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Al Harrington Celebrates 10 Years of Viola Brands In The Cannabis Industry | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Apr 20, 2021
Former NBA player turned cannabis tycoon, Al Harrington calls into Sway In The Morning to talk about 10 years of his ViolaBrands in the cannabis industry.
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Al Harrington Celebrates 10 Years of Viola Brands In The Cannabis Industry | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/-ISUWeAMK8U
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0:00
[Music]
0:00
um and you know if i wasn't an nba
0:03
player right or a former nba player i
0:04
don't know where i would have got two
0:05
million dollars to start up my operation
0:07
come on man you heard his voice you know
0:10
his name
0:11
you know his game come on man from the
0:14
knicks to the pacers to the hawks
0:16
to the wizards come on nuggets the magic
0:19
but when he became a golden state
0:21
warrior
0:22
oh is when his legacy was built because
0:25
he was representing the baytown business
0:28
no no no
0:36
he was in the bay we all know he from
0:38
new jersey jersey stand up
0:41
orange jersey stand up but i want to say
0:44
salute to this brother
0:45
because he took the chance he was an
0:47
outlier
0:48
they wanted to demonize the industry
0:50
because they couldn't control it
0:52
right we the ones who made it to
0:54
infrastructure gate made the industry
0:56
what it is today now now you've got all
0:58
kind of lawmakers down they want to
0:59
reverse the laws so they can invest
1:02
and they could create generational
1:04
wealth that was the scary part the game
1:06
was creating generational wealth for
1:08
people who weren't meant to have it
1:10
he saw it 10 years ago and he been 10
1:12
years strong you know how big that is to
1:14
keep a business for at least
1:16
10 years i want to say salute to this
1:19
man he's changing the stigma
1:20
welcome him to the show the one and only
1:23
al harrington ladies and gentlemen out
1:25
here
1:27
what up family dirty jersey
1:31
let's go baby
1:34
how you feel about that callaway come on
1:36
al you know the bay loves you
1:45
that's probably where you got the idea
1:47
from to start the viola business
1:49
in the bank that was the first time i
1:52
smoked and that [ __ ] was it was so
1:53
strong that i was like you know what we
1:55
might not be for me but i you know i
1:57
matured and i kept pushing it now
1:59
you know i'm rolling up right now it's 4
2:01
20 man this is a beautiful day
2:02
my man i love it brother hey man it's
2:05
good to hear your voice sir
2:06
it's good to hear your voice um and that
2:09
so that was the first time you smoke was
2:10
in the bay area
2:12
was in the bay man well we was actually
2:14
in phoenix but you know i was playing
2:16
with the warriors and you know steven
2:18
jackson and bd
2:19
we had just got knocked out of the
2:21
playoffs because we needed the clippers
2:22
to beat denver
2:23
and they didn't win so we knew what you
2:25
know last game of the season didn't
2:26
matter so they just like oh you smoking
2:28
tonight you smoking bro we ain't got
2:30
nothing
2:30
there's nothing else going on and i
2:32
smoking i'm about so paranoid that night
2:35
i was just like bro i'm never smoking
2:37
again but like i said i've come a long
2:40
way since then
2:41
yeah i bet man now you getting all the
2:43
smoke shout out to stephen jackson okay
2:46
there it is i like it um one of the
2:49
things i i
2:50
like to talk about and then also i want
2:51
to tell you that um
2:53
we got heather b's uh a nephew and my
2:55
bonus nephew on the line uh
2:57
zaya is on the line say you there say
2:59
are you there
3:01
yeah i'm here what's up everybody what's
3:03
up hey what's up
3:04
good morning nephew how are you doing
3:06
sorry i'm good i'm chilling
3:09
bro yo uh that's so funny is they trying
3:12
to give us the sexy voice bro because
3:16
you're trying to be
3:19
[Laughter]
3:28
he's 19 and he's fresh out of class but
3:30
the reason why this is so dope
3:32
al and sway of course i appreciate both
3:34
of you but sway i reached out this way
3:36
about this because my nephew who is 19
3:38
has
3:39
you know his affinity for basketball
3:41
he's in school playing basketball
3:43
and whatnot now in college but what i
3:45
appreciate about the youth alan what
3:47
sway and i always talk about is that
3:49
they're forward thinkers now you know
3:51
they think differently and he had hit me
3:52
and said
3:53
you know auntie do you know anybody in
3:55
the cannabis industry like i want to
3:56
learn more about it between that and the
3:58
stock market
3:59
he's always just like hitting me up and
4:01
investments in
4:02
in the cannabis industry and i reached
4:04
out to sway and i said would it be okay
4:07
if we had isaiah call in and listen in
4:09
and get some jewels and get some gems
4:11
and
4:11
hear our story and be a part of it so he
4:14
could just learn more and more and more
4:15
alka just kind of school him to
4:18
everything that's happening here
4:19
especially with the connection between
4:20
him being from jersey
4:21
and my nephew with basketball as well
4:23
and now interested in this industry as
4:25
you know
4:26
for future fire i love it
4:29
me too hey zay what's your question
4:31
won't you ask out because he's he's been
4:33
successful and i know it wasn't easy out
4:35
getting permits and licensing and
4:37
the ability to do this and what it takes
4:39
to maintain a business because you got
4:41
to do a lot of documentation to
4:43
maintain it legally um zaya maybe you
4:46
could ask him a question go for it
4:48
yeah i actually have two questions but
