This Sunday we (virtually) hung out with Mimi Lam, badass Canadian cannabis entrepreneur and mastermind behind Superette.

Hey Mimi! Could you please introduce yourself and describe what you do? 

Hi, I’m Mimi! I am a Sagittarius/Ophiuchus and a proud enneagram type 1. Some of you may know me from cannabis brand Superette. I live in Toronto, Canada, and I spend my time building the most fun and badass team out there. I am a stubborn entrepreneur that gets bored way too easily and has a constant case of wanderlust. 

What is your earliest memory of cannabis? When did you know you wanted to get into the cannabis industry?

In general? I think it was when I caught a whiff of it while walking around downtown Ottawa with my mom as a kid. Many years after that, I started consuming medically and recreationally. 

However, it wasn’t until late 2016 that I wanted to get into the cannabis industry, when there was a real path for legalization across Canada. The opportunity to not only be part of such a monumental regulatory shift, but also the hope of helping push it in the right direction after a history of wrongs was too good to pass. Plus, I love weed, so getting to work in the industry is like a dream come true.

What does your perfect Sunday look like? 

Depends on the season, but I relax by being active. 

In the summer, my perfect Sunday is waking up early for a nice long bike ride with my fiancé, followed by hanging out on our balcony or in the park with a cold bevvy and a joint. 

When the weather’s not great, I stay indoors doing lots of yoga and cooking up a storm. I’ll likely overdo it on making too many desserts, but I can’t deny testing out a new baking recipe.

What’s your preferred consumption method? What activities do you enjoy pairing with your high?

Nothing beats a good joint. Pair it with a nice walk and some good music in my ears? Yes. Please. 

If getting a massage counts as an activity, then also this.

A massage absolutely counts. If you could share a joint with any person alive or dead, who would it be and why?

Oooooh that’s such a tough question. Conan O’Brien because that would be hilarious. Plus, I heard he needs a friend.

Which artist are you really excited about right now?

Charlotte Langley, a chef of my dreams and a culinary QUEEN. Aside from simply mastering all things food, I love that she is a champion for sustainability and also cooks with cannabis! 

I am obsessed with Scout Canning, which is a company that Charlotte co-founded and just launched this year. Their commitment to sustainability, from fair workplace compensation to 100% recyclable packaging, sets an incredible standard in the food industry and for all product companies around the world.

What gets you excited about the cannabis industry?

So many things. Probably the top of the list is greater research and acceptance of cannabis by the medical and academic communities. We are so far from understanding the full potential of cannabis! With knowledge comes the potential for the development of products that can be beneficial to so many people in this world. As well, with knowledge comes education and at least a baseline understanding of cannabis in our society, which in turn will lead to normalization – something that I will always fight for and why I am so passionate about being in this industry. 

If you could give one piece of advice to cannabis consumers, what would it be?

Pay attention to what you are consuming, it makes a big difference in helping you understand what you enjoy, what is best for you. For instance, pay attention to the terpene and cannabinoid profiles of flower, rather than simply whether it is indica or sativa. Not only that, pay attention to who had a part in the product that eventually ended up in your hands. As a consumer, you get to vote with your dollars and the onus is on you to educate yourself about the retailers and brands you are buying from. Conscious consumption is important for everything and especially for cannabis.

Thanks for hanging with us Mimi! Keep up with her on Instagram and if you’re in Toronto or Ottawa then be sure to check out Superette!

Meet Laci Jordan, a multi-disciplinary artist from Huntsville, AL currently residing in Los Angeles.

Hey Laci! What is your earliest memory of cannabis?
Hi! I remember being super young and hanging out with one of my older brothers. One of his friends lit a joint or something and my brother said “Ey, don’t light that weed up around my little sister” I didn’t know what it was at the time but the smell was distinct haha. In regards of my earliest memory smoking – I never smoked cannabis until I moved to LA about 8 years ago. I smoked with a friend but had no idea what I was doing and definitely wasn’t educated in strains. All that to say I smoked a SUPER strong Indica and learned the definition of being “stuck” first hand.

What does “feel good” mean to you?
To feel at peace, positive, and happy.

