April Pride: This podcast discusses cannabis and is intended for audiences 21 and over. Happy 2021, it’s finally here. Ready for a little behind the scenes of what got us through 2020?

April Pride: Welcome back to How to Do the Pot. I’m April Pride and I do the pot. If you like How to Do the Pot, please share it with someone and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, it helps more people find our show. To kick off 2021, we wanted to introduce ourselves in a different way. You know enough about me, I’m the host of How to Do the Pot. And my business partner, Ellen Scanlon, She’s more behind the scenes, so we wanted to give you an opportunity to get to know your guide right? Let’s start with two fun facts about being podcast creators. I actually get really nervous to record. It takes me a long time to feel like my voice isn’t shaky or that I’m well-hydrated, or whatever it might be, or I’m not going to mess up 50 times and have to rerecord.

Ellen Scanlon: I am definitely more behind the scenes on How to Do the Pot, but I am very, very actively involved in it. April and I are true co-creators, and one of the reasons that we chose a podcast is because we love to tell stories, and we think that they are really the best way for people to understand what’s a really complicated topic, and one that’s changing incredibly quickly. My role is really sort of the executive producer. If you’re familiar with media, maybe more of a show runner, I am touching every piece of content, and I work a lot with Nick, who’s our production engineer, to make sure that the shows sound great. And we’re really focused on making sure that the episodes are short so that you get a lot out of the time that you spend with us. And it feels valuable, even though you don’t have to spend a ton of time.

April Pride: We’ve shared a lot about what you should be doing and what we think you should like. And we’re going to tell you what we’ve been up to, and what we like. We’re going to share our three favorite strains and our three favorite podcasts. Ellen, will you kick us off?

Ellen Scanlon: My first favorite strain of 2020 is actually the very first strain that April introduced me to. It’s called Cannatonic, It’s a 1:1 and it’s really relaxing. It’s fun, you feel light, good in your head and in your body. I don’t love to feel super high and it’s a perfect strain to feel like yourself, but just a relaxed version. So that is one of my most favorites. I always go to it and I recommend it to a lot of people as well. My second favorite strain of this year is a San Francisco-bred strain called Gelato. And I discovered the Sunday Goods, it’s a brand that’s out of Arizona, they also are in California and they have these pre-rolls that are called Delight. And Gelato was the strain that also just was super relaxing, you can have a fun conversation and feel like yourself, but just a relaxed and happier version.

Ellen Scanlon: And then my third favorite strain was introduced to me by one of the guests on episode four, Shari Horne who is the former mayor of Laguna Woods in California. And really helped us out, when we had an episode about how older Americans and older women are using cannabis. The strain is called Acapulco Gold, and I tried a pre-roll from Henry’s, which is another California brand. And Acapulco Gold, if you’ve listened to any of our Strains Explained episode, is a land raised strain, and I do have to say that it just, it felt so clear. And I felt really calm, really grounded, and it was a really terrific experience. Thank you, Shari, thank you, April. And thank you to Sherbinski who created Gelato.

April Pride: So my three favorite strains of 2021. One is Strawberry Cough, which I had consumed before 2020, but was reminded of it in 2020, as we were going through our 12 Essential Strains list. And it really is, it’s a top three strain for me, for sure. I don’t know why, it actually just gets me high. I don’t want to get high to do something, or feel a certain way, I just am high. And it usually means that I can just enjoy whatever I’m doing without a purpose in mind. And another one that was a lot like that was Lilac Diamonds, which I picked up in Oregon, on a road trip. And it’s like if OG Kush and Headband had a baby, because everything just feels easy, but you’re extremely motivated and creative. But your body isn’t as amped as your mind, and your mind never takes over your body. You’re able to enjoy both of them fully.

April Pride: And Red Congolese is just a euphoric high. That one scrambles your brain a little bit too. So I like cannabis because I like to get high, and these three strains have been great for me this year, at different times. Red Congolese, I had to sample it before I got on a flight. And if I choose to consume before I have to do something, I set alarms for myself and I make sure that I do what I’m supposed to do. And this definitely was what I had to do to make sure I didn’t miss my flight. And now for our three favorite podcasts of 2020.

