Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:24 Hey, hey, hey, good people. It's your girl for Dre Mcclar. Easily back with another episode of bam, bam, bam, ba. The people are blunt. As y'all can see, I have someone here with me who really needs no introduction, but before I kick it over to her, um, housekeeping. Okay, so you all know that we are on all the platforms, YouTube, apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Prime. Please like, subscribe, thumbs up, do all of the good things. Let us know that you're out there, um, the people's ecosystem. Go check us out, y'all, you know, we have the c b line that has no restrictions. Um, so please treat yourself. And while we're talking about treats, if you are in Cali, our toasty treats are out, why not treat yourself? The thing I love about these edibles is that they are protein-based. And so, quite frankly, your body knows what to do with it. And without further ado, I have Christina Lopez, a Gucci with me here from the House of Pup. What is up? Mommy,
Speaker 2 00:01:31 I am so excited to talk to you. I, I, I fan girl, you all the time. I love what you're doing. Huge fan of the people's ecosystem. I'm excited to talk.
Speaker 1 00:01:43 So look, I'm super excited. Um, I feel like I already like know you cause, um, like you said, so much of the team knows you. They've told me all kind of wonderful things. And also, like I watch your, um, short videos on, on YouTube about how to do this and how to do that and why this is important. So I feel like we already like half familiarity,
Speaker 2 00:02:06 Uhhuh, <affirmative>. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:02:08 <affirmative>. So thank you. Thank you for coming to Ticket for a couple of minutes and chop it up with me.
Speaker 2 00:02:14 Yes, let's do it.
Speaker 1 00:02:16 All right. So first of all, for those who do not know, who may not know what House of Puff is and who you are, please give us like an elevator pitch of what House of Puff
Speaker 2 00:02:30 Is. Yeah, so House of Puff is a New York based brand, uh, led by me. We're a woman owned, Latina led. Gotta gotta say it. Gotta
Speaker 1 00:02:40 Plug that,
Speaker 2 00:02:41 Gotta plug it. And we are a cannabis lifestyle brand. We sit at the nexus of art, social justice, and cannabis. My background is in the arts. So what I did was, I, you know, late consumer to cannabis. Not until my late twenties had an art magazine, decided to reach out to, to artists that I knew that I want, that I worked with and said, Hey, listen, I think I'm gonna get into cannabis and I need you to make me some pretty shit. Um, and so we're 50 plus skews later. Anything from rolling papers, rolling trays, joint holders, you name it, everything starts in the artist studio. So we keep that artistic d n a, uh, and then if it gets wildly successfully popular, like our LA pipe, our one hitter pipe that, that sort of, uh, blew up now in seven different shades, then we put that into commercial production, still hand painted by artists here in the good old US survey. So that's the elevator pitch.
Speaker 1 00:03:36 Okay. And wonderful. Clearly ya could tell that this lady is about her money, about her business because she did not sneeze and we did not prepare for this. Okay. So, um, which
Speaker 2 00:03:46 Also, and I like, and I'm Type A and I like to prep, but love it. We in it, we're doing
Speaker 1 00:03:52 It. And I love, I love not doing it because I want your honest feedback. Right? So the reason why I wanted to highlight that is because for those who are looking to be entrepreneurs in this space, what you just showed was why you always have to be ready. You have to be ready to talk about whatever it is that you are doing or planning to do in the space and to be comfortable with that. So that right there was just like a impromptu off the cuff type a stay ready, so you don't have to get ready. Okay. Like, that's the pitch. So I love the fact I wanna kick it off with this because, um, a couple of things. One, you said that you were late to cannabis and I read, I think that you started at about 27 mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. So I was late as well. I was 28. And it's, I always like to, um, to get, you know, your mindset around this because that is, that's pretty late, right? Like for, for a traditional culture and also how that changes the way that you have engaged with the plant,
Speaker 2 00:05:03 Right? Right. I grew up in a strict Puerto Rican household, so I was not, you know, around cannabis. Did not talk about cannabis. I was a goodie two shoes. I was that, that dare kid. I was, honestly, I was no fun. I was, I was, I was no fun. And then moved to New York and as New York does, we love her, but you know, she can wear you out. And my anxiety just really crept in. And I thought, oh my goodness, I think I'm gonna try cannabis. I wanna get it off the pharmaceutical train. And, and that's what I did. And that's sort of how House of Puff came to be because my first time was smoking out of this nasty phallic collegiate bond. And I was like, no ma'am, no. If we're gonna keep doing this, you, you gotta build the pretty shit
Speaker 1 00:05:52 <laugh>. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, okay. Uh, so I note that that phallic was your now husband's, right? His bond?
Speaker 2 00:05:59 Yeah. You did your research
Speaker 1 00:06:02 <laugh>. Come on now. My background is communications pr tub boo. Okay. So, uh, so now husband, which, you know, okay. Shout out to him. Yep.
Speaker 2 00:06:13 Um,
Speaker 1 00:06:14 When did you share this with your family though? Because I understand your family really big. Your mom badass, like your mom is amazing more
Speaker 2 00:06:26 Than me.
Speaker 1 00:06:28 I mean, I don't know, but I'm just saying you come from good stock, you know what I'm saying? <laugh>. Um, so, you know, the stigma around it. When did you actually feel comfortable sharing this mm-hmm. <affirmative> with like, with your family?