What does your perfect Sunday entail?
A perfect Sunday entails a day of no work obligations or deadlines, a day where I can move at my own pace and be free. I like to start my days with a good devotional, a joint, coffee (who doesn’t like a hippy speed bomb), and good music. If the weather is 75, sunny, with a little breeze then its PERFECT. I also don’t mind a good boozy brunch as well.

Do you prefer Sativa or Indica?
I’m a sativa girl for sure, Indica puts me straight on the couch haha. In all honesty I think sativa makes almost most activities a little more fun. This can range from Ikea trips (which can get tricky) to hanging out with friends. Two of my top things to do after smoking is cleaning my apartment (with taking the occasional dance/snack breaks) or brainstorming about something fun. Its something so carefree about the brainstorm process after you smoke.

If you could share a joint with any person dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Wow, this is harddddd. I have two, one is more practical the other is crazy. Rihanna and Jesus Christ.

Rihanna is an obvious one, her personality is so cool and unapologetic, I just think we would have a good time and lots of laughs. Smoking with Jesus is just wilddddd I think the conversations would be life changing (obviously) plus, I have a TON of questions haha.

Which artist are you excited about right now?
I reallyyy love the work of London-based artist Lakwena Maciver. Her paintings and murals are so eclectic, bold, and graphic. Anything you see of hers automatically draws you in and holds your attention – they also incorporate empowering statement such as “The best is yet to come.” You can also usually spot her work from a mile away due to her color and pattern choices which gives nods to both illustration and graphic design. I’m in a space where I’m exploring different disciplines and materials with my own work. Looking at what she produces lets me know that I can use my talents and translate them to another medium without sacrificing my voice. She’s also a black woman which, we LOVE to see it.

What keeps you up at night?
Ideas and aspirations. It’s so much stuff I want to do in this life. I try my best to “wind down” at night but I’m usually thinking of projects I want to execute or random things I want to see come to light. It’s usually when I daydream the most.

Keep up with Laci’s work here.

Currently residing in Mexico City as a freelance writer, co-host of the new podcast Broccoli Talk, and creative director at the women owned latinx cannabis brand Xula, Mennlay Golokeh Aggrey is someone who needs little introduction. Having made waves in the cannabis industry for over 14 years, we’re excited to bring you Sundays with Mennlay.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Gemini is my rising sign, sun sign, with Gemini placements in both mercury and mars. Let’s just say I need herb in my life to calm me down. I’m a 36-year old first generation American born to West African parents in Staten Island, New York. I grew up mostly on the east coast but became bi-coastal after graduating from journalism school in 2005. I moved to Blue Lake, California in Humboldt county and started a beautiful and turbulent career in California’s medical cannabis industry under Proposition 215’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996, Section 11358. When I’m not deep in the trenches of weed, I spend my time exploring and researching the diasporic connections between Africa and Latin America.

What is your earliest memory of cannabis?
According to my mother, there were some parties at our house where her “bad” friends would smoke weed while my sisters and I were fast asleep. Shockingly, I don’t recall ever noticing the smell or having flashbacks to that time when I eventually started consuming herb. It wasn’t until I was fourteen outside of a roller skating rink that I too became “bad” and smoked weed for the first time. It was my first love.

What does “Feel Good” mean to you?
Feeling good is being free from obligations, free from guilt, expectations, capitalism, racism –– just enclosed in a safe cozy accepting bubble of comfort.

What does your perfect Sunday entail?
Sundays start slow. I’ll usually read in bed with my coffee and a joint for an hour or so. I’m the mother of about 30 plant babies –– some of which are rather massive babies, so I like to make a meditation out of watering, pruning, repotting or feeding them on Sundays.

Do you prefer Sativa or Indica?
Honestly, living in Mexico has made me waaaaaaay less snobby and obnoxious when it comes to strains, a characteristic I’ve enjoyed leaning into. These days, I oscillate between the very indica OG kush for pain and to chill the fuck out, or sampling Xula’s CBD prototypes for a calmed focus or to tackle any monthly hormonal imbalances.

If you could share a joint with any person alive or dead, who would it be and why?
May I choose four?

James Baldwin, to talk about the parallels of being a black writer. Baldwin seems like the perfect person to have a stoned writer’s workshop with. I’d love to thank him for all he’s done for this troubled world.

My paternal grandmother, Mennlay, whom I was named after. I know nothing about her and if her and I could share a joint together, it would no doubt be magical.

