Hispanic Heritage Month Cannabis Client Spotlight: Ivelise Rivera of Nuestra dba The Boston Garden
By Jennifer Cabrera
Oct 5, 2022
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, I [Jennifer Cabrera] had a great conversation with Ivelise Rivera of Nuestra, dba The Boston Garden, a licensed adult-use cannabis dispensary located in Athol, MA, with locations forthcoming in Cambridge, Newton, and Somerville. Ivelise is the majority owner and controls the Boston Garden through her company, Herban Legends, which she shares with her daughter. Throughout our discussion, we talked about our families' experiences immigrating to the United States from the Caribbean (Ivelise's family is from the Dominican Republic, mine is from Cuba) and the challenges faced by Latinos (and many other Americans) looking to enter the cannabis industry.
Typically, the most significant barrier to entering the cannabis industry is the lack of access to the capital required to win a license, build out a location, hire staff, and become operational—all while continuing to pay your household bills. Ivelise built an operational cannabis dispensary over four years while holding a full-time I.T. position. Very impressive! I appreciate her pragmatism and commitment to building a business that she can share with her adult daughters.
For Latinos interested in entering the cannabis industry, it is crucial to consider what type of business is best for you, given your resources and experience. Protecting yourself as you raise capital for your business is also important. I can’t stress enough that you should have your own attorney representing you in negotiations with prospective partners.
For cannabis companies looking to make an impact and be more inclusive, consider going beyond hiring diverse budtenders or grow staff. Think about your vendors. There are a growing number of Latino-owned security, cleaning, HVAC, and other ancillary businesses. With a little bit of research and due diligence, you can make a difference.
Listen to the podcast on YouTube or Spotify. Read the interview transcript below.
Jennifer Cabrera
Hi, I'm Jennifer Cabrera. I'm with the law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP. I'm an attorney in our New York and New Jersey offices, and I am joined today by Ivelise Rivera, who is with the companies Herban Legends of Boston and Nuestra. Hi Ivelise, great to have you!
Ivelise Rivera
Hi, thanks for having me!
Jennifer Cabrera
You have a few projects going on in Massachusetts, right?
Ivelise Rivera
Yes, yes, I do. Our company has one dispensary open in Athol, which is in Central Mass, and we are completing construction on our second store in Cambridge. That one will go online hopefully by the end of the year, or the beginning of next year. And then we're working on a Somerville store and possibly a Newton store.
Jennifer Cabrera
Oh, that's super exciting! You've got a big footprint. So, these are all The Boston Garden, right?
Ivelise Rivera
Yes, our company Nuestra is a partnership with another company. My company is Herban Legends of Boston—that's myself and my oldest daughter. We partnered with Jonathan Tucker and his company, and we formed Nuestra. We are doing business as The Boston Garden—that's the name of our dispensaries.
Jennifer Cabrera
Wonderful. That's really cool that you have a partnership with your daughter. That would be exactly what I would want to do.
Ivelise Rivera
It is. I mean it does have its challenges because, you know, she has to remind me, "Mom, no business at dinner." Sometimes I want to talk business all the time. And she's like, "No, no." She sets very good boundaries, which works.
Jennifer Cabrera
Good. That's how family businesses are, right? You never really turn off, do you?
Ivelise Rivera
Right, we're in the same house and have the same business, so I want to bring up stuff all the time, but she's very good about her boundaries and setting boundaries for me.
Jennifer Cabrera
That's good. My family always had small businesses. It feels like it's more of a cultural thing for Latinos in the U.S.—having a family business and everybody works on it.
Ivelise Rivera
Exactly, exactly. That's exactly right, [in the case of] my youngest daughter, who wasn't old enough to join us in this venture at the time we started…now she's like, "OK, so how do I get in?" She wants to talk business. She's like, "Let's start a business with me!" So it's like, trying to keep it all in the family.
Jennifer Cabrera
Yeah, no, I get it though. That's how you build generational wealth, right? Work with what you've got.
Ivelise Rivera
Exactly. That's exactly right. I mean, that was the goal from the start.
