At the center of the New York cannabis community sits a female changemaker who is walking the walk when it comes to creating space and opportunities for everyone. On this week’s episode of Proud to Work in Cannabis, Co-Founder & CEO of Humble Bloom and Honeypottt, Solonje Burnett, sits down with host Karson Humiston, Founder & CEO of Vangst, to talk about all things cannabis. From leading cannabis-centered reflection exercises at Lululemon retreats, to reinventing the traditional tradeshow and conference landscape, Solonje Burnett truly is the Queen of the Wild Wild East. Produce By PodConx Karson Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karson-humiston-64572b97/ Vangst - https://vangst.com/ Recorded on Squadcast
At the center of the New York cannabis community sits a female changemaker who is walking the walk when it comes to creating space and opportunities for everyone.
On this week’s episode of Proud to Work in Cannabis, Co-Founder & CEO of Humble Bloom and Honeypottt, Solonje Burnett, sits down with host Karson Humiston, Founder & CEO of Vangst, to talk about all things cannabis. From leading cannabis-centered reflection exercises at Lululemon retreats, to reinventing the traditional tradeshow and conference landscape, Solonje Burnett truly is the Queen of the Wild Wild East.
Karson Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karson-humiston-64572b97/
Vangst - https://vangst.com/
[00:00:00]
Solonje Burnett: Hi. My name's Solange Burnett, co-founder of Humble Bloom and Honey Pot. I'm proud to work in cannabis because of the community I've cultivated over the past five years, which is filled with loving creative entrepreneurs.
Karson Humiston: Hey everybody, and welcome back to another episode of The Proud to Work in Cannabis podcast. I'm your host Carson Hummus, and I'm so excited for this episode today. I've been looking forward to this episode for over a month Now we have Solange Burnett. Who is the co-founder and c e O of Humble Bloom, and the Chief Culture and community Officer at Honeypot, which we're gonna talk all about throughout this episode.
But one of the reasons why I'm so excited for this episode is because Solane and I have a lot of mutual friends, but we're just getting to know each other. So this is gonna be a casual conversation where we continue to get to know each other. And the only difference is there's a couple thousand people listening.
Solange, how are you today? Thank you for joining.
Solonje Burnett: I'm doing well. Thank you so [00:01:00] much for having me. Excited to chat.
Karson Humiston: Yeah. Well, we have a ton of things that we're gonna try to squeeze into the podcast today, but we wanted to start out by your story. We'd love to learn a little bit more about you and how you ultimately decided to be such a pioneer in cannabis and specifically New York cannabis. So, turn it over to you to to learn more about you, to kick us.
Solonje Burnett: Yeah, I mean, cannabis did not come into my life professionally until five years ago in New York, but it has found its way into my journey starting from an athletic injury when I grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. I played sports at Wellesley College and I pulled my groin and a friend suggested that I use a.
Bomb that she created. So that was my real entry point besides, you know, really having the stigma at home. Since I am first generation, first child, you know, all of the, you must achieve energy. [00:02:00] And having parents who were very cautious about the plant because. They were told over and over that it was a drug and did not want anybody to go to jail for that.
So I was a very good first child and stayed away from all of these vices. Um, and it really wasn't until I moved to New York that I was using regularly. I'm also, um, a creative, I create experiences, um, in the nightlife space and in cannabis and in. Um, and at the time I was also a musician. I still am singing the Resistance Revival chorus, but the community that I was in used cannabis frequently to decompress or to just have a great time.
So I started using it very regularly and soon found myself as a point of, wow, I think I need to blend these things, bring that passion and purpose together.
Karson Humiston: So when you decided that you wanted to blend the passion and purpose together, how did [00:03:00] you go about doing?
Solonje Burnett: Yeah. Um, I've been really into creating community. I think that is where I find my home is blending and mixing together different folks from all walks of life to see that. What we are more similar than, we are different and we all have the same needs. So whether that is in music or it is in the workplace, or it's in any other avenue of interest, um, I was working at a company called Live Gray that was all about work life.
Blend and how do we make work more human? And we worked with a lot of startup companies. Um, I was the executive producer of their conference series called Life at Work, and I was able to really bring together a K P I, you know, of how do we have entrepreneurs from. You know Atlanta that are just duo all the way up to a fast growing startup based in San Francisco.