My maternal great grandmother, Gracie Miller, who raised my mother on a chicken farm in Liberia. She was a teacher, educator, community leader and feminist. I owe so much of who I am to her.

Lastly, Jerry Garcia. He had one of the most tender voices and I’d love to sing in harmonization with him while stoned. Which song would we sing? Either Shakedown Street, or Eyes of the World.

Which artist are you really excited about right now?
Shaniqwa Jarvis is an artist, photographer and thinker creating spectacular captures of humanity with modern fashion aesthetic and tender emotional portraits. She’s witty, warm, hilarious and photographs stars like Erykah Badu, Tracee Ellis Ross, and everyday people with a sharp and stunning eye.

She’s currently showing RITUALS, a series of portrait photographs and film vignettes focused on black family life, with artist and filmmaker Rajendra Debah. It’s in Los Angeles from February 13th – March 29th as HVW8 Gallery.

What keeps you up at night?
Knowing that people like Micheal Thompson has been in prison for 25 years for selling weed even though the state of Michigan, where he’s held, legalized the recreational use of marijuana in 2018.

It’s hard to sleep thinking about the folks who live in encampments in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, sleeping on the streets next to thousands of houses that have been vacant for years. I can’t sleep knowing that 2.5 million children in the U.S are homeless. I weep instead of sleep knowing that approximately 37.6 million Mexicans live in poverty earning less than 5 dollars/ 90 pesos a day. Meanwhile club kids and tech bros have been funneling into Mexico City non-stop ranting and raving about how, “Mexico City is so cheap!” but to whom?

I’m certainly not perfect and have my faults, but I think a little mindfulness goes a long way. So does sleep.

Cover photo: Mennlay for Kinfolk by Victoria Barmak

Meet Racan Alhoch and Joe Cetrulo, the co-founders of Saint Pasta, who are serving up the most authentic (and mouthwatering) Italian-American food in Phoenix.

What’s the story behind Saint Pasta?
Racan: Joe and I were working on opening a pizzeria in Jersey City, NJ. A month before we were supposed to open I came to Phoenix to visit my girlfriend. On the last day of my trip, we got a call from our realtor telling us the building owners are reneging on our whole deal so our restaurant died before it lived and I decided to stay in Phoenix.

While living here I realized you can’t find high quality classic Italian-American dishes anywhere. Back home, you could walk into almost any Italian deli and order a good chicken parm or a pasta. So I called Joe and told him we should start our business here because we’d have almost no competition. The rest is history.

What does “Feel Good” mean to you?
Racan: To me, when I think “feel good” I imagine spending time with people I care about breaking bread, chatting about random topics, sharing laughs, and maybe a joint or two.
Joe: For me “feel good” is the freedom to do whatever I want. Which is why I’m an entrepreneur.

Do you like to smoke Sativa or Indica?
Racan: I lean more towards indica. After I smoke I love to listen to music or sometimes sloppily make my own music for fun.
Joe: I also lean indica and after I smoke I like to spend quality time with my wife watching our favorite shows.

If you could share a joint with any person alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Racan: I’d smoke with Aristotle because I’ve studied his philosophies a lot and I think a conversation with him while stoned would blow my mind.
Joe: Clint Eastwood but not really Clint Eastwood, just his character in the movie Unforgiven because he’s been through some sh*t.

Which artist are you excited about right now?
Racan: I’m excited about this really talented local chef named Joe Cetrulo. He’s really elevating the pasta game in the valley right now. It’s wild.
Joe: I’ve been closely following the work of this really creative marketer Racan Alhoch, he’s building a strong brand faster than I’ve ever seen. Wowzers.

What are your thoughts on edibles?
Racan: I like to use edibles in situations where I can’t smoke but would like to medicate. Before going to the movies, taking a flight, or an intimate concert venue where you can’t get away with lighting up.
Joe: Edibles aren’t my thing.

What keeps you up at night?
Racan: Saint Pasta
Joe: Saint Pasta

Big thanks to Joe and Racan for hanging with us! Head over to Saint Pasta to try their food for yourself and be sure to follow along with them on Instagram.

This Sunday we hung out with Melissa Mckenna, a yogi, entrepreneur and health enthusiast from Arizona.

