Dry January has been an enormous plus for the cannabis industry. The data shows us that young people are shifting away from alcohol and view cannabis as a healthier vice. This shift is creating a challenge for the liquor industry, and that impact is being felt in arenas. People can’t puff inside an arena but can undoubtedly take a gummy.

Bloomberg did many things when he was in office, but no smoking inside might have been the most felt globally and in our lungs. I would not roll that back ever. What should be sold at events? Fast-acting mints and gummies, cannabis drinks, vapes?

As more and more people opt for cannabis over alcohol, the shift will be seen. Alcohol companies will start buying cannabis companies and lobbying for wine shops to sell cannabis or the other way around. It will be interesting to see what cannabis sales look like when Germany legalizes cannabis on April 1st. They do not have lobbyists urging them not to sell cheese, sweets, or savory condiments in a wine shop.

Party planners want to bring on the products, arenas need to figure this out, and in the end, the consumers will always find the products; the question is how can events take advantage of what everyone is taking before or during the event straight from their pocket?

Cannabis is out of the bag; it is time for the Federal Government to embrace it.

I enjoyed speaking to Bruce Eckfeldt on his podcast Thinking Outside the Bud. A 30-minute listen. You can listen here.

Some info on the site about Gotham and me below.

Cultivating Success: Inside the High-End Cannabis Industry with Joanne Wilson

In this episode, we have Joanne Wilson, Founder and CEO of Gotham NYC, a prominent cannabis dispensary in New York. Joanne shares her professional journey, highlighting her venture into the cannabis industry and the challenges faced within the New York regulatory landscape. The conversation delves into the intricacies of building a distinctive brand, emphasizing the need for a high-end luxury experience for customers. Joanne discusses the dynamic nature of the cannabis market, reflecting on her vision for the future, potential expansion into other states, and the incorporation of psilocybin products.

Joanne is a successful early-stage angel investor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist with a diverse background in retail, wholesale, media, real estate, and technology. She has over 140 companies in her investment portfolio such as Food52, Eater, Just Works and Parachute Home, and has invested in several restaurants throughout downtown New York City. Joanne is the co-founder of Frame Home, a Brooklyn-based residential real estate development company that prioritizes sustainability with style. In addition to her business ventures, Joanne is actively involved in non-profits as she sits on the board of The Highline and The Public Housing Community Fund in NYC. Joanne’s passion for innovation and community development is evident in this latest venture, GOTHAM, which she cannot wait to share with the city she loves.

IG @gotham.ny – https://www.instagram.com/gotham.ny/?hl=en
TikTok @gotham_nyc – https://www.tiktok.com/@gotham_nyc

In the summer of 1987, an Austrian artist, Andre Heller, created an artist concept in Hamburg, Germany. He brought together over 30 artists from across the globe to create an amusement park. Some artists were Keith Haring, David Hockney, Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, Roy Lichenstein, and Salvador Dali.

You could explore the magical world of an amusement park with rides and concepts created by some of the most whimsical artists in the world.

Instead of taking a global journey, the park closed at the show’s end. After years of litigation and the change of ownership, Luna Luna exited a Texas warehouse where 44 crates had been stored.

The first stop is in downtown LA, in a warehouse. We could see it before it closes or before this goes on the road.

Who found out about this, had the pieces restored, and re-created this event? Drake and his DreamCrew team. It’s quite an epic undertaking and worthy of all of our time.

Our family is a group of content lovers. My brother and sister-in-law, their kids, my sister and our kids. It’s a family affair. 

Fred and I love making sure to see every film that we believe has Oscar potential so we can voice our opinions.  It’s fun to discuss and talk about. Everyone has their own taste, so it’s a mashup.  

When I was a kid, I loved TV shows, but I found I couldn’t read and watch TV when we had kids, so I chose reading.  Fast forward to now, and I can do both. So during COVID, we watched a few series, but once life began again, we turned back to films or short series, and I mean short. 

I tend to like heavier content or documentaries, but the other night, I watched a movie that someone recommended.  She said I should try something lighter. And I finally did

It was light, and I howled at points. I have genuine respect for a new form of entertainment I have obviously been missing out on. My sister-in-law loves this kind of content. I now get it.

I’m not sure I will shift my ways, but once in a while, I will bust loose.

We spent our winters in LA for years, but then I decided to start Gotham, so that changed. Instead of parking it in LA for months, we go back and forth. When we got here on Thursday, it felt really good. Maybe it is what the doctor ordered. Emily now lives here, my brother and sister-in-law live here, and so do a few excellent friends, making it even more worth it.

First thing, dinner with Em. We went to Isla, a new spot from the team at Crudo e Nudo. The place has a great vibe, just like Crudo. The menu is more extensive, and there is also indoor space. The hamachi is top.

And for their first try at pasta, a win. Uni pasta is rich, creamy, and so good.