4:50
uh first one
4:51
is like for someone who doesn't have
4:54
the money right now right but he's
4:56
looking to get into the industry
4:58
you know later on you know i'm looking
5:00
to get in after college and stuff
5:02
what are some things that i should like
5:04
try to get rolling right now when i
5:06
don't have the
5:09
the money thing is i think just educate
5:11
i think the main thing is just continue
5:12
to educate yourself until you're ready
5:14
right you know what i'm saying there's a
5:15
lot of information out here about the
5:17
industry
5:18
um you know even you know i'm actually
5:20
gonna you know uh start the harrington
5:22
institute
5:23
um in the next three months where we're
5:24
going to have like a curriculum where we
5:26
give people like basic
5:28
training and information into the
5:29
cannabis space so that you know they can
5:31
also figure out
5:32
how how or what you know vertical within
5:35
cannabis they want to actually work in
5:37
because
5:38
the thing about it is like you know most
5:40
people think that when you get in
5:41
cannabis it's only growing weed
5:43
right but there's so many other ways
5:44
that you can impact the industry
5:46
besides the actual growth because i will
5:48
tell you this and it's not to discourage
5:50
anybody
5:51
but the biggest risk inc in cannabis
5:54
is the cultivation right because those
5:57
plants are so
5:58
finicky they like you know they like
6:00
kids but you know
6:01
um you have to be very meticulous and
6:03
different things like that well how you
6:05
deal with them because you could lose
6:06
crops and it's just a lot of stress
6:08
i will tell you that you know that's the
6:09
only thing that every morning when i
6:11
wake up
6:12
what i'm concerned about is like where's
6:13
my garden how is it how you know are the
6:15
plants happy what's going on but
6:17
you know besides that you know you have
6:18
manufacturing licenses you have retail
6:20
opportunities you have
6:22
testing opportunities that's one thing
6:24
that i would say a lot of people don't
6:25
pay attention to
6:26
but can't no candidates go into any
6:28
store
6:29
uh legally without it being tested so
6:31
that's something that's a vertical that
6:32
you know that everybody
6:34
has to go through and that's something i
6:35
think you need to look at and then you
6:36
have like disposal
6:37
there's just so many different things
6:38
that you can do to have an impact in the
6:40
space
6:41
so i think it's just being open-minded
6:43
and then also you know if you can get
6:44
internships and that's one of the other
6:46
things that we want to start doing as
6:47
well
6:48
but you have to be 21 years old
6:49
obviously but you know just getting
6:51
people
6:51
in the facilities and just kind of just
6:53
seeing and learning because i always say
6:55
that
6:55
you know um especially people of color
6:57
right you know i'm saying we're masters
6:58
of making something out of nothing and
7:00
we're so creative right
7:02
so we can just kind of get the exposure
7:03
to the opportunity i think that we can
7:05
figure out ways that we can have an
7:06
impact
7:09
oh man that's a lot of game right there
7:11
you sound like you're writing that down
7:13
there
7:13
right now
7:19
okay though we know we got an on-demand
7:20
feature there you can actually go to
7:22
siriusxm.com
7:24
forward slash on demand and hear it back
7:26
what's your second question i love the
7:28
first question
7:30
uh this one is more like basketball
7:32
orientated but um
7:33
so like for when you were in a league or
7:35
just in high school
7:37
and all that when you were training in
7:39
the off season to try to like
7:41
get to the next level or just improve
7:43
your game that way
7:44
what were some things that you in order
7:47
to get to the next level you kind of
7:48
like focus more on
7:52
well the obvious man like my my
7:53
basketball journey was a lot different
7:55
than most right
7:56
when i was young i used to be kind of
7:58
short note and overweight so you know my
8:00
real name is albert so everybody should
8:02
call me fat albert growing up right
8:04
so i always you know i used to play
8:06
football for the most part because i
8:07
knew i could just be big and clumsy and
8:09
just kind of just knock people down like
8:11
that's what you were supposed to do
8:12
but i had a growth spurt going into high
8:14
school and when i
8:16
and i moved from orange orange new
8:17
jersey to roselle new jersey so when i
8:19
got to rozelle everybody thought i was a
8:21
hooper you know what i'm saying because
8:22
i'm like i went from five tenants to
8:23
eighth grade to six four as a freshman
8:26
so they kind of threw me into like
8:27
playing basketball because i was one of
8:28
the tallest kids in the school and
8:30
that's kind of how i started my journey
8:32
but what happened for me honestly was i
8:33
fell in love with the game
8:35
and you know for me you know my advice
8:37
is to work on
8:38
everything right because you're so young
8:40
and you know if you love the game
8:42
you know you do your schoolwork you know
8:44
you keep yourself eligible so that you
8:45
can play because that's
8:46
that's a very important key as well
8:48
because i know a lot of players
8:50
that i even played with that i feel like
8:52
you know could have definitely took
8:53
their career a lot further
8:54
but they never could get their
8:55
schoolwork together so that was
8:56
something that stopped there you know
8:58
stopped their journey
8:59
and when i think about it it was silly
9:01
of them because you know school work
9:02
isn't that hard and it's just
9:03
communication talking to teachers
9:05
and just doing your work you know what
