North Bloom Is Normalizing Cannabis with Angelique Zerillo

Margaret 00:00:04 Hello friends. What happens when you take a love of food, a passion for culture and a deep knowledge of cannabis and toss them all into one bowl? You get Bite Me, the podcast that explores the intersection of food, culture and cannabis and helps cooks make great edibles at home. I'm your host, Margaret, a certified Ganjier, a TCI certified cannabis educator, and I believe your kitchen is the best dispensary you'll ever have. Together, we'll explore the stories, the signs, and the sheer joy of making safe, effective, and unforgettable edibles at home. So preheat your oven and get ready for a great episode. And today, friends, I'm so glad that you're here because you are going to be tuning in for a very special episode. I'm joined today by Angelique, who is the editor in chief of North Bloom Magazine, a cannabis wellness print magazine based in Minnesota. Angelique is a fellow certified Ganjier with a passion for bringing cannabis education to the mainstream, helping to break the stigma that surrounds the plant.

Margaret 00:01:01 And with that, friends, please enjoy this conversation with Angelique. All right. And we're live. And I'm very excited to be here today with Angelique Cirillo of North Bloom Magazine. And before we get into today's conversation, Angelique, I was just hoping you could introduce yourself and share about some of your cannabis journey.

Angelique Zerillo 00:01:26 I'd be happy to. Thank you for having me on. Bite me. Margaret. It's so great to meet you. Finally. my name is Angelique Cirillo. I am a fellow Certified Ganjier like yourself. I'm a writer and researcher by trade, and what I've been doing for the past 20 years leading up to this beautiful adventure in the cannabis sector, is working in product design and development with my husband, who's an industrial designer, and we, we post up in Chicago, Illinois, and that's where we've we've been for about 25 years now, raising a family and working. But now I'm leading the ship of Blue Multimedia with a print magazine called The North Bloom Magazine, facing the Minnesota cannabis market that is ready to rock and roll here soon.

Angelique Zerillo 00:02:08 So I'm excited to talk to you about what we're building, supporting the sectors maybe gap here around education with the general public. So thanks for having me today, I appreciate it.

Margaret 00:02:19 Yeah. No, absolutely. I'd love to support people who are promoting education in this space, especially in mainstream cannabis spaces, because I think it's so incredibly necessary. so you've made some real pivots in your life to transition into the cannabis space, which I'm sure has had quite a few challenges. But I'm curious because you also mentioned just now that you are a certified or Ganjier as I am. When did you get your certification?

Angelique Zerillo 00:02:46 it's been we are in the year 2025. It's been two years now. Okay. And I probably onboarded with that journey late 2021. so I took like a full year and a half. You know, through all of the requirements of our program. to slow boat it a little bit, but also, you know, was facing the sector and doing a considerable amount of research and self-learning and self-study for about that six months, full year prior to that.

Angelique Zerillo 00:03:13 So I'd say I've been all in facing cannabis for about 4 or 5 years now. So which can we? Is it fair to say that there's a dog years conversion, like every year, is definitely like a seven year, seven, seven years somatic experience.

Margaret 00:03:26 So yeah, I think that I think that's reasonable. I'll allow that. Yeah. So I got my certification in 2021. I did it all at the same time because two trips down to California probably wasn't in the budget, but it was definitely a worthwhile experience. And of course, as Ganjier were trained to evaluate cannabis quality through all the senses. And how do you apply that same sensory expertise when you're evaluating edibles in particular?

Angelique Zerillo 00:03:53 Well, I think for me, because I like to zoom out. You know, our our skill set is so specific and it's around this plant. But there's a lot of parallels here. Right. And I am a big, I'm a pretty holistic person. Integrative healthcare, natural foods, all of that. So I like to zoom out a little bit when I look at that lens, you know, because I'm not just looking at the components of the plant in an edible and all of the metrics that we grade and qualify quality right around flower.

Angelique Zerillo 00:04:19 I'm also looking at like manufacturing and ingredients and, you know, nutritional content and things like that. You know, we have we have some beautiful products in this industry, but we also have a lot of garbage. And if it's not something that I'd want to put in myself normally, you know, the fact that it has the plant in it doesn't make that an exception for me, right? So like some of these consumer packaged good standards, CPG standards that, you know, are the metrics that I as a shopper, when I'm making my decisions with my dollars is also kind of how I look at this industry, you know.

Margaret 00:04:51 right. Yeah.

Angelique Zerillo 00:04:52 I'd like with that. Yeah.

Margaret 00:04:53 I'd like that you touched in on, like, the ingredients, how it was manufactured, nutrition, that kind of thing. Because those are all things that you would probably apply to making choices when you're at your dispensary or at the grocery store. So it just seems a little less obvious, I suppose, how you would evaluate edibles versus flour, which seems a little more I mean, more people are evaluating evaluating flour, I would imagine.

Margaret 00:05:14 But what are there anything that you think consumers should look for beyond THC and CBD content?

Angelique Zerillo 00:05:20 Oh, absolutely. Like, well, let's talk about like set and setting and like reason for consumption, right. That you and I both know, like we have a spectrum here. We have a spectrum of formulations, we have a spectrum of extraction methods. Right. And different concentrates. And, you know, is it solvent less is it not? Are we looking at isolates, isolates kind of built back up into like a product that is perfectly useful and beautiful and very effective. But I kind of call them our Franken builds. Right. Because they're following a pharmaceutical model. and not representing sort of the whole plant. And it's what I like to call like Mother Nature's Mother Nature's blueprint. Right. Because she has that those those ratios, those ratios. Right. Bringing this back into like baking and edibles like that are pretty standard for efficacy. but let's talk about dosing and onset because I think those are big key things.

