If you’ve been listening to the podcast so far, you know my story of how I got into the cannabis industry. You could certainly say it was more of a traditional route into the business. But the women behind the Not 4 Nothing Podcast have certainly made their entrance a little differently.
In this episode, I’m interviewing Sarah El-Sayed and Natasha Przedborski, co-hosts of the Not 4 Nothing Podcast. These ladies share their nontraditional route of breaking into the industry via branding and content and breathing new life into the cannabis space.
Their podcast, Not 4 Nothing, is so funny and relatable and we chat about how they started it, plus their experiences so far with the New York and L.A. weed scenes, how they feel about gatekeepers in this industry, and their goals for the future.
These ladies are already doing great things online for cannabis and I know they’ll accomplish even more in the future.
If you’re a DIY cannabis hustler who is just getting into the industry, make sure to subscribe to my podcast, High Class, where I help you move past the frustration, hurdles, and red tape of the cannabis industry.
In this episode, you’ll learn…
- [00:56] An introduction to Sarah and Natasha of the Not 4 Nothing Podcast and a story about how I found them online
- [03:25] Some background on Sarah and Natasha, how they met, how they got into the cannabis industry, and where they are now
- [09:42] How Sarah and Natasha are using their skillsets of PR and branding from their previous work for themselves and their podcast
- [12:04] The importance of YouTube for podcasters in terms of SEO and freedom
- [14:14] Sarah and Natasha discuss whether L.A. or New York has better weed
- [17:30] Sarah and Natasha’s favorite thing to smoke on
- [19:34] Their aspirations and goals for the future
- [25:00] How they are breathing new life into the cannabis industry
- [27:02] How men in the industry are still trying to gatekeep women
If you want to hear more about Sarah, Natasha, and Not 4 Nothing, be sure to tune into this episode:
Links mentioned in this episode…
About Sarah and Natasha
Sarah El-Sayed and Natasha Przedborski are the co-hosts of the Not 4 Nothing podcast. They are your insufferable weed yentas, join them as they light up the airwaves.
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Transcript for “Not 4 Nothing, Pussyweed, and How Two Brilliant Women are Making Their Own Way into the Cannabis Industry with Sarah ElSayed and Natasha Przedborski:”
[00:00:45] Salwa Welcome to High Class. This podcast is for the DIY cannabis hustler who’s just getting into the industry and is trying to figure it all out. I’m your host, Salwa Ibrahim. So on this episode of the High Class podcast, I am absolutely thrilled to have on Sarah ElSayed and Natasha Przedborski of the Not 4 Nothing podcast. I am just so excited to have them on. And I have to tell you this little story before we kick it off, because it’s, I think, important and sort of telling the impact that they’re currently having on our industry. So I am on Instagram pretty regularly and at one point I got this video clip sent to me from like four different friends and it was the same clip and it was of Natasha and Sarah chatting and they were doing this little bit on the worst types of guys in the industry. And I got to tell you, I watched it and I laughed so hard. I found myself watching it like over and over again. And I think at that point it’s like I had an accounting meeting and I had something else to do, and I put it off because I absolutely needed to have these girls down. I sat there and I just DM-ed and scrolled and looked and tried to find how I can get in touch with these women. And so I got into the DMs and I got in touch with Sarah, and I basically convinced her that she needed to be my friend. And so from there, her and I have been getting to know each other and we just connected in New York on 420 and it’s becoming such a beautiful friendship and I’m so excited to have you guys both on the show. Thank you, Natasha and Sarah, for being on.
[00:02:31] Natasha I love this.
[00:02:35] Salwa It’s so great because, you know, I admit, like, I think the thing that stuck out the most was the way you’re entering into the industry is so personality forward and really showing who you guys authentically are. And clearly people are responding to it. So I think that is just so brilliant, it’s so authentic and quite frankly, it’s hilarious. So thank you for putting out that content.
[00:03:02] Natasha Well, thank you for watching and listening. I feel like we both have had pasts in the cannabis industry where we’ve had to embody other brand personalities or other brand voices through agency work. And so now it’s kind of cool to be able to let our true thoughts go and be our true selves and also a very ridiculous version of ourselves.
[00:03:25] Salwa Yeah, well, talk to me about that. Give me a little bit of background on yourselves and your history and sort of where you are in space and time in this industry.
[00:03:33] Natasha Sarah and I’s journey together, it started a very long time ago, which is the fun part too.
