Instagram story viewer> @diaspora.exp> Tagged

Diaspora Experiences

@diaspora.exp

1.4K

followers

366

following

✊🏾Community, Culture, Cannabinoids & Connection
🌱100% Organic Good Vibes
🔒 21+ Members Only
❗Nothing for sale

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Boston, This Sunday At @diaspora.exp 🎨💿✨

Join us Sunday, October 4th for an afternoon of painting, music, connection, and good energy. Come create your own vinyl masterpiece, catch a vibe, and be part of the first experience in this new series.

🎟️ Only 20 tickets available
🕛 Session I: 12–2 PM
🕒 Session II: 3–5 PM

Special thank you to our sponsor @goodnaturecambridge for providing VIP gift bags for our guests 💚🎁

Ticket Link in BIO 🎟️🔗 Location disclosed via Eventbrite after purchase!

Create•Connect•Collect 💿🔥

3

7

Had an amazing time at the @everybodygotta_eat annual BBQ. Perfect weather, wide selection food, supportive vendors, and soulful vibe to end the weekend.

Lots of JB love in the air ☘️🫡 focused on the community across multiple locations.

Big thank you to @poweredsqueeze for that tasty lemonade 🍋.

@centralsqbid @fchwpo @everybodygotta_eat

104

5

Sometimes the best partnerships come from the most unexpected rooms.

This moment is about meeting people in cannabis who aren’t just operators, but thinkers, professionals, and community builders in their own lanes.

From zoning law to real estate to culture, everything connects when the right people come together.

And sometimes, you look around and realize the circle might be small, but it becomes powerful when the right people are in it.

ENGAGE WITH US:
• Follow @coffeeandcannabis.podcast for more ☕🌿
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel for full podcast episodes & clips
• Comment the city you’re tuning in from
• Share this with someone who needs to hear this conversation

#Drbeast #coffeeandcannabispodcast #RaesiaStraker #cannabis #cannabispartnerships

58

6

It looked good on the outside… but it didn’t feel right anymore.

In this clip, the reality of wholesale hits differently — long drives, constant movement, no real balance, and doing business wherever you can make it work.

At a certain point, you begin to analyze what you are contributing too and how it’s affecting your life.
Stepping away from what drains you… and moving toward work that actually fits your life.

Still in the industry, still working with brands but just in a way that brings more peace, alignment, and purpose.

Have you ever had to step back from something that looked good but didn’t feel right? 👀👇

🎥 Watch the full episode through the link in bio and follow @coffeeandcannabis.podcast.
Share your experience in the comments.

95

6

When the money gets tight, the first thing corporate cannabis cuts is the communities it promised to serve.

Dr. @beast.rod paints a picture that anyone paying attention to New Jersey’s cannabis market has already seen play out in real time.

When recreational sales opened up, every major operator had a social equity program….which to many, felt like progress. It also looked like accountability.

Then the market got crowded, profits thinned out, and just like any corporate company facing pressure, they started cutting. And of course we know what went first…..

DEI programs and social equity initiatives, the exact things that were supposed to make this industry different.

And when those programs disappear, it isn’t just a line item that gets removed. It’s the entire ecosystem that was built around them.

The ancillary businesses, community builders and many times the Black and brown operators who were depending on those partnerships to stay afloat. The engine starts to dry up quietly and nobody in a boardroom is held accountable for it.

But then there’s @ascendwellnessofficial.

Dr. Beast acknowledged what they’re actually doing because they didn’t stop when everyone else did, and that’s what matters.

@darth_raedar takes it further.

Stating the stiff arm people give MSOs is understandable and most of the time it’s earned, but when you find one that actually has values and is genuinely showing up for the community, what you can learn from that relationship is invaluable.

Not every corporate cannabis company is the enemy, but the ones that abandoned their commitments the moment it stopped being profitable made it harder for the ones that didn’t to be seen clearly.

Accountability doesn’t disappear when the profits do. That’s the standard, and more companies in this space need to be held to it.

What do you think, can MSOs ever truly be allies to social equity in cannabis or is it always going to come down to the bottom line?

Drop your thoughts in the comments. Link in bio for full episode
•
•
#coffeeandcannabis #drbeast #equity #boston #diaspora

38

5

You can have every business skill in the book and still walk into cannabis completely unprepared.

In this clip, Dr @Beast.rod asked Raesia “Do you feel like having prior business experience was helping you?””

@darth_raedar makes a point that a lot of self-proclaimed experts in this space need to hear……

Traditional business experience helps, but regulatory compliance in cannabis is its own beast entirely.