When we got back to our car, we noticed someone had smashed our window, and a few other cards. Nothing was taken, just a smash. It bummed us out. Someone who is probably not in the right state took out something on these cars.

The next day, we went on an outing with my brother and sister-in-law. I wanted to visit the Cheech Museum, so the plan was made. Instead of stopping in one of the many amazing dim sum places in the San Gabriel Valley, we drove to Yang’s Kitchen in Alhambra.

Fresh Chinese breakfast food that is light, flavorful, and healthy. Such a great find; thank you, Emily. My sister-in-law wants to return even though it is far from our homes. I would love to go back for dinner, but it will probably take hours to get there. We shared the cornmeal mochi cake topped with miso syrup, blueberries, and whipped cream on the side if you ask. I had the special rice cooked in chicken broth, crispy scallions, soy egg, raw scallions, mushrooms on top, and cilantro.

The Alhambra Farmers Market is on Sunday. We walked through to check out the wares. I have never seen this at the farmer’s market before sugar cane. Then we saw it again later when they melted the sugarcane into drinks. It must be grown in the area.

Then we drove to the Cheech Museum. He has collected over 500 indigenous artists committed over 40 years ago to help the community. It is incredible what he has done. Huge applause. There were some of my favorite pieces.

These by Frank Romero

And this one by Candelario Aguilar Jr.

Wayne Alaniz Healy

Sonia Romeo. Cheech has a large collection so they rotate the work.

Here is Cheech! What a cool man.

We walked around the town and into the Mission Hotel. I’m not sure I will be back to the Inland Empire any day soon, but I am so glad we went. Fun road trip!.

Who doesn’t love Farfetch, or Net-a-Porter, or Matches? These sites have changed the way we shop. These companies have evolved because when you are public, you must continue growing or putting out serious profits yearly.

I always loved the Farfetch model. Farfetch gave boutiques across the globe a platform to connect with a larger net of people who would buy their products/inventory. Now, it looks and feels like all the other sites, such as Net-a-Porter. The majority of these online marketplaces across the globe are in trouble. Their valuations have plummeted.  Why?

I do not know the nitty-gritty of how the business works. Did the stores pay a monthly fee?  Did they have to promote their sales to get to the top of the site?  It would be worth looking under the hood to see the business model and what worked. Maybe it was never made to work at what the public markets wanted it to work at.

Farfetch has a market cap of 38 million compared to 5.6 Billion when it went public. What a buy. There is an opportunity here to scale back Farfetch to its bare bones and add the opportunity to use cryptocurrencies, secure shipping prices, and make it work.

Something will happen; I just hope whoever takes control doesn’t kill it completely. There is value there for everyone.

I took a break from reading the latest and dipped into an old favorite, Murakami. He absorbs you into his writings like no writer I have ever read. The characters, the food, and the surroundings are all unique, and eventually, these stories weave into each other. Genius.

I am reading IQ84, a 1200-page tome, and I read this paragraph. A police officer says to herself, “I’d probably have to ask the Yamanashi Prefectural Police to send copies of the related materials in the mail. And for that I’d first have to fill out the materials request form and get my boss’s okay. Of course I’d have to give a good reason for the request. And we’re a government office, after all, so we’re getting paid to make things as complicated as possible”.

I read this and paused. This is the definition of government. I have so many theories, from how the laws have been set up to weird bedfellows to no understanding of how business and lives work, living in their echo chamber, to name a few.

Sitting on the sidelines and watching the state government build a brand new division to oversee a highly regulated product that is still not Federally legal and is a Schedule I drug is wild, frustrating, mind-boggling, and fascinating. Somehow, starting from scratch in a world where start-ups, and even Fortune 500 companies, have changed how business is run, but the government hasn’t. It is layers and layers of laws that are so layered that they don’t make any sense.

I can hardly wait for federal legalization, but after watching NY, I fear for the federal mess that is ahead. Someone at the top has to care about getting this right. Too many people will not succeed in this business, and I fear most will lose everything. That will not be a good look for anyone. Public officials will shake their heads, but the people will be screwed.

I bumped into someone who ran for office and has been involved in politics his whole life. Of course, I asked about the state of the world, and he said we have to make sure Biden wins regardless of his age. He believes that if Trump wins, democracy in the world will shift to something very ugly. I fear he might be right.

Conservatives (let’s be honest, mostly white men) have taken the long road when it comes to change that works for them. They are happy to be what they only want to see. They want to hold on to ideals that keep them all in power. Just look at the courts, particularly the Supreme Court.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI, is the latest conservative whomp. DEI began in 1948 when Truman signed an executive order to desegregate the armed forces. Then, In 1956, Johnson signed an executive order to ensure that the government hired regardless of race and religion. The civil rights movement amplified the origins of DEI into the public eye.

