Sativa Talk

In this episode of the Sativa Talk Podcast, host Angie T engages in a lively conversation about travel etiquette and the value of solo adventures. Joined by guest Evie, who shares her recent experiences in Colombia, the duo discusses the importance of connecting with people from diverse backgrounds while traveling, trusting your intuition, and stepping out of your comfort zone. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or planning your first solo trip, this episode offers valuable insights and inspiration to embark on your own journey of self-discovery and exploration. Tune in for practical travel tips and engaging anecdotes that will leave you ready to take on the world, one adventure at a time.

What is Sativa Talk?

We talk about all things cannabis from dispensaries, cultivations, current news & entrepreneurship along with some lifestyle topics to intrigue, inspire and flat out make you laugh! During this series we'll have interviews with some game changers showing you a different perspective discussing the state of Cannabis. Friendly for newbies, vets and people who curious. It's funny, it's blunt, it's real... Sativa Talk Podcast.

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You're listening to locally produced programming created in

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KUNV Studios on public radio. KUNV 91.5. The content of this program is sponsored by the Sativa Talk podcast. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and More or the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Welcome to another episode of Sativa Talk Podcast where we have blunt conversations.

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We like to talk about cannabis, of course, whether you are a vet, newbie, or just curious, we got you covered. And we'll get into some lifestyle and entrepreneurship as well. Today we are celebrating episode number 16. The number 16 represents independence, leadership, and service to others. As such it can be a powerful vibration for positive change in your life. The energy of 16 tends to resonate especially when alone to think a problem through to its best solution. It also resonates well when making decisive goals and pursuing them and being a solution finder for for others. So we're gonna bask in the celebration, the essence of number 16 and with today's guest, today's very special guest, we have E.B. Ronke which is she is a former engineer turned marketing executive and also a globe trotter. Oh thank you for the career promotion. A marketing executive girl. marketing manager, but we'll take it. Okay, yeah, because I know why he's business. So now that we go over the number 16 and what it represents in regards to independence, leadership service to others, how do you think that resonates for you? That's me. As a whole. would want to dive deeper into the reasons 16 represent those things. But I think from just a personal resonation, it's service to others in leadership, right? The best kind of leader, in my opinion, is a service leader, someone who leads by example who leads by serving. And it's something that I would say deep down, I kind of strive for as well. So yeah. As far as how that resonates in regards to leadership, sometimes the best some good lessons you learn is from watching other people. So I kind of watch someone else kind of be a not a good leader and kind of learn from that. Being a leader you have to be able to connect with your people and then make the adjustments to make you know that everyone in the group feels like needs to be made letting them feel like they're being heard instead of you knowing everything and being combative so that's actually a pretty good talent to have so and it's hard to come by yeah it really is especially someone that's important. So as I evolve into my, my roles, I want to embody that because I want to be a good leader. I want people to say, yeah, I work with her and she helped me X, Y, and Z. We worked on this together. Like, that's same thing. I can add more days on your life. It does. It does. It makes things easier. And something that I noticed somewhat somewhat recently is I've interacted in the past six months or so with leaders that are such good leaders that are so supportive of their people that where they go, their people go. Yeah. And that's really powerful for someone to be like, I trust you. My experience with you has been so dope that I'm willing to leave the current company and go with you to your next company. And that's how great leaders continue to excel because they're building out their teams and they don't have to start all over again. They're able to take people with them that they know, that they trust, that they work well with. And that's how you build a super team. So that's something that I hadn't seen in my career early on and it's really refreshing to see that now because I'm like, yo, if I ever get to that level, when, sorry, when I get to that level, like, that's a whole different ballgame, you know. So here you talk about that, I feel like being an influencer, and being a leader, it's kind of one of the same, because you want those people that you've gained to continue to follow you across whatever platform you are on for room. So and being that you have to listen to you know their suggestions. Okay so whenever I post content right I had to get out of my head like assigning my friends to be my filter right because sometimes they're just not available and that's just life right so sometimes you just have to just post it and see the reaction from your tribe that you're that you've built online and they'll for sure let you know the reactions you get to let you know sometimes you may get, you know, 100 plus comments. Sometimes you may just get a couple of likes. And that's how you know, okay, maybe I need to tweak this. So being able to accept that, cause it hurt, okay, four likes hurts. Especially when you spend a lot of time on it. It's true, but it's, I think like, when you get to a point where you don't take it personally, even though it's tough because it's personal, right? Especially when it's, if you're a lifestyle influencer or you're sharing stuff that is personal to you or that's your like baby in terms of a new product or a new feature or release or whatever it is it can feel personal but you have to like not make it personal and something that I've realized like especially now that I'm a marketer is it it's really important to understand your customer your prospect your end-user put yourself in their position. It's not about you, it's not about what you want, it's not about what you think works. It's really about like, who is your target audience? And how can you really resonate and relate to them? How can you understand how they think, what their behaviors are, how they live their life, where they hang out, what like really it comes down to that. It's kind of a little bit like psychology. It is, it really is and when you just kind of jump into this you don't really you don't look at it that way. And so and a lot of times it is ran by your emotions and that's probably the last thing you want to add to it. So it's all trial and error but just from my experience like I said just kind of post it out there and just wait.