Unless you’re coming from alcohol, federal gaming, or the California and Colorado markets with years behind you, there is no way to be truly tenured in a space that isn’t even that old yet.

The math simply doesn’t work and pretending otherwise is part of what keeps setting new operators up for failure.

Then Dr @beast.rod brings it all the way down to earth with something every dispensary owner has either lived through or is one bad day away from.

You can do everything right....build the business, follow the rules, stay compliant, but then one day someone leaves the vault open a little too long, and suddenly you’re looking at a five thousand dollar fine for a violation.

That’s not negligence. That’s the reality of operating in a space where the margin for error is razor thin and the penalties are anything but.

And for small businesses....those are hits they just cant take.

Regulatory compliance isn’t a checkbox.

In cannabis it’s a full time job that nobody fully trains you for and nobody warns you about until it’s already cost you something.

🎥 Watch the full episode through the link in bio and follow @coffeeandcannabis.podcast for the REALEST and most AUTHENTIC conversations in the industry 🍃☕️
•
•
#drbeast #coffeeandcannabispodcast #boston #leadership

48

4

Nobody warns you about what this industry actually costs, and that might be the biggest problem in cannabis right now.

Dr @beast.rod asked @darth_raedar, what needs to happen for new entrepreneurs to really, really learn the intricacies of starting a business in this space while also keeping them motivated?

She states she sees new entrants bright eyed and bushy tailed.... ready to bet everything on the plant, but she feels the tension of knowing what’s on the other side of that excitement.

She states that she shares her story with them and feels like she being a debbie downer but hates watching them on the path to ruining their life.

Rae laughs and says well she too is on the path to ruining her life as well.

But as entrepreneurs what do they do. MARCH ALONG!

There’s something painfully real about two women in cannabis laughing through the weight of what it actually takes to stay in this industry.

It’s not glamorous.
It’s not always strategic.
Sometimes it’s just survival dressed up as perseverance.

Dr. @beast.rod shared that when she entered the industry, people weren’t transparent and there were things she could have avoided if someone had just been a little more vulnerable about their experience.

Instead she had to learn the hard way, like most people in this space do.. but the question she’s really asking is a heavy one.

How many people have to lose everything before the industry gets honest with the people walking in?

Tune in this week for a powerful episode.

This is 2 women in cannabis, both still standing, both still figuring it out, and the rarity?

They are both honest enough to say so out loud and that might be exactly what this industry needs more of.

🎥 Link in bio for the full episode

21

0

WHAT IS YOUR BEST/WORSE EDIBLE EXPERIENCE
🧐🍃🍫?! PART 4

Baked Takes is back at it at NECANN 2026! Asking those in the industry those hard hitting questions after a hard hit

Special shoutout to @powertotheflowerpod & @darth_raedar for their participation!
What is your worst or best edible experience, list it in the comments!
•
•
#publicinterview #bakedbites #bakedtakes #streetinterview #infusedrecipes

77

6

This podcast truly is therapeutic sometimes.

Learning others journeys and laughing about the struggles is a strange way to stay motivated but oddly, it works.

@darth_raedar ❤️

And now after what felt like an entire episode of us being professional Debbie Downers LOL😭 I asked Rae to say something inspirational because dang….we cant go out like this hahah

It was a laughable moment but I just feel like when people watch the show, I want them to feel educated, informed, empowered, but most importantly, aware.

Whether you’re a consumer, patient, entrepreneur, investor, or somebody dreaming about entering this industry someday, I want people to understand the reality behind the smoke and mirrors 🍃

This industry was built on the backs of hungry entrepreneurs chasing opportunity while states rushed to legalize, make money, and regulate a plant they were never truly prepared to manage.

And disasteriously, the carrot 🥕 that’s been dangled in front of so many operators… just hasn’t matched the reality once people got inside.

So yes follow your dreams but execute strategically, run a creative play, and protect yourself and your mental health. Stop trusting that any state has “figured it out,” because the data shows the same mistakes repeating themselves state by state across the country.

But Rae said it best - Yes, “it’s a challenge… but that doesn’t mean impossible. And you know what they say….if it was easy, everybody would be doing it.”

And although in my plant world it feels like everybody is doing it… but the truth is, most of the world still hasn’t even caught up yet.

That means there’s still opportunity to shape the future, but the messaging has to evolve. Transparency is required and consumers and patients need to become part of the conversation driving accountability, policy, and change.

So chase your hunger, follow your vision, but just don’t put yourself in jeopardy blindly trusting systems that are still learning in real time too.