[00:03:38] Sarah Yeah. So the funny thing is that we started, we’re both coming from the New York City cannabis industry, but we didn’t… We’ve crossed paths at events, but we didn’t know each other and we had only started working together as colleagues on the agency side in April. We met in person in April of 2022, and it’s only been a year of us knowing each other like IRL, but we’ve been colleagues for some time now and we’ve had some crossover in our careers and in the spaces that we’ve inhabited. For example, I went to Spannabis in like 2019 and I saw a pussy weed product inside the cannabis museum that they have over there. And it was like before I even knew who was behind pussy weed. But she’s been on my radar this whole time. And I entered this space in 2016 and I started working with a cannabis brand called the Legion of Bloom. And since then I’ve worked with tons of other brands. But Natasha, nice crossover, just started within the past two years.
[00:04:46] Salwa Really amazing. And Natasha, talk to me, what is pussy weed? What is it all about?
[00:04:52] Natasha So I started pussy weed in 2016 with two of my friends in college and we were entering our senior year and we were noticing, especially in New York, that because of the war on drugs and how cannabis was being policed, it was very unsafe and it removed the magical part of cannabis, which is to be a healer and a community gatherer. And it made so many women fearful. And it’s unfortunately not done happening. But there is definitely a bad trend of sexual assault situations being associated with cannabis and acquisition of cannabis and consumption of cannabis and like being in male spaces. And so we wanted to create a collective/community of women in New York and it kind of took off. And now we mostly do merch and accessories and content. But it’s been an incredible journey and that kind of launched me post-graduation into the New York cannabis scene. Because our main audience initially had all been college students who that was great, but our main community was actual New Yorkers and New York women. And that’s how Sarah and I kind of met and like digitally knew each other. And we’re crossing paths and this is the craziest. I was vending at a market in Brooklyn like maybe 2017. And I remember this was like a tiny room. It was so hard to find spaces that would even allow cannabis events. It was like some random tea house. And Sarah apparently we met there, but I was like so overwhelmed. I remember it was like July or something. It was like a hundred degrees inside the space.
[00:06:32] Sarah So this was the hottest day ever.
[00:06:34] Natasha Everything was still sticky, was so loud, it was so smoky and it’s incredible because when it’s meant to be, you’re going to recross paths again. What’s meant for you comes back to you.
[00:06:47] Salwa Isn’t that amazing? I always just feel like cannabis has such powerful energy and such powerful karma. Like, even for me, this last trip that I went on, which was supposed to be a D.C. trip, ended up going in New York and then coming back to D.C. Like, I went in there because it’s like I’m just looking for any kind of sign as to what my purpose, my next phase and my next purpose of serving this plant looks like. And I was like, thinking about cutting my trip short because, you know, to be home with the kids and stuff like that. But I just was like, you know what? I’m just going to ride it out. And I had so many different magical experiences. And it’s kind of funny because most of them were actually with my colleagues from California, but I just never had those particular conversations that we wouldn’t have had if we haven’t reconnected somewhere else.
[00:07:34] Natasha Exactly.
[00:07:35] Salwa It’s so beautiful and magical in that way. And I love that, like that relationship is part of that magic.
[00:07:42] Natasha And Sarah and I started working together virtually, I think, in 2020 or 2021. Like you can imagine the headspace everybody was at as well. That was some deep trauma by like we were both in New York, but like there was such a fear of leaving your house and all of that. Like we were never even seeing each other.
[00:08:00] Salwa Yeah. Okay. And so real quick, just to clarify, when you guys are saying agency, you’re talking about like social media content creation agency, is that correct?
[00:08:07] Natasha Yeah.
[00:08:08] Salwa Okay. And then branding and brand development, that type of stuff.
[00:08:11] Sarah Yeah, like that’s where we connected. But I had originally come from the world of PR, my degrees are in PR and neuropsychology. So when I started in PR, I was representing celebrities and restaurants and different type of types of food vendors and food halls and luxury. And then in 2016, I started working in cannabis. And then, like you said, it’s almost like you kind of have to roll with it. Like your goals for what you want to do in cannabis will change. And especially like that’s with any hustle, right? Like hustles are constantly changing when the money dries up or the experience gets too saturated. So I moved from PR into cannabis and then in cannabis, I’ve like we’ve sort of developed into a couple of phases of career and our latest one is podcasting, which we just never expected to do and really didn’t have a desire to do, but it kind of came out of other people wanting it. So we’re rolling with it and we’re having a really good time too.
[00:09:15] Salwa Clearly. Yeah, clearly you’re having a good time with it. It’s so fun and it’s, you know what? I love it too, because it’s such a low barrier to entry where everyone can try it. But I don’t think everyone’s going to keep up with it. Right? So it is interesting to see like how different people’s shows can be throughout cannabis, right? It’s like one topic, but like there’s so many different segments that you could go into and yeah, I love that you’re doing that. I’m curious like because you have this expertise in PR and branding and agency and you understand what it really takes to build a brand. How are you using that skill set for yourself? Like where do you see yourselves going?