Speaker 2 00:06:43 I hid it for a while. I told my mom, cuz I tell, I tell that girl everything and she's a physician. And I thought, you know, I keep reading about all the medicinal benefits. I was working at the Michael J. Fox Foundation at the Parkinson's research and, you know, anything about Parkinson's, you know, studies have shown that cannabis can help with dyskinesia, for example. So I knew that there were medicinal benefits to this. So I said, why don't I just asked the doctor I trust the most, my own mother. Yeah. And she was very open about it. She wanted to do her own research too. Um, I didn't want, I didn't need her permission, but I sort of wanted that, like, you okay. Like, how do we feel about this? Cause like, uh, you know, that's how I grew up around the dinner, table b chando, gossiping, you know, we all just share how we feel and I thought, I'm gonna do this. I want my, at least my mom to l to to know. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:07:37 Yeah. And so, because mom went from real estate into, oh, I wanna be a physician. Like, I'm studying medicine, I'm going into this. Um, you know, you felt that that was a safe space.
Speaker 2 00:07:50 Yeah. I mean, for you
Speaker 1 00:07:51 To be able to talk.
Speaker 2 00:07:52 Yeah. I, I saw my mom hustle and struggle and she communicated every step of the way. You know, there were times when, you know, my dad worked at ShopRite, he made $20,000 a year. My mom was in medical school. We had $20,000 coming in, if that. So they were always very upfront with me and very open. And there were times when me and my mom would cry in the bathroom together cuz we didn't know how we were going to eat. So I, that's how I was raised. So I, as something as important as deciding I'm gonna consume cannabis and get off the big pharma train, I felt like the best person to talk to and be open with it. It had to be my mom. Cuz that's what, that's, that's the only way I know that's how I grew up, was just this open line of communication.
Speaker 1 00:08:41 So, so let me, let me pivot that into, you are a mom. I am a mom. Um, you have twins. God bless you. Okay. Uh, cuz I have one toddler and one on the way. And girl, I am like, I'm like, oh my God.
Speaker 2 00:08:57 Gotcha. Like,
Speaker 1 00:08:57 This is it, like this is it <laugh>, but, um, but yes, you have four year old twins.
Speaker 2 00:09:02 Yes.
Speaker 1 00:09:03 Okay. So understanding the relationship between you and your mom mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and, and, and why cannabis was necessary for you mm-hmm. <affirmative> in the, in the business and also as a canna mom or as a consumer, uh, a consumer of cannabis. Are you already having thoughts of like, how you talk about this with your twins and when you start to, you know, their varying levels, but when you start to kind of introduce this conversation?
Speaker 2 00:09:34 Sure. I haven't really, you know, I think about it, but not at length. Okay. I do know that, uh, it is a plant. It is a medicine first and foremost. And that is how I will talk to them about that. I will have a very, very open dialogue just the way my mom did. It's the only way I know how. And luckily I have a partner who is also very much on board with, we're not sweeping things under the rug, or, wait, wait until they're 18 or none of that. It is, this is medicine and if you wanna try it, let's talk about it and give them the history. Give them the facts, let them make their own decision. But I haven't, therefore, I hope they're not ready to talk about it.
Speaker 1 00:10:18 <laugh> listen, these kids, um, you know, it's just, it surprises me daily, um, what they pick up on. It's true. And, you know, and so I think about it in our household of, you know, the baby's like, well what's this, what's this? Well, first of all, we gotta lock this up, you know, first of all, you know, this is adult stuff. This is mommy and daddy's stuff, this is kids stuff. So even at that kind of base level of just, you know, starting to have the conversations, but I remember maybe a week or so ago, there was a, a bottle of vitamins that were supposed to be childproof that he got into. Oh
Speaker 2 00:10:55 My goodness.
Speaker 1 00:10:56 And I was just like, this is supposed to be childproof. Like how did this happen? Scary. Yeah. It's very scary. So, you know, I, I think about that at, you know, like how we're having the conversations, what is this? And not just the don't touch this, don't touch that mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but the slow and steady of like, the buildup of it. So that's why I asked.
Speaker 2 00:11:16 Yeah. No, and it's, it's, and it's, it's a good question. And, uh, stay tuned. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:11:21 Right, right, right. Okay. So this is the inception. So you were working for, um, the foundation. Now here's my question because you're, you're doing fundraising for the foundation, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and technically you're like doing fundraising now, like being an entrepreneur in a space because we don't have safe banking. Um, you know, it is very challenging to raise funds as a woman, as a Latinx woman, you know, um, in cannabis. Like the challenges are compounded.
Speaker 2 00:11:54 Yep.
Speaker 1 00:11:55 So I would say one, what experiences or what lessons did you take from your time at the foundation and how are you applying them now? Like, if you could pick two key things, what would you say that they are
Speaker 2 00:12:09 Grit
Speaker 1 00:12:11 For
Speaker 2 00:12:13 And tenacity? You, you, you gotta, you gotta keep going. You have to, you have to be at three. You gotta be passionate about it. Right? At the foundation, I was so passionate talking to these, these big donors who were donating millions to, for Parkinson's research. And I, you know, being a doctor's daughter and being immersing myself in public health, like, I wanted this so badly for the foundation to, to have these incredible breakthroughs. So you have to be passionate. You have to get, you have to have grit. You're gonna get a lot of no's, hundreds of no's, especially fundraising in cannabis as we know. Especially now in an economic downturn with no federal legalization. You just have to keep banging on those doors. And there are days, lots of days I would just, you know, get in the shower and cry. I like to cry in the shower because I can't tell what my tears are. Yeah. My shower is,
Speaker 1 00:13:08 That's a type A thing. I like to do it too.