Jennifer Cabrera
So tell me—you grew up in Boston, but you're originally from New York. I have to get that in there.
Ivelise Rivera
Yes I was. I was born in Brooklyn. That's where my mother migrated to from the Dominican Republic. So [my mother] had my sister and me [in N.Y.]. She already had my older sister, [who was in the Dominican Republic] and you know the typical immigrant family— [my mother] had to leave [my older sister] to come, and then petition for her. In the meantime, you know she's like, "You know, I think New York is a little much." A lot of her friends had moved to Providence and Boston, and they were like, "Move here, it's a lot better. There are more jobs." So, she migrated [to Boston] when I was five. And I've been here on and off, pretty much, ever since.
Jennifer Cabrera
Yeah, that's the story. Always. When my grandparents migrated from Cuba with their four kids, they first went to Denver and they were like, "What is this snow? What is this place? No one speaks Spanish." And then they just got a greyhound out to New York and said, "This is more our scene."
Ivelise Rivera
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. My mom was like, "Yeah, New York was a lot. It's so fast." She was here pretty much by herself. She was like, "I can't do this [with] two kids and then bring a third. I can't do this."
Jennifer Cabrera
Oh my God, that must have been so incredibly difficult for her.
Ivelise Rivera
I mean, I don't know how she did it, honestly, because then she moved to Boston. Boston in the 70's was the not the nicest place to be for a person of color. But you know, she somehow found a community here and she made it work. We've been here pretty much ever since. We never left other than going on vacation to the D.R., but that's it. I think it's such an immigrant story—you find community and that's your home because that's what community is.
Jennifer Cabrera
You find people going through the same experiences as you, and it's true. [Boston was a much] less hospitable place. I'm guessing this was in the 70's when she was making that move?
Ivelise Rivera
Yeah, it was '75. She moved to Boston in '75. It was like right at the busing crisis here. So you know, there was a lot going on. The Latino community wasn't that big, so they kind of insulated themselves a little bit and survived it.
Jennifer Cabrera
If you don't mind me asking, what kind of work was your mom doing when she came to Boston?
Ivelise Rivera
She was in housekeeping. She worked at a couple of the hospitals. It was usually mornings—when we left for school, she was on her way to work. When we got back, she was getting back. She had the 7am – 3pm shifts for most of the time. Then she switched to a factory job when we were a little older because it paid more money. The hours were in the evening, but we were old enough to stay home after school and take care of ourselves.
Jennifer Cabrera
I understand that. I can imagine [working in a factory job] being more predictable. Also, housekeeping is rough work.
My grandmother, I don't think I mentioned this to you, she was a pretty impressive lady. She was a lawyer in Cuba. She sort of worked her way through law school. And then when they migrated to the U.S., it was kind of devastating because she couldn't be a lawyer anymore. She just did whatever jobs she could find. She was able to get herself a job eventually as a bookkeeper, but I always had this sense from her—because she said it pretty blatantly—that this shift of careers was a disaster for her. I know it was very frustrating for her because everything she'd worked for was just gone.
Ivelise Rivera
I commend people who do that so much because I've met a lot of folks who got here and were lawyers, architects, doctors [in their home country] and they come here and it's like—oh my God—they're cleaning offices because they couldn't do anything else. I mean, I've had my gamut of jobs, so I've met people from all walks of life. And I'm so impressed by them. They're like, "Hey! You know I gotta do this for my family. Ay que hecharle para adelante!” (We must keep moving forward!) and that's the model. I've so much respect.
Jennifer Cabrera
It is. It's all about making things better for your kids and—the sacrifice—it's just heartbreaking. I have a cousin that just immigrated from Cuba because the financial crisis has become pretty bad there. She's a doctor and she had been trying to make it work for a while. She ended up trying to go through Panama and Mexico and she's looking for work now in Las Vegas. She managed to get over. I just think about how it is not nice to be an undocumented worker in this country. I can't imagine how hard that is, but in her mind, it was better than where she was.