Angelique Zerillo 00:06:14 You know, like what's your target, what's your need, when do you need it to happen, and how long do you want or need it to last? Those are huge things. Those are huge variables that I think that when you're, you know, kind of a naive or a novice consumer and you're going in and I have option A or I have option B here with this bud tender, what is the difference. When am I going to feel it. How long is it going to last? I would say that, you know, me coming back to the plant, right? Because I obviously I consumed younger, not super young because I was a college athlete. So that was I was very mindful of, we'll call it like the hand slap, like if you get caught as an athlete, you probably lose your seat on a roster. You might also lose your financial aid here in the in the in the United States. So I was very careful. But, you know, as a young teenager, 20 something always was piggybacking my consumption, probably with alcohol consumption.

Angelique Zerillo 00:07:10 So never truly understood the efficacy of the plant and the plant alone in my body. that's a huge thing. I think to talk to consumers about, is really isolating, you know, sort of scientific method style, like don't throw all the it's not a kitchen sink kind of style. Like you can't throw it all in together and then really know what's working or what's not working. but in terms of edibles, like I onboarded as an adult once, my state of Illinois was adult rec legal, and I was kind of walking through some some health concerns and scares, and my husband suggested he was like, should we try, you know, edibles, like, do you want to try to slow, slow boat back into this world with me? Because he's a fan of the plant and a consumer. And I said, all right, let's do it. And I found a 1 to 1 ratio, THC to CBD. It was a mint. So a hard mint, so very portable, very easy.

Angelique Zerillo 00:08:00 You know, it's sort of like your Altoids equivalent, right? Keep it in your purse, keep it in your car. You have it with you when you're out and about five milligram max. So like if you are a consumer like that's a pretty low dose, fairly quick onset. I'd say we could feel it within 45 minutes to an hour. I'm seeing a lot of new formulations out where it's rapid onset, where based on what we call it, method of consumption or route of administration, right through more medical terms, like if it's a true edible, if it's going through first pass metabolism, where it's having to go through your digestive system before your liver is really activating it and your body can utilize it, versus is it a sublingual? It's going in through mucous membranes. You might be able to get that feeling in effect within like 5 to 15 minutes. You know, that's that's great. These are things that these are questions that consumers really need to ask and hopefully owners. But tenders know these answers about like what's the formulation and what's the onset.

Angelique Zerillo 00:08:58 Because that's pretty critical not only for young consumers but especially for our older population like geriatric population. Understanding how to use edibles, which I think that's the biggest growing demographic, right. I can't tell you the number of people that I have heard saying, my mom and dad are taking a gummy at night almost every single night. You know, they're putting their scotch aside, their nightcap, and they're having a gummy to end the day.

Margaret 00:09:22 Well, so much of the news around alcohol consumption, it feels like in the last few years have been pretty negative. So I think people are definitely looking for alternatives. And I, I worked in a dispensary myself a few years ago, and the people had a lot of questions about edibles because most people had had a bad experience with them at some point or knew somebody that did. And at the same time, a lot of seniors were coming in to explore the possibility of edibles and topicals and cannabis, generally speaking, for improving their their well-being. So I think having that education is super important, and it's sometimes intimidating to walk into a dispensary, too, especially as an older person who may not have consumed cannabis in many decades.

Margaret 00:10:07 So yeah, yeah, having people that are like, knowledgeable is really important. But you've spoken a bit yourself about low dose THC for anxiety, pain and adrenal fatigue. Can you walk us through your approach to microdosing with cannabis and edibles? Because I think for people who are new to the cannabis space, microdosing is such a perfect way to start. And why do you think this method is particularly powerful for women over 35?

Angelique Zerillo 00:10:37 well, first, I do want to clarify and qualify that, like in terms of my preferred method of consumption, I am a true flower consumer, but that is really only appropriate when I'm in my own home, like for legal reasons. It's not terribly portable, you know? In the United States, we go state to state. If I tilt to my east, I'm in Indiana. That is a non-legal state, right? If I tilt to my west, I'm in Iowa, also a non legal state. so you need to be mindful of that. So it's like once again, you know, where are you at? what do you have on your roster for that day on your calendar? You know, I'm sitting in my office right now.

Angelique Zerillo 00:11:11 I generally keep edibles here for myself for low dose. So that looks like anything from, you know, because I am a consumer, my tolerance is slightly higher than someone not who's novice. So, you know, I'm I'm onboarding and ramping, probably anywhere from about 2.5mg to a ten milligram. generally that's a ratio. THC to CBD, my preferred mother cannabinoid molecule is CBG, and that's because of its anxiolytic properties. that's just my favorite. to to share personally. my family had a kind of an acute incident. One of our sons was critically injured last summer and hospitalized for more than a month. And so this this daily flour consumer was basically, you know, talk about an a, an unplanned t break, a tolerant, unplanned tolerance break. I, you know, when you get a 911 call as a parent saying, come to the emergency room and then you realize that that's going to be your home, living on a cot and out of a backpack for the next 4 to 6 weeks, you're like, okay, I need to have a plan B here for my consumption, because my consumption is not only for my mental health, but also for my physical health.

Angelique Zerillo 00:12:27 Like I said, I'm a former athlete, so like I do have chronic pain. and I will tell you that, I mean, do we give a brand shout out? Should I try to get you a sponsor in this episode?

Margaret 00:12:38 Yeah, let's do it.