Hey Melissa! Introduce yourself.
Hey! I just moved back to AZ after living in Beijing, China for 5 years. While I was living in the far east, I opened a chain of cold-pressed juice stores in China and Hong Kong. I have always been passionate about nutrition and believe nutrients can be a huge aid for healing your body. When it comes to nutrition, I love all things green and include them in every meal. Cannabis is no exception 😉

I currently work for BUTI Yoga and it has been absolutely life changing. This practice is movement medicine and deeply healing.

What’s your earliest memory of cannabis?
My earliest memory of cannabis was at a park in middle school. I did not partake, but most of my friends did. I remember the stigma against cannabis at the time and it makes me laugh now because it couldn’t have been more wrong.

What does “feel good” mean to you?
“Feel Good” to me means being balanced – body, mind, and soul. When you can completely let go of stress and outside factors and really be at peace with your present self.

What does your perfect Sunday entail?
My perfect Sunday includes sleeping in followed by a joint and yoga or hiking with my two teddy bear poodles. I also love a good Sunday Funday!

Do you like to smoke Sativa or Indica?
Indica, I predominately smoke to help me sleep or chill out. I like to read, write, or do yoga after smoking.

If you could share a joint with any person alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Rihanna, because she is a bad bitch and I love her.

Which artist are you really excited about right now (can be a writer, chef, sculptor, painter, musician, etc) and why?
My favorite artist is Barbara Kruger. I love everything about her work, from the aesthetic to the bold captions. She is so spot on and delivers powerful messages in a beautiful way.

To keep up with Melissa, follow along with her here.

Music enthusiast, surf lover and filmmaker. Meet Evan Adamson, a Texas native living in Southern California. Growing up in Texas, Evan was a third generation surfer. Who knew surfing was a thing in Texas? While the shortboard superiority mindset was heavy in Texas when Evan was growing up, he found the gulf coast waves were generally better equipped for longboarding, despite receiving flack from most of his peers. Looking up to Californian’s like Joel Tudor and CJ Nelson, he took a more style driven, smooth, and classic approach to surfing, which is not to say it’s any less challenging.

Evan is currently a filmmaker, but to understand how he got to be a filmmaker we need to talk about his passion for music.

All through college Evan had a music blog showcasing music he’d discover. Evan jokingly tells us that his blog was called Dank Vibes! Unfortunately, Dank Vibes is no longer, but it propelled him into his career today.

Back in the day, Evan got an internship with a company who puts on music festivals such as LolLaPalooza and Austin City Limits. When interviewing for the gig, Evan dressed in formal suit and tie, as you’d expect, but apparently that was not the “vibe” of the company. While Evan looked like “a square” they saw that his resume included Dank Vibes which at this point he’d made it more than a blog and had begun shooting his musician friends performing dubstep remixes. The company decided to give him a shot.

On day one, cannabis was brought up and Evan mentioned he had a joint in his car…and when he mentioned that, his new team said, “we’re going to Dank Vibes car!”

10 years later, Evan still shoots with the company at LolLaPalooza and Austin City Limits, and to this day, everyone there still calls him Dank Vibes.

Evan managed a musician for a while after that but ultimately decided to focus on film. Evan does it all, from directing commercials, to editing his own work, saying….

“Editing is like interior design for me where you move into a place and you arrange all your furniture in a way but as you walk through the space, you’re seeing things and you’re like ‘Oh I have to move this thing here.’”

Bringing together his passions, Evan’s coming out with his own short surf film. He’s bringing together his love of comedy, surfing and of course music where he’ll be showcasing a number of incredible longboard surfers.

As the day draws to a close, we head outside and jump into a 1986 Club Wagon Ford and head ocean bound. As we bump along in the van that’s clearly been decked out to be the perfect surf mobile, the song Back Baby by Jessica Pratt plays.

When we arrive at the ocean side, the sun’s dancing off the water. Evan pulls out his camera and gets some b-roll shots for his upcoming film in the golden hour light. His long lens camera captures the surfers all the way out on the water as they dance on their longboards and seem to glide over the water.

The waves weren’t great by most standards, but if it were like that in Texas, he’d be out in a heartbeat. Regardless, Evan gets on his wetsuit, throws his longboard under his arm and runs toward the water. As the sun begins to creep toward the horizon we watch as Evan catches wave after wave. Quite the mesmerizing site between human and nature.