Ivelise Rivera
Oh yeah, I can see that. You know, it's funny 'cause it's not a story that is really changing. It's just a new iteration of people who have to leave their lives behind to make a better life somewhere else. [Not to mention] the struggles and the hard work. I think these people deserve all of the credit and all the praise because it's like, "Wow, I don't know if I could do it." I [say that now but], you know, I'm sure if we were put in a situation as parents, we'll do whatever needs to get done. But I don't know, that's tough.
Jennifer Cabrera
The psychological toll is what I think about like. Yeah, I work hard, and I would not work this hard if I didn't have kids. I think. I'm pretty clear about that. But I don't know, the fact that I've had all of the benefits of the sacrifices that my parents and grandparents made so that I can be a lawyer—and you're treated a certain way if you are a lawyer and you're educated. [If you're educated as a lawyer anywhere other than the U.S.] then you go to the bottom of the ladder [once you arrive here]. You're not treated that way anymore, and I think that's part of the immigrant experience that people don't always understand. It's that loss of standing. It's very hard.
Ivelise Rivera
Yes, you become invisible. You know, like literally invisible. I mean, it's just incredible. These people are people are so resilient. It amazes me. I don't know how they really get through it—with the mental, the physical toll. You know, it's a lot.
Jennifer Cabrera
Yes, it is. Well, turning our attention to a less depressing [topic] and more toward the cannabis industry.
You formed your company with your daughter, Herban Legends, right?
Ivelise Rivera
Yes.
Jennifer Cabrera
What made you decide to enter the cannabis industry and—let me back up—what were you doing before?
Ivelise Rivera
I am still the I.T. analyst for the city of Boston in their Youth and Family Department. I have been doing that for 21 years.
When we were voting, when legalizing marijuana was on the ballot I was like, "Oh, this is great. I think they should do this everywhere." So we volunteered for some campaigns, donated to the [campaigns] and was like, "OK, this is great." And then it passed and they did all the legal things that they needed to do to get it to the point there they form the Commission. Then, once the Commission was formed, they opened the applications for recreational.
[Once the recreational applications were opened], they opened a side application for economic empowerment, which was a social equity application for folks from areas that were disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. That was kind of thrown together because there was a lot of clamor from the community and activists saying, "Hey! We need to give people a leg up in this industry that have been harmed." So they [created] this application. And then I saw that there was a two-week period that this application was open. I said, "Hey! This isn't a bad idea. Let me look at it."
We took a look at the application and saw that it was not very cumbersome. It was fairly easy and straightforward. I consulted with my lawyer and said, "Hey, is this something that we can do?" He happens to be my best friend so he's like, "Yeah, this is easy. Let's do this."
As we were doing the application, I realized I would still need my job and I needed someone else to do some of the work for this company—to form the company and take that kind of lead. At the time, my daughter was not very happy with her job and so I asked her, "Hey, do you wanna go into business with me? I know you know more about cannabis than I do. I'm interested in getting in the business as a newbie. I would need your expertise in cannabis end." And she said, "Oh, this is great. Yeah, let's do this." So, we applied and got approved for the social equity economic empowerment designation.
Jennifer Cabrera
Did you do that application on your own?
Ivelise Rivera
I did it with my friend who happens to be a lawyer. I don't like doing things like that without knowing what I'm getting into.
Jennifer Cabrera
So, you didn't have like a partnership in place at that time?
Ivelise Rivera
No. I didn't even have my LLC at that moment. I didn't know what part of the industry I wanted to get into. I'm not wealthy, so I knew that I had to get into maybe a lower-level entry point in the industry. So, my first idea, once I formed my LLC, was to do a delivery. And I thought, you know, delivery is something I can manage. I can definitely get funding for [this]. I can afford that.
While networking and meeting other folks in the industry in Boston, I was approached by someone. I told him, "I'm looking for funding for transportation." And they're like, "You know, if you do retail, you can find a partner who does the financial backing." And I was like, "Well, let's explore that." So we got in talks with a few people, and almost signed a partnership with an MSO (multi-state operator) that was really predatory. We were at the final signing stages when the news broke that they were doing this to all economic empowerment applicants. Generally, the EEA applicant would have 100% of the company, but [the MSO] would actually have control. And that's against the Massachusetts legislation.