9:07
i'm saying you can at least get a seat
9:08
just doing that even if you don't
9:09
test well you know what i'm saying so
9:11
number one is just taking care of your
9:12
schoolwork but then you know you got to
9:13
live in that gym and you know for me the
9:15
things that i did was
9:16
basically i worked on my handle every
9:19
single day i used to shoot a thousand
9:21
shots a day
9:22
and i just played and i played with
9:24
anybody you know people
9:25
hello yeah we could go ahead
9:29
i'm sorry yeah and people laugh at like
9:32
the way i really got better like i used
9:33
to play
9:34
at a jewish y in union new jersey i
9:36
should play against like three
9:37
four like jewish kids where y'all
9:39
looking
9:41
and they really like it'll be like one
9:42
on four but it just
9:44
allowed me to work on my creativity so
9:45
i'm saying all that to say like
9:47
you don't have to have the world's
9:48
greatest trainer you don't have to have
9:50
the best gym in the area
9:52
it's just really just getting out there
9:54
and just playing getting your ten
9:55
thousand dollars you know what i'm
9:56
saying and what they say is
9:58
anytime you work at anything and you put
9:59
ten thousand hours into that thing you
10:01
become an expert
10:02
and i think i got my 10 000 hours
10:04
through my high school years and i just
10:06
continued to just
10:07
build on that as an envy you know once i
10:08
got to the nba
10:12
wow great great question zaya zaya hang
10:15
out hank on the phone
10:16
okay and hear the conversation good to
10:18
hear your voice too man
10:20
absolutely al he had a growth spurt too
10:22
he used to be a little dude he got big
10:24
um i love it man yeah entrepreneur he
10:28
got an entrepreneurial spirit at a young
10:29
age that's amazing like
10:31
until you to your point like you know
10:32
with the youth being more forward
10:34
thinking
10:34
that's a pat on our backs right you know
10:36
what i'm saying because that's how it
10:38
has
10:38
that's how that's the only way it's
10:39
going to work for us you know what i'm
10:40
saying we have to take all of our
10:42
experiences and steal the entire youth
10:43
our kids
10:44
nephews nieces whoever it is you know
10:47
what i'm saying for us to be able to
10:48
change the history you know what i'm
10:50
saying that we've you know
10:52
that we've actually come through um i
10:54
wanted to ask you about that that
10:56
change because i know you you've been
10:58
practic you are
10:59
have been and presently want to change
11:02
the face of
11:03
cbd and marijuana in the sports industry
11:05
we've seen a lot of people who've been
11:07
demonized
11:08
uh uh or vilified like a ricky williams
11:10
or uh
11:11
different people j.r wright or different
11:13
folks because they partook
11:15
and you know marijuana um
11:18
and now we have cbd that's entered to
11:21
fold and a lot of folks are
11:23
now starting to use cbd how do you see
11:25
marijuana
11:26
and cbd being useful in professional
11:29
sports
11:31
oh man it's unbelievably useful i mean
11:34
we think about it because the natural
11:35
anti-inflammatory and you know that's
11:37
what
11:38
athletes deal with 95 percent of the
11:41
time is
11:41
inflammation like in different body
11:43
parts so you know
11:45
we're always trying to figure out like
11:46
how and what can we use to make
11:48
ourselves feel better
11:50
and you know it depends on you know
11:52
which team you're on and what they
11:54
recommend but you know a lot of times
11:55
it's anti-inflammatory pills that
11:57
obviously have harmful effects after use
11:59
you know for a long time and as athletes
12:01
the first generation of wealth within
12:03
families a lot of times
12:04
we make the sacrifice and put our bodies
12:06
on the line not only on the court but
12:08
off the court and what we put in it you
12:10
understand to make sure that we're out
12:11
there
12:12
making money and continue to build
12:13
wealth you know what i'm saying so
12:15
when i think about the correlation of
12:16
the two you know what i'm saying is like
12:18
i feel like
12:19
cbd is pretty much a gateway for people
12:22
to
12:23
be more open-minded to cannabis and then
12:25
eventually they'll get to the thc
12:27
side of it and then realize that you
12:29
know the entourage effect of cbd
12:31
and thc is you know uh just a
12:34
overall better uh feeling you know what
12:37
i'm saying
12:38
it's just a better medical opera you
12:39
know um option you know
12:41
compared to a lot of the you know
12:42
pharmaceutical drugs and different
12:44
the things that we use you know
12:46
currently and um
12:47
you know i think that as sports continue
12:50
to you know
12:51
open this up i think that we will see
12:53
you know and hear more athletes coming
12:55
out and talking about
12:56
how you know they used to do this and
12:58
now they do
12:59
you know some type of a cannabis regimen
13:02
that allows them to go out and
13:03
you know play at a high level and it
13:05
also just sets them up for a better
13:07
quality of life you know once they leave
13:08
the game because believe me once we're
13:10
done you know our bodies really really
13:11
ache
13:12
and it's just it's just beautiful that
13:14
now we have an option of using
13:16
you know a natural method you know from
13:18
the cannabis plant compared to you know
13:20
all the you know drugs and pills that
13:22
and you know in the past have always
13:24
been
13:24
you know recommended um go ahead trace
13:29
i'm curious um obviously with your
13:31
basketball career
13:32
you have to be competitive and business
13:34
you know
13:35
you study your competition you see how
13:37
to differentiate from your competition