Angelique 00:12:40 Let's give, let's let's give because I had. I have them in my office. I'm like, let's give.

Angelique Zerillo 00:12:44 Wilde a shout out right now. Because number one, I love their packaging, great education and just fun or origami kind of fold, great flavors, natural ingredients, pear flavored, but they're CBG hybrid THC, and it's a I take a higher dose gummy. This is not something I'd recommend for a new consumer, but, you know, this tastes like a fine or refined candy. Like something you as a, as somewhat a culinary expert would like, be something that you'd be perfecting and pushing out. these saved my world. Honestly, these allowed me to de-escalate some of the intense stress that I was under, like, wondering if my kid was going to make it through some emergency surgeries, allowing me to get like a couple hours of half, you know, one eye closed sleep.

Angelique Zerillo 00:13:31 these these are remarkable tools that we didn't have accessible to us, you know, not that many years ago legally. Right. So, time and place and and use. Right? You know, I definitely don't recommend consuming while you're doing anything like driving or in charge of children or things like that. You know, like we need to follow rules and protocols here. but for me, like, if I'm in meetings all day long, I'm not going to be taking smoke breaks, right? right. But I and I, and I end the day with a joint with my husband. Because, honestly, there's ceremony around that. That's how we share space. And I will say, I've joked with girlfriends that I said, this is probably saved thousands of dollars in, in counseling because this is when we consume the plant, our guards are down. We are allowed to be our true selves, the difficult and challenging things in our world. We're able to hash out and talk through and find some resolution in a very escalated state.

Angelique Zerillo 00:14:27 Right. So and that that's true for microdosing during, you know, back to back work calls like a day like I have today to recording a podcast to, you know, you name it, what's the pain point in your world and how can you? As I've been saying lately, like take the sharp corners off everything a little bit. Like, there's very there's very low psycho activity. It's just about tuning and honing your nervous system. Right?

Margaret 00:14:53 Right. Yeah, I love that answer. I also do love ratios when it comes to THC, CBD, and when I do smoke, that's usually what I do as well. I typically use a vaporizer, but I love to mix some CBD in with my THC because I just find it takes those edges off. And I have tried wild as well. I've had the opportunity to try them in California and in Canada, and I do like the California version better than what we get here, but that's just the way it is. But I am curious.

Margaret 00:15:21 You mentioned the term anxiolytic, and that's not something I'm familiar with. And perhaps some of our listeners are as well. Can you just define that term for me.

Angelique Zerillo 00:15:28 So anxiolytic is like the medical term for anxiety. Right. So so something that is something that is an anxiolytic is something that you would take to help alleviate anxiety symptoms, right?

Margaret 00:15:39 So no thanks for clarifying that. And I think a lot of people can appreciate anti-anxiety properties of cannabis. And whether you're what no matter what you're going through, it seems like we're living through a really weird timeline right now. So having something that you can reach for that's anti-anxiety is so helpful in today's stressful world. So now, North Bloom's tagline, which I love, is flower knowledge for novices picked by professionals. If someone has never tried a cannabis product or edibles, what's your step by step guide to their first experience? And what are some of the biggest mistakes you see newcomers making?

Angelique 00:16:18 Ooh,

Angelique Zerillo 00:16:21 What's our motto here? Start low and go slow. Like that is that is that is.

Angelique 00:16:26 That that should.

Angelique Zerillo 00:16:26 Just be emblazoned over every single dispensary point of sale system, I think because, like you said, choices are overwhelming. Guidance is sometimes missing. Training is not quite there. We're not we don't you know, we don't have universal standards here in terms of, you know, state by state in the United States and honestly, internationally as well. So, you know, like you said, a product made in Canada under the same label is not the same as the same product packaged and labeled in California. And that's because, I mean, this is actually probably an educational moment for us to help with your listeners as well that, you know, these are licensing deals, right, that brands that are established in one geographic location then partner up in another location. And so, you know, they're following standard operating procedures or as we call them, ad nauseum here in the industry SOPs. Right. But the reality is that it's all based on the quality of inputs, right. is that product A going to be the same as product B in the second location? Not always.

Angelique Zerillo 00:17:25 They are still following the same recipe. But like you and I both know that we both could cook the same thing in your home, in my home, and they might be a little different, right? because primarily we're, sourcing different ingredients. So, and that's true about the plant and that's even true about isolates. other things, other tips and tricks that I would offer, consumers pain points. You know, like you said, if you have a bad experience, understand that that's an isolated experience, right? That might be due to you set setting. It might be due to the product. It might be due to an outside factor like give, give the plant another chance is what I'd like to say, right? With some of those parameters under control and being mindful about them. you know, even little things about like have we ate today? Are we hydrated before we consume? Are we rested, not rested? All of those factors, all of those lifestyle factors that, you know, we as patients sometimes ignore when we're talking to our clinicians.

Angelique Zerillo 00:18:27 Like, you know, we want we want a simple binary solution for problem or symptom A but depending day to day, hour and a hour, we are constantly in flux. As. As. As humans. Right. So from a metabolic and biological level to a mental state. Right. In terms of even going into consumption. And I still think that's applicable for edibles as well, you know. Right. I really do. I really, really do. So like you said, you know, my girlfriend who's like, I'm not trying that again. I had a terrible brownie experience in like 1997. You know, I'm like, well, things have things have changed. And that was that was a homemade brownie made with can of butter that who knows what that dosing was, right?

Margaret 00:19:12 So yeah.

Angelique Zerillo 00:19:14 Yeah.