When [the news] came out, that partnership [ended]. We already had a location. We already had an application in to the city for the host agreement and all of that. So, we were like, "Well, let's try going forward by ourselves and see how we can figure this out."
At the time, one of the folks we were dealing with was VS (Vicente Sederberg). The young lady we were working with said, "I know someone who is looking for a partner and I think you guys would be a great fit." That's when she introduced us to Jonathan Tucker. We had our meeting [where] we explained our business plan and our company ethos to him. He did the same, and our company ethos aligned. We had a lot of the same ideas of how to give back to the community, so we ended up partnering. It's been great. They're great partners. I think that was just the best stroke of luck that we could have had at that time.
Jennifer Cabrera
It is. But you know what? Also, it's business savvy [that you knew to say,] "Let me have a lawyer review these documents and see what this actually means for me," and that's so important.
It's something that I see a lot working in new markets, like New York and New Jersey. Because you have these social equity applicants (they get a conditional license) or the people who just applied for the CAURD license in New York (where you have to have a past conviction in New York) and [there are a lot] of folks that have no prior cannabis experience that are applying. And you need money to go into cannabis, as you've rightly pointed out. And you have to be smart about who you partner with because [there are] so many of the opportunities out there, but you could really end up getting screwed.
I also think it's great that you pointed out that you're still doing your job. You still have your day job in I.T. And you now have how many dispensaries open?
Ivelise Rivera
We have one with one that's been open for a year now.
Jennifer Cabrera
Open for a year! So I just hope all five people that listen to this recording, let it sink in that this is not something [where], suddenly overnight, you are very wealthy.
Ivelise Rivera
No, no, far, far from it. It has taken… let's see. We applied for our LLC as a partnership end of 2018, early 2019. It look three years to get our store open. Of course, it was in the middle of the pandemic. Everything is incredibly expensive. If you don't have the right partners—with the right funding behind them—it is very, very difficult.
We have good partners, but they are, by no means, wealthy people. They're just very good at the fundraising end of the business. So they've managed to secure funding for us. You have to be very patient and really just stick with it because, in the end, it will all be worth it.
Jennifer Cabrera
Yeah, because you'll have a significant ownership share in a working business. I see there's clearly value in that, and that's fantastic. But it's interesting just how much uncertainty there is in that process. You're not even directly partnered with the people with the money–you're partnered with the people who raised the money. That's a challenging process, because you don't always hit it [off] the first time with the person.
Ivelise Rivera
That's one of the reasons it took so long—because it is very expensive. Construction is expensive and then you throw on top all of the security you need and all the regulations. It's even more expensive than just regular retail.
At first, we were kind of piecemealing it because they're new to the business, we're new to the business, and so it was a learning experience for all of us to get that first store open. Now we are in a group and we kind of figured out a few things along the way. But it takes a lot of time, and I can totally see how people would just be like, "Forget it. This is too hard. I'm not gonna do it," but it's like every other business. I know restaurants don't open overnight and are successful. You have to be willing to take that risk to get to that other side. I think it's worth doing.
Jennifer Cabrera
Restaurant work is very hard. There's very slim margins for most restaurants.
Ivelise Rivera
Exactly, and I compare it to cannabis, at this point. I compare it to that because with the the state taxes, and then you throw in the federal taxes—there's a very slim margin. Until you get to a certain point and laws change, and legislation changes at the state level and at the federal level. But you know, for now, it's not like it's a cash cow.
Jennifer Cabrera
No, it's not. It's not. Mostly, I think that one of the biggest things that could change at the federal level, that would help small businesses, is getting rid of 280E and allowing operators to take their normal business deductions. I feel like you're the folks that get hit the hardest by it.
Ivelise Rivera
Oh yeah, it's ridiculous. That's all I can say nicely on air.