In the early 2000s, when I sat on the board of our kids’ EL-12 school, hiring diversity directors was happening in every private school throughout the city, including companies. Most of these initiatives failed probably because nobody truly understood their roles. The role is to make sure that there is diversity in the school or the company. It just takes work.

In the early days of CSCNYC, the first computer science programs outside Stuyvesant High School began at Washington Irving High School. In the first year, the program was overwhelmingly male. They fixed it by spending most of their recruiting, interviewing, and doing events for young women, aka basically none for young men. In the second year, there was almost a 50/50 split between young men and women because they figured out that young men would apply to a computer science program without being prodded. Look at how many women have become computer science majors over the past two decades. Remember, women were the predominant programmers before WWII, and then, of course, and unfortunately again, patriarchy took over.

As a female investor in the early days of start-ups, the data showed that company diversity is a win. Multiple studies have proven that companies are more profitable by over 2.5x. Common sense tells us that having different voices around the table creates a merger of cultures that make products that catch a wider net.

So many people are living inside their echo chambers right now. We need DEI now more than ever. Eventually, the tides will turn, and those trying to pull us back will not have the last word. At one point, in the not-too-distant future, many of those anti-DEIs will find themselves the underdog, needing DEI to make sure that their grandchildren, who are white, have the same opportunities as others. Those who believe in diversity will continue working hard to have balanced schools and companies. It is that echo chamber that creates racism. That is what I fear more than anything.

I have been living in a start-up land since 1990. Some were businesses where I was at the helm; others were as an investor, and others were as an advisor or board member. Each is very different, but the one consistent thing is how quickly things move, how much time is needed, and how you can’t get any of it out of your head. Regardless, it is a very entrepreneurial sport.

I talked to one of Gotham’s team players about the many meetings. We looked at the calendar together and realized all those meetings were necessary. I am not a fan of meetings to have meetings, but when you are building something from scratch, multiple sessions are needed until the foundation is set. The tricky part is when you have time to execute everything, particularly when you are creative. Time is needed to think, and we all must have a life that makes us better as humans.

Maybe start-ups are like a drug. There are some drugs that, after a few hours pass, you are so happy that you aren’t in that mindset anymore; things are a little more mellow. Start-ups are like that. They are also like having children. The first year is nuts. Sleep is tough; things are constantly changing, and you are entirely trying new things and passing on things that don’t work, and then a year passes. You look around, and everything has completely changed, and you can not believe how far you have come.

In year two, things begin to gel. You can sit up and focus a bit more; things start to come together, and you begin to walk, talk, and eat by yourself. The same goes for business. The foundation begins to get set, the players start to lock in, decisions can be made on data, growth is happening, and everything is no longer a fire drill.

By year three, kids still have difficulty dressing themselves, but by year four, they are pretty independent, although I’m not sure you would let them stroll around the block by themselves. As 2024 starts to kick in and Gotham is moving forward, I look forward to year two. I am unsure what I expected as I began this journey, but that is how I have always operated. Jump in, two feet first. In the cannabis industry, everything is learned on the fly, which is exciting and incredibly frustrating.

In the years ahead, relying on Government decisions while building out a business should prove to be challenging but admittingly exhilarating.

One of my dearest friends in the world lost his Mom a few months back. The memorial was this past week. The event was a celebration of her life. Different views and relationships with people were part of her life, from children to friends to organizations such as the Rockefeller Museum, Carnegie Hall, and Lenox Hill Place. She lived quite a life.

What I like about a memorial is we get to hear stories about this woman’s life. I had no idea that in 1997, she led the charge to establish Rockefeller’s Women & Science Initiative with three other powerful women. These women changed the university’s trajectory, which had lost its way. There were other organizations where she made an incredible impact, such as the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House and Carnegie Hall. Although I have known his Mom for probably 25 years, my relationship has always been through his eyes.

Our friend’s brother poignantly pointed out that when someone dies, that doesn’t mean that your relationship is over.  That relationship is still inside you. Those memories are still there. The hardest part is that the relationship is now one-sided.  You can never evolve together, work out issues, and delight in new times together.

Family can be brutal. I worked hard at not being my parents, but the lessons, morals, and values still live deep inside me and propelled me to who I am today. I heard that from my friend as he spoke about his Mom. He became the person he wanted to be, which was not easy. I have learned to let my kids live their lives, not the ones I want them to. That is not easy.

These women were from another generation, which was frustrating and challenging. It was not always easy to be a strong woman with her own ideas, where expectations of how to be were set in stone. Women today have more choices (thank god) and can forge their own paths. It isn’t always easy, but we need to look at women of these past generations to truly understand that women of today are standing on the shoulders of women like my friends Mom and my Mother.

I went back and read a post I wrote about my Mom when she died in December 2010. Like my friend’s Mom, she was a complicated woman, much more than I ever realized. As I sat at the memorial and looked around at people I knew and her friends, I laughed to myself, hearing my Mom’s voice in my head. She would have said, “It’s fucking weird getting old”.