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See what happens.

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See what happens. Close the phone.

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If it's a real risky post,

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leave it away for like two to three hours.

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Come back.

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Girl, I'll be refreshing that feed.

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Like, what is it, post it? No one saw it yet. But you know the good thing is though, Instagram has the new feature where you can't see, you can't always see the number of likes on a post. Yeah.

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So if it's not too many, it's like okay.

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Yeah, I want to know the views than the likes. Like come on, cut my ego a break. But real quick, I do want to give a thanks to our sponsors, the business entertainment West, they are in the business of providing entertainment on the West Coast. You can find them on Instagram at biz ENT West underscore Vegas and tell them thank you for bringing Angie T back to the airwaves. Now of course this is a Teva Talk podcast. It would be it would be disrespectful if I did not talk about a little bit about what's going on in the cannabis realm. So there is actually a new bill going around to protect insurance companies. So insurance companies that work with marijuana businesses they just basically want to be protected in and that the federal government will not come in and raid them and shut them down and this that. Raid who? The insurance companies? The companies because it's not federally legal. So they want to be able to be protected when it is state legal to be able to insure these companies. So legislation would protest insurance insurers, brokers, agents from being penalized by federal regulators for providing insurance services to state licensed marijuana companies. It was filed just one day after a House of Senate lawmakers filled a related bill to safeguard banks that work with the industry. So insurance companies are oftentimes reluctant to provide coverage. This bill will help entrepreneurs operating in the legal cannabis sector access to the insurance they need to protect their business. Now this is big because a lot of businesses have already went out of business because they did not have that insurance. Things happen in your business especially if you have a grow let's say you know the fan the AC breaks or something you know something that normally and it had been any other business a bakery what have you those machines would have been covered but because it is you know in the cannabis realm and it's not federally legal it isn't covered so that has come out of their pocket so and the list goes on and down that we have the consumption lounges that's great because you know in the consumption lounge, they have to have the air vents over each section. Could you imagine if one of those vents went out? They just started their business, so how can they afford that? And so we actually had, give a shout out to CIC, the pathway to ownership, because they had a couple of owners when we just became legal here in Las Vegas, and they came in and said that a lot of the companies that they were trying to work with to get insured when it was time to file a claim they were denied that claim and then they didn't have any backup they didn't have anyone to help them because technically they weren't supposed to be insured anyway so hopefully this bill will offer some insurance on both sides that's nothing worse than paying for insurance and they can't use it cancel me baby i think that's most insurance policy you know but no that's honestly all jokes aside though that's it it goes to show you all the like intricacies of being a business owner yeah and how every little factor you think it's just as simple as starting and there are so many factors that go into it and within the cannabis industry how many things are kind of stacked up against them so it's nice that there's one less barrier somebody's looking out for somebody yeah sheesh yeah now this article I found very interesting because I know here in Las Vegas consumption, I'm sorry, dispensaries have to be within a certain amount of feet away from each other. Whereas in places like Oregon or something like that, it can be on every block. You just get it how you live. Marketing