Margaret 00:19:14 And it's interesting that people are sometimes when they have a negative experience, are reluctant to try it again, even though if it was alcohol, like most of us when we were kids, had some kind of negative, negative experience with alcohol.

Margaret 00:19:27 But it didn't stop us from trying it again, but also because it's so ingrained in our culture, all the things that we understand about alcohol can like how to consume it. Setting all these things are just sort of ingrained in our culture, and a negative experience usually doesn't scare somebody away from it. But because there's more limited understanding around cannabis, that negative experience from 1997 still still makes somebody hesitate to trying something new, even though the everything has changed so much. But yeah. So I think that's that's really good advice now as far as edibles go. And this could apply to cannabis more generally as well. But how have you seen the market evolve since you've been in the cannabis space. And are there any innovations that excite you or trends that concern you?

Angelique Zerillo 00:20:17 Oh good question. I think I want to bring up the state that I'm really supporting with my current build here with, Bloom North. Bloom magazine is Minnesota. Minnesota did a really, really interesting order of operations in terms of legalization and talking about the social acceptability of this plant and whether people are willing and able to go back to it for a second try.

Angelique Zerillo 00:20:44 and then looking let's, let's maybe talk about that beverage format like this is growing like gangbusters because as we mentioned earlier in our chat, you know, like my children's generation, not drinkers, that is not how they map out their free time with their friends completely. You know, it's not about going from one bar to the next every weekend. so that na movement, that non-alcoholic movement. We're seeing that grow not just with their generation, but also with ours. Right. You know, like as we are aging middle age, especially specifically in that female demographic that we're trying to target in the magazine, 35 and up. Alcohol is beautiful. Alcohol is fun. you know, the culinary aspects, the ceremonial aspects of it. but the drinking it for I call it drinking it to become tilted from your current state of consciousness, or drinking it to alleviate the pain. Points in your world are not great solutions, right? You know? generally doesn't solve generally doesn't solve your problems. and honestly, we pay for it the next day.

Angelique Zerillo 00:21:51 you know, we're literally killing cells when we consume. We don't get that from consuming the plant. And that's a beautiful byproduct. And so the social acceptability of, like, swapping out a can of alcohol for a can of a hemp derived beverage in Minnesota that has taken on like wildfire. And I'm so excited to see that, in the same regard, I think that you and I both can, you know, like what I would love to see. I need to see, regulatory changes here from the federal level on down because I need to see more research about, you know, like going through first pass metabolism and the effect on our livers of consuming the plant only through edible formats. Right. What does this look like? The beauty. The beauty of the can swap a hemp derived beverage for alcohol. And that being a little more socially acceptable than consuming the plant and other formats. You know, there is some discreteness around edibles in and of itself. Like when I travel, I'm always packing edibles with me.

Angelique Zerillo 00:23:33 Hemp derived edibles. That's sort of my secret weapon, right? Especially if I'm going to a unregulated state. but I'd like to see I'd like to see some regulatory changes, especially here in the United States, because I need to see more research around this plant, and especially to see what it looks like for consumers to be consuming through edible formats over a long period of time. Right. but for now, I say it's the gentlest, easiest way to consume the plant. And if you're having if you have any trepidation around, you know, making that swap, I don't think people are going to give you a hard time if you have a can of something else in your hand. Right. You know, so that's really the trend that I'm seeing right now. That's what I'm excited about. That's what I'm excited about supporting in terms of like gently trying to persuade consumers to swap out something that really, truly is harmful to them for something that is not, I think that's probably at the top of my list, because I know that it's a it's a hard sell if you're not a flower consumer and you have, you know, for all of the different metric reasons, but specifically, specifically, combustion is a problem for you.

Angelique Zerillo 00:24:42 understood. Fine. You know, that is absolutely a personal choice. But let's continue to explore these other formats. I say I'm also really excited about mucous membrane. sublingual like homeopathic kind of style, melts things of that nature. I've seen a couple innovative brands come out. they're specifically a brand out of California that I really love, and I love that they also are now hemp derived so that they can ship across the United States. My son, in fact, is using one of them, and one of them is actually a CBG only and so non psychoactive. You know, this is something that you can use day and night and still get some of those beneficial properties of the plant. you know, without without taking bong rips in between meetings.

Margaret 00:25:25 Right. Which is not always very convenient, depending on where you are. But I'm very curious because I've heard about the fact that you can buy cannabis beverages in bars in Minnesota and has that pretty. Has that worked out well?

Angelique Zerillo 00:25:41 It has. It really, really has.

Angelique Zerillo 00:25:44 there's specifically a an event location in Minneapolis that is very friendly and open to the industry because they do a lot of formulations for hemp derive brands. And so they have they have industry nights every Wednesday night. And you know, coming from a marketplace like where I am, where I post up in Illinois, you know, this is not this is not standard practice yet, you know, like there are more private owner bars that are stocking hemp derived beverages, more non-alcoholic options. it's not like a universal thing, though. You can't go into every place and expect there to be a hemp option in Minnesota. It's almost universal now, which is beautiful. and you will see them in your major grocery retailers, like even high end. Which is which was very exciting for us as bloom because we in this past year, we haven't even celebrated our one year anniversary yet in formation of an LLC that's coming up in mid-October. But we're working on our fifth print edition right now because we're a quarterly, and we partnered with a circulation partner who got us into a high end grocery chain.

Angelique Zerillo 00:26:47 So we literally are at the front of a grocery store, you know, as people are coming and growing to grab a free copy of bloom. And, you know, in the cool cases, you will see hemp derived right next to your beer and wine chilled, right. So this is where we're at. And it's kind of a beautiful thing to see it coexisting peacefully and really there not being any issues around it. Right. You know, new things are weird for people until people see them enough and then it's not new anymore and it's not weird and it's very acceptable. And then we have progress.

