NECANN Boston 2025

Oh, Boston. I love it so much but why does the weather have to be so extra. I moved to Boston almost exactly 12 years ago and I remember April vividly. This Chicago girl became very spoiled living in San Diego and the month after I moved to Boston was windy, rainy and so cold. The past few days in Boston were mostly the same with one beautiful day shoved in the middle. But why am I still talking about the weather, let’s talk about NECANN.

I flew across the country on Thursday and didn’t get into Boston early enough to attend any of the preparties but my flight was smooth and I returned to the same hotel as last year and everything felt easy. I’ll take it! After last year where all my cross-country flights had connections that were not smooth, I felt like I must have some good vibes which definitely set the tone.

Friday morning went pretty well. A little tough with the time change so I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t go to preparties, but really not bad. I made it over to the convention center at 9:30, and they were dealing with some tech issues and not experiencing the same smooth sailing I’d been feeling. Fortunately, I was able to get my badge, my guest pass for Ange Moreno, and they gave me a stipend for being a speaker. Ange is a young woman I met last summer at the Parabola Center event and I’ve been mentoring her as she’s trying to figure out her first big career move. She has awesome cannabis experience and has done some freelance and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know her and sharing some of my experience.

I love a mentor/mentee relationship. When I was in pharma, I advanced quickly and was fortunate that my company matched me with mentors that helped me navigate new situations and managing people. One thing I learned is that it is always a two-way street. The mentor will always benefit from the relationship as well. One of my mentors was experienced in her career but new to the company we worked for, so I helped her navigate that change. All that to say that I am very appreciative of my relationship with Ange. She helped me improve my website and helped me plan for NECANN. I sponsored the Blunt Brunch women’s lounge and needed a swag item. She suggested stash bags that she could source locally. I then decided to turn it into an activation where women could decorate their stash bags with some adhesive gems and paint pens. Ange was super helpful in letting me ship the supplies to her house and she picked up the stash bags and brought everything to the conference. It was a huge help and I’m very appreciative of our relationship.

Back to the conference! I walked through the exhibits first thing and saw some people I wanted to see. Cecelia Tsai had told me her booth number so I had to go by and hug her. It was great to see her and catch up a bit since last December. She told me she’s coming to San Diego soon and will have some free time so we are planning a zoo visit! Also got to see Catherine Sidman who organized the Weird Brains stage and invited me to participate in a panel. The Weird Brains stage had killer panels lined up all day and I was impressed with the quality while sitting right in the middle of the exhibit hall. It’s not easy to keep people engaged with all those distractions but it seemed to work really well.

The slight technical issues from earlier at badge pick-up must have persisted because shortly after the exhibit hall opened, the line was wrapped around pretty much the entire building. I walked past the line looking for people I knew and I saw my friend, Tim Wallace, from Surfside waiting so I chatted with him for a while. Ange arrived shortly after and I was really glad I already had her badge. We went to the women’s lounge and dropped off the stuff she brought. Shortly after, Adelia and Parisa arrived and I set up my table. I decided to keep it simple since I was flying and didn’t want to lug extra stuff and also because the second day I would have the activation at my table and that would take up most of the space.

After I was set up, I headed over to a talk where my friend, Steph Woods, from Headset provided data and introduced Laurie Parfitt who went through the data on the MA market. It was really interesting and I learned a lot. I also felt like the data made a lot of sense, which isn’t always the case in cannabis. I do think the MA market may have come across a little healthier than it actually is right now, but maybe it’s better than people think. One of the charts that I can’t get out of my head was a brand count for various states with CA at the top with 1300 and MA somewhere in the middle with 500. Product oversaturation and lack of inventory curation are big problems in CA and I just kept thinking that the market maybe would be a little healthier if we lost a few hundred brands until the market can support that kind of growth. I don’t think brand count consistently correlates to market health, but it definitely got me thinking.

Next back to the women’s lounge for Blunt Brunch speed networking. Adelia and Parisa have led this format of speed networking at a number of events and it’s always a hit. You line up in two rows and get to meet a whole lot of people really quickly with one line moving down a person every minute or so. Ever get stuck in conversations where you realize it’s going nowhere but you can’t move on? Not in this situation! I met several people that I intend on following up with including Jennifer Makris from Cannabiz Media, which has come up several times in recent conversations. Jennifer also came to dinner with a group of ladies in the evening which further solidified our meeting.

Then I headed over to the Weird Brains stage to listen to the panel that my friend and close partner, Rachel Wright, was on along with my friend Lisa Battista and moderated by Angela Pih. It covered challenges and strategies that C-suite leaders face. Always great to hear from people I respect with a wide range of experience. Angela is such a good moderator and brings so much experience, enabling her to navigate the breadth of the conversation masterfully.