Ellen Scanlon: My three favorite podcasts this year were Happier with Gretchen Rubin, Headspace Radio, and I honestly just have to say podcasts for work. As a busy working mom during the 2020 craziness, I unfortunately did not get to listen to as many shows as I wanted. My first favorite podcast of 2020 is Happier with Gretchen Rubin. And it’s a podcast that I’ve actually listened to for several years. I am so inspired by Gretchen, in so many ways, and her sister Elizabeth Craft. It’s a 30 minute show, it has a really consistent style to it, which I admire. And it’s all about practical tips to help you feel happier. I love it. Highly, highly recommend it. My second favorite of 2020 is a new show that came out in 2020 called Headspace Radio. So Headspace is an audio app that I’ve used for years that helps with guided meditations, in a really fun way, that’s easy to use.

Ellen Scanlon: And Headspace Radio is their five minute podcast. And five days a week, they put out just something to think about, to make your day a little bit more mindful, a little bit easier, create some more space. And I love a five minute show. We were also really inspired by that. And then my podcast for work. I don’t know if everybody does this, but when I’m going to meet someone new, or if I’m looking to research a new company, or something new, I just search in my podcast app for the person’s name or their company. And it is truly so incredible to be able to listen to an entrepreneur speak about their own vision. And it’s one of the reasons that we love audio because the connection is so strong, and it has been incredibly helpful, especially working in cannabis, and podcasting. Two industries that are growing very quickly, and sometimes media is just not covering them. So to be able to hear from the entrepreneurs themselves is awesome.

April Pride: My three favorite podcasts of 2020 were Women belong in the House, from the Wonder Media Network, Land of the Giants: The Netflix Effect, and Speaking of Sex. My three favorite shows, I think, really reflect the areas of growth that I have found myself in, in 2020. The first was really facing the fact that if you’re not political, as I once liked to frame myself, then you’re missing the point of living in a democracy. But I didn’t really understand how it worked, why women weren’t in more positions of power, and all the rest of it. And the Wonder Media Network, which Ellen introduced me to, has a series called Women belong in the House. And the woman who produced it, her mom was a Congresswoman.

April Pride: And she became a Congresswoman in her forties, and so the producer watched her mom’s career in politics blossom. And her mom takes us behind the scenes and explains why she started her career in politics in her forties, and why so many other women do, and how they balance career and motherhood, and how that puts them in a disadvantage professionally, and it puts them at a disadvantage at home, because they’re not at home with their families.

April Pride: So I really appreciated the candor in this limited series. And just also tactically, this is how you can do it too, or this is how you can support a woman who wants to do it. So I really loved that show. And Land of the Giants, Ellen and I always joke about the fact that we have a startup in two startup industries, cannabis and audio. And so sometimes, you need a reminder that you can be ahead of where others are, and that can really work out. But in the moment, you’re wondering sometimes if anyone’s going to ever get it. And I want to remind our listeners that there was a time when Blockbuster was a multi-billion dollar company, and Netflix was just this gnat that was bugging Blockbuster.

April Pride: I mean, they were super annoyed with this little brand that was coming up. So Netflix obviously totally destroyed Blockbuster, and recreated how we consume media, from how we access it, start to finish. There was a moment where that didn’t make sense to anybody, right? And so I thought that this series was just like, “Yeah, it’s okay to be in the middle of innovation and question if anyone else is ever going to get it.” And then the third thing that reflects my 2020 is this show called Speaking of Sex, and it’s two women. And they are partners, and they’re also licensed sex therapists. Maybe one of them is a dominatrix, I don’t remember. They live in San Francisco, they have a family, and they talk about sex in a way that is clearly not something I learned about growing up, from my mom and dad.

April Pride: And all of it is, nothing is off limits or bad. And as a woman raising two sons, I really think about how we explain sexuality to them, in a way that doesn’t project bias onto them of our own, because we just haven’t opened up our mind to what’s possible, I guess. And so I feel like it’s been, yeah, for me, it’s been a huge year of learning in terms of sexuality. I mean, my husband and I are stuck in a house together all the time, so it’s been a very inspiring show for a lot of reasons. Along with the strains, I must say.

Ellen Scanlon: And we also wanted to share our favorite episodes of How to Do the Pot during 2020. And while we love all the episodes, and it is very challenging to pick, I have to say that my favorite episode has been number 10, The Edibles List. It’s been my favorite for a couple of reasons. I’ve shared it with so many people, and I think that it has been such a great resource, and that’s what I hope every episode is, but edibles are tough and I have never been a very big consumer of them. The time to onset, and then the length of time that you feel the effects is just hard, with my life, with a small child. During COVID though, I think all of us took a hard look at the different ways we consume, and edibles make a lot of sense when there’s a scary respiratory disease out there. I use The Edibles List to try and figure out what works best for me.