13:39
do you take is it the same do you look
13:42
at competition the same
13:44
when it comes to this industry because
13:46
you're seeing a lot
13:48
of fellow athletes a lot of celebrities
13:50
stepping into this arena just your peers
13:53
in general and so i wonder
13:55
if business competition is the same as
13:58
sports competition
14:00
um i would say yes but i don't think
14:02
it's as bad it shouldn't be as bad you
14:04
know what i'm saying especially
14:05
in this industry just because it's still
14:07
so new you know what i mean we're still
14:09
paving the way and we're pioneering the
14:11
industry right so
14:13
i come from it a little differently
14:14
mentally you know what i'm saying i
14:16
don't feel like i have no competition in
14:17
this space
14:18
you know what i'm saying i feel like i'm
14:20
building my thing
14:21
i have different sets of eyeballs that
14:23
are listening to you know our stories
14:25
and our narrative
14:26
and then somebody that you know another
14:28
company or another athlete maybe
14:30
you know coming at it from a different
14:31
way but i firmly believe especially
14:33
athletes and entertainers of color like
14:35
i think that if we're looking at each
14:37
other as competitions like we playing
14:38
ourselves
14:39
because we right now represent less than
14:42
four percent of the industry
14:43
you know what i'm saying and right if
14:45
you're really looking at another company
14:46
if somebody
14:47
looked like you it's competition like
14:49
i'm just i think you're really coming at
14:51
it the wrong way you know
14:52
my my attitude is more of trying to
14:54
elevate each other you know what i'm
14:55
saying i feel like we can cross-promote
14:57
and just continue to you know widen our
14:59
net and continue because that's
15:01
what it's going to come down to because
15:02
if we don't you know what i'm saying
15:04
there's been all these industries i
15:05
always say before like rice sugar cotton
15:07
lottery the liquor like these were all
15:09
companies or industries that that
15:12
we were in and i think that the reason
15:14
why we have no representation in those
15:16
spaces now is because we was in it but
15:18
it was very fragmented and
15:19
because it was fragmented it was never
15:21
an opportunity for us to really put a
15:23
stake in the ground
15:24
and we would ended up either going out
15:25
of business or being brought up and
15:27
acquired and now just sitting on the
15:29
sidelines and being customers
15:31
so i think that you know athletes and
15:32
entertainers should not look at
15:34
cannabis like this like that you know
15:36
what i'm saying you know we are just in
15:38
the beginning
15:38
you know most people still you know most
15:41
states still don't have any type of
15:42
cannabis program and different things
15:44
like that so
15:45
i just come from it from a mindset like
15:47
hell yeah of course i'm very very
15:48
competitive
15:49
but you know if you look like me in this
15:51
space you know what i'm saying i don't
15:52
view you as competition you know what
15:54
i'm saying i'm more trying to figure out
15:55
how we can work together
15:56
to you know have a bigger impact
15:59
beautiful
16:00
i love that al harrington is here with
16:02
us viola and
16:04
replay um are his company celebrating 10
16:07
years
16:07
in in business and when i hear you talk
16:09
about the percentage of people of color
16:11
who are in the business three to four
16:12
percent
16:13
but what percentage of people are behind
16:16
bars because of the business that are of
16:18
color do you know that number
16:21
i mean all i could say is i mean yes
16:22
there's definitely i think we're
16:24
i think we're uh five times more likely
16:26
to be arrested than our counterparts so
16:28
you do the numbers on that but
16:30
you know historically 85 percent of all
16:33
drug arrests for black people
16:35
and in black communities it's cannabis
16:36
related you know what i'm saying so you
16:39
know you just think about just the war
16:40
on drugs in general like it was really
16:42
created to
16:43
and to enslave us you know what i'm
16:45
saying because that's what's
16:46
what jail for me is a lot of how i look
16:49
at it you know what i'm saying so
16:50
you just think about it just you know in
16:52
the in our neighborhoods you know i've
16:54
been out
16:54
i've been out of the hood now for 20
16:56
years thank god you know what i'm saying
16:57
being able to live a better life but
16:59
i haven't seen a drug free school zone
17:02
uh
17:03
uh sign anywhere where i was where i've
17:05
lived in the last 20 years those things
17:06
are still in the communities you know
17:07
what i'm saying so
17:08
i just feel like there's so many
17:10
mechanisms that they have out there
17:11
that's continually
17:12
trying to lock us up you know we're
17:14
still being policed the same way
17:16
in our communities you know what i'm
17:17
saying so we have a huge issue with that
17:19
and like that's why
17:20
you know i think that diversity and
17:22
inclusion is so important
17:24
because i really feel like you know the
17:25
cannabis plant can really rejuvenate our
17:28
community
17:28
you know what i'm saying this is really
17:30
generational wealth you know i'm saying
17:31
that rich for us
17:32
and we gotta you know we have to figure
17:34
out a way to work together
17:36
so that we could you know accomplish
17:38
that because uh
17:39
you know like i said just historically
17:41
we've seen that it just doesn't happen
17:43
for us and i think it's really because
17:44
of our lack of
17:45
you know working together in you know in
17:47
these situations
17:49
yo al al harrington is with us man