Um, how do we get them all together [00:04:00] to build and grow, um, and also bring in outside influences of music and, um, journaling and. Games and play in order for people to connect more deeply, um, beyond the superficial, let's sit and listen to some expert talk cuz we all have a lot to learn no matter what stage of growth you are at a company.
Um, so from that, when that company ended, I was devastated. I was like, where am I gonna be able to put in this creativity as well as build bridges for people to have better futures, something that's impactful and something that allows for us to be more future thinking. And cannabis was that spot. Um, to be able to bring thought leaders together to have impactful convers.
To show and educate people around the plant as well as a healing element and agent, as well as how it's harmed our society for so many years, [00:05:00] purely because of profit based motivations and incarceration of bodies. Um, to be able to use a plant to touch on some. So many elements of life was really exciting.
So Danielle Swish and I came together and decided that creating community and experience that humble bloom was what we were gonna do five years ago in New York. So that was pre legalization, and we were able to do that in a way of advocacy by getting out people to, you know, sign and advocate for the. R t a at the time.
Um, we brought together farmers and people who had interesting grow techniques and took people on field trips to farms, really like learning by doing in ourselves, accumulating a compu, uh, community by amplifying. Not just the big guys out there, but the women owned, the queer owned, the black and brown owned and indigenous owned businesses that are really just getting a start in C B D as well as in P [00:06:00] H C on our west coast with our West Coast friends.
Karson Humiston: And of course that was five years ago. The landscape in New York is different today, and it seems like that you guys played a huge part in helping the industry get from where they were five years ago to today. Can you walk us just through how the industry has changed over the last five years in New York specifically?
Solonje Burnett: I think what we're seeing in New York is a great excitement around adult youth and finally having shops, um, open up in the city. Um, there are a lot of hurdles and there's a lot of conversation and negotiation and even bills that are still being passed in order to make sure that New York is as equitable as it is.
To be, um, what we were seeing five years ago was kind of the wild, wild East, and it continues to be, even though it's like moderating and slowing down, but you know,
Karson Humiston: I love that saying the wild, wild
Solonje Burnett: Right. I know our,
Karson Humiston: I haven't heard that before.
Solonje Burnett: and elusive east, I'm like, we [00:07:00] need alliteration. Right. I gotta figure it out, but we'll get there. . But yeah, I think that we, when we got in, we were such babies in the game, there wasn't a lot.
Going on in New York, besides the advocating for, as well as some brands that were, um, because the hemp bill passed that were in the CBD space. Um, so we were collaborating with a lot of them. And I mean, quite honestly back then we were partnering with. Um, membership clubs. There was a space called the Assemblage that we worked with.
We were working with the William Veil. We were creating experiences cuz even then those businesses saw that there is an advantage to being a part of cannabis. That even if it's illegal, folks here are using it and it's gonna come this way. So now we're in a place where it's here. Um, there's a gray space.
There's places that are doing, you know, Membership clubs and [00:08:00] smoke Zs and the back shops. There's still, you know, our regular serves that are coming through, but we have, I think at this point, three different retail locations, adult use, retail shops that are open. And then of course there's still the medical shops.
So for example, we've been partnering with Etan, which is the only women founded medical dispensary, um, in New York from day one. Supported us and they are definitely, they practice what they preach by weed from women and support that community. Uh, they're partners of our equity fund, which is called the Fair Play Fund for all of our experiences so that folks can come for free.
So I see there is a l shaped shift. People are jockeying to find how they can get in and fit in in this new legal market. Um, but it still. Wild as ever. I don't think anyone knows what's going on. and there's no money. That's another thing. There's no money like there is everywhere else. So it's kind of like, [00:09:00] hmm, how are these small businesses really gonna survive?
Karson Humiston: Well, I wanna get, I wanna get to that before we get to that. One of the really cool things that I've heard you say before is that for your own events, that you all don't take money. You don't let people in that you don't believe in. And I think that that's a really impressive and hard thing to do. Right.
To your point around there not being a lot of, um, money and you guys. Walking the walk and creating community that's purpose driven. Can you talk to us about how you decide whether or not you're going to allow someone to be part of your events and experiences and how that's really been part of the organization that you've built from day one?