[00:09:59] Sarah That’s a great question. Natasha actually, she’s the one who edits all our clips and although she’s been really good at like having these like Photoshop skills and skills using other like pieces of software that like I just know nothing about. She’s really like strengthened her ability to use them. And I think that that’s a transferable skill, of course. So even if it’s not podcasting in the future, like she can dive into video editing and she also did our logo and some other things for us like that just needed to set us up. So I think that Natasha’s skills really shine on on the back end of things where she’s able to, I guess, hunker down on the editing. And then our collaborative skills have been social media. That’s where the two of us met, and that’s the first work that we were doing together. So we’re able to take those skills. And when it comes to like making a title for our episode that keeps in mind echo and like what we’ll trend, you know, what’s catchy enough to get someone to sit through this minute and a half long video? That’s where our skills really are aligned and like where we both put a lot of contributions in. And I think where mine stands out is like on more of the business side of things where I’m able to lock in sponsors and like elevate our relationships with people and kind of offer value to our partners who want to work with us. So we both have a hand in the things that we’ve had experience with prior, and then we’re like learning new skills along the way.
[00:11:33] Natasha I feel like it’s a fun duality because I can spend hours alone in a room on a computer and I’m so scared of people. And Sarah is so good at answering messages and being nice to people and just getting the word out. Like I tell her sometimes I’m like, Oh, I’m going to this event to like, pitch out podcast a little bit. And then I come home and I’m like, so I got really anxious and this guy said something mean to me. And then I cried. So I did. And it’s always, you know, and I feel like Sarah’s like, excellent at getting the word out there and helping us forge this new community, which is fun because we’ve never been big on YouTube, for example, and that’s like a whole, yet we’ve done it for other brands, but I’ve never built on my own a community for YouTube.
[00:12:21] Salwa And is that what you’re doing now? Are you focusing on YouTube?
[00:12:23] Natasha Awesome. And I think it’s really important. And I say that to everybody who’s doing a podcast. It is the Google of video. And so it’s super important for your SEO. It’s really good for all of your backlinks and they provide really good analytics and insights like this is where I nerd out.
[00:12:42] Salwa Yeah, it’s so important.
[00:12:44] Sarah And we don’t know the state of the future with TikTok yet. So it’s like, exactly. We could go viral on TikTok and then like have built up like such an incredible audience there. But like if TikTok gets shut down by the government, what now? So you have that, like reliable backup plan. We could really take advantage of the algorithm there. It’s very forgiving on YouTube and TikTok, whereas like people are seeing stunted growth on Instagram, although it is possible, but like in cannabis, there’s a lot of risks. So, you know, we have more freedom on YouTube and it’s just a great failsafe for us too.
[00:13:19] Salwa Yeah, that makes so much sense. It’s like the largest search engine in the world is YouTube, right? And it seems like with cannabis specifically, like that lane is so wide open on YouTube. So it does make a lot of sense. Like for me, I have so much other stuff going on that like, I just am trying to remove the barriers and just focus on one goal. And for me it’s consistency. But I do have that voice in the back of my head where it’s like I should do YouTube, I should be doing video clips, I should be doing this, you know? So I feel it. And I’m really grateful that you guys specifically do utilize video because it just makes it that much more entertaining, right?
[00:14:01] Sarah Exactly. I think that’s that’s critical.
[00:14:05] Natasha Yeah. Producers said that he was like Sarah said stuff and then Natasha’s just silent, but her facial expressions say it all.
[00:14:11] Salwa Totally. Absolutely. I love it. So what are you guys smoking on these days? Like what? Like Natasha, you spend some time in L.A.. You guys are both in New York. Like, who has better weed, L.A or New York?
[00:14:23] Natasha Oh, I feel like we have individual rants about this. You’re getting us heated, but you can go first.
[00:14:32] Sarah Okay. To be realistic, I would say New York. And that’s not like a bias. It’s just the reality of everybody in California is sending their best weed to New York first and the dispensaries are not touching it. So that’s that.
[00:14:47] Salwa And that’s fair. That’s real.
[00:14:50] Natasha I was going to say it’s hard to judge between New York and California weed because most of New York weed is from California.
[00:14:58] Salwa That’s true. That is very, very real.
[00:15:00] Natasha I will add a caveat. I recently have been consuming flower from some like indoor collectives up in Rochester, and that is some of the best indoor I’ve had in a minute. And I think it’s because it’s like this return back to like craft, like it’s much smaller. And I think people have gotten like lazy in California on, like cutting corners on the indoor a little bit.