Margaret 00:27:15 So yeah, I love that. I wish we had that here in Canada, but we don't have consumption lounges or anything yet? Even though it's been like, you know, six plus years. So maybe one day, because it would be so nice to be able to go out for a drink with my friends and be able to buy a cannabis drink instead of an alcoholic drink, because I often pay for it, even if I have one drink.

Margaret 00:27:37 Somehow I'm just like paying for it the next day. It's the little things. It gets worse as I get older, and I'm sure that's a story that a that many people in my demographic can relate to. But now with North Blue magazine, you are working to elevate cannabis culture and build community. How do edibles specifically help break down stigma compared to other consumption methods?

Angelique Zerillo 00:28:01 Well, I think as I was saying before, you know, there are still some dare generation, we call it here war on drugs kind of generation that, you know, an edible format. But let's, let's even like back that up to say, like, food is love, right? food is something that's communal food, as food is something that we share. Food is cultural. so if you look at sweets and savory and things that we usually, you know, use for celebratory reasons, candy. Right. You know, that's why I think that we see so many edible formats coming out in sort of the fun, youthful, slightly more juvenile.

Angelique Zerillo 00:28:36 Even though we're not supposed to market and package and, like appeal to youth and underage for consumption. But like, we are appealing, appealing to our inner child, I think a little bit. Those of us who are in seats of making decisions about adding things to the marketplace, of offering. So, yeah, I think I how do I want to say this? I think that, There's a way there's a way to set the table here. Right. And to do that in sort of a, charcuterie board way of like, we can build it out where there's a little bit of something for everyone. The plant can show up in multiple formats. I think that edibles are very useful for a lot of people, because I just think it's a low barrier of entry. Right? Beverages, edibles. We know how to eat. We know how to drink. Not everybody knows how to roll a joint. Not everybody knows how to interact with a plant. Not everybody knows even what part of the plant we're supposed to consume.

Angelique Zerillo 00:29:31 Right? So there's a lot of education. You don't need a lot of education to open up a can to drink something. You don't need a lot of education to open up a package and take a gummy, so long as you follow the instructions, so long as there's clear labeling about the single serving is actually like one quarter of this bar, not the whole bar, because I think that that's where we were getting a lot of, you know, a little bit of a bad rap in terms of the industry because new and novice consumers are not paying attention to the details. Not all of us read the instruction manual when we take something out of the box. Right? We are a little we're a little caveman about it. You know, we're plugging things in. We're hitting all the buttons. We're just trying to get things to work. So I think that there's a little bit of a slowing down here. So when I say start low and go slow, some of this is also about like educating yourself and taking that pause in that moment to understand what your options are and like what you're supposed to do one, two, and three in order to have the best experience possible with this thing, this new fun toy that you have, whether it's an edible or a drink or whatever.

Angelique Zerillo 00:30:27 Right.

Margaret 00:30:29 I really like the cardboard analogy. I can really get behind that. So because it is nice to have it, it's nice to have options. Yeah, yeah. now North Blue magazine focuses on women over 35 and cannabis wellness as I understand it. Are there unique challenges that women in this demographic face when it comes to cannabis?

Angelique Zerillo 00:30:52 Well, I think if we talk about all the hats that we wear as women, right? Whether it's business, whether it's relationships, whether it's social, the big one, two for me is parenting and parenthood and being a mother. I think there's a lot of stigma around that in terms of wanting to maybe interact with the plant, incorporate it into your world and what you know, what are people going to say? What are going to people going? What are people going to do? Is this legal? Is this not legal? Are there going to be repercussions or consequences for me? Am I going to have child and family services showing up if they find out that I'm consuming, you know, when is it acceptable for me to consume? When is it not acceptable? Like there's a lot of there's a lot of ask your girlfriend whisper in the ear kind of guidance that we're trying to be mindful of as we're having these conversations.

Angelique Zerillo 00:31:38 And I think ultimately, my goal with this magazine is to make things less weird, especially for women in terms of consumption. So this is a ask a question, get feedback, but also really see visible presence of other women using the plant, having a high knowledge around the plant, giving guidance around the plant. so in the magazine, I have a fellow CG writing about how to incorporate it through edibles. So we always have, you know, as a lifestyle magazine, we always have a recipe in the back. Incorporating the plant in some beautiful may generally seasonally aligned. Right. Because like I said, I'm very, you know, this is my world, natural foods, local, sustainable. you know, however, we can incorporate that in the magazine in a sensible way that I'm trying to do that as well. I we have another fellow CG writing a column on parenting and plant consumption to make it less weird. Right. and to talk about it in gentle ways. And I think that some of the beautiful takeaways.

Angelique Zerillo 00:32:35 So that's Elizabeth Sage and she's also based in Minnesota. And interesting fact she is, we'll call her. She's the, she's the matchmaker between my partner with bloom and myself. So she my partner is Lynn Walker. She's a board certified nurse practitioner. So yeah, so very mindful of the fact of how we curate our content is, you know, through a highly credentialed list of subject matter experts. A lot of lot of Certified Ganjier are participating, a lot of clinicians that are trained in cannabis or are participating, a lot of plant scientists. And I'm mindful of the fact, too, that, you know, not everyone has a credential after their name and and but they do have a high knowledge set. And so we're inviting voices from legacy in the unregulated space to come in as well, because I think the more diverse voices that we have between our fields, the more robust our conversation is, the more robust the education is. And honestly, we get to destigmatize a little bit to with the general public who might still have, like I said, some some war on drug ideas about, you know, what black market, what legacy, what unregulated still means it it really isn't all that.