17:51
whatever you smoking man your flow is
17:53
impeccable today man you spitting bars
17:55
right now man
17:57
what you rolling up right there al what
17:58
is that
18:00
man i'm smoking uh i'm on this i'm on
18:03
buckets right now so i got my own little
18:05
string
18:06
yeah okay that makes sense okay i get
18:08
that hey hey hb
18:09
man this is one of the good dudes out of
18:11
jersey i like what jersey's doing right
18:13
now
18:14
you know what would you be one of the
18:16
good dudes first of all you got red man
18:18
tonight
18:18
doing verses right let's talk about that
18:21
you know trench everybody gonna be in
18:23
the building
18:24
it's gonna be crazy
18:28
shout out to my brother do it all do
18:32
what you say al that's gonna be epic
18:34
tonight it's gonna be epic tonight i'm
18:36
rolling with i'm rolling with red man
18:38
i love meth but i'm rolling away let's
18:39
go that's some jersey you buy it
18:43
it's a jersey thing out next time you up
18:45
up top up this way man you got to come
18:47
to the house
18:48
me sway red meth do it all we all be
18:51
here in my house eating and chilling
18:54
all right well i mean i know it's
18:56
probably too soon but i'll be there i'll
18:57
be there sunday this sunday i'll be
18:59
there
18:59
on wednesday okay sunday's be my day out
19:03
today is the cookie day put you on the
19:05
spot but yeah let's do it
19:07
we're gonna have another one would you
19:09
let him know what day is the day at the
19:11
house to eat at my house
19:12
hey yo man if you arrive on a sunday you
19:15
ain't gonna leave till thursday
19:20
you ain't gonna leave out now i'm gonna
19:22
be in the bay this weekend so i i
19:24
i won't be there man but leave leave me
19:26
something
19:28
all right
19:32
hey we got a lot of people okay we got a
19:34
lot of people on the line right now
19:36
um that want to ask you questions so um
19:38
to the citizens
19:39
if you can please make the questions
19:41
quick so we could get to it i could get
19:42
to as many people as possible chrissy's
19:44
on the line from the bay area
19:47
hey christie hey everybody hey al
19:52
i'm so far i know you want me to be
19:53
quick but i just wanted to tell somebody
19:54
i loved you since came yell okay they
19:56
keep coming with that mtv baby but i've
19:58
been there since kml thank you
20:01
i love you back anyway good morning al
20:04
thank you so much for taking my phone
20:06
call i am a 42 year old woman trying to
20:08
break into the cannabis space
20:10
my biggest issue is financing i'm also
20:13
in the middle of a business class that i
20:15
was awarded through bank of america
20:16
to try to get some credentials behind my
20:18
game and my
20:20
uh elevator pitch i'm trying to figure
20:22
out
20:24
how basically if you broke
20:27
how do you break in like how do i
20:29
approach investors
20:31
people who hold already licenses in
20:34
manufacturing to do
20:35
partnerships with me um how do i
20:37
approach crowdsource funding should i be
20:39
giving up equity how do i protect my
20:41
ideas innovative is new i don't have no
20:44
competition
20:46
my product is not awkward yeah it's
20:48
specific it's specific to women i'm
20:49
trying to figure out how do i
20:52
get over the financial hurdle and stay
20:54
um
20:57
you know stay focused and stay positive
20:58
and not get discouraged because that's
21:00
my biggest hurdle i've been doing my
21:01
business for three years
21:02
i sell my product i got a website the
21:05
payment processing has been shut down
21:06
because i was selling products
21:08
um i was willing to take that risk
21:10
because i'm really trying to get my
21:11
business out there i believe in it this
21:13
is my
21:14
legacy i'ma leave behind this is that
21:16
generational wealth for my kids
21:18
i get super emotional when i talk about
21:19
it because i've been going hard for it
21:21
for so long
21:22
and the financial part is my only hurdle
21:25
what can i do
21:27
well i think that you know obviously you
21:29
know continue to you know obviously
21:31
build on your business plan
21:32
you know i think that the good thing
21:34
about it that you got started already
21:35
right
21:36
so you have a track record so you know i
21:38
think that a lot of times you know in
21:39
this situation you will have to give up
21:41
some equity
21:42
but i would say you know when you do
21:43
your first fundraise or your you know
21:45
your initial friends and family or
21:47
whatever you know i'm saying make sure
21:48
you get enough to you know give you a
21:50
12-month runway
21:51
i think that's always the main thing
21:53
because obviously over 12 months span
21:55
you know you can
21:56
really really get momentum and obviously
21:58
really grow something
21:59
and then at that point that's when you
22:01
can obviously continue to branch off of
22:03
going to talk to
22:04
bigger investors potentially
22:06
institutions different things like that
22:08
there's a lot of
22:09
funding that is coming to the industry a
22:12
lot of these mso companies
22:13
are you know they're trying to do the
22:15
right thing in regards to
22:16
you know creating you know pools of
22:18
capital to be able to
22:20
you know invest in and fund smaller
22:22
businesses you know even myself like
22:24
that's why i'm actually coming to new
22:25
york because
22:26
you know i'm trying to create this you
22:27
know 100 million to maybe 200 million
22:29
dollar fund just to invest in social
22:31
equity businesses people like yourself
22:33
people that
22:34
have taken the risk you know what i'm
22:35
saying because you know i know
22:37
at some point of it or some of it is
22:39
probably great but you've been able to
22:41