[00:15:23] Salwa I wouldn’t call it lazy. I would have to, unfortunately, cost efficient like all right. But also, I’m sure it’s fresher, right, what you’re getting. So it’s not like got moving across the country sometimes at a snail’s pace. If it gets out at all.
[00:15:40] Natasha Exactly. So to give credit, New York is producing some fire weed. But I feel like California on a larger, more consistent basis is.
[00:15:49] Salwa I had the most amazing experience in New York. I went to this multi level full on experience, right? Like the first you walk in the first floor, there’s merchandise, there’s a coffee shop, there is all of this educational material on different types of plants and things like that. You go upstairs, it’s this immersive museum. You go through a grow and then it’s like sensory overload situation, and then you go up to the third floor and it’s like this gorgeous consumption lounge. And that’s just something that does not work in California, number one, because of the regulations. But number two is because of just it doesn’t pencil right. So it was just so beautiful to see New York step it up in that way from like a complete immersive experiential experience.
[00:16:40] Sarah Absolutely. And I think you would be remiss to say that there are people in New York who have done some incredible things, who have been made examples of as well legally as there have been some really awesome lounges that I feel like have had it all. And they’ve done awesome things for the community through education and self-funded too and you know, it’s that time of legalization in New York where the money is speaking. Oh, just want to like shout out all those folks who have like taken the heat for being the first to give us a place to smoke and have paid the cost of it as well.
[00:17:20] Salwa Yeah, that’s like an old California story. So I’m sad that, like, people are feeling it over there too, right? What did they say? The pioneers get the arrows, the settlers get the land right. All right, so what’s your favorite thing to smoke on? Indica, sativas, fruity, gassy, skunky. What’s your vibe?
[00:17:40] Natasha I’ve been saying something recently that is driving my roommate crazy, but I’ve been saying that in my older age, as I approach 28, I think I’m liking fruitier strains.
[00:17:54] Salwa Well, that’s on trend.
[00:17:56] Natasha Right? And I didn’t feel like I was always kind of like a gassy gal. And now I’ve been going towards the sweeter and my ultimate fave right now and this is nuts is the British pound cake from Fidels and the lechera too. It’s so good and it’s a great mix of like gassy, earthy, but that little bit of like sweet, citrusy.
[00:18:23] Salwa And you’re getting it in New York.
[00:18:24] Natasha I’m getting it in L.A.
[00:18:28] Salwa L.A. 1 point for L.A.
[00:18:28] Natasha I’m like in New York. I don’t know what I’m smoking these days, whatever is around or wait, what was the garbage one this summer?
[00:18:35] Sarah Garbage plate, that was in Rochester.
[00:18:38] Natasha That was so good.
[00:18:41] Salwa I don’t know if I ever heard of that.
[00:18:43] Natasha I had never heard of that strain. And it was.
[00:18:45] Sarah I knew it was Rochester because of the strain name. Because Rochester, New York is like known for… My mom is from Rochester. So that’s the only reason I know this is like 8 hours upstate. But they basically, it’s just a plate of a whole bunch of different like garbage food, kind of like hot dogs and like whole bunch of, like, meat and stuff that, like, I wouldn’t eat, but I was like, I wonder what this tastes like to smoke. And it was really good. I agree. But I think really when I’m smoking and I hate to be waving the Fidels flag again.
[00:19:20] Salwa You like what you like.
[00:19:22] Sarah Yeah, I’m obsessed with KMZ which is their Kush Mints cross with Zkittlez and it’s award winning and it is reliable and it’s like a strain I never get sick of.
[00:19:32] Salwa Hell yeah. That sounds amazing and delicious. What are your aspirations like moving forward? It sounds like you guys are sort of in this transitional period. It sounds like you guys are just kind of like, you know, you have an idea of where you want to go. You’ve got like these sort of plays in the market. Where are you trying to take this? Like, how far are you trying to go?
[00:19:54] Sarah I would say that our goal in the near future, we want to start to do a live show. So we would like to see the podcast be in person for people and for people to like, gather around and smoke and laugh with us on stage. And I’d say after that I’m not like, there’s no ceiling. There is no reason that we can’t be, like, as popular as Joe Rogan. I think that we have we’re intelligent people and we like to learn new things and welcome new ideas. And also, just like, you know, Joe Rogan comes from comedy. Not that he’s our standard at all, but like, he is massively popular and has a ton of influence. And I think in terms of podcasting, we can be there as well and just show a different side of things. Less bro-y. Our audience is like, I think right now it’s like 80% female.
