, I would I would change. I just want
Speaker 5: cannabis to be treated like every other industry.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: I don't want to feel as an entrepreneur in cannabis
Speaker 5: that like, you know, I'm doing something wrong. So if
Speaker 5: there was some way that we could eliminate the cannabis stigma,
Speaker 5: that's what I would change. I want us to be
Speaker 5: respected just like restaurant owners are respected, just like every
Speaker 5: day entrepreneurs are respected. I want us to be respected
Speaker 5: in the same.
Speaker 3: Way because it's just it's horrible because it's like you said,
Speaker 3: like we it's like we go from being illegal to
Speaker 3: it's legal now, but then you're still treated like criminal. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's ridiculous. No, I love that great responses, both of them.
Speaker 3: And that's how when we love that question, because it's
Speaker 3: always a unique answer and because they're so in the
Speaker 3: whole point is that there's so many things in this
Speaker 3: industry that are still messed up. I don't think just
Speaker 3: because it's lead and you can get a two dollars
Speaker 3: pred does. I mean, it's good, it's good for you,
Speaker 3: but there's still so much to fight for.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: It's good to support brands to matter and you know,
Speaker 3: hopefully listen to this podcast.
Speaker 2: That's cool.
Speaker 3: No, but no, we really appreciate you coming on. We
Speaker 3: want to check out the grow. We want to check
Speaker 3: out the stuff. We didn't even really dig into smoking
Speaker 3: your stuff. So we're gonna have to blaze up.
Speaker 2: The Piscatti and then the pink Pea. The pink Pea.
Speaker 5: Yeah, people love that.
Speaker 4: I knew pink Pea was gonna be a winner. I
Speaker 4: just know it. I know it.
Speaker 5: It smells nice and it really is the Crosses on real. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I can't tell.
Speaker 4: You that can give you all of our secrets.
Speaker 3: Oh it's like that, Okay, cool, cool with you.
Speaker 4: That's leg But what I will say is the breeder
Speaker 4: that even put me onto the whole pink because I
Speaker 4: didn't even know pink strands really existed. But I was
Speaker 4: telling him like I wanted something with some pink in it.
Speaker 3: He was like, it actually has the color I've always
Speaker 3: wanted some pink and blue. It's like blueberry, like you
Speaker 3: always want some legit blues.
Speaker 4: The story right now, yeah, yeah, maybe one or two
Speaker 4: stories might have it still some left because we don't
Speaker 4: run it all the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we just you know, switch it up.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but it's definitely in the rotation.
Speaker 3: All right, Well, go get that as I will.
Speaker 2: We have to check it out. That's that sounds sick. Well,
Speaker 2: thank you ladies for coming on telling us about the
Speaker 2: history of COX.
Speaker 3: Came from appreciate your input and like the advice, like
Speaker 3: I said, because there's I'm sure a lot of people
Speaker 3: out there facing similar adversities. So it was seeing people
Speaker 3: it's like, do what you want to do. That look
Speaker 3: like you is important and that are like you. You know,
Speaker 3: So we need that representation of all all all. We
Speaker 3: need that d I. We need that inclusion of all.
Speaker 3: So I love it. More power to you and I
Speaker 3: love seeing you driving against all the corporate the future
Speaker 3: for you both yea, thank you anything else.
Speaker 6: Yes, And it's also Black History Month as well, which
Speaker 6: is a very important part of society and culture and
Speaker 6: so and so being able to interview you both with
Speaker 6: Colexium is definitely really important.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, we we definitely believe that, you know, people should
Speaker 5: not be locked up for we you know, and people
Speaker 5: are right now still locked up and it's it's it's
Speaker 5: messed up, you know. So that's another reason LaToya and
Speaker 5: I are in this is the social justice you know,
Speaker 5: it's part of it because just like you said, representation matters,
Speaker 5: and a lot of people that look like us, unfortunately
Speaker 5: are scared to get into this industry, intimidated, and you know,
Speaker 5: we just want to show them that we are every
Speaker 5: We're not professional athletes, were not you know, celebrities. You know,
Speaker 5: we're not. We're every day professional that just.
Speaker 3: So happened to be you know, yeah, I mean perfect, No,
Speaker 3: it is no, it's real. No, that's real that we're honest.
Speaker 5: A lot of times that diversity component is a rapper,
Speaker 5: and you know that rapper is not really doing nothing
Speaker 5: in the business. So we just wanted to just show
Speaker 5: everyday people like we built a cannabis brand and we're
Speaker 5: growing slowly but surely every year, and.
Speaker 2: You can too.
Speaker 3: Yeah. You're your own businesses and your entrepreneurs and it's
Speaker 3: good to see our representation.
Speaker 2: You're crushing it.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah cool. Well, I'm glad we got to have
Speaker 3: you on and hopefully we keep seeing you all in
Speaker 3: the future. We'll see you out events and stuff.
Speaker 2: I do want to say, get quick shout out to
Speaker 2: our part Yes that happened. Shout to Watt Coast Plant Therapy,
Speaker 2: High nine, uh Kinship, Cannopy Extracts, and Old School Organics.
Speaker 2: Without all you, we would be able to make this happen.
Speaker 2: You know the codes do use as well too. Thank
Speaker 2: you again for coming on, looking forward, checking out you
Speaker 2: guys' shop and grow in the future. Yeah, and as
Speaker 2: always we're here to advocate, educate and inspire. It's the
Speaker 2: next sip, y'all is mm hmm