Then came my panel. My first public speaking experience in the industry was last December during MJBizcon at an intimate women’s event. It was a great icebreaker to get me ready for a panel on stage at a conference. I am incredibly grateful to the Good Life Gang, The Beard Bros, NECANN and everyone else who facilitated making this happen, it was an incredible opportunity.

Now I have a secret to tell you. We did not prep for our panel. It was an unscripted, unrehearsed, honest conversation.  Sara Gluck was the moderator and I’m going to have to tangent again here because I have never met Sara but I’ve been a huge fan of her brand, Ken Ahbus. I have a bunch of her stuff including my favorites, ‘I’m a Blunt Person’ sweatshirt, ‘But first cannabis’ shirt, and ‘Girls just wanna smoke weed’ hoodie. Sara recently closed up shop and I was really sad to hear the news. But it was great to finally meet her in person and be on a panel she moderated. Sara is also a stand-up comedian so really who better to moderate an unprepared panel.

We did not know the questions she was going to ask but I think overall it flowed, we all shared what we could, and hopefully people walked away with something useful. A question about mainstream media came up and I felt compelled to share some of a recent conversation I had with Jackie Bryant. We were discussing the mainstream and what they care about when it comes to cannabis in the news and what she shared was really not much. Working in the industry, I’m bombarded with news articles every day from cannabis and mainstream media (and also my mom sends me every article from the Chicago Tribune) so it creates a world around me where people really care. But what Jackie shared was in the mainstream, it really is surface level and they don’t understand a lot of the struggles we are dealing with. They just think we are all making tons of money and want access. After thinking about what she said, my takeaway was that we aren’t doing enough. Maybe they don’t care but we can figure out ways to reach them. Education is the most important thing in cannabis. Period. Let’s figure out how to get better and reach the mainstream. We can do it.

It was a fun panel and I was glad to sit next to my friend, Brian Holler and also meet Danielle Bernstein and Gary Payton. Along with Sara, we made our own little basketball team. Another part that made it special was having so many friends in the audience. The Blunt Brunch ladies were hooting and hollering for me and seeing Ange, Sandra Bergman, Lindsay Roth and many others in the audience made me happy. I love to support my friends when they put themselves out there and it’s heartwarming to be on the other side.

One of my favorite parts of conferences is meeting people in person who I’ve only connected with on LinkedIn. Shawn Alan Nichols was one of those at this conference and I’m glad we got to finally meet and chat a bit. I also met Jimmy Young in person who I’ve been reporting for as the CA correspondent for Cannabis Coast to Coast News.

Next it was time to sesh and then head to dinner. Dinner was a group of ten ladies and we went to my favorite restaurant from when I lived in Boston, Stephanie’s on Newbury. Such an awesome and varied group of badass women doing cool things in the cannabis space. Some I knew like Lisa Battista, Sandra Bergman, Isabella Deschard and the Verdant Strategies ladies, Rachel Wright and Stephanie Jeffries. I also got to meet the newest Verdant Strategies powerhouse woman, Scheri Mathaya, who I loved plus Sarah Brittany Somerset and Jessica Ferranti from Cannabis & Tech Today, and Jennifer from Cannabiz Media who I met earlier in the day. We had lots of great conversations and laughter and it’s definitely one of my favorite parts of going to conferences.

After dinner, Sandra and I went over to the Happy Valley party which was one of the highlights of my trip last year. They again had some custom mocktails that you could dose with their Stir Stix THC powder. I got to chat a bit with Gregg Weiss and Rick Bashkoff and had a good chat with Adelia. I also met some new people including Sandra’s friend Winston Connor from Colorado. Ended the evening smoking one of the joints that I got. It’s still not Cali weed but Happy Valley is pretty impressive.

Day two can always be a little tough after the parties night one and an 8am start is a bit much. On the other hand, if you have some of the coolest in the game throwing the party and it has an amazing breakfast spread, infused drinks, dabs and place you can smoke, it’s totally worth it. And it really was. The Good Life Gang and Beard Bros breakfast was a fun gathering of people and I had the opportunity to talk to some people I’d been looking forward to meeting like Riley Kirk and Miyabe Shields. I also met Blaine Hatab and Jill Klettke. I was very impressed with the taste and effect from the Squier’s Specialty Elixirs drink mixer and always a fan of Lisa’s drink enhancers from The Flavor Co. I also got to chat more with Sara Gluck and hang with my friends from Verdant Strategies and, of course, the Beard Bros and Good Life Gang.