[00:20:48] Salwa Yes, but we need that. We need that representation, which I think is so important. And I think that that’s what drew me to you guys so quickly was because it was just so refreshing to have female voices that were clearly confident and knew what was up and were able to say their piece in a way that wasn’t antagonizing. But it was still humorous but accurate, you know, and I think that that was what drew me to you guys the most. It’s like being a woman in this industry. It’s like for at least, for my side of the line, right? I have so many different businesses. I have so many things going on. Like my days are just eaten up by all of these mundane tasks that like I personally am at a point of transition. It’s like, I don’t want to be that person anymore. I don’t want to have to call lawyers and accountants every day anymore. You know what I mean? Like, I just want to do something creative and something fun. And so what I’m looking at my female peers and sort of where they are in particularly in California, and they’re just kind of like, stop trying to take their business to the next level or sell it or whatever. It’s just so refreshing for me to have somebody who I could clearly see, understands the business and understands the industry, but is having fun with it and is showing their personality and as being feminine while still being assertive. And I just think that’s so powerful and it’s totally needed.
[00:22:15] Natasha Thank you.
[00:22:16] Sarah Thank you.
[00:22:17] Natasha Yeah, it’s been kind of fun to, we’ve for a long time been behind the scenes and behind the camera. I like to joke that a lot of these boys have no idea that I’ve been the one making all these memes for all these big like bro pages. And I’m like, You don’t even know. It’s like some awkward girl in her room, smoking joints.
[00:22:37] Salwa Well, I just like, Oh, my gosh, that’ll be so funny. I’ve got a couple of Instagram accounts just came to mind. I was like, What if it’s Natasha?
[00:22:45] Natasha Not anymore, not anymore, but for a while it could have been.
[00:22:48] Salwa Oh, and I love it.
[00:22:49] Natasha And I remember the first time we recorded, we were both just on our computers, like doing emails and whatnot, and we had like no makeup on. And Mark, our producer, was like, Y’all are being so funny, but I need you to, like, have this conversation in front of the camera because I’m really into it. And we did it, and I was so self-conscious. We didn’t even edit the footage for a minute because I was like, We look so gross. Like I’m in my, like, oversize, like shirts and glasses, like with crazy hair. What’s going on? And we did it. And it really resonated with a lot of people and that the podcast would not be here today without the people who supported us along the way. And the comments of people being like, you need to do a podcast. And we looked at each other and we’re like, wait, should we do a podcast?
[00:23:37] Salwa Yeah, you should do a podcast and I love it. I know it’s one of those things where like for me, if you see talent early on, it’s like you want to be a part of it and you want to foster it and you want to help it grow, at least that’s the draw for me. I’m like, Oh my gosh, there’s totally something there. Like, there’s a thing like, I want to be close to it, you know?
[00:23:57] Natasha We freaked out when we saw your DM, we were like, Wait, people outside of our, like, immediate friends and family are seeing this video right now and are commenting. Yeah.
[00:24:09] Sarah Like Natasha said, we were just bitching on camera, like in our natural habitat and like the first shout out to Mark and shout out to Petty Cash studios where we record because if you didn’t push us to do it, I don’t know if we ever would.
[00:24:25] Natasha And he still pushes us.
[00:24:27] Salwa I don’t know who this Mark is, but he can stay. We like him.
[00:24:30] Natasha Yeah, you should meet him too, you know, and it’s cool. And our friend Liz, who co-owns the studio with him Busy, has her own podcast. It’s really cool because we hold each other accountable. It’s like, Oh, I’m stuck on this edit, do you know how to, like, get the echo out? Or like, she, for example, is the one who got us really into YouTube shorts because she gave us the tip that, like everybody should be posting their clips on YouTube shorts. It’s fun to be also part of this like new collective and there’s a lot more ambition and hope. It felt a little sad and dried up in the commercial marketing content cannabis space.
[00:25:07] Sarah Yeah.
[00:25:08] Salwa Well, yeah, you’re definitely like breathing new life into it for sure. For sure. For sure. And I really hope that, like this inspires other women to get into the space too. And I just love how different people enter the market. I think that’s another reason why I really wanted to have you on this show, because I really wanted to share how you guys are entering the market, which is completely different from how I entered the market, right? Like I went to City Hall and I applied for the permit and I like, you know, did the business plan and like, did all that boring stuff. That is one route for sure, and it works. But your route is so special to because you went to school, you got a skill set, you adopted that skill set into working for these businesses. You got to understand that the mechanics of it. And then once you kind of got bored with that, you started leveraging your own personality for yourself and you started speaking out. And that is another route into the industry. And I think that’s so important to share.