at its finest, right? So in Canada, most Canadian neighborhoods are located within five minutes of a five-minute drive of a marijuana dispensary a study shows and they are all flourishing. I'm just saying. So I feel like what Vegas it Big Brother is definitely sorting some things out to make sure that he get paid but I'm just saying having that business model really feel that's what opportunity feels like. We don't have to play this game of lottery and hoping and people kind of targeting the small, the independently owned dispensaries and just waiting for them to fill so the corporations can come in and buy their license and just kind of playing this dirty game. Let everybody in and just let's just see how because everybody can eat. Yeah. Everyone could in theory eat maybe not in this current system but if things were tweaked a little bit, yeah, absolutely. I think that the US is an interesting climate to have cannabis in. And hopefully we get to a point where, you know, federally it is legal. Then we don't have to jump through hoops. I mean, not I'm not a business owner in cannabis, but yeah, I mean, who knows? Yeah, who knows? I don't really see you working it, but an investor of some sort I can definitely you know. Let's speak it. Evie is a send me the the financials type of investor. Let me look at it real quick. You know what I'm saying? I do want to give a shout out to assemblyman Ruben Silva. Ruben De Silva. He's actually here in Las Vegas. Always supports all my things but he he presented a bill for them to make marijuana federally legal. So we are still pushing the envelope so appreciate you for that. All right so how do you know get the order of business out the way. Now I do want to tap on a little bit about you because you have been traveling a lot. You've been in spent a lot of time in Africa the different countries and visiting and things of that sort. So I found this article that was talking about travel etiquette. Right? What you must do or what you should or shouldn't do. Okay. Now homegirl. I already feel, well let me hear it first because I'm not really big on what you should or should not do type thing. I like to ask for forgiveness not permission. Really? I think so. To a degree. If it's like if it's against the rules like you're a bit hesitant. I mean, I don't want to go to jail If there wasn't a rule created then you'll be you'll okay. Yes. I'm not gonna do things that are against the law Okay rules not law. Not every rule is a law So she was talking about um, all right, let's see one guess about leaving the room service trays and mess in the hallway What? about leaving the room service trays and mess in the hallway. What? Maybe these towels they can't stay in here.

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Wait, what?

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So we don't do our own etiquette because I don't even like what you don't even want to go over. It's too much. I mean, listen, the towels that get used definitely that's where they go or go where? Either outside the door or just by the door oh that's weird is it yeah what do you where you put it when I just put them on the floor in the bathroom and then when I mean they clean it sure but the trays the food trays oh what is it called that's not normal you mean um room service I mean yeah I mean room service some people leave them up that's what I thought that's not normal. Oh you can do it. That's why I don't want to go by her list. So I would say travel etiquette things you need to have with you while traveling in your backpack like on you accessible your carry-on whatever you definitely need to have some backup clothes like some underclothes. Yeah you should at least have a couple pairs of underwear in case your check bag doesn't come. Exactly that's what I'm saying it's summertime people preparing to travel so I just want to tap on these things. Couple outfits. I'll also say-

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Wait, couple outfits?

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Yeah, like one or two. Like, it doesn't have to be that. Okay, just a quick little short set or something. Yeah, I mean, if you're going somewhere cold, you have some leggings. Mm, and a backpack.

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Yeah.

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Okay, I didn't even make it there. I'll just- just give me some clean draws, and I'll figure out the rest. If it's internationally, you want to have a couple.