Speaker 2 00:13:11 And then I, you know, dry myself off and be like, and you know, I, I have that diffused thinking in the shower. Like, what could have gone better in that investor meeting? Like, how could have my pitch? And instead of just being down about the No, you, I'm, I was always constantly refining my pitch. And that's how I got there.
Speaker 1 00:13:28 Yeah. Yeah. So I love the fact we all, we often talk about transferrable skills, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, so you're talking about, you know, what you use there, how you're applying it now. Um, but there's also this idea that plant touching in cannabis is totally different than more of the ancillary side. And that's the side that you are on. Like, you're not actually plant touching, right? You're providing accessories, which are necessary, I may say. And if y'all are not familiar, please go check it out because the shit is cute <laugh>. Um, but also very practical, right? Like, it's not just, it's not just cute for no reason. It's also very practical <laugh>. Um, cuz that's the worst thing in the world is to have some cute, and it's like, this is not easy to use.
Speaker 2 00:14:13 Like, I'm not, I can't use that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:14:16 Yeah. So, um, in terms of being on the, I guess the ancillary side, did you come into it thinking it was going to be one way and figuring out that it was totally different?
Speaker 2 00:14:31 Oh, absolutely. So when I left the foundation, I started in an art magazine because I've, you know, I, I'm an art collector. I've immersed myself in art my, my entire life. And
Speaker 1 00:14:41 I love the people you have up behind you, by the way.
Speaker 2 00:14:43 Thank you. Uh, Australian, uh, female artist, uh, wonderful. Um, and so I knew I was a great writer. I was a great content marketer. I had an eye for beautiful things. Um, I loved social media, so I thought naturally I'll just have a cannabis accessory brand and I'll go on Instagram and everybody will love me and I'm gonna get 80,000 followers overnight. <laugh> shadow band kicked off sh Shopify kicked off of YouTube. So that was the curve ball I had. I knew how to do it all, but the loopholes that I had to jump through Yeah. I was not expecting This was, you know, about four years ago. Yeah. Nothing really has changed. Uh, maybe Google lifted the c b D band in, in California. Like, woo. Other than that, I mean, LinkedIn is like the cannabis or every, I love
Speaker 1 00:15:40 LinkedIn. That's the stop LinkedIn. Cause in instant, I mean, Instagram doesn't really have rhyme or reason because you have some, some, you know, um, um, some pages that are almost tagged. And so they get, they get closed for the slightest thing. And then you have others that it's like, wait, you got away with that? Like, how did that happen?
Speaker 2 00:16:01 It's crazy. And, and TikTok, you can't even post oregano without them just, you know, taking it down. So, you know, you gotta, you gotta get scrappy with it. You gotta get inventive, you gotta get creative. And that's why, you know, transferrable skills to cannabis, any, we've all got it. You just have to think outside the box.
Speaker 1 00:16:21 Yeah. Yeah. So, um, in terms of your love for art mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and how you've brought that in. So first of all, I absolutely love how you feature artists. I know, uh, I think it was a couple of months ago, there was a, uh, unveiling, I think at one of the ETA stores, right? Where you, you had a new artist who you were working with, um, who used this was the artwork that got him through solitary confinement.
Speaker 2 00:16:48 Yes. Um,
Speaker 1 00:16:49 That was just,
Speaker 2 00:16:52 Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:16:52 I don't even know. Like breathtaking. Like I can't even imagine it. I can't imagine it. Um, how do you decide, and first of all, shout out the artist. Um, I, I don't know why, where I put his name at. I wrote it down.
Speaker 2 00:17:07 And Chris Wilson.
Speaker 1 00:17:08 Chris Wilson, yes. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:17:10 I, and, and, and if I may, you know, that that exhibition that, uh, Melanie and Christine were at actually
Speaker 1 00:17:19 Yeah, yeah. Um,
Speaker 2 00:17:20 Was probably one of the most, I get emotional talking about it because it was probably the most, um, important thing in my career thus far. Hmm. Chris, uh, you know, he grew up outside of dc you know, poverty, you know, drug addiction, gun violence everywhere in, in, in his area. Um, he was charged with a crime, got sentenced to, to his natural life in prison, spent 117 days in solitary confinement. Um,
Speaker 1 00:17:48 I mean, just imagine that, like, let's pause for a minute, right? Because some of us can't spend five minutes alone. I mean, especially in this age of social media where like, people are posting, I woke up, I did this, and it makes me think about the pandemic. And some people who went through it alone, like didn't have a roommate, didn't have a, you know, a partner or anything like that. Not even a pet, but really like, went through that time alone. So just let's pause for a minute and just imagine 23 hours of the day you are in a box
Speaker 2 00:18:26 No bigger than a parking spot,
Speaker 1 00:18:28 No bigger than a parking spot, no contact.
Speaker 2 00:18:33 Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:18:33 <affirmative>. And that's what you have. You got, you got four walls.