[00:26:06] Natasha That’s definitely when we talk about like expansions and other phases, like a dream of ours and just in general, how we do stuff is being able to mentor other women and giving. We have a little cute Instagram group called Social Media Manager Support Club and just like continuing that kind of stuff, it’s like I’m learning new stuff on editing videos and then I want to teach it to literally every other woman who wants to start a podcast.
[00:26:31] Salwa And that’s, I think, so important to share to like for somebody like me, I’m just now getting into the confidence to be like, okay, I think I have made enough mistakes to where I can mentor somebody to not make these mistakes. Whereas even like this time last year, I don’t think I would have had the self-confidence to even mentor somebody, even though I’ve, like accomplished certain things in this industry in the space. So I think that’s I don’t know, I keep saying the same thing, but I think it’s really important to share that.
[00:27:02] Natasha And we joke about it a lot, but this industry is a lot of guys who like to gatekeep, and that’s been a lot of the experience even in content, in every level of this industry. And it feels kind of cool to carve a little space.
[00:27:19] Sarah Yes, it does.
[00:27:19] Salwa I know it even. Okay. So when I was in New York, I was joking with my girlfriends. I was like, Oh, women in this industry need a nametag that says, I’m a boss, have some respect, because I’m just like, what the fuck? When I go somewhere and these boys just look at you like, ugh a girl, and then all of a sudden you get their shoulder. I’m like, No, no, no. You know, it drove me crazy, but I just like, yeah, it’s a thing and it’s really frustrating and I don’t know how to change that.
[00:27:55] Sarah I think it’s not about changing it as much as it is, like, I hate to say it, accepting it and letting them know that, like, it’s literally your loss if you don’t want to connect with me or if you don’t see the value that I’m bringing to the industry and you’re not on about that, you’re never going to get love back from me. So it’s just about like ride with me or don’t. I’m here, like, and I’m here to stay.
[00:28:23] Salwa That’s the high road, sarah You’re just taking that high road.
[00:28:26] Natasha But it’s taken her a long time to get to that high road.
[00:28:29] Sarah It has, but it’s almost the pettiest way to be, if you think about it, because it’s like I’m the gatekeeper now. If you’ve done me dirty in the past, if I see that your character hasn’t changed and you’re not willing to give not only me, but people who don’t have what I have, the chance to enter the industry or to like, you know, just cultivate relationships with people below you, allow them to network up. If you’re doing that to other people, then you’re not in my circle either.
[00:29:02] Natasha And it’s definitely it’s made us tougher. And that’s why I look forward to mentoring more. And I try to do as much as possible because I don’t ever want other women after us to experience this. This is very unpleasant. It has not been a fun journey of being like a random girl in New York trying to like, my dream was to be a weed writer. And I was like, I was going to do that, right? And it sucks. Nobody wants to talk to you at events if they don’t want more from you and you just got to push through.
[00:29:35] Salwa Yeah, dude, I don’t know. I don’t know.
[00:29:37] Natasha The more that like, there’s also and this is why, like stuff like pussy weed, stuff like the other groups that we hang out with, like, that’s why these environments were so important and that’s why lounges like our friends that had in the Lower East Side were so important because, yes, they were a group of boys who started something, but they were boys that like for example, had supported me from day one of pussy weed. Like the spaces they were creating were always safe and like everybody felt really included. And so there is effort being made and it’s just like laziness on other part because it’s easier to be complacent and we just have to be louder.
[00:30:15] Salwa I know. I feel like we need to like to identify the boys who are cool, the boys like, and then we’re like, let’s give them a name badge. It’s like they get a star. They’re nice to the girls. They have a star, right?
[00:30:28] Sarah We have to stop working with the ones that aren’t cool. That’s the way.
[00:30:33] Natasha And the ones who are cool need to hold the ones who aren’t cool accountable.
[00:30:38] Salwa Right.
[00:30:39] Natasha Like, you should also stop working with them if they’re treating your friend badly.
[00:30:44] Salwa I mean, the boys in my world know what’s up.
[00:30:47] Natasha Exactly. No, there’s no one around me that does it. With a company like pussy weed, I don’t think I’m, like, able to view it, like they immediately run away if they’re not cool.