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Okay, yeah, international, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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couple okay yeah international yeah yeah yeah the thing is wait can we talk about a couple act like etiquette things before we talk about like what you need yeah granted I think everyone should know this etiquette don't take your shoes off you ain't got no socks don't put your feet up on the seats Oh near people in the airplane yes I've had that experience usually going to an international country. Yo, I remember this one lady, and she like just balled up next to me, and I was just like, yeah, yeah. Like she was snuggling, you guys were snuggling? Oh no, but I'm just saying, like she like laid on her seat, and her feet were like three inches from me. Oh, yeah, that's gross. Another thing, this is tough though because people can't always control like their presence in a space but like if you if you're working on your laptop you know try to keep it in your space if you're in the middle seat you might want to give up on that. The middle seat is just brutal.

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It is.

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I don't care what airline you with, the middle seat is never fun. But I was flying Spirit. It was my first time flying Spirit in like three years, two actually. And I messed up on something, had to cancel my Southwest flight and rebooked with Spirit because that was the only thing that was somewhat reasonable. To the left was this lady who was like 5'2", had like 17 inches of space between her knees and the front seat. And she was on the window seat whatever. I was in the middle seat my my knees were like half an inch from the seat and then to the right of me was somebody who was a little bit bigger and like working on their laptop and like like this and I'm just like yeah it was a little you know I think that's something that's an etiquette thing but obviously sometimes if you gotta work you gotta work. I feel like well okay on this last trip, you know, I did a quick little turn around I was on spirit y'all it was But the lady in the middle seat she definitely was not feeling it she I let up her a little thigh on me, you know She was trying to get as comfortable as she could I was like, all right, it's tough. This is one time you get the thigh meat. Now, okay, so one of the things I did not know, or maybe it's just different airlines, is bringing liquor on the plane. You are not allowed to drink liquor on a plane. No one told me that. That you bring with you. They used to serve it. That's why I was like, hey, it's a party. You can drink the liquor they serve. You cannot drink the liquor you bring on. Baby, listen. Did you try that? I did it. I didn't know. So listen, so I was on the plane. My flight was supposed to be two and a half hours. We sat on the runway for two hours and then we had to go back because we ran out of gas and to get more gas. So we went to the gate. They let us off. I was frustrated. Clearly, this is another reason why Marijuana needs to be federally legal because I would love to have spent my time inside of a consumption lounge instead of a bar. Just saying. So I got went to the bar this guy was like oh yeah I can make you a really good margarita. I was like okay cool. He's like oh I got a Hennessy margarita. First of all why are you saying that? Because I'm black? And the answer is yes. So it was delicious. Okay. But it was very strong so I put it in a coffee cup and I was headed back to the line so I could get back on the plane. I didn't know. So I'm carrying my cup and I'm getting down you know it took the edge off so I was a little bit more relaxed I was ready to go to sleep and then the flight attendant gets on the intercom was like if you have any you uh what did she say you shouldn't have any liquor on the plane and it is against federal I was like oh wait how could she tell? I don't know. Somebody snitched? She must have smelled it. Hennessy has a strong smell. She smelled it on you. I hurry up and I kill the train. And I pop the peppermint.

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Oh my God.

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Please, she definitely smelled it.

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She smelled it.

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There's no other way. Cause people, well. She's never said, I've never heard them say that. But question, did she say at the beginning of the flight before you, like, as you were gonna take off

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or in the middle of the flight? No, once everyone got on there on the flight and