And always remember…look at your own paper because they haven’t figured it out over there either 😌🫡🏁

43

6

Black and brown folks are building in one of the hardest industries in the country. So why is self-interest still getting in the way?

Dr @beast.rod gets into something that doesn’t get talked about enough. There’s a mentorship problem. Not just a lack of mentors, but a resistance to accepting guidance when it’s right there in front of you. People project. People protect their ego, and in an industry already stacked against minority entrepreneurs, and that resistance becomes its own kind of setback.

She points to something real though. When you strategically pair the right people together, when someone who sees your skill set actually names it out loud, something shifts. A community builder linked with the right knowledge base and the right background doesn’t just grow, they explode. That’s what alignment actually looks like in practice, but that only works when the ego gets set aside long enough to receive it.

Ego is expensive in any industry, but in cannabis, for Black and brown entrepreneurs already navigating everything this space throws at them.... it’s a cost most people can’t actually afford to keep paying.

Do you think people truly want community… or just opportunity?

Follow @coffeeandcannabis.podcast for more honest conversations ☕️🍃
•
•
#CoffeeandCannabisPodcast #cannabisbusiness #blackownedbusiness #brownentrepreneur #minoritybusiness #mentorship #cannabisindustry #entrepreneurmindset #communitybuilding #cannabisculture #greenentrepreneur #blackentrepreneur #womeninbusiness #womeninweed #cannabiscommunity #realtalk #selfinterest #businessgrowth #cannabiseducation #420community #plantmedicine #RaesiaStraker #DrBeastRod #TOSD

12

0

Dr. @beast.rod starts this clip by sharing how many entrepreneurs start a business without truly testing or measuring whether the market actually wants it.

It’s one thing to have a business idea in your heart and want to bring it to life, but it’s not always “if you build it, they will come.”

Sometimes you’re too early.

Sometimes the space is too saturated.

Sometimes the idea is good, but the market, timing, pricing, access, or structure still needs to be worked through.

That’s why entrepreneurs have to analyze whether the business is actually workable, not just whether they love the idea. And then she goes into how @coffeeandcannabis.podcast came to be.

The podcast wasn’t the original goal.

Surviving the industry was.

It started while opening the dispensary... @tosd_tribe - building out loud in real time, filming raw episodes on the dispensary floor, and figuring things out along the way.

Then Instagram got shut down, FCC regulations created barriers, and advertisers weren’t an option.

Every traditional marketing door closed, so YouTube became the only lane left open.

And somewhere along the way, what started as a workaround became something real. Episode 1 to Episode 79, built through storytelling from people all navigating this industry at the same time.

That’s the part most people skip about entrepreneurship. Sometimes the thing that works isn’t the thing you planned. It’s the thing you were forced into.

The industry told Dr. Beast no in every direction it could, but she just kept going anyway ...and that became the story worth telling.

Tune in for the latest episode ☕️

•
•
#CoffeeandCannabisPodcast #cannabisbusiness #cannabispodcast #dispensarylife #cannabisindustry #entrepreneurmindset #boston #bostoncannabis #smallbusinessowner #cannabisculture #contentcreator #podcastlife #buildingoutloud #cannabiseducation #greenentrepreneur #weedlife #420community #cannabiscommunity #marketingstrategy #realtalk #hightimes #plantmedicine #RaesiaStraker #DrBeastRod #TOSD

25

4

Wanting to own a business is great. But do you actually know how to run one?

In this clip, @darth_raedar makes a point that more aspiring cannabis entrepreneurs need to hear. A lot of people jump straight into ownership without ever working inside the industry first, and that gap in experience shows.

When you understand the full supply chain, when you’ve seen how every part connects, you start to see where things actually break down. That kind of knowledge doesn’t come from a business plan. It comes from being in it.

She’s not against ownership. She champions it, but she’s honest about what it takes. Either you know how to do the work yourself, or you have enough capital to hire people who do. and even then, you still need to understand it well enough to verify what they’re telling you.

Trust but verify isn’t just a saying. It’s a skill, and you can’t fake it.

Passion might get you in the door, but knowledge is what keeps you in the room.

Follow @coffeeandcannabis.podcast so you never miss a conversation like this one ☕️🍃
•
•
#CoffeeandCannabisPodcast #cannabisbusiness #cannabisindustry #dispensaryowner #cannabiseducation #smallbusinessowner #entrepreneurmindset #cannabisculture #greenentrepreneur #businesstalk #knowyournumbers #supplychainmanagement #weedlife #420community #cannabiscommunity #startuplife #businessreality #hightimes #plantmedicine #cannabislifestyle #RaesiaStraker #DrBeastRod #TOSD

34

2