create a you know a loyalty fan base
22:43
you know uh a consumer so just trying to
22:46
tap into those people and then obviously
22:47
be able to
22:48
you know use our resources with this
22:50
capital or maybe even you know tapping
22:52
into some of my licenses or different
22:54
things like that so we can actually help
22:55
scale up the business
22:56
so i would say the main thing is just
22:58
obviously just keep the business going
23:00
keep it afloat
23:01
uh you know create an unbelievable
23:03
business plan that you're passionate
23:05
about because you know that's how i
23:06
invest in most people is like
23:08
you know i see the business playing
23:09
different things but i can when i get
23:11
here and feel the passion
23:13
and see some form of a track record you
23:15
know and it makes me feel more
23:16
comfortable about investing and that's
23:18
what it's all about you know you have to
23:19
just
23:19
convince investors that you know what
23:21
you're doing is something that
23:23
is needed in the market you know and
23:25
like you said the fact that you're doing
23:27
something that is
23:27
specifically for women there's not a lot
23:30
of brands out there that are catering to
23:32
women only
23:33
you know they cater to more of the
23:34
soccer mom but not you know but
23:36
you know and i and i'm a big opponent
23:38
against that because i just think that's
23:40
just a funny term or whatever
23:42
but you know i would just say just keep
23:43
pushing never give up
23:45
and you know hopefully you know help is
23:48
on the way
23:48
you know and i think that california
23:50
just has to do a better job you know
23:51
because all this tax revenue that's
23:53
being brought in
23:54
you know they should be putting a
23:56
portion of that aside for social equity
23:58
to help people from those communities
24:00
because we
24:00
because they know and we obviously know
24:02
because we live it every day that
24:04
there's no resources in the neighborhood
24:06
you know what i'm saying so new york is
24:08
one of the states where i give a lot of
24:09
credit because new york you know
24:11
most of their program 40 of all revenue
24:14
goes back to the communities and go back
24:16
to incubator programs and giving
24:17
interest-free loans and different things
24:19
like that
24:19
so people can actually be able to start
24:21
their businesses
24:23
wow that's crazy great that's great
24:24
information
24:27
might i add you should follow al on on
24:29
his instagram
24:30
and shoot him a dm or something right al
24:34
yup yup it's al harrington three
24:37
i will thank you i'm also a fan of the
24:38
flower i've been in a professional space
24:40
for
24:40
five years i'm a professional bartender
24:42
sacramento's favorite blood tender
24:44
but i am very familiar with viola are
24:46
your jars still purple and white i'm
24:48
trying to figure out why they're not in
24:49
my store no more
24:51
yeah they still it's still purple and
24:53
white and we're working our way back to
24:54
the air we had it set back in 2020 so we
24:56
kind of had to go back and huddle up and
24:58
regroup but we back on the scene so you
25:01
know it'll be flowers on his way back to
25:03
the base for sure
25:04
there you go chris thank you so much i'm
25:06
definitely going to reach out thank you
25:07
so much you guys were taking my call it
25:09
was amazing talking to you
25:11
thank you you're a citizen chrissy i
25:13
swear in the morning
25:16
quick i want to ask out yeah al um we
25:19
mentioned do it all shout out to dude
25:20
who's doing so much for the community in
25:22
newark representative underground and
25:24
obviously he was shaq
25:25
with his um you know his history in
25:28
jersey and all that he's been able to do
25:29
in the new
25:30
area the essex county area um for you al
25:33
is is is jersey harder because you
25:35
mentioned in new york but is jersey
25:36
harder to break into in terms of the
25:38
cannabis industry like
25:40
to do something in the north area
25:42
because downtown newark is starting to
25:43
look like downtown
25:45
manhattan you know it it is crazy so i'm
25:48
just wondering
25:48
what is what it's like for the industry
25:50
and jurors
25:52
well um so you know over the last
25:55
whatever four years since they've had
25:56
the cannabis program obviously it was
25:58
all medicinal and it was very limited i
26:00
think there was only 12 licenses
26:02
and you know i'm not sure i don't think
26:04
anybody of color got any one of those
26:06
licenses
26:07
so they definitely missed the diversity
26:09
um you know they had another round of
26:11
another five licenses which i applied
26:13
for i applied in the southern part of
26:15
the state and penns grove
26:16
uh new jersey was like on the borderline
26:18
of delaware yeah but those lights
26:20
got put into the lawsuit because the
26:22
people from the first round
26:23
felt that like if they were going to
26:24
extend the program they should have just
26:25
extended the winners so like
26:27
whoever was one through 12 won the first
26:29
12 and the next five should have been 12
26:31
through 17
26:32
but the state was like no they wanted to
26:33
open it up to new opportunities so
26:35
that's why we applied and we obviously
26:37
check that diversity box
26:39
and you know hopefully we'll have a
26:40
resolution on those on that lawsuit and
26:43
those licenses in the next 60 days is
26:44
what we're hearing
26:45
we'll find out but obviously we all know
26:48
i think in uh
26:49
was it november last year whatever you
26:51
know cannabis is now legal
26:53
in new jersey but now we're just waiting
26:55
on uh
26:56
you know the applications and different
26:58