Speaker 2 00:18:36 Yeah. And, and, and, and it's, it really is, it's hard to even think about. And so he wrote a book. He cha he turned his life around, um, the master plan, which I suggest everybody go pick up a copy. Um, and the painting. So I met Chris and immediately, um, you know, I fell in love with him. I fell in love with his story. I fell in love with his artwork. Um, and it was an opportunity for us to amplify something that should be front and center in the cannabis industry. Right? Right. That incarcerated people, especially those with drug charges, paid the biggest price to the path of legalization. And they deserve to reap the benefits. So what we did was we took his painting positive delusions, which memorializes his time, um, in solitary confinement, and the positive thoughts he had to just consistently think about to get the torment. Um, and so we put it on rolling papers and we staged an art exhibition at 18 with the rest of Kris's work. Um, the show was curated by Gregory Thornberry, who is an iconic, uh, curator, um, at the New York Academy of Art. Um, and we donated to solitary watch. So Porsche went back to Chris, cuz we always has p always wants to support artists. Um, then a Porsche went back to solitary watch, which talks to, to lawmakers on changing the laws around solitary confinement. And it was, it was pretty incredible.
Speaker 1 00:20:06 I, I wish I could have been there. Um, I remember Christina and Melanie both like, raving about it. And, um, it stuck with me and I was like, I gotta talk to Christina. I gotta talk to Christina. Um, you know, it's, there are so many aspects of our criminal justice system, um, and I use justice lightly Yeah. That are so draconian and are so, um, I mean, really just damaging that if this is supposed to be a system of rehabilitation, you're literally getting, you're literally putting people in a position where they're coming out worse than what they Yeah. Went in, you know? So, um, so happy that he was able, I mean, what a strong mind to be able to get through that. Um, how did you, I know you said that you met him mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but how, how do you decide who you're gonna work with in terms of the artists and who you're gonna feature?
Speaker 2 00:21:07 So the first artist that we worked with, Paula Flores, she was a Mexican artist that I had actually interviewed. So I had from my magazine days. Yes. And so I was always moved by her story, what her artwork meant to me as an individual. And then with Chris, we were introduced through a mute, uh, an advisor of Haus of Puff. And she was like, well, he had never really explored abstract art, which was interesting. It was mostly figurative. Um, and so when I saw his work, I, you know, and then heard his story, tears were down, me and my co-founder's face, and we were like, we, we just have to, it's some, I can't even explain to you. Like, it was like a poll. An art is always a poll for me. It's like this, it's, it's something I can't describe. It's in my heart. And I saw that artwork and I choked up like, I'm choking up now. And I, you know, even I was, there was no way we were leaving this meeting and I wasn't going to work with him. And, and yeah. So luckily we vibed and, you know, we, we talk, you know, every week and you know, more, more to come on that hopefully. Cuz I'd love to bring more of his artwork to, to light and, and do more in New York. Cuz you know, as you know, New York is bump in <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:22:26 You know, um, what, we'll, we'll jump into New York, but let me, let me also go into, um, your, your, your co-founder because, um, I was listening to an interview you did where you said that, uh, I think it was around the time that you learned that you and your, your, your husband learned that you were expecting your twins. And so there's like, and I, I know how this huge kind of shift happens. And so you were, you described being in this moment of, um, well, you already have the, the, the art, um, the art, um, magazine that you're working on or have been working on. And then you have this idea and you are, you know, trying to figure out, well, I can't do both. And so your co-founder, you wound up having a conversation with thinking that they wanted to be a part of or take over, buy out, whatever, the art magazine, but they really were interested in dolphin
Speaker 2 00:23:24 <laugh>. So the story goes, we met at a, a panel done down in Art Basel on feminism and art. And we had, you know, we became good friends, never talked about our cannabis consumption. That just never came up. Um, and then I posted something on my own personal Instagram that, you know, I was doing our M V P. So it was just, just me, myself and I, I just found out I was pregnant with twins. You know, I was, I knew I was gonna have to go on bedrest. And I thought, all right, if I'm gonna, if I'm going to do this cannabis thing full-time, and I know investors are not gonna wanna see that I'm doing two businesses. I wanna put all of my eggs in the cannabis basket. And I thought of, I thought of Holly, and I said, Hey, you know, I, I would love to meet with you. I'm, I'm thinking about selling the magazine. Will you meet with me? I came, I had everything prepared. I had a presentation. I had, I had my numbers, everything. I was like, ready to go. She's definitely gonna take it over. We sit down and she says, um, you know, I'm actually not interested in the art business. I'm actually interested in the cannabis. And I was like, stay like,
Speaker 1 00:24:32 Girl, I just spent two weeks getting together for this damn meeting and you telling me, okay.
Speaker 2 00:24:39 And I was like, you consume cannabis? And she was like, yeah. And I'm like, who knew? Right. And then that's, and then that's how it all happened. And we started dating and then we were like, all right, this is a good partnership. And then, and then the pandemic happened, and then, you know, we, you know, we did it together. And Hausa puff is what it is because, because of, of Holly.
Speaker 1 00:25:02 So let me ask this, because, um, first of all, a couple of things that you said, I wanna point out that intentionally you thought of investors and them not wanting to see you split your time between two projects, which my gut reaction is I'm pissed off about that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because like, men do multiple things all the time. Right. But this is something that you already knew, right. Instinctually you knew, okay, I, I need to be able to show them that this is like my baby and I'm, I'm focused. Um, but two, the fact, and this goes to one of the things of House of Puff that you are, um, that you, that's front and center is normalizing, right. Normalizing cannabis consumption. Because here, this is the person who you called friend and had no idea mm-hmm. <affirmative> that you both were consumers. Right? Right. So that is so interesting to me. Um, let's go into this dating though, because I thought that that was so, I don't, I thought it was so smart. I thought it was so smart. Because you hear these stories of people jumping into these partnerships, um, because on paper it looks good, right?