Because I think a lot of people out there make statements like that, but they actually don't walk the walk and when push comes to shove, they need customers and revenue and so. End up just taking anyone that will pay them. You guys actually don't do that, so it's really impressive [00:10:00] and would just love to learn more about that.
Solonje Burnett: It's hard, let me tell you to actually live by your values and morals, but we practice what we preach. We definitely. Make our sponsorships and opportunities affordable for smaller companies because we truly wanna build a collective, like we believe in collaborative energy. We don't believe in this David and Goliath model.
We don't think that, oh yeah, you're just gonna push through and get to the top. There are always outliers and people that get through, but we believe in. Coalition building. So we've worked with folks who are in the legacy market for years who have both CBD companies and THC companies that are kind of underground.
We have been supported by and amplify women owned queer, black and brown brands from coast to coast. That's who's in our gift bags. That's who's showing up, sponsoring, and you know, The values alignment is what speaks for it. We come and we have a certain [00:11:00] voice and a certain energy and how we wanna show up.
Some people just don't get it and maybe that's why , we don't have their support, but we also are seeing this turn where some of them are finally starting to reach out and be like, Hey, cuz they see value in the community that we've cultivated. It's not just, oh yeah, we have. One affirmative action energy hire that's on the C-suite.
That probably is the diversity person, um, like that's in every other industry. Instead, it's like you walk around and our team, our volunteers, the vendors. The, um, performers, everybody is reflective of the community We wanna see in the community. We believe needs some more space, needs to be able to take up space, needs to be seen and heard, um, and so many times.
Our voices, yours, my, we're silenced. Um, and so to be able to look around a room, we got so much value [00:12:00] and such, like energetically good vibration to look around and be like every single person here from the tattoo artist who to the harp. Too. It's like people that you think wouldn't be, we have cr we have found them and we have welcomed them.
And I think it's also like our backgrounds, you know, I've worked in entertainment and hospitalities and wellness and membership places. Danielle has worked in art and has had a juice company and worked in work. So we have our communities that overlap and intersect, but then our own and able to create a really robust, um, container and c.
Karson Humiston: And I, I mean, we were talking about this. When, when on our, on our one other time we spoke about just micro events and how I personally believe they're much more impactful than these massive trade shows that have started. Like for, for, I would, we're, we're talking tomorrow with Kelsey and the three [00:13:00] of us to figure out how we can get involved.
Because from my perspective, it's like you go. MJ biz, I mean, I hate, hate to drop names here, but we're just like a tiny fish swimming around this massive trade show, and we have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to ship our booth out there. And there's a bunch of people that are completely unrelevant to the industry and our business coming up to our booth and.
when you walk away and you kind of ask yourself, I, well, I met 10,000 people, but I can't even remember anyone's name. And half of them I don't even know how we'll ever be able to do business together. So I actually believe that the micro events and the events where that you can go to, where you can align with the businesses you have mutual values with, the businesses are the way forward.
For the in, for the industry. So I love that, that that's the approach that you've taken. And maybe it's taken a little bit longer, but it seems like everybody's in agreement that that's the best way to forge business relationships at this
Solonje Burnett: I completely agree, and I [00:14:00] think, you know, from my previous work when I was at Live Gray, understanding the impact of having like co cohort based learning experiences, not mega events, but events that are between like a hundreds of. 300 people and opportunities. Little vignettes for people to sneak away.
For them to chat. How many times are you at a conference and you're like, there's so many people I want to talk to and I can't even talk to them. Cause I'm so busy sitting and listening to Talking Heads or being ushered to something else. And you're like, ah, yeah, I kind of learned. But now everybody's jockeying just to hear a one speaker when you don't know the power of the people that are literally sitting right in around you.
So like what we try to do is whether it's a party-like experience or it's a specific learning experience, or it's an affinity group based experience or a networking experience, how can we blend again, elements that make people go outside of their. Thought patterns and are able to engage with other [00:15:00] people in a way that's impactful so that you do walk away.
We've had like our first field trip, we had the woman who's now the C M O there, she came and she spoke at that event. You know, everybody, like people meet folks and. They forge connections and build. It's, it's so incredible. Or they'll come to our field trip and next thing we see them and they're like some big influencer, or they've come to, uh, the happy camp and now they're working on a project with some lawyer.
