Thank You For Your Business! ❤️ ❌ STORE CLOSED. No Longer Taking Orders. ❌
Thank You For Your Business! ❤️ ❌ STORE CLOSED. No Longer Taking Orders. ❌

Jo Marini: Cannabiz Innovator

Jo Marini is the founder and CEO of venture accelerator Mother Superior--a social impact innovation firm specializing in emerging industries such as cannabis. She’s known for her agile and high-spirited work in redefining access to opportunity, wealth, and power for statically underfunded, emerging business leaders.

Before launching Mother Superior in 2018, she founded two award-winning organic restaurants and led corporate innovation and user experience in the communications industry. Her aspirations for 2020 are to read ten consecutive pages of a book without falling asleep and to design a master-level Full House trivia game. 



PP: How did you first discover plant-based medicine?

JM: Have you ever gone to a doctor to diagnose something that’s hurting, only to have been told that it’s all in your head? At 26, I met with a doctor at a major medical research hospital to review test results for long-standing digestive complications, fatigue, and other issues. He said, “Your tests are clear. There’s nothing wrong with you.” He then wrote a prescription for a pharmaceutical-grade laxative, told me that it would help my upset stomach, inflammation and digestion, and that I should take one after every meal from here on out. As in… for the rest of my life. 

I was pissed. I also realized that plant-based medicine was my path to healing and thriving. Through nearly a decade of research, trial, and learning through observing my body’s responses to herbs and diet, I have become my own patient and I feel excellent.



PP: What is one of your key plant-based medicine rituals? 

JM: I don’t have one specific ritual but I do follow a simple core supplement regimen for morning and evening. 

AM- Elysium Basis (b/c long telomeres are sexy) + full-spectrum CBD + probiotic + iodine (thyroid support) + sublingual B12 

PM- magnesium spray (inner elbows and abdomen) + a bit of weed (I roll my own mini joints) + multivitamin

That’s supported by a little apothecary I’ve designed with herbs that I know work best for me. Knowing my body means that I can rotate supplementation in and out to optimize support based on the season, my cycle, and how I’m feeling.



PP: Do you have a cultural or ancestral connection to any plants? 

JM: I grew up in an Italian family that practiced an innate sense of seasonality and homegrown food as the foundation of our diets. As a kid, I wanted nothing to do with bitter lettuces, green beans or zucchini. I desperately wanted my mom to buy Lucky Charms and put fruit snacks in my lunch.

It was a gift to have had the opportunity to plant, pick and spend the day canning tomatoes for sauce with my grandfather for so many seasons. It’s come full circle in how I understand and appreciate the power of plant food for vibrant wellness.



PP: What is the one plant/herb you can’t live without and why?

JM: Ginger! I bulk juice the fresh root and freeze it in silicone molds that look like tiny hockey pucks. It’s ready to pop into boiling water on the fly for strong, spicy ginger tea to support digestive health and inflammation.


PP: Can you share your favorite self-care practice?

JM: Sleep is the foundational self-care for all my other wellness work. Lately, I can pass out watching a documentary and wake up at 100 ready to go, but typically simple works best– dark and cool with low white noise from an air purifier and a few drops of CBD. Peace out.


PP: What is one organization you think people should know about and support?

JM: Domestic workers do the most precious work in our society by caring for our homes and loved ones. Yet, they don't have the basic security, rights and dignity they deserve.

The National Domestic Workers Alliance does powerful work toward respect, recognition, and inclusion in labor protections for millions of domestic workers in the United States, most of whom are immigrants and women of color.

They’re raising a fund to support nannies, in-home care workers, and house cleaners during COVID at domesticworkers.org.