And...welcome to our Season 5 of the WatchPitch Podcast and You Tube Channel program with our special focus on the “thaw” from the impacts of COVID on entrepreneurs, Start-ups and Investors.

For this Episode, our 5th this season, we are going west, to the Northern California coast of redwood forests and the world famous, “Emerald Triangle,” of Humboldt County. Husband and wife team Jon O’Connor & Amy Cirincione O’Connor launched a boutique hotel in the thick of COVID. And their other businesses, also squarely in the hospitality industry, have embraced the legalization of cannabis with both style and thoughtful considerations. Few entrepreneurs have forged this convergence of hospitality and cannabis as well, and as consciously, as Jon & Amy along with their nearly 60-employees.

COVID and all of the many regulations in California was riddled with speed bumps for the hospitality industry. And for many states here in the US, Cannabis is still in a nascent stage of main stream acceptance and legalization.

This is a new growth sector for entrepreneurs and we learn first hand, as parents and as shared leadership in their journey that these two have crafted with a deep commitment to communication and style along with a dedication to consumer-focused growth and scaling.

Lots to learn and discover together ...let’s get started!

This conversation with Jon & Amy was so revelatory and helpful ! Super warm to be invited to their home, surrounded by redwoods and that, crackling living room fire.

So as cannabis becomes increasingly normalized we will see this sector expand. Jon and Amy are proof-positive that this can be consciously done, with some grit and determination to work with regulatory groups and local rules, that are constantly adjusting to both...COVID, at the moment, and to the acceptance of cannabis as legal.

I want to encourage you to visit their Indiegogo campaign page - listed as the: Scotia Lodge Swim Club for a crowdfund campaign raise for a year-round, outdoor community pool project. Great video and sweet perks!

We are indeed, on a threshold, a re-start and new beginning, looking forward against a challenging past...but a future with new opportunities to embrace.

Thanks for joining me, Trey Scott, and our guests, Jon O’Connor & Amy Cirincione O’Connor for Season 5, Episode # 5 of the WatchPitch Podcast and You Tube Channel.