You know, they're, it's just really, really lovely to see how people, it's more than just, oh, come to a party and hang out. It's really consciously created, um, hours in time for folks to connect.
Karson Humiston: and I also think at these large trade shows, like there's the one part of you that you just, you're thinking about it like volume. And so maybe you start having a conversation with someone and they ask you to go step away, but you're worried that if you leave the booth, you're gonna miss the next. 10 people.
So you're just [00:16:00] like spitting through volume and you're not forging the connections. And then another thing that you just said that just resignated so well that I never had really thought of before is like the shared experiences of field trips and things that are a little bit different than just a general conference, like I'm in this entrepreneur's.
Organization called Y P O. And I'm so close with the people in my group because we go whitewater rafting or do something completely wild together. And I know those people way better like to be able to do that with potential customers and business colleagues. I mean, imagine the kind of connection that you'll have.
It's so much stronger than just passing by them at a trade show. So I am so excited to get involved and hopefully people listening,
Solonje Burnett: Thank you so much for plugging that and I, yeah, thanks so much for plugging that in that way, because I do think that yes, conferences have their place, so do expose, but the majority that I hear from folks, they waste so much money. So much money is gone and it's like, what is the return? And in an industry where [00:17:00] every penny counts for marketing, it's like, let's think.
An alternative way of doing it. And then on top of it, how much would you rather support a couple of ladies who are putting together something some than some big bohemoth that really doesn't care and does not wanna think about how to fine tune an experience around your company if you're the one who's a part of it at a lead sponsorship level.
Karson Humiston: no, I we're like every other venture backed company in this world. We're looking at all of our expenses and I, I, maybe some of our investors are listening, so I won't say how much we spent on those. Ginormous, um, conferences last year, but let's just say we're not going back. Um, and so we're super excited that folks like you exist, that throw affordable events that with, with bigger connections.
One thing that you talked, uh, that you briefly touched on that I wanted to double down on, can you tell us more about your fair play fund and what that is?
Solonje Burnett: Yeah, so from the beginning, Danielle and I [00:18:00] always had. Equity access, availability, like how do we make sure that no matter where you come from, how much money you have, you're able to be a part of this experience. Because yes, those retreats and escapes that you were just talking about are so impactful, but they're also very exclusive.
And so people who don't have money don't, aren't venture back, don't, don't get the opportunity to meet people like you that could give them a job, that could make your company so much better or the. Versa. You know, an investor meeting, somebody who has a great idea, but would never be able to be in the rooms that they meet other entrepreneurs and who might look more like them.
So we, from the beginning are we had something that was like an equity fund. It was like, oh, we're taking a field trip to tonic and we want folks. To come, we're gonna make it. So of the 40 slots, five of them are free. Um, so always around 20, like we were like, okay, we wanna have like 20% free. And then we did partnerships with [00:19:00] spaces where they either got rid of the venue cost or made it so significantly.
Small that we were able, cause we're doing a partnership with them, that we were able to, again, give away tickets. But again, it is a lot of cost for us. Like we're the ones renting vans, loading up boxes, putting together gift bags, like my body hurts for days afterwards. It's like we have, the cost is so low because.
Sweat is real. Um, and so we first started a couple years ago, we were like, all right, let's make this, uh, a fund. And we didn't want to call it equity, cuz it's not like you're getting an equity, a share of equity. We're like, okay, fair play. Let's make sure that everyone can come play with us. No matter what they're doing.
They can have some joy, they can meet new people, they can expand their community and they can. Feel at ease. Um, and as we started exper expressing what it was, e chain came along and they've been really funding it. Every event that we have, [00:20:00] and it's at least 20 folks get to come to our experience for free no matter what the cost.
Karson Humiston: That's incredible. So if you are somebody that might qualify to have one of the 20 slots, how do you get in touch with those people and how do those people get in touch with you?
Solonje Burnett: So we always just put up a form. Um, and the virility of it, you know, we put it on the website for the event page, we say what it is. Um, we create all the marketing assets to get it out there into the world and have everybody else who's a part of the event share. So whether you're a vendor or. You are a sponsor or you see this and you're sharing cuz you want your community to know there are free tickets, you know, and people when they hear free and so then they click through and we have a bunch of different, um, ways to assess, but it mostly is just demographic information so we know who's the community that really needs the most and it's.