[00:30:56] Salwa Totally. Totally. But at the same time, it’s like, I’ve talked about this before. It’s like I legit at one point, like, was so irritated about not being invited into certain meetings or when I did get invited into a room, like the room would get quiet. And so I just strategically, like planned my career based off of certain highlights that I knew I’d get media attention for just so I can have that credibility. So there was no question why I was in a room. But at this point, the industry’s gotten so big and everybody now is involved and there’s so many newcomers who are like, Oh, I’m the best at this, I’m the best at that, but who don’t necessarily have the experience. So when they do get invited into that room and don’t have the experience, it makes it harder for people like me to get invited into the room. So we’re in this very strange time of filtering out who has the expertise, who you want to work with, who you don’t want to work with. And it’s just that’s so funny because it’s like we’re all grounded in the love of this plant, which should just naturally open as many doors as it can. But yeah, you’re right. This gatekeeping situation is just so frustrating.
[00:32:16] Sarah It’s also impossible to not notice the newcomers that are coming in and claiming to be legacy. But you have no idea who they are. Like, this is huge in New York right now because it’s like in 2016, I was getting kicked out of restaurants, I was getting kicked out of co-working spaces. I was getting sprayed with Febreze by random people on the subway.
[00:32:39] Salwa Oh, my God. How mean.
[00:32:40] Sarah Yeah, it’s so mean because you smell like weed or because, like, you know, you’re allegedly moving packs or, you know, whatever it is that you’re doing. And if you stink like weed, if you’re in the room and you want to talk about like, for me, for example, I was pitching mainstream publications stories about cannabis companies, and no one cared. And people wanted to blacklist me and they wanted to take me off their list and they wanted to stop getting pitched these stupid stories that they would never get approval from, from their editors for like another three or four years. But like I had to be persistent about it and I had to be annoying and I had to be the one that was annoying and like pushing this agenda all the time. And now there are 7 million PR agencies that represent cannabis clients, and it’s easy as ever is ever to pitch The New York Times and the New York Post and all of these like major publications. Forbes. Like I remember when the first Forbes stories were coming out, when there was only one Forbes writer that was covering cannabis at all. And like, it’s gotten a lot easier to enter. And I think you’ve got to respect the legacy in any way and like, stop calling yourself legacy if you weren’t there for the hard parts.
[00:33:59] Salwa Yeah, right.
[00:34:00] Natasha And that’s the only credit I’ll give to some level of gatekeeping that happens in New York is that I feel like there’s a level of trauma born from the war on drugs that exist amongst people and that I agree. Like you weren’t there for the hard parts, you weren’t there for the raids, you weren’t there when the different consumption lounges did not look like this. And like that’s a level of trust that people have develop. Sometimes they take it to the extreme. And I think with the this like a new trend of like fake legacy and like you’re just gatekeeping, like a story you were not a part of.
[00:34:36] Sarah It’s like gentrifying it.
[00:34:39] Salwa I feel like that’s usually like the people who gate keep are the people who feel like they have something to lose where if you were somebody who genuinely had something to lose, you know that benefit of making new connections and expanding your network. Like I quite frankly, like most of the people who in this particular visit that when I went to New York that I felt were sort of like, hey, who are you? Are people who are newer, yet the people who had been there for a while, it was like 2 seconds into the conversation and we’re trauma bonding and we’re like best friends, right? So maybe that’s what the name tag is. Maybe it’s just like a legacy pin. Maybe we just like to a true identifier, like legacy for anybody who has one of these pins, have respect. Let them cut the line.
[00:35:29] Sarah I like that. A Girl Scout patch.
[00:35:32] Natasha I do agree that it comes from somewhere to lose. And I think generally it’s just an illustration of the state of cannabis right now, whether it be in California, New York or nationwide. People are sad like it’s been it’s been a hard year economically for everybody, politically. You can’t ignore the fact that it’s been extremely hard. And I just think people are sad and their way of feeling like they have some control is by not being a nice person. It was the same with high school and middle school bullies, and it’s the same with the boys and weed.
[00:36:08] Salwa Yeah, Yeah.
[00:36:10] Natasha And so that’s what I when I go home at night, I’m just like, yeah, they ignored me, but like, they’re probably really miserable. So that’s my solace.
[00:36:17] Salwa And that’s and like, how beautiful is that that you’ve gotten to that point, right?
[00:36:22] Natasha And then it gives me more material for the podcast.
[00:36:27] Salwa I love it. I know I would say like the trauma that I went through the past couple of years and like shutting down my businesses, like making pivots and stuff actually made me nicer.
[00:36:36] Natasha Exactly.
[00:36:36] Salwa And actually like, made me more empathetic to what everybody across the supply chain, especially, I would say to new people, because I’m just like, Wow, I don’t know what I would do if I had to start today. So like, hence the podcast, right? I was like, All right, this is what I would do if I had to start today. Right.