things like that to see what it will
26:59
actually take to be able to
27:01
um you know uh one apply and then what
27:04
will be the parameters like you know
27:06
will newark allow
27:07
two stores 15 stores you know all those
27:10
different things so
27:11
until we find out those parameters you
27:12
know we don't i can't speak to that
27:14
but you know um there will be obviously
27:16
a lot of opportunity in north i would
27:18
think because
27:18
as big as north kids they should be
27:20
anywhere from 10 to 15 stores there
27:23
and uh you know obviously i would love
27:25
to have one there
27:26
from there you know what i'm saying from
27:27
this area but uh we just have to we kind
27:29
of have to wait and see but
27:31
will it be difficult yes it's always
27:33
difficult you know what i'm saying is
27:34
there's no
27:34
there's no process that's easy you know
27:36
in the in the cannabis
27:38
space i would say especially when trying
27:40
to get you know a cultivation
27:41
manufacturing or retail licenses all
27:44
right hey um
27:45
we just uh pee we peewee in oregon pee
27:48
wee
27:48
in oregon i want you to call back i just
27:50
saw your line drop i was just about to
27:52
take your line
27:53
so if you tuned in pee wee in oregon uh
27:57
call back uh i want to go to art in ohio
28:01
and then uh please let's make the
28:02
questions quick because uh al has to go
28:05
he he trying to get back to those
28:07
buckets um we got
28:14
out like damn sway i'm talking a lot
28:16
this morning man hey all right you got a
28:18
question
28:19
i got cotton yeah i just
28:23
i just find out
28:27
oh man you just
28:37
i just put mine out too man i got caught
28:39
mouth like a mug man all right what's
28:44
your question
28:45
um and right right right right quick
28:48
sweat i wanted to remind you
28:49
that this is the guy who got the tattoo
28:51
on his arm and when he was a dreamer i'm
28:53
still out here winning sway
28:54
my man art man get that dude a round of
28:56
applause yeah man
28:58
it's good to hear your voice brother
29:00
good to hear your voice man
29:02
but but i wanted to ask al i mean should
29:05
it shouldn't it be
29:06
more important for us to get into the
29:08
finance part of it now too
29:09
because there's a lot of banks who
29:11
aren't willing to bank with uh you know
29:12
dispensaries and
29:14
and and you know people who deal with
29:16
the the resource and whatnot just simply
29:18
because the high risk factor
29:20
so i mean shouldn't we also you know
29:22
look into that because i hear a lot of
29:24
people talking about i want to go to
29:25
school for cultivating
29:26
this and that and others so they can go
29:28
to these dispensaries but i think the
29:30
financing part
29:31
um we're leaving too much of that open
29:34
now i agree with you i mean the banking
29:36
side of it is huge and i mean
29:37
um i think they're gonna pass the bank
29:39
act on at the house
29:41
um or they did last week and then
29:43
there's the other vote so i'm not sure
29:44
it's gonna go through but
29:46
banking is a huge opportunity i will say
29:48
like when i think about like
29:50
who got rich like during this whole
29:52
prohibition
29:53
has been like packaging it's been all
29:55
the ancillary businesses the picks and
29:56
shovels you know understand
29:58
and i would say banking kind of falls in
30:00
that lane as well
30:02
because i will tell you like when i
30:03
first started it was all cash
30:05
so it was me duffel bag walking out not
30:08
knowing what's going to happen you know
30:09
my cousin feeling scared for him
30:11
moving around with all this cash to
30:13
finally credit unions
30:15
um uh started you know taking banking
30:18
but they was
30:18
taxing like it was charging us you know
30:20
anywhere from 2500 to 5 000
30:23
per account uh every time we put in
30:26
anything over ten thousand dollars they
30:28
would take
30:28
a percentage you know what i'm saying so
30:30
the banking was so expensive but
30:32
you know one of the things i always
30:34
think about is like you know we don't
30:35
have enough black banks
30:37
you know what i'm saying and i'm not
30:38
sure what kind of you know when you say
30:40
us
30:40
i'm thinking you mean black but you know
30:42
it's just like how can we get convince
30:44
our black banks to participate because a
30:46
lot of times
30:47
you know they're they're scared you know
30:49
the things i've talked to some but you
30:50
know um
30:51
i invested in this company called
30:52
greenwood bank i'm not sure if you guys
30:54
have heard about it but
30:55
it's like uh yeah yeah i did about the
30:58
same thing
31:02
go ahead out that's that big killer mic
31:05
yep go ahead yeah killer mike in them
31:07
yeah yeah so i'm investing in that bank
31:08
you know what i'm saying this last round
31:10
of investing and
31:11
you know that's one of the things that
31:12
you know i'm going to work on with them
31:14
is trying to figure out how can we bring
31:16
the bank into our community
31:18
you know what i'm saying especially in
31:19
the cannabis community because let's
31:21
keep it within
31:22
the ecosystem you know what i'm saying
31:23
like once again like that's where we
31:25
start to have a real
31:26
impact when we can start really
31:27
supporting each other at different
31:29
levels you know what i'm saying that
31:30
banking would be a huge
31:32
huge opportunity if we could figure that
31:34
out
31:36
that's one side of that generational
31:38
wealth that we got to get to you know
31:40
dogs what's up hey all right we
31:41
appreciate you man thanks for your call
31:43
man
31:43
keep living that tattoo brother keep
31:45
living that tattoo y'all enjoy y'all
31:46
420.