Incredible to see that it's a lot of women and women of color, [00:21:00] um, which would make sense when you think about income and who makes money? . So they are at the bottom and they tend to be the ones that need the help to attend. And knowing that we serve primarily black, brown, and queer, younger folks, like folks between 20 to 40 age, but also go all the way up to sixties, you know, at our.
It's in inexpensive locations, whether we're doing an event in California or we're doing it here in New York, like every penny counts. So people love it and they're so grateful. So we just like communicated with Jess, um, at ETA and who the 20 folks. Were, because we wanna make sure that folks are also getting the opportunity to get their medical card.
So we've partnered with Presto doctor to give them 50% off of their medical card as well. Um, help them understand the difference between adult use and medical that these folks have been here in the industry. At ENE for years, they're knowledgeable, they're helpful. Um, you can do home grow and get some seeds [00:22:00] when you have a medical card.
So there's different benefits to it. Um, and we want to have people learn about all the avenues.
Karson Humiston: Yeah. And, and I hate to just keep on bashing on these big conferences, but I feel like I've been robbed by them the last few years, so I'm fine too. Um,
Solonje Burnett: go. Let it go,
Karson Humiston: is that think let I got, I gotta let it go. Um, now I've lost my train of thought. Um, it'll come back to me. Oh, I know what I was gonna say.
I'm just thinking about how much. Impactful it would be for somebody to go have an intimate experience, then walk around a big show floor. So again, it just, uh, I haven't heard of anyone doing anything like this, and I think it's just totally amazing.
Solonje Burnett: think we also do it because we are like, what do we. You know, and like what do those trade shows feel like to us? Like I definitely get anxiety. I have been brought to those trade shows either as an influencer who I'm, so I'm doing like social media and ambassador stuff, [00:23:00] or because of speaking on a panel.
Like those are the only way I go to these big conferences. Otherwise, I'm not spending money to go feel anxiety like , you better pay for me to come because you need this vibe. You know what I'm saying? Like, come on, like if you wanna partner with us to create a woman's lounge or some kind of special section at your conference that makes it feel, you know, more inclusive, we're here to do that too.
So it's like we can add humble bloom flare over there. Um, but I. I know like from day one, like people are, oh, you going to Ben? Are you going to, I'm like, no, unless they ask me to personally come.
Karson Humiston: Uh, I, yeah, you're speaking my language. Let's, we'll, we'll, we'll move on from the big trade shows, uh, P T S D. Um, uh, one thing you just brought up that I wanted to talk to you about was, um, I know that you are a home [00:24:00] grower and you, you just brought that up a little bit, so I'd like to just hear a little bit more about it and how you got into it and how it's going.
Solonje Burnett: Okay, so I'm in the midst of developing something called Weed Auntie. Um, will it just be like a lifestyle kind of energy? Um, but it is really inspired, uh, when I think about it by my actual aunt who lives in Newton, Massachusetts. Shout out Jesse on my Aunt Desta. She, um, years ago in Massachusetts, was growing in the backyard pre legalization, and I like knew that that was happening, kind of, but like, didn't know, just like mentioned that Aunt Jesse was hiding like plants in her closet, um, for her son who needed it medically.
And she basically, A postal worker, so a federal official, saw the plants growing and was like, are those weed plants back there? And she was like, [00:25:00] what? Whatcha talking about? No. And the next day, like scooped them out, got light, put them in her in the house, um, and. I have always been so interested in growing.
Um, I think also because our family, we're from the Caribbean, we're from Grenada, my mom's side, they actually had a plantation. They grew all types of vegetables and fruits and produce. Um, so it's in our blood and I'd like to say that I am. the first child, like without land. Um, and that energy of plant love and healing and just wanting to escape and sit in the calm and quiet is, and put my hands on the earth is just natural.
So, but I live and. Brooklyn. So , I don't have a backyard. Um, my brother does run community gardens here, so I do get to go to some community gardens locally and just like feel it and be in my fields. But I, a [00:26:00] couple years ago we had an event with Humboldt Bloom for a brand called Chula that's based in Mexico.
They came to New York and did a launch, and we did like a three day series for them and one of our local serves, they. Provided, um, little plants for decoration, um, just to have around the setup of Chulas display. And afterwards they were like, you guys can keep them. And we were like, what? And it was like an October event, so it's not like we could put them outside.