Speaker 1 00:26:17 And, and it turning into a wreck. Yeah. So how did this dating thing go?
Speaker 2 00:26:23 So we set it up where the first six months we were dating mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then we would evaluate, and we did this because we had both been burned by other co-founders and business partners. And I feel like most of us have had tricky partnerships where it just didn't work out where, you know, especially when your friend's getting into a business Yeah. And you think that everything is gonna be hunky dory and it's not. Yeah. So, you know, I knew this head legs adds did she, and I didn't wanna waste her time and she didn't wanna waste my time. So we dated for six months, we reevaluated and then we got engaged. She was very much like a proper, and so there was another six months after that six. So it was a year after that year, if we both felt that this was the right thing for both of us, then we would paper and, you know, do all the legal stuff that we had to do.
Speaker 2 00:27:18 Yeah. And that's what we did. Her strengths, my weaknesses, my weaknesses, her strengths. Not to mention we just, we just really get along. Right. And we have, and we share the same values. And for me, that was the most important thing. We're not getting into this just for money for show, just as a, it was because we, we, we shared the same value of this is what's right. And that, to me, once I knew that we wanna accomplish what we wanted to accomplish in the art world, uplifting women's voices, bipo voices, working with artists, giving back to the artistic community. And, and that was it for me. Once I knew that we were on that same page, it was, where do I sign
Speaker 1 00:28:02 <laugh>? Yeah. Yeah. So gimme a key, like gimme a few, uh, a few puffs from the dating scene. Right. Um, so if it's someone who's considering this, what would you suggest to them in terms of, um, you know, in terms of their dating criteria?
Speaker 2 00:28:19 Oh gosh. Um, again, like make sure you're aligned morally and, and, and, and on the same values, right? That you both like the the end goal. What is the end goal? What does the exit look like for you? Right. That's important. Even if you're just starting out, you always have to keep that exit in mind. Right. Unless, unless you wanna be working until you're 80, 90 years old. You gotta keep that in mind. And also how you communicate, as we just talked about, I am an overcommunicator. I love to communicate, I love to share how I'm feeling. So to be emotionally on the same wa wavelength was important. Cuz there are some people who know disrespect. Like, this is just how people are. They like to hold things. Th their cards close to the chest. Yeah. They're professional. They're very straightforward, maybe rigid. I am not like that at all. I, I like to bring a little levity into everything I do. So you often, you have like, your, your work, your work style has to be aligned. And you only learn that by working together. Right. And if it doesn't work out, you know, you live, you learn. So those are sort of the two things that guided me in terms of like, is this the right business partner for me? Um, and it was sort of like an all hands on deck. When you're founding a company, we know. That's what I gonna
Speaker 1 00:29:38 Ask
Speaker 2 00:29:39 Multiple hats. I am not the greatest at finance or compliance or legal holly rockstar. She's not a lawyer. But she was willing to learn and get down and, and, and I love that. And the same for me. Um, and so you gotta be willing to get in the ring and learn things. Like I know more about s e o than I want to, but I do. And it's great now, right? Because we figured, you know, this was the pandemic. We're like, oh, I think we gotta start a blog because everybody's at home. Oh, we gotta sell a YouTube channel. Everybody's at home. So you have to have a business partner and people around you, they're like, all right, let's do it. You get the iPhone. Cuz back in the day, we had no cash. So we were shooting these YouTube videos on our phones, and you have to have a business partner. And I was like, I'm on it. Where's the lighting? You know, holding a lamp over me. Like, you gotta get, gotta get dirty with it. So, um, that, that was it for me.
Speaker 1 00:30:36 Well, and I say, you know, the, I think the other, um, important piece that you hinted to was when you're co-founding or when you're founding, you are everything, right? Like, there's nothing that is too important or too little important. And so if you look at it as a opportunity, it could of course drive you crazy <laugh>, but the opportunity is to really learn right. As much as, as much as you can because you're having to do everything.
Speaker 2 00:31:07 Yep. You really are. It's, uh, it's the multiple hats. You gotta wear the, and you gotta get comfortable with it. You're the accountant, you're hr, you're the content marketer, you're the social media manager, you know, and like Holly hates social media and I'm, so, I, I was behind just coming up with copy and texts. Now we're at a place where I've hired an amazing rockstar team to do that stuff. But in the beginning it was just, just the two of us.
Speaker 1 00:31:34 Hey,
Speaker 2 00:31:37 <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:31:38 Um, so let's talk about that pivot though. Um, because you go from, you go from doing everything mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And on one hand, you know, you need a team, you know you need help. Um, but I, I imagine there are two pieces with that. The first piece is letting go, especially being type A. Right? So it's the letting go. And then the two is when do you get, like, what's the marker where it's like, financially we can do
Speaker 2 00:32:08 This. Yeah. You know, we reached a point where, so to your first point, letting go is very difficult for me. Type A. Absolutely. I want my hands on everything. Every newsletter that goes out, every product that gets shipped. Are you folding the tissue paper, right? Like down to everything? Yes. Yes. As a mom, as an entrepreneur, as a wife, it became all the things, all the things. There were things that started to fall through the cracks because as we continued to work together, we grew, which is the whole point of a business. You want your business to grow. So letting go was very, very difficult for me. And then we reached a point where we got a little bit of friends and family cash and, you know, we're still in this covid pandemic. We had to keep it lean. So we only used consultants or fractional rock stars to, to, to let go of the things that we absolutely had to let go of.