Jennifer Cabrera
It's horrible. Well, I know we're coming to the close of our time here. I just wanted to about the genesis of this conversation—it's Hispanic Heritage month. This weird month that runs from like September 15th to October 15th.
Ivelise Rivera
I know, couldn't we get like a regular month?
Jennifer Cabrera
OK, this is random. Do you remember there was an SNL skit from, I don't know, 20 years ago? Because I'm old. Chris Rock is talking about how Black History Month is February, which is the shortest month and how, like you're getting screwed. Yeah. So we have not even a regular month, so.
Ivelise Rivera
No, no. It's like it straddles two months randomly—like the middle of a month. Who thought of that?
Jennifer Cabrera
I don't know where that came from. I also know that corporations and larger organizations are getting on board. Just sort addding random pictures of flowers and skulls on everything. Like, "We're celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month!"
Ivelise Rivera
And they're using a lot of Dia de Los Muertos stuff and I'm like, "Yeah, that's not what that is, but OK."
Jennifer Cabrera
Anyway, that is the genesis of this conversation and I want to close on… What are some concrete steps that companies can take that would actually help—not just Hispanics—but all minorities who are looking to be in this industry?
Ivelise Rivera
I think finding an area in the industry that is underserved by BIPOC businesses. Some people might not want to start a dispensary or be in any flower-touching part of the industry, but you can get in the business by providing services such as ATM's. You can do the security systems, the fire systems, the HVAC.
Jennifer Cabrera
All the ancillary or auxilliary businesses.
Ivelise Rivera
Exactly. For Massachusetts, the focus is to try and get as many BIPOC companies to be on those lists. Especially for cannabis companies like ours, which is minority-owned. And we want to make sure we hire not just [diverse] staff in the stores, but [diversify] our vendors, to spread the wealth.
And I think [a good takeaway is], you don't have to get the millions of dollars to start a retail store. You can start by having your business where you become a vendor [for cannabis businesses] and then once one dispensary says, "Hey, these guys are great!" You could lock in a bunch of dispensaries. Just find that niche.
Jennifer Cabrera
Absolutely. So it's not just hiring diverse budtenders, but all of the auxiliary companies, vendors. And this is the thing, this is something that a lot of regulators care about and they want to see. That makes a big difference.
Ivelise Rivera
Exactly. And not just budtenders. From our general managers all the way down, we try and have a diverse of a staff as we possibly can find. So, you know in-house and out of house, it basically encompasses everything. And I think I think people find it a little daunting to get into the cannabis business in retail or growing or producing. Delivering, right now, has got its own issues, but there are other ways of getting in.
Jennifer Cabrera
Absolutely, that's true. There's a lot of work that goes into it. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me today Ivelise. This has been fun.
Ivelise Rivera
Oh absolutely! This was a lot of fun. Thank you for asking and having me on.
Jennifer Cabrera
Of course, and I do want to note at the end of our conversation what a superstar you are, because not only have you built this business while working a full-time job with two kids, but you also have found time for a lot of service and volunteer work. And I just want to touch on a few of those things, including your 10 years of working with the Red Sox Foundation. You're the commissioner, right?
Ivelise Rivera
Yes, I run their softball league, which is a league that's all across the city of Boston, all the neighborhoods. It goes from 8 years old to 18-year-old girls, so we have anywhere from, depending on the season, 15 to 20 teens, and each team carries about 15 girls. So that's a large chunk of youth that I work with—and coaches. It's a lot of fun. It's not a competitive league by any means, it's more instructional. So it's a lot of fun.
Jennifer Cabrera
That's good. I look forward to when my kids are older and I can do stuff like that.
Ivelise Rivera
It's a lot of fun. They have a great time—you know, they're kids. When they are enjoying the game, they have so much fun and it's great to see.
Jennifer Cabrera
Well, I think it's fantastic and I just want to say it's an inspiration how much you do.
Ivelise Rivera
Thank you. Thank you.
Jennifer Cabrera
Alright, well, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, and thanks everyone for tuning in!