Angelique Zerillo 00:33:42 Right? So you and I know that, I'm trying to I'm trying to help the general public understand that as well. So, yeah, I think through that female lens so specifically, it's like it's, it's it's those, it's those, it's, it's that parenting hat to that's that I am just very mindful of because I have the luxury of having older children. So I really entered this space where I didn't have to worry about this. My kids were adults almost. I think my youngest was maybe in high school finishing when I started in this industry. but that's not the case for all of our colleagues here, right? You know, I know, I know that someone's. I know that specifically, someone in my role has gotten a knock on their door from DCFS. So, really, that's unnerving, right? Yeah. It's unnerving to know that we have we have legality. We have legality, but we don't have supports through statutes. Right? So.

Margaret 00:34:31 Right.

Angelique Zerillo 00:34:31 Yeah.

Margaret 00:34:32 And I love that you mentioned about just showing other women consuming in a safe place, because I do feel like I tend to forget sometimes that there so, so much stigma that exists because like you, my kids are older and I don't really have to worry about that stuff now.

Margaret 00:34:46 They don't really consume cannabis very often themselves, but I I'm pretty much in the cannabis community, so it's easy for me to forget that there's still a ton of stigma out there. And I grew up in that dare era. So I know, you know, the war on drugs and all the propaganda that was fed to us for so long. And some of that is so hard. It's just, just doesn't want to die. So I'm really happy to see that you are promoting this kind of example. And it is scary to think that somebody could call and you end up with somebody knocking on your door, even though it's perfectly legal where you are. So I think that's it's really important to be talking about these things and especially around cannabis wellness, because it's sort of a subject matter that I think makes it more approachable and therefore less, something less, not something to worry about. I guess I'm not phrasing it in a very good way, but hopefully people understand what I'm talking about.

Angelique Zerillo 00:35:45 Yeah, no, I get exactly what you're saying.

Angelique Zerillo 00:35:48 I my word lately is weird. Like, it's less weird. Let's make it less weird. Okay.

Margaret 00:35:52 Yes, yes, I should have just said that.

Angelique Zerillo 00:35:55 We we're weird. Weird doesn't have quite the negative connotation of stigma. Right? Or, you know, like to use your word propaganda, but that's really what we were fed. You know, I had their education embedded in my grammar school. Like they literally came in and did that, you know, like fifth or sixth grade, you know, kind of at the same time frame where they'd separate the males and females to do like sexual education. It's like also let's bring in the their education. yeah. it's hard. It's part of our programming. Right. And so that's, that takes a, that takes like, like it almost like evolutionary years of, of of washing that out and then rebuilding or flooding in the new information and allowing yourself to sort and separate and really parse out what, what is true now for 2025 and also what is true for you.

Angelique Zerillo 00:36:43 Right. Because it's all very personal. It's it's it's all personal choice. But my point is that the choice should be there. Right? And the choice is not universally there for everyone. So and so until we, until we get to that point legally like then, then I will feel like I can exhale a little bit because I feel like there's a lot of work to do and like good work. I've been calling this like, let's make some good trouble around this because, like, we can have good conversations and robust conversations, but like also let's continue to push it a little bit because it's not okay. I don't I no longer accept the word no. How's that.

Margaret 00:37:21 Excellent. No I love that I love that I think we could all do a little bit better with that as well. And you also touched on something a second ago about some of the legacy people that were involved with your magazine, because you're mentioning some Certified Ganjier, some of whom I recognize the names of, and I follow them online, and they do amazing work.

Margaret 00:37:40 And you sent me some magazines. They are fantastic. I really enjoyed reading them. But North Bloom does emphasize protecting legacy growers and promoting craft cannabis. How important is this in terms of these players operating in a legal market?

Angelique Zerillo 00:37:56 Well, I think that right now we're seeing, you know, in terms of how our licensure is divided up state by state. There is there is a big push to support social equity applicants. And so especially at this time, if we just want to look at the state of Minnesota that we're trying to support with the launch of this first print publication, we are at this tipping point right where I've been saying this lately, like, everybody won their Willy Wonka ticket, right? But, you know, we have this disconnect of like they don't have they don't have all the supports that they need in place for those runways to get open and operational with a key and the lights on. Right, and for sales to begin. So there's a big disconnect here in terms of the matchmaking and the networking and the supporting and and the education for business owners as well to, you know, we need more investors here.

Angelique Zerillo 00:38:42 We need more cash. There needs to be more money facing this industry to help. Specifically, I would say what I want to what I want to support is the small businesses. You know, we've had a first mover advantage across the United States with a lot of the MSOs, the multi-state operators, and they come into markets, and it's really hard to compete with that when you're a single shingle on Main Street. Right. So I think that that's that's a little bit what we represent at bloom two is like the collection of voices. In order for it to be a chorus, and the chorus is facing the public instead of facing, instead of it just facing industry, because we need the public to come here with their dollars, you know? Yeah. That's that. That's the that's the long and the short of it for this to grow and for this to be a sustainable, especially for the small players. So to draw those parallels between cannabis and other industries and you know, I need to this has been a dense year friend in terms of like startup culture for me especially specifically.

Angelique Zerillo 00:39:37 But, you know, I really want to do a lot more messaging around small business supports and getting people to pay attention to the little guys and gals who are working really hard to offer quality and differentiated offerings in their places. In our last print publication, the one that just dropped in August here, did I send you the one with the blue cover with the Firefly on it? Did you get that?