Until next time…

Welcome to our first “Sundays With” series, where we profile people in cannabis and creatives who use it to do what they do best. Join us as we follow these people through what a Sunday looks like for them and showcase how they embody “Feel Good.”

Meet Marta Freedman, a bicoastal social media savant and creative to her very core. Whether it’s shooting content on the fly or showing up at an event with boxes-on-boxes of pizza, Marta’s someone who’s always out there meeting people. She’s the cofounder of the educational, highly creative, and aesthetically pleasing company, Nice Paper.

We meet up at Kreation in West Hollywood, a spot that Marta tries to hit up on both her easy going Sundays as well as most other days of the week. Currently, she spends half her time in New York City where her business partner Charlotte lives, and the other half in Los Angeles where the cannabis industry is booming. Marta tells us more about her company.

“Nice Paper is a media and education platform, and a community of people.”

The focus is on cannabis and the desire to be a resource for people to learn more about the plant and its products. More importantly, Marta says that Nice Paper is about building a community of people who want to come together and learn, smoke, and maybe eat some pizza.

To really tell the story of how Marta fell into the world of cannabis media and education, we first have to start with pizza.

If you haven’t heard of Marta Freedman before, then maybe you’ve heard of the Instagram account @hotgirlseatingpizza. If you’re unaware of this internet phenomenon, look it up — it was started by Marta with the desire to meet women that inspire her.

As we said, Marta’s a creative through and through. She doesn’t just get someone’s contact information and ask them to grab a cup of coffee. She creates a social media account, gains traction and direct messages people that she finds intriguing.

“I always intended to use it as a way to meet people I admire.”

She would contact someone and ask to take them on a pizza date with the sole purpose to get to know them. She said, “It’s not as intimidating as a coffee date, and it’s so interesting and weird everyone’s like yea I’ll meet you for pizza.”

Starting the account 6 years ago, Marta began hitting up her friends in the music industry and would ask if she could shoot with the artist if she brought pizza. That began to snowball. She started shooting with editors from major publications, women of notoriety in all fields such as NastyGal’s former CEO Sophia Amoruso, and was herself included in Rolling Stones’ 100 Best Instagram Accounts.

We had to ask — why just focus on women?

“I just wanted to highlight people I admired and at the time that was really only women.”

Beyond everyone she’s showcased, Marta was able to throw pizza parties for brands, making money by bringing her connections together and have a local pizza joint provide the pies.

But besides making money, this gave her credibility to ask people to meet up and build the relationships she has today — and she got a ton of free pizza in the process.

Through all the hype around pizza, Marta met her partner in crime Charlotte on a pizza date, who was writing a piece for Cosmo doing a “pizza cleanse,” which apparently means eating pizza everyday for a week. Sign us up!

But what’s the tie to cannabis? Marta, while a fan of pizza parties, is not a fan of your regular old birthday dinner. So how do you spice up a birthday dinner where you’re sitting next to that rando at the table? Offer everyone infused edibles to start the meal. Charlotte was at one of these dinners and told Marta she needed to get into the cannabis space.

On July 1st, the two had a smoking brainstorm, and on July 4th they formed Nice Paper. By November, Marta had quit her day job and was focusing on Nice Paper full time.

It’s no mystery that Marta is a doer and a maker. She’s got about 30 instagram accounts — one that’s all about malls, which she told us as she brought us to one of her favorite malls, The Grove.

She tells us that you never know where a good idea will come from, so you might as well just give it a shot. “If there’s a domain you like, it’s probably 20 bucks so just do it.” And she’s not stopping with her own ambitions.

She says her pet peeve is when reactive people don’t execute on their ideas and complain when another person beats them to the punch.

“If you have an idea, it’s just a thought unless you do something with it. Tying it back, weed helps.”

We end our day not over a slice of pizza but at a Los Angeles local spot, The Bigg Chill. This is one of those places you only hear about if you’re a native Angeleno, but East Coaster Marta of course knows about this place — thanks to someone she met at a pizza party.

Marta left us with one constant: whether it’s over pizza or a pre-roll, enjoy it with someone that inspires you.

Until next time…