I had no idea what I was doing. Um, and so I had this plant and. Realized the light was getting less and less and less. So then I had to like buy a tent and I had to do, I just was like feverishly trying to figure out . And then I had my first harvest like last Christmas. Um, and I remember I was trying to go home to see my family and I couldn't, so my Christmas activity, cuz of the panny, my Christmas activity was harvesting my, my Christmas tree.
Um, . [00:27:00] That's the story. And now I am growing, I currently am doing, like I work with different brands, so I've worked with Seedsmen that's based in the UK and Spain. And um, now I'm working with Promix and they have these open top grow bags, and so I'm now. Getting the opportunity to explore through these product partnerships and also just the excitement for me.
And it's nice to show other people that like you can grow at home, that as a black woman like destigmatizing growing that it's not just because I'm a stoner and I'm selling it, it actually just brings joy and happiness. To be able to cultivate her is to really know her. So it's, it's a lovely wellbeing experience.
Great relationship
Karson Humiston: The, this is a crazy, this is a crazy question, but do you think that, um, like thinking positively about growing actually helps the [00:28:00] plant? Because I have to tell you that I, I have a garden. Small garden. I also don't have a backyard just in the front of my house. There's a small box for garden. And this garden I cannot keep alive for it to save my life.
It just keeps dying, dying, dying, dying. And you know what? Someone told me? So I finally, I, I called a landscaper gardener and I said, look, I. Following all these steps, I'm doing everything I can. And this person told me that if you constantly think that the garden's gonna die, the garden will die. So I'm, I'm gonna, this year I'm gonna literally visualize this blooming garden in the front of my house.
I will, I will report
Solonje Burnett: Please tell me how it goes. Yeah,
Karson Humiston: But I'm curious about your mindset with grow.
Solonje Burnett: Yes, honey. I like dance in my room with my plants. I like play music and I like water them and I hang out and I'm pruning like I take 'em. It's like a big thing I [00:29:00] even take out. Like, um, either sage sometime or like cleansing the space on the new moon, in the full moon.
So it's like all ritual. I know farmers who reiki their plants. Um, you know, so I think whatever energy you put out there, that's what it's gonna take in. They're very sensitive, like extremely sensitive. It's wild to see, especially weed. , but like generally, I think plants are very sensitive and they know they're so intelligent.
Karson Humiston: There's, yeah, so it's on, it's on me, This garden is, uh, oh
Solonje Burnett: Maybe you need some new plants, maybe you need some new plants. Sometimes you just gotta find the plant that works with you.
Karson Humiston: I think so too. So we'll take this offline as the spring. As the spring comes around, I'm gonna completely re restart from fresh, new mindset, new plants, new everything.
Solonje Burnett: you got this
Karson Humiston: Well, one of the other things I wanted to [00:30:00] talk about, thank you.
Uh, one of the other things I wanted to touch on that you talked about in the beginning of, of your opening around when you were first introduced to cannabis and how your family, there was a stigma around it. So let's talk about like the normalization of cannabis as wellness, because I know that you've done a ton in this space, of course, your own journey.
How are you going about normalizing cannabis as truly wellness?
Solonje Burnett: Well, I let folks know that. I think that's how I normalize it, that I use weed in every single way possible. Like right now, I just got my period. I have a C B D suppository in my vagina. You know, like that's the start. I'm having sex with somebody. I'm using a C B T lubrication. You know what I'm saying?
Like every time I am, I'm put like lotion on my face. I'm using a C B D lotion by a friend, you know, so there's so many
Karson Humiston: that's why you look so [00:31:00] young. That's why you look, that's why you look years younger than however old you.
Solonje Burnett: Exactly that. Right. Um, but yeah, from like the teas to the drops to the lotions and oils, it's like, this is not like our grandma's pot. But even then, it's like those grandmas and aunties were using the plant in these ways as well. It just wasn't commercialized. So I think for me the normalization is showing people that, oh my gosh, there's this hot lip gloss that I have from St.
Jane, or there's this tea by no button. And, and all again, is a part of, you know, sustaining women in entrepreneurship as well. Amplifying and sharing in that way, and using my platform in that way. So having brand partner. And growing at home, you know, posting about my womb woes and like my fibroids and how I get through all the pain of our time of the month.