Margaret 00:39:58 Yes, yes.

Angelique Zerillo 00:40:01 Okay. So our our lead in article there for the listening section was someone who I consider a friend. Now see, this is interesting to write as we grow the magazine. I'm meeting all these, these these small licenses. They call them micro licenses in in Minnesota. So those are, those are legally allowed to be vertically integrated and vertically operated. So from cultivation to retail, like they get to do everything, which is really unique, really, really unique, but also really challenging. If you don't know how to do every single one of those steps in a build, right.

Angelique Zerillo 00:40:30 So you need to partner, you need to source out, you need to figure things out. I use a lot of language around sports to, to to define what we're doing at bloom. So I'm like Team Bloom this and Team Bloom that. And I feel like this is part of my team now, this expansion of these humans. And I'd love to give Kenneth Littleton a shout out here. He's building a brand called Canna Gems, and his story was really beautiful because, you know, he is he is your. And I hate to I hate to use this term in a negative sense, but the poster child but he is a he's a beautiful example of what a social equity applicant can look like. What a what a human who has done time for the plant. Can can can show up in this space in terms of what he wants to offer, what he wants to build, who he is now as a professional and a grown man and, and how he wants to differentiate his offerings. and he said the inception just to share with, with some of your listeners is, you know, his mother was a consumer and he found in her jewelry box one day one of the buds that she was saving.

Angelique Zerillo 00:41:34 And so it was probably a special cultivar, right. Or a special special, strain or genetics, as we say. Right. that she was saving for a special occasion, much like we would save, like, a nice bottle of champagne or a, you know, an h bottle of of hard liquor. Right? she was saving it for a special occasion, and he thought that was beautiful. So his alignment was like, I want to develop a whole line of genetics that sort of celebrates and draws the analogy between gemstones and the plant, so that we can start to educate consumers on the fact that, you know, just like consumer packaged goods, we have tiers of offerings here. And there is, just like if you if you want to do a call out for alcohol, which I kind of hate doing, because I think there's too many analogies between our industry and alcohol, and I think that we need to walk away from that a little bit because alcohol and the plant are not the same, especially in terms of how our bodies use them or don't use them.

Angelique Zerillo 00:42:26 Well, but we can use it the CPG analogy. Right. There's a place for Budweiser, and then there's a place for IPAs and microbrews. And interestingly enough, even though that price point is higher, that that sector has grown gangbusters in the last 25 years, has it not? Right. So, yes. I'd like to see that. I would really like to see that happen in our industry. I want to see cultivators. And a lot of these cultivators are coming from legacy. I want to see like the equivalent of like a cultivator that's like getting headhunted from grow to grow like a celebrity chef would do, you know what I mean? Like. That's right. That would be my ideal future. yeah, because there's skill and there's talent there, right? So.

Margaret 00:43:11 Yeah, I think that's beautiful too, because I think the small players in the craft cannabis folks definitely need that boost because they are competing against huge corporations with endless budgets to advertise and promote and market their product. I know there's rules and regulations around what they can and can't do, but when you have that kind of money, you can also sometimes skirt around that legislation as well, because you can lawyer up when you need to or whatever.

Margaret 00:43:35 And like this example you gave of can of gems, somebody who's really, you know, done so much for the plant by spending time in prison like you mentioned, and now is producing something that he can be super proud of and putting that out to the market. And like you said, craft beer in Ontario here has also exploded. But there's still always going to be people who want the Coors Light or the Budweiser or whatever. So there is space for everybody. But I feel like those micro cultivators really need the boost and I'd love to see that. So which is interesting because my next question for you is, how do you see the future of cannabis and edibles playing out in medical cannabis, but also just in the mainstream cannabis market?

Angelique Zerillo 00:44:21 Well, man, if we could if we could get some rescheduling going in in here in the United States, I think that realistically, that's probably the next step instead of De scheduling. I mean, can you imagine your clinician prescribing edibles for an, you know, an on an iPad instead of like take X pharmaceutical? Why don't you try to take this gentle first step.

Angelique Zerillo 00:44:45 Very low side effect option called cannabis edible ABC insert brand. Whatever formulation for this symptom or this problem. Like, that's that's what I would love to see. That's what I'm hoping I see on the medical side. and honestly, on the medical side, what I'd like to see, too, is just a better expansion of offerings, because I think what we've seen in the United States, specifically medical programs that ramped up and that were launched first, had offerings for patients. But as the adult rec spaces come in legally, those offerings are diminished. And that really leaves medical patients without choices and without options. So in a bifurcated system like this, where medical patients aren't necessarily going to adult rec to make their medicine purchases, right. for various reasons, one of them being taxation on top of the purchase price. I'd like to I'd really like to encourage everyone here to really keep patients in mind. Like that's why we have an industry. It's the patients that all move the needle legislatively, legislatively. So like keep patients in mind and keep patients needs in mind.

Angelique Zerillo 00:45:54 And let's make sure that that our supply chain has options for them to as we add all the fun stuff. For those of us facing the adult rec space with our dollars, who probably are also using it for medical reasons, we're just not getting the label and the slip from the state, right? Right.

Margaret 00:46:11 That's a really good reminder too, because I can't think of a single place. I mean, and there might be some, but that started with a recreational market. I'm pretty sure usually the launch pad is they start with a medical market and then they go to recreational after that. So that's a really good reminder. because yeah, I think almost all cannabis is medicinal in some way anyway. So whether you're using it for specific ailment or not, that stress relief is is pretty important too. So yeah, I can get behind that. Yeah.