Speaker 2 00:33:14 Like, why are we filming and editing and s eing and doing c product copy when we can get, you know, especially hiring other women in the, who wanna be in the space who can do that for a little bit of money. And so that's what we did. We surrounded ourselves with hungry, a lot of them. Not from the cannabis space. Or like, listen, I love what you're doing. I wanna be a part of it. And, and that's how we sort of grew to what we were. We just surrounded ourselves with hungry, badass people. And so here we are. That's even exhausting, just explaining it's <laugh>. I'm like thinking now I'm thinking about all the things I have to do now. <laugh>. I mean, your mind. Like, just,
Speaker 1 00:33:58 But that's the reality though, because, you know, people, I, I think it's important to paint the picture because people look at cannabis initially a lot of times and they're like, oh, it's sexy. You know what I mean? And they look at, they look at the end product of it and it's like, well these are, you know, this is the journey though. You know? Yeah. So these are all the things that, you know, we had to take on and how we transitioned through. So let's get to the cute shit. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:34:27 <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:34:28 I wanna get to the cute shit
Speaker 2 00:34:30 That wasn't, that wasn't the cute shit. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:34:33 That was definitely not the cute shit. <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:34:36 I need a sip of water for this.
Speaker 1 00:34:38 That was, that was definitely not the cute shit. That was the, that was the, that was the grit, right? That was the in the, in the, in the trenches, in the dirt. Right. But let's talk about the cute, well, outside of the artist part. Um, cuz those wrapping papers are amazing. Um, Mr. Wilson's work is, is just phenomenal. And, um, and Art does that right? Did you wait? Okay. Okay. My mind goes all over the place. Have you, have you, have you never thought of being a curator yourself?
Speaker 2 00:35:09 You know, I, okay, so I've curated a, it's funny you said that. I've curated a co-working space. The artwork's still there, it's work built. It's on 39th and Broadway. It's actually where our offices are. Um, and I, yeah, a friend of mine was like, I'm gonna start a co-working space. And I said, you know, this is at the time where House of Puff hadn't really, you know, taken off yet. And I said, listen, I know a lot of local artists that would, you know, love the exposure of being on your walls. And so I curated the, the co-working space and it was fun. Um, but my passion really was, was House of Pop. I just constantly kept thinking about this, this idea of, of these beautiful artistic smoking accessories. So I curated it, I got it outta my system. I leave it to the pros,
Speaker 1 00:35:55 <laugh>. Okay. Okay. I'm just saying, I'm just saying because space design is another area mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And as we're talking about, hey, when you go into something, you also have to be clear about what your out is. And so space design is another area where we are not represented when I'm saying we, I mean like women and especially women of color mm-hmm. <affirmative> are not well represented. And like we bring the flavor, we bring the funk, you know,
Speaker 2 00:36:22 We do, we so do
Speaker 1 00:36:25 <laugh>. I mean, this could be like a third iteration, a fourth iteration of life. You know,
Speaker 2 00:36:32 I have one hell of a a, a Pinterest board of interior design. I like likes and art. So there's that. So may maybe one day may stay tuned. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:36:41 I'm just saying. Just, I'm just, you know, throwing it out there. Um, so Okay. About the cute shit. So, um, love the designs. We were talking about it earlier. You had the experience with your, with your now husband, with this, um, horrible ass bong. And you were just like, yo, I'm not doing this.
Speaker 2 00:36:58 Like this is not doing
Speaker 1 00:36:59 It. This can't be life. Um, and so the thing that I love about your designs is one, they are easy to use. Um, and, and for me, the, the color choices are palatable because oftentimes when you see stuff for women, it can be overly feminine, right? Like, you'll have like that super, super girly kind of thing. And so I think that you have stuff for everyone that like, regardless of, you know, kind of what kind of em energy you have. So like, let's go into like, are are your designs based on things that you need and you decide, oh, let's fill that need mm-hmm. <affirmative> or how do you, how do you go about deciding, okay, well this is what we're gonna do.
Speaker 2 00:37:50 So in terms of color choice, I'll start there. Yeah. We do a lot of color research and we usually look at the fashion shows. So spring, summer, fall, winter collection. Okay. So we'll see, we'll see what, you know, Coco Chanel and, and Wes Anderson and all these amazing, what are they putting on their runway? Um, the second thing is we do a lot of listening, a lot of data. So we wanna hear from our community, we wanna, you know, the, our nebular rolling tray started because in Amsterdam they, they'll give you these little plastic, ugly rolling trays and, you know, we could make something more beautiful that you would wanna leave out. Right. And all of, and the feedback we got from our lot of our customers and and followers was the, the, the idea of multi-use, right? Yes. So part of, of destigmatization and normalization is incorporating it in everyday life.