Um, and you know, just telling folks that this plant [00:32:00] yes, has been used for harm. Yes, has been stigmatized and made everyone think they're so lazy. But I don't know anybody who's more hardworking than a cannabis entrepreneur. It's one of the hardest industries to work in since it's not legal and nothing makes sense.
So the whole like stigma around this. Stoner and then hi. I can't speak on a panel. I can't do anything unless I'm like properly regulated and that could be some C d, D and a little bit of thc, whatever it is to get me through. So just screaming from the rooftop and educating people as a weed auntie by doing it and sharing information and products with friends, and just amplifying all the folks I love who are doing great.
Karson Humiston: And I think, and I, another thing that you mentioned to me on our preview call was that you also will take other wellness activities like breath work and pair it with. Cannabis. [00:33:00] Can you talk to us about some of those events and just like the general wellness as a category and how this makes sense to,
Solonje Burnett: yes. Yes, thank you. Yes. So I have been curating a series at Soho House that I actually just brought to Lululemon as an experience as well called reflection. Um, and the whole point of it is to reflect, um, the intersectional na nature of wellness. Um, so it ha I have a cannabis entrepreneur who is a woman slash person of color normally.
Um, then I have a wellness practitioner. It could be Chiang Breathwork, meditation, yoga, like whatever it is, but led by somebody who may, might have been indigenous to this. Um, or their ancestry is tied to the practice, um, as well as a musician who will create some kind of soundscape. So creating this caring container with people of color in [00:34:00] healing and wellbeing instead of leading with this idea of wellness being and individual, uh, thing.
First of all, you know that I go to the gym by myself or I do this. It's like we're coming together as a group. We're amplifying other incredible people. Um, and we're practicing around the plant. So the Lululemon experience that I'm so grateful I got to do, cause I really do felt, feel like I was listening to like mainstream cannabis into a brand that doesn't talk about that.
Even though they're based in Canada where it's been legal, um, they still are not using cannabis. You don't see, they're cannabis ambassador . So for me to be like outside, Event in front of their side, smoking a joint before I go in to lead a meditation, um, and visualization. It was, I still get goosebumps because it felt so incredible.
Like kind of wanna cry to be like in my body, in their cute, like really yummy [00:35:00] leggings. . And. Leading people and seeing people journey and understand that the plant medicine they ingested is helping them get to where they're going. Um, and so to talk about how chamomile and rose and C B D and Mullin and those elements that are in how that's going to help.
Within your digestive system, how that's opening your heart, um, how that can help to alleviate the stress and like to deepen your breathing, to like actually listen and feel and taste. Um, it's just a month, a multis, sensorial experience. And that's what wellness should be. Um, and I think also demystifying, so to actually talk about cannabis in your endocannabinoid system to folks, um, to help them understand that CBD is non intoxicating, um, it is psychoactive.
Lots of people say CBD is not psychoactive. Most things are psychoactive, but what it isn't is intoxicating. And so like, you're not gonna feel [00:36:00] the way you feel when you ingest thc. And to get this information out to people is. So wonderful. And to actually have them talk about how they feel and how the medicine helped them.
Um, so doing it in wellness in those ways has been so great. So it's like breaking stigma and stereotypes within my own community and also within the other communities to see all these practitioners of color, to see me up there with my hat on, you know, and my lighter on my chest being like, Let's vision.
We're on a beach together. It was so much fun.
Karson Humiston: How, I'm curious what the response from the folks at the Lululemon event like, how did everybody respond to it since it was probably one of their first events incorporating cannabis
Solonje Burnett: I. Incredibly well received. Um, which I floated out the door, the planners, that was the last experience of the weekend. Um, and the planners, one of [00:37:00] them, he was crying and he was just like, I did not expect you to do all of that in the shower . Um, um, because yeah, I think he thought it was gonna be like a quick breath work and, you know, some journaling and it really pushed some buttons and let, allowed him to.
Um, the words that I used and chose for people to take up space, um, to meet their feelings and, you know, to feel protected by their ancestors and to do that in Black history months was just like, I'm like, oh my God. Check mark. Go girl. You did that
Karson Humiston: I have, uh, couple more questions that I wanna get through on the top. And we didn't, we didn't re-discuss this, but on the topic of longevity, it's been something that I've been, um, I don't know why. I just had a big birthday. I feel like I'm getting old. So I've been doing a lot of listening to podcasts and reading books about longevity.