[00:36:57] Sarah Your podcast is an incredible resource to people because like even when they like people like normies who don’t work in weed every time they have a question for me about like a process, like they give me very specific questions and I’m like, respectfully, I work with brands at a different level. Like, I don’t know how to start a compliant cannabis business that sells cannabis products, but you should check out this podcast. You know, like, I don’t know what else to say. So it’s like it’s a major resource for people. Even just like like you said, we have limited amount of hours in the day to talk to people and to help people. And with that time I want to be most efficient for us and for them. And this is like a shortcut.
[00:37:40] Salwa For sure. Thank you for saying that. Cause, you know, it’s so funny. It’s like sometimes I’m like, Oh, why am I doing this? Like, is this like, is this providing any value? And I just, like, will occasionally, like, read my Apple reviews. I was like, hopefully this is a stranger who actually means what they’re saying and not like my mom.
[00:37:58] Sarah We know that feeling.
[00:38:01] Natasha Yeah, except our moms are not leaving reviews because I’m so scared of my mom listening to the podcast.
[00:38:09] Sarah The content and ours is a little bit more… We have more fear.
[00:38:13] Natasha It’s just I think it’s everything my mom just wishes I wasn’t doing.
[00:38:17] Salwa When you’re Joe Rogan and you could pay off her like mortgage, she’s going to be just fine, so don’t you worry.
[00:38:23] Natasha Once I get that, like, real podcast money, then I’ll be like, Oh my God, you should listen to this.
[00:38:28] Salwa Yeah, yeah, it’s going to be great. Or the best is when one of her friends listens to it and it’s like, Oh, did you know?
[00:38:36] Natasha Well, so that’s what happened. And then she was like, Oh, I haven’t listened. And I was like, Why are you bringing this up at Passover?
[00:38:46] Salwa Awesome. Well, I just I’m so grateful for both of you. I’m so grateful that you’re allowing me in, Right. Allowing me to be part of your journey as much as you are. Thank you for making space and just, like, making everything so funny and relatable. You know, it’s like we all need that break. And I think that that was sort of what I needed at that particular time. When it got sent to me, I was in this like super deep hole of, again, accountants and lawyers and this and that, and just shutting down the businesses, which was like honestly, like probably the most stressful thing I’ve ever been through my entire life. And I feel like I hadn’t laughed in days at that point. Right? And so to have something like truly, like stop me in my tracks and it’s just like cracked me up for a while was so therapeutic for me. So from one girl’s opinion, I appreciate it.
[00:39:38] Sarah We appreciate you so much. Thank you for, like I said, like, I don’t know if I said this on the podcast, but you’re like a true inspiration to us, like somebody that we could actually really look up to. And, you know, you give us goals and aspirations for the future and let us know that it’s possible because we have a tendency to think small and like we only really push ourselves when we’re encouraged by our peers. So thank you so much.
[00:40:05] Salwa I’m definitely here for that and I can’t wait to see all of the different things that you come out with because in my mind I’m like, Oh, okay, this is great. Like build the podcast, like build the brand, build the pre-roll, build the thing, go straight on the thing. Like I can see all of the things coming down the pike. It just makes sense to me. So I’m hoping that you take full advantage of it by building community first, right? Because you need to have that pipeline. And so I think you’re just doing it the right way. And I feel like I’m like super naturally, like just all the chips fall into place.
[00:40:41] Natasha That’s what it’s feeling like. And we’re excited.
[00:40:44] Sarah We have listeners now in like 25 states and like, I think like almost ten countries. So it’s getting kind of surreal. Like we’re only on episode six. We just launched episode six today and I’m heading to L.A next week to do some recording together in person, but I think we are only going up from here. So Team Coco, Spotify, whoever wants to give us a podcast deal, we’re listening.
[00:41:10] Salwa That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And I love it too, because a part of it is just kind of like all my personality. It’s like, I wish I could have a podcast like yours, but I’m just not that funny. And also it’s like, that’s not my value, my brain. And I just love that you’re truly like staying true to the value that you’re bringing and staying true to yourself. And it’s just so great.
[00:41:29] Sarah Thank you so much.
[00:41:32] Salwa Yeah. I mean, how you can support you. Let me know if I could do anything for you guys. If I could help you guys navigate through anything. I am so here for you.
[00:41:41] Sarah Thank you so much. And we’re happy to elevate and help spread the word as much as possible for you.
[00:41:48] Salwa Awesome. Thank you. All right. So until next time, classmates keep on pursuing the high life. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the High Class podcast. If you want to support me on this journey, please likd and subscribe and if you have an extra minute, please leave a review. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Or you can connect with me on Instagram at highsalwa and if you need additional resources, go to highsalwa.com. Peace.