Speaker 2 00:38:44 So for me, I love to entertain, I love to have my friends over. We're all hanging out wine and cheese night. And I will use our little barrel streete bowls for salt and pepper, but then I'll also put some flour in it. So everything sort of has like a, a a, a a, two birds, one seed. Yeah. And so we're, and so we're constantly, you know, asking our newsletter, like, give us feedback. What do you wanna see? We ventured to glass last year because, you know, people wanted to see more glass products from us. So we work with an artist in California and we do beautiful Boris, silk glass joint holders. Um, that also somebody the other day, you know, sent me a picture that they also use as a one hitter. And I was like, okay, there you go. Two birds, one seat, I guess. Um, so all of the color choices, everything we do, we put a lot of research into it and we listen,
Speaker 1 00:39:36 Which was so, which is so cute. And so, um, vintage to me, like, so I grew up, I grew up around cannabis mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but for the longest time I was a drinker. Right. Um, but I remember seeing like my, my dad had like, uh, a joint clip, right? Like basically like the scissors, the scissors looking thing. But it had like feathers, I mean of, you know what I mean? Like, so this is, you know, um, funk music, right? Yeah. So this is like slide and family stone can function like that kind of shit. Yeah. You know? And so I remember, you know, seeing that, right. And like the old traditional like tops papers, you know. Uh, and so I remember seeing that and I remember seeing, you know, the woman in my family, a lot of them would use like the cigarette, um, the cigarette pieces. Yeah. So they didn't get the burns on the tips of their fingers or, because I'm from Buffalo, New York, so it's cold, and so you don't wanna like, you know, get gloves and things of that nature. So you bringing that back, I just thought, I mean, practical also cute
Speaker 2 00:40:40 Shit. Yeah. And it, the funny thing about the joint holder is, you know, I love me a good lip gloss, so it doesn't, you know, my, my lips stay intact, you know, cuz sometimes when you go to smoke a joint, your lip stuff gets all over, then it becomes saggy. Then if your puff puff passing, you know, everybody has their own joint holder. Nobody wants your soggy lip gloss on their joint. And then, or
Speaker 1 00:41:01 Or with covid it's like, look, boo germs, like, we're treating germs differently now, so.
Speaker 2 00:41:08 Exactly. Yeah. And with both silicon glass, it actually absorbs the heat. So for folks who have a Victorian throat, like myself, it actually cools
Speaker 1 00:41:18 The smoke. Wait, I'm, I'm sorry, what's the, what's the Victorian throat boo? What's
Speaker 2 00:41:21 Going So <laugh>, so, you know, back in the day, Victorian throat is somebody like smoke it quickly agitates like a lot of people love to consume cannabis and smoke, but will cough because you know, this, this is just a dry throat.
Speaker 1 00:41:35 Got you. Okay. Cause
Speaker 2 00:41:37 Of the heat. So
Speaker 1 00:41:37 I just wanna make sure all all
Speaker 2 00:41:40 Yeah, yeah. Hashtag hashtag Victorian throat. Victorian throat. Ok. So it, it, it cools the glass, it cools the smoke for you.
Speaker 1 00:41:47 Oh, that's super. Okay. So wait, I didn't, I, well that's an added bonus <laugh>, that's an added bonus. Cause I'm not factored that in, you know, I'm thinking of these other pieces, but yes. If you have a Victorian throat people
Speaker 2 00:42:01 Yep. There you
Speaker 1 00:42:02 Go. This too.
Speaker 2 00:42:03 I'm writing a, I'm writing a note to send you one because I want you to try it.
Speaker 1 00:42:08 Well, thank you. You're welcome. I, I appreciate. Now wait, now let's go to this. Okay. Because, um, what you just did was almost like one of your videos Okay. Which I am, um, secretly obsessed with. Well now, you know, um, and I love them because they're bite sized. Well they're fun sized, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, so they're like three, four minutes, which is like, as a mom sometimes it's all we have. Yep. Um, but super informative. I'm like, do you have a script or something? Because girl, you get in there and you are rattling this stuff off and it is just like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. These are all the facts. This is why you need it. Yeah. And we show you. Um, but they are super like really helpful. And I can imagine for what you call, um, wait, what do you call them? The canna nervous Yes. Who are new to Canna.
Speaker 2 00:43:04 Yes. Yes. So I, I of course have notes because there's so much, when you're educating that canna nervous consumer, you don't wanna miss a beat. You wanna make sure that you're hitting all the important points cuz they're already like nervous and scared and the stigma and fill in the blank. So I wanna make sure that I'm informing them, um, as, as much as possible. Right. But video rich content is, is where it's at you. YouTube, YouTube is the second largest search engine. I don't know why a lot of cannabis companies are not investing in video rich content. And when I say investing, I just mean like time. You don't need a fancy camera. Hello. iPhone. Right? Yeah. You just need to take the time. And again, going back to our cons, customers and, and, and p and women who I know maybe have tried cannabis once or twice, but certainly don't know what a terpene is.
Speaker 2 00:43:57 Right? Right. Or don't know how to, you know, uh, roll their own joint. And so we thought, okay, again, this is the pandemic. Meet people where they are. Right. Right. They're probably not gonna show up to a se in-person, you know, conference or seminar about cannabis. They're gonna wanna feel safe in their own home, learn about it. Because when a consumer feels educated, they're more likely to keep trying it and then they're gonna educate the people around them. And that's what we want. Right? We want this plant to be normalized. The more we talk about it, the more we, we educate. That's, that's the way to do it. Yeah. And so YouTube is, we just actually surpassed 10 million impressions yesterday. Which is, which is, which is pretty cool. Starting from a a a a, an iPhone
Speaker 1 00:44:44 <laugh>. I mean, you know, just a little, just a little little light, little light brag. Hey y'all, we um, just surpassed our 10 million <laugh>, you know? Ok. Uh, just little light work is what we do with my iPhone
Speaker 2 00:44:59 <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:44:59 That's all you need. Yes. Love
Speaker 2 00:45:01 It. Cause they, I think people think, oh, you know, YouTube or Instagram or they think it's got a, you see these influencers and they have such amazing videos and videography and you think
Speaker 1 00:45:13 It's that and the whole team, right? Like it's people walking around and
Speaker 2 00:45:17 We're investing in the $4,000 Nikon camera. No, an iPhone, Android, whatever phone you have is just as good. It's just about what you're telling your community and saying it a succinct and hopefully a little bit entertaining manner.