After the sesh, I headed over to the conference and straight to the women’s lounge to listen to the panel and set up my table for the activation. The panel was a great group of women talking about unapologetic leadership. Cherlene Lena Erauda, Summer Thorn, and Ali Bianco were up there with Adelia and Parisa sharing personal stories. It was inspiring to hear the ladies’ stories and leadership styles and learn from their experiences. By the time the panel was finished, I had set up my table for the ‘bedazzling’ activation. The ladies all got a Grass Goddess Consulting branded stash bag that they could decorate while we chatted about what we do and how we could work together. The energy was electric and it was so fun to watch the ladies craft, chill, and enjoy each other’s company. Canna crafting has become one of my favorite things to do, and I loved a stash bag decorating activity at the International Women’s Day event I went to last year.

Some of the women shared they were so happy to be in private space and take a break from the conference chaos. It really did feel like this cool oasis in the middle of a very male-dominated space. It also gave me the opportunity to meet maybe 20-30 women I wouldn’t have otherwise and also spend some additional time with some of my friends. I’m so appreciative that Blunt Brunch created the space that enabled these special interactions. Also, I have to shout out NECANN and Marc Shepard who are really leading the way when it comes to inclusivity and doing the right thing. Marc went above and beyond to make sure women had our space and neurodivergence was on display, which other conferences are not prioritizing the same way.

I went to a couple of other talks about retailers and loyalty before calling it a day. Sandra and I were hungry and we decided to get some lobster and then take a little rest. We met up again a little later at a bar and spent some more time together and Winston joined us for a while as well. We talked about some of the things we are working on and some additional ways we can work together, which I’m looking forward to exploring. As a solopreneur, I’m lucky to have so many trusted partners that I can collaborate with and the community nature of cannabis seems to create a unique space where people work together more than any other space I’ve experienced.

One of the things about conferences is you never get to see everyone you wanted or planned on seeing. There are too many people, too many things to do, and too many places to go. There are a few people that I had planned to see at NECANN that I wasn’t able to connect with, and it’s a bummer, but I always try and prioritize them for the next one, and eventually, it works out. This year, one of those people was Joe Khoury. I met Joe at Cannadatacon last year and have been talking to him about his platform, Cannabisregulations.ai and we had planned on connecting but we missed each other. Fortunately, I stayed until Monday to spend a little extra time in Boston and Joe was kind enough to meet up with me for a blunt and coffee Sunday morning. It was chilly and very windy but we managed to find this one little spot where we could light up and not get blown away. It was really nice to chat in person and spend a little time.

It also got me out and about and we ended up being right by the spot where I used to work. I decided since the sun was out I could brave the wind and walked the path I used to walk to and from work to the North End and picked up some Modern pastries before taking the T back. It was the perfect little dose of my previous life that I needed before going back to rest and catch up on all the things I had been neglecting for the past couple of days.

Isabella also stayed after the conference and we decided to meet up that evening at the Prudential Center. We had a smoke and then went up to the top to check out the view and have something to eat. It was chilly outside but the sky was clear so the views were pretty sweet and we got to enjoy some quality time together. I met Bella at the Emerald Cup last year and we’ve hung out a few times since then but it was nice to have some time just the two of us to really get to know each other.

Monday was another cold, windy, and rainy day and I had planned on going to some shops to chat with them but was kind of discouraged by the weather. I took that as an opportunity to get caught up on some computer work I needed to do. Then I packed my stuff up and still had enough time to visit two shops and decided the rain wasn’t too bad and I should just take a Lyft over and do it. I’m so glad it worked out because I enjoyed my visits at Rasta Rootz and Apex Noire and learned quite a bit from the budtenders. I also was pleasantly surprised that they both used different software and could speak to me about that experience. Often, I go to a market and every shop I visit is on the same software, and I like to hear about a variety.

I picked up a few different edibles and then headed back to my hotel to get my stuff and went to the airport. One last story I have to share before I wrap it up. While walking in the airport near my gate I saw Paul Negulescu, the site head of the San Diego Vertex site while I worked there. Now this is a full-circle moment for me. I had recently written to Paul after the approval of their non-opioid pain medication by the FDA. I also wrote a blog post about it if you are curious. Paul was in Boston at meetings at the site where I once worked and was on the same flight back to SD with me. We were able to talk for a while before we boarded the flight and it was so cool to catch up with him. Our conversation covered a wide range of topics and I definitely took advantage of the opportunity to talk to him about cannabis and also how I was a closeted consumer the entire time I worked for him. We talked about his kids and life, it was really special. Paul is a unique leader that is super relatable and after working on his team for nine years, I still feel a connection with him.

Let’s take the weather out of the equation for a minute and I’ll just conclude by saying my trip to Boston and my experience at NECANN was pretty perfect. Can’t wait for the next one.