31:47
okay i'm gonna take one more call out so
31:50
you get you know
31:51
all right liquify that cottonmouth you
31:53
got um
31:54
[Laughter]
31:59
mike no but honestly man hey hb tracy
32:02
what i'm thinking man you could teach
32:04
courses online i would sign up brother
32:06
like oh yeah you give me so much
32:07
information in
32:09
20 minutes you know that you know it's
32:11
just it's just and people don't
32:13
people aren't giving as much access to
32:15
all of this information so i appreciate
32:17
you sharing like this
32:18
we got michael on the line from st louis
32:20
go ahead mike
32:21
hey mike yeah it's good hey everybody
32:23
can you hear me
32:24
yeah yes sir yeah sorry about that yeah
32:27
i'm at work
32:27
first off i'd like to say uh good
32:29
morning everybody sway heather b
32:31
jtg thank you for everything you did for
32:33
the culture trying to make this quick
32:34
sorry about that ow
32:35
i live in st louis um the reason i was
32:37
calling us i was intrigued about your
32:40
uh company you have here i have a
32:41
chemistry degree and i actually always
32:43
wanted to get into that uh business and
32:45
do that and when you're talking about
32:47
the lab aspect of it you're right a lot
32:48
of people don't know all the money that
32:50
can come from just having a lab
32:52
uh do you have a lab in st louis and if
32:54
you do can i talk to you about possibly
32:56
learning some things or get in contact
32:58
with you because i'm definitely trying
33:00
to get into this field because i think
33:01
it'll make a lot of money
33:02
and uh in the st louis area i would love
33:04
to try to get that money and give it
33:05
back to the community like you were
33:07
saying uh
33:07
and i'd just love to talk with you and
33:09
just be in cahoots with you if i can i
33:10
don't know how to make that work out
33:13
no yeah for sure i mean we definitely we
33:14
have a you know in st louis um
33:16
we have a building that was able to
33:18
secure in the lose actually in st
33:19
louis too um it's 80 000 square feet
33:22
you know we're going to build out 50 000
33:24
of it for you know cultivation
33:26
and then another other 20 000 will be
33:28
manufacturing
33:29
so yes there will be a lot of
33:31
opportunity there um i'd love to talk to
33:33
you we've never hired a real chemist yet
33:35
you know what i'm saying so that'll be a
33:36
step up upgrade for us you know what i'm
33:38
saying
33:40
um so yeah i would love to you know
33:41
obviously talk to you and you know
33:43
because that's the main thing for us
33:44
like
33:45
we want to empower everybody from that
33:47
community we're not trying to bring
33:48
anybody from out of state we're trying
33:49
to hide
33:50
from right there in the loop or within
33:52
the missouri area you know what i'm
33:53
saying or that i think she was in the st
33:55
louis area
33:56
you know what i'm saying because that
33:57
was our biggest thing and that was the
33:58
whole thing where larry was just like yo
34:00
i love my state i love my city i'm just
34:02
trying to help my people and trying to
34:04
uplift my people
34:05
and that's why he was the perfect
34:06
partner you know what i'm saying and
34:08
we're really excited about
34:09
launching in st louis you know our
34:11
stores will be open there in the next
34:12
probably 60 days
34:14
and then you know we're building out the
34:16
cultivation and manufacturing now so
34:18
um this is the perfect time to meet and
34:20
um you know like you said if you could
34:21
just hit me on my uh instagram
34:23
you could just dm me or whatever and
34:25
then we could take it from there
34:27
yeah mike al harrington three correct
34:31
yep al harrington three yep and then
34:33
mention us mike
34:34
all right all right well i will and uh
34:37
and have the beat you gotta you gotta
34:38
make this guy do some dishes when he
34:39
comes over your house call him out sway
34:41
he just can't be eaten over there all
34:42
the time
34:42
[Music]
34:44
hey hey al that's the hook your man your
34:47
brother's way here he come over
34:49
but he'll be doing no dishes y'all he
34:51
don't care
34:53
come on you'll be stuck like a turkey
34:54
i'm sure hey man you got to see me bro
34:57
hey ow i'll fall i get my best naps at
35:00
heather's house
35:01
oh my god she got one of them couches
35:06
she got more than one that's the crazy
35:08
part man there's so many rules you can
35:10
sleep in
35:11
it's crazy she got a tall couch too al
35:14
for you
35:15
you know um
35:21
hey michael your citizen brother thank
35:23
you man appreciate you stay in the
35:25
morning
35:26
amen al harrington this was awesome bro
35:28
we gotta stay in contact i took your
35:30
number down i'm gonna send you a text
35:31
just so you could lock me in
35:32
okay and um yeah yeah yeah for sure hear
35:35
me
35:36
absolutely congratulations uh once again
35:38
on viola
35:39
in replay and continued success this is
35:42
this is a game changer for our community
35:45
and we need people like you as staples
35:47
in it
35:48
and the way you're breaking this down
35:49
you you the truth bro you're 10 toes
35:51
down you're the truth so continue
35:53
success okay
35:55
thank you guys anything you want to say
35:58
in closing
36:00
happy 4 20 light it up
36:17
[Music]
36:20
you
#Arts & Entertainment