Speaker 1 00:45:31 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, you definitely hit the buttons. I love them <laugh>. Um, and I'm usually like trying to keep up. I'm like, what? She just say, <laugh>, rewind it back. And if you do need to watch it a couple of times again because it's short and sweet, you can do that. Right.
Speaker 2 00:45:47 Exactly.
Speaker 1 00:45:48 So, so, um, 2023. Yeah. Here we're right. What's Hot
Speaker 2 00:45:57 Girl? I know.
Speaker 1 00:45:59 <laugh>, I can't even believe it. It was like 22 just like flew by me. I don't know about you, but I was just like, wait, what? It's
Speaker 2 00:46:06 A blink. A blink.
Speaker 1 00:46:08 Like how, how did we get here? Um, what's on House of Puff's agenda?
Speaker 2 00:46:15 What is not on House of Puff's agenda? Okay. <laugh>. Um, so I mean, as, as the world knows, uh, New York opened up it's adult rec market, so kudos. Yes,
Speaker 1 00:46:28 Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 00:46:29 We are a, we are a New York based brand. Right. And we were born in New York. A lot of our products are named after New York. Um, and so we're looking at the New York market. We are in the first legal dispensary, uh, housing Works, which was Yeah, housing
Speaker 1 00:46:47 Works. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:46:47 An amazing accomplishment. Um, and, and something that is, was so deeply meaningful to the team to, to do that. So we're just gonna keep building our brand nationwide. We're already, you know, Canada, Thailand, Germany, Switzerland, you name it. So just keep rolling out the stigma scorching products that people know and love us for, with an emphasis on New York, figuring out what, what the move is there. Hopefully folks will be able to come to a house of Puff, i r l one day, uh, you know, sort of complete the omnichannel. We're b2b, we're D two C, and you know, it'd be wonderful. Have to, to have an HQ in New York. Um, so that's what we're focusing on for 2023.
Speaker 1 00:47:31 That is amazing. I love it. Um, and that, look, that may be another space that you can curate.
Speaker 2 00:47:38 There. There you go. There you go. Having a space for women and, and people and everyone to come to feel safe and, and shop House of Puff wears, uh, is, that's, that's the dream, right?
Speaker 1 00:47:50 Yeah. And, you know, and I think about also because one of the things that is, um, gonna be available in New York are consumption lounges. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so I think about, you know, often consumption lounges ha could have a vibe more like a cigar, a cigar shop. Sure. You know what I mean? Um, that if we're talking about cute shit and we're talking about, you know, certain demographics, you know, certain users, um, what they would be comfortable with and having accessories that actually also match the vibe. I mean, I can shout out the ladies with Josephine and Billy's, you know, don't want the West Coast. Yeah. But, you know, but having that kind of vibe and that feel, so I know that you are all house of Puff, right? You all wanna hop <laugh>. But I'm just saying, I'm just saying, um, you know, we, we need to make sure that cute shit, you know, kind of rings throughout. Um, and that all that all consumers are thought of, like as we're, as we're normalizing and we're making the space, um, making the space comfortable.
Speaker 2 00:48:59 Absolutely. Representation matters. And you know, new Yorkers won't, won't take the non cute shit. Right. <laugh>, listen,
Speaker 1 00:49:08 You know, they say closed mouth don't get fed. Well in New York, the miles are always open. It's like, look, this is what we want. Hey, we don't like this. What's going on?
Speaker 2 00:49:17 Yes, exactly. You know it, you know it.
Speaker 1 00:49:19 <laugh>. Okay, so before we get outta here, um, this time just flew by before we get out of here, um, parting words for people who are thinking of, um, bringing their gifts, bringing their light coming into the cannabis space, whether it's plant touching or not, what would you want to leave them with?
Speaker 2 00:49:43 Ooh, what do I want to leave them with? I think I wanna leave them with, um, just fi first of all, find, find your tribe, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, find, find the people who are gonna support you. Every crazy idea you have. Every idea that works, every idea that fails to have a community like this beautiful community that you've built. Um, and amplifying these stories. Find your tribe. Um, cuz that's important cuz cannabis is tough. It's not all glitters and rainbow and cash. Um, it's quite the opposite. And there are gonna be days where you absolutely want to quit and give up. And if you have people supporting you and people who believe in you, um, that will make all the difference. So keep going and, you know, reach out to people like me in, in, in this space. My, my, my dms are always open. I always like hearing, especially from women in the space, if there's anything that, you know, I can do or House of Puff can amplify. We love amplifying other brands, uh, women owned brands, bipo brands, you know, hit us up. Hello at House of Puff. Um, cuz it's important to, to, to, to do for you, but do for others. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:50:59 Yeah. Absolutely. And look, we've been running your social media handles on the bottom of the screen so y'all see it. Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. Um, please make sure that y'all hit Christina up. Um, I feel like nothing else needs to be said. Make sure, um, just a revisitation of what you said earlier is that your purpose and your intent is clear and align yourself with people who share those. Yeah. You know? Absolutely. And who you can build and who you can sharpen and be sharpened from. And with that, I leave y'all, y'all already know what it is. People stay blunt.