Angelique Zerillo 00:46:40 Now is we are we're a generation that runs on cortisol.

Margaret 00:46:45 Yes, yes. And whatever way you can find to lower that cortisol is going to be a healthier thing for you.

Margaret 00:46:50 Now, as someone who's been building a bridge between cannabis culture and mainstream wellness. How do you hope the North Blooms legacy will be in terms of people, of how people think about and consume cannabis? And what's your vision for where cannabis might be in ten years?

Angelique Zerillo 00:47:10 Well.

Angelique 00:47:11 Ooh, ooh I.

Angelique Zerillo 00:47:14 I'm gonna, I'm gonna bring a super hyper local Chicago reference in here. second city is here. Stand up comedy. and one of the, one of the, like, foundational, fundamental things about improv and being unsafe. It's like you don't take the comment from your neighbor on stage, your fellow performer as as a start or a stop point. It's a yes and right. So I see cannabis in the larger health and wellness conversation as a yes and not an either or a yes. And and I'd like to think about this because we're in constant motion. right? Individual society. Industries. Let's think about this. This as a wheel. Cannabis is an essential spoke in that wheel. If not, the tire is not true.

Angelique Zerillo 00:48:00 It's wobbly as hell. But that's how I'm trying to frame this conversation. Bloom to cannabis is an essential spoke, and it's how we're kind of starting and launching and curating this conversation. I plan on expanding this conversation in terms of, you know, through those other health and wellness lenses, you know, because right now, in terms of us being a free quarterly, you know, I'm facing industry for like advertising and sponsorship support, but I would like to open this up to CPG and other natural products too. Right. I think that my only hard and fast and true line is I don't I probably won't partner with alcohol formulas, distributors, anybody. in terms of advertising support. But this is a yes. And in terms of like if this this is beneficial to us, especially if it comes from Mother Nature and we haven't kind of screwed that up and like dumbing it down and breaking it down into pieces and then trying to build it back up into something that we think is smarter than her. yeah.

Angelique Zerillo 00:48:54 It's. Yes. And cannabis and ten years. I hope that, you know, we will flip open a magazine like bloom. We're looking to expand to into other formats. So that might look like broadcasts, that might look like radio. We'll have to see. Like, I just told you that I'm like, not no longer accepting the word no. So like, and this has been a big week with the FCC in the United States because we just had a comedian get pulled off late night television. So, I want to be able to move this conversation forward. Or like we said, let's make it less weird. Let's widen it up. This is a yes Ian thing. I want you to be able to flip open a blue magazine, or let's use a Martha and Snoop example. Right. You open a Martha Stewart Living. We're talking about cannabis. We're open up a Oprah magazine. We're talking about cannabis. It's very relevant. Let's normalize it. Let's talk about it. Let's make it less weird.

Margaret 00:49:47 That's where I love that. That's such a that's such a great answer. And I wish you all the success in that. I think you're already doing a fantastic job. So this might be a good time to ask you, where can people find North Blue magazine?

Angelique Zerillo 00:49:59 Thank you Margaret. So right now we are we are hyper local. So we're within the state of Minnesota. We will be expanding to subscriptions so you can reach out to us if you're like chomping at the bit and you want us to mail you in right now, we can do that. But you can find us at the com. And you can also find us on social media platforms. So Instagram at At the North Bloom as well. And on LinkedIn if you are in industry, you can find us at the North Bloom Magazine or Bloom Multimedia or me as well. Reach out, I'm open Book and I'm willing to have a conversation with anybody that is facing in this direction of like lifting up an industry through kind of holding the hands with consumers right now and helping them level up in terms of their knowledge sets.

Angelique Zerillo 00:50:43 So yeah.

Margaret 00:50:45 Yeah, thank you for that. I'll be sure to include all of those places to find you in the show notes, because I myself found you, I believe, first on Instagram myself, so definitely people should check you out. Now for my last question today because I want to be mindful of your time. Angelique. What would surprise people about you?

Angelique 00:51:05 Oh.

Angelique Zerillo 00:51:07 You know, you sent me the notes for a call, and I showed it to my husband, and he he had a he had a laundry list of hilarious things to share. I think I want to circle back to the fact that I'm a team player. You know, I'm not someone building something here for myself. This is not a me situation. This is a we situation, a we we'd situation. Right? So, like I said, I'm an open book. I'm an open book, and I would I'm, I love people and I love to hear stories. And I think that there's a way to use that to build a lot of bridges here.

Angelique Zerillo 00:51:40 So, Yeah. Not me. It's a we.

Margaret 00:51:44 I love that I, I like the the analogy. Rising tides lift all ships. That's what I kind of the how I like to operate. But that is wonderful. Angelique, I think you're doing great work out in the world, and people should check out North Blue magazine. And with that, I just want to thank you for your time today. I really appreciate it.

Angelique Zerillo 00:52:04 Thank you Margaret. Thanks for having me on Bite Me. This was a pleasure. And it's honestly, I'm elated to meet you because, you know, Certified Ganjier is we're scattered across the globe. So until we can all get together and share space. this was this will have to do. This was. This was this was a great stopgap. So thank you for having me.

Margaret 00:52:22 Friends. I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. I will include the show notes of Where to Find Angelique and North Loom magazine in the show notes. As usual, please share this episode with someone who's curious about cannabis as you are, and join the Bite Me Cannabis Club at Join Bite Me comm to continue the conversation.

Margaret 00:52:40 And until next time, my friends, I'm your host, Margaret. Stay. Hi.