Ellen Scanlon: I learned that I do not want any edible that does not have an equal part of CBD to THC. And that’s been really, really good learning for me. And I love this list because it’s short, it’s really helpful, and I hope that everyone listens to it because we don’t want to hear any, any more bad stories about edibles.

April Pride: My favorite How to Do the Pot episode of 2020 was episode 23. What’s A Strain? Which kicked off our Saturday Strain series because that series was purposefully created by Ellen and I to have some fun with the show. We were six months into COVID, and we wanted to keep teaching you all How to Do the Pot. We also needed to just lighten up our days a little bit, and trying to figure out our favorite strains meant that we got to sample some, and we got to really reconnect with the plant versus connecting with ideas around the plant. And so to invite listeners on that journey and kick it off with, well, what is a strain? Of course, we need to know what a strain is, right? That is what we’re confronted with whenever we think about buying weed.

April Pride: We also thought about what cannabis brought to us this challenging year and what we’re looking forward to in 2021.

Ellen Scanlon: Well, when I reflect on 2020 and how cannabis helped me. It has been an enormous, enormous help. I have basically gone California sober, which as many of you who’ve listened to the episode know, is choosing cannabis over alcohol. And I’ve never been a heavy drinker, but I like to have a beer or two on the weekends, an IPA. Shout out Fort Point Animal, my most favorite. And it would just be one. And then I could decide if I wanted to consume cannabis, either through eating or through a pre-roll, which are generally the ways that I consume on a Friday or Saturday night. And that was sort of my THC experience in 2020.

Ellen Scanlon: I consumed a lot more CBD though. I started a regular habit of taking CBD gel caps before bed, I take CBD tinctures, I have really, really found that it helps a lot with anxiety, and the feelings of overwhelm, that I think many working mothers and mothers of toddlers have, and have had very strongly during the pandemic. It’s been incredibly helpful. I’ve tried to share that knowledge with a lot of friends and they’ve also gotten a lot of relief. And I think what I learned is that, THC in small doses works for me, and it can be incredibly relaxing and really fun, but it’s the combination of THC and CBD and figuring out the dosage, that makes me feel the calmest, and the happiest, and the most grounded that has been my weed journey this year. And it’s been a really good one.

April Pride: The truth with me for 2020 to 2021 in terms of cannabis is, in 2020, there were many moments for me to turn to cannabis, to help get me through of this altered reality that we’re all living in. But I often say, you don’t want to come out of the pandemic with a habit that you don’t want to continue. And so for me, Dry January in 2021 is not just dry from alcohol, but it’ll be dry from weed too. This is still a substance that I feel like I’m learning how to manage. And that’s definitely been put to the test in 2020. I’m really grateful for weed because I haven’t drank. I don’t know what our reality would have been if we didn’t have cannabis as an option to manage stress. Because I think a beer every night would probably have sounded pretty good, right? For a lot of this time.

April Pride: So I just hope all of our listeners appreciate when we’re honest about where we are on our cannabis journey. And if you have any similar stories or anything to share, we would love to hear from you. Where are you with weed after 2020? Just hit us like a ton of bricks.

April Pride: And a quick recap of Ellen and my 2020 favorites.

Ellen Scanlon: My three favorite strains of 2021 were Cannatonic, Gelato, and Acapulco Gold.

April Pride: And my three favorite strains of 2020 were Strawberry Cough, Lilac Diamonds, and Red Congolese.

Ellen Scanlon: My three favorite podcasts this year were Happier with Gretchen Rubin, Headspace Radio, and podcasts for work.

April Pride: My three favorite podcasts of 2020, were Women Belong in the House, Land of The Giants: The Netflix Effect, and Speaking of Sex.

Ellen Scanlon: My favorite episode has been number 10, The Edibles List.

April Pride: My favorite How to Do the Pot episode of 2020 was episode 23, What’s a Strain? We hope that having our voice in your ears during this very trying year has provided some solace, or at least make you feel like you’re not alone when it comes to trying to either figure out cannabis. Or if you’re doing it right, enough, too much, all the rest of it. We thank you for sticking with us, and we cannot wait to bring you even more exciting content in 2021. Happy 2021 to each of you, and hope that you and your loved ones remain well and healthy until we get through the end of the pandemic.

April Pride: Find us on Instagram @dothepot and you can follow me @aprilpride. And for lots more information about cannabis and women, visit dothepot.com. Thanks to my co-founder Ellen Scanlon, Madi Fair, our marketing manager, and our producer, Nick Patri. I’m April Pride, and we’ll be back here soon with more of How to Do the Pot.