[00:38:00] Picked up, intermittent fasting, all kinds of things. Do you know anything about cannabis and longevity and has there been any studies there? Or do you think that's something that's to come? Because it seems like it fits so well into the wellness track and that it should be associated with longevity. But I was just literally, I just thought of this question.
I was just curious if you know anything about this.
Solonje Burnett: I don't know any science around it, but I do know, I do remember, I don't know if you remember like in the pandemic, they were talking about some like of the Super Dodgers and some of us being big potheads and like . So I'm like me, I still never got it. So like, and I was smoking weed. Yeah. And I was smoking weed since the day that thing was announced.
Oh my goodness. , it's like, should
Karson Humiston: with Kelsey, actually. Same. Same with Kelsey and I I maybe that's why she was a super dodger.
Solonje Burnett: I know, and there was something about it. I can't remember exactly what P folks were saying, but that was that like either it could decrease the amount of time and blah, blah, blah. All these different things. I mean, it is [00:39:00] medicine. It is medicine that is under researched, underfunded, underexplored. And I think when we have the right people, you know, who are leading these kinds of conversations, maybe.
Actual work to be done there. You know, we do not know enough about the medical benefits of all a hundred and whatever number of cannabinoids that are in the plant. Um, I'm waiting for that day. I would love to be able to be like, okay, if I take a balance of this, this, and this, zap no more period pain at all, and no bloating and no nothing.
You know, just like pop it and I, I believe. That there is opportunity for that because with such little information to just know that, okay, it's gonna decrease inflammation, increase blood flow, like all of these things, that's pretty magic. Without having any kind of adverse effects to our body the way some of these prescription drugs do.
And looking at my mom right now and. Her medical situation, it's terrifying to me that as we age, our dependencies on [00:40:00] these pills because there are no other options, and all they do is treat us like a medicine cabinet, just keep stocking pills in there and it's terrifying
Karson Humiston: they're also covering up also.
Solonje Burnett: And they're just covering up and making more problems.
Karson Humiston: Yeah. Yeah. I'm completely in the same camp as you there. It's, it's totally messed up. The, the, you go to the doctors and rather than, than them saying like, Here's what's causing the problem and here's what you can do naturally to fix it.
It's, here's six pills to take to cover it up and
Solonje Burnett: And we don't know, like, and we're not sure like, so just try it and like your whole system goes out of control and they have to add other pills, then they're taken away only if you ask. So it's, it's really te and so expensive. So I am very excited about the possibilities. I just really hope that those that are leading in the fields of medical research don't make shit so proprietary and expensive and that this plant.
The parent that it should be, [00:41:00] it should be cheap and inexpensive and free to like grow it
Karson Humiston: Well, hopefully we get, hopefully, hopefully someone asks us to be on a panel together about this topic, cuz I think we could do some pretty big damage out
Solonje Burnett: Yes, I'm
Karson Humiston: we're, we're wrapped. We're, we're, we're. No, I'm, I'm gonna go down that rabbit hole. Uh, we'll, we'll, we'll, you and I will connect and find the people that can help us get those answers, but I think that could be an episode or 10 in and of themselves.
Uh, well, we're already at 41 minutes. This went by so fast. I totally lost track of time. But I do wanna, I do wanna say if people want to connect with you, if they wanna get involved in your community, they wanna get involved in your experiences. How do people get in touch with you? How do they, how do they get involved?
Because I have a feeling a lot of people are, are gonna want to, after listening to this,
Solonje Burnett: Oh, so wonderful. Thank you so much for this opportunity to come on here. It's been such an a great chat just to say, um, if you wanna come. If you'd like to be in contact, you can reach out to [00:42:00] me@salonburnett.com. Um, there I have links to Humble Bloom. There's links to Honey Pot. There's also just a form that you can fill in that goes directly to me, um, and we can talk about whatever your heart desires.
Karson Humiston: Well, thank you again so much for coming on to the show. I'm so excited to meet you in person in real life soon, and excited for us to work together more closely. So thanks again for your time today. It was great to have you on.
Solonje Burnett: Thank you. Being with you makes me feel proud to be in cannabis
Karson Humiston: Love that.