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got seated. Girl, they make that announcement every single time. Do they? You just don't pay attention. I've never heard that even the first time we boarded like I didn't hear anything about the cost. My flight from San Francisco to here, I'm pretty sure they did. Okay, because I was for sure paranoid. I was like okay I don't know if I'm gonna get tipsy but it's gotta go down the hatchet. I thought she did it in the middle of the flight. I was like oh she knew. Okay, no. I think it was just standard announcement. Imagine. Okay. Okay, so we don't want anyone else listening out there. Do not go to the bar in the airport. I mean, you can do it. Just make sure you finish you got to finish your drink. Yeah, because there was actually a tick tocker that was upset. She was actually flying to Vegas from Oregon, I believe. And she got a drink from one of the bars at the airport. And they she got a mimosa from the bar and they put off the plane right before they was about to take off they put off the plane because she had a drink. I was like oh how could they tell it was a mimosa? She went to the bathroom I want to say maybe her drink spilled over or something when she got back to her seat or something along those lines. And they kicked her off the plane? Yeah she got kicked off the plane and had to go and book another flight later that night. Yikes. Right? Okay. Y'all gonna send me back to the bar. Like I was gonna say you sneak but don't sneak. That's not worth it. No. No, just don't. Don't do that. I was nervous. Yeah. I was so nervous. That's hilarious. So, um, back to travel etiquette. Of course, you definitely want to pack like a little quick little toothbrush, toothpaste, and immediate backpack, purse, whatever you got. Your carry on. I want to just also say, because I don't know, and I'm not judging you, whatever caliber I want to just also say cuz I don't know and I'm not judging you whatever caliber traveler traveler you are It's your business you do spirit and frontier and all them backpack you do Delta whatever So spirit in in front today playing no more games out. You remember you used to be able to for your personal items I'm using air quotations. You can have a backpack and a purse baby no I don't think you ever could do that. oh well I was I live my best life in those times. oh yeah. backpack and a purse. now the purse has the fit. and they have a person that's standing right by the gate that makes you put your backpack into like the does it fit little. right. oh they made you do that? no I finessed on back. because it wouldn't have fit. baby what? I went to the store. it's another life. did you get a bag so that you could put your stuff in? travel pack yes. if you got too much in your hands have like a shopping bag a bigger shopping bag and it looks like you just bought clothes at the airport. Yeah yes yeah not too big because then they'll pull you to the side and still tag you. Just for your lack. Okay do you have so um one things I've been pushing for you is to do more videos with your travel. Yes. So what what has been some of the experiences, you know, you've traveled a lot internationally, what's one of the, you know, experiences or lessons that kind of stuck with you now that you are able to kind of spread your wings and get in. It's different when you can elevate and kind of see things at a grander scale. So I'll talk about my most recent trip and kind of like work back. So most recent trip I went to Colombia and it was technically a solo trip, so I booked it out to be out there for three weeks. And the first thing is, no matter how many times you travel, maybe it's different for others, but for me, there's always a little bit of like nerves that you have when it's a solo trip, especially as a woman, you know? And some people would consider me less cautious than other folks. I just think people are a little overly paranoid about the world like There's so much beauty and I think ultimately that's probably my biggest lesson every time every single time I leave this country I interact with people who That I normally would not connect with on a normal day to day. So I was in Columbia, I met a woman from Vancouver, super dope energy. I met two men from Italy from actually the southern part of Italy from Sicily and they were like come you know when you come to Italy we'll show you around we have an we own like one person owned like an ice cream shop another guy owned a series of ice cream shops another a few bars restaurants and just super welcoming and these are just again people and interactions that under normal circumstances day to day even if you're in a very diverse city do you really take the time to stop and have conversations with people? Yeah I think traveling alone definitely forces you to kind of put yourself out there and speak to people that you have like you said if you were in your hometown you probably never would have connected with them. Exactly. But when you travel it's kind of like you want to get to know other people and you build connections like you are a great example of that. Even though I am one of the people that feel like sometimes I got a real year in a little bit. But keeping in contact you meet people who live in different countries and you keep in contact with them and you know a lot of times those contacts actually you know you can build business relationships with with so I think that's pretty awesome too. Most employment financial opportunities come from your weak ties and weak ties being people who are not your close friends in your immediate circle so it's something that like is worth experiencing if that's something that you enjoy. I think one other random practical lesson is always travel with a backup phone, a backup, please. Yeah, so when I was in Columbia, I kind of lost my phone. And I use my Mac to locate it. It was basically moving out of the city. I'm seeing it move out the city. It was about an hour out. I got my phone back though. Yeah, because I'm a g man. I was telling her really forget the phone. No, I was gonna pull up. I was gonna pull up to the city but luckily I lost it on the party bus I was on the owner was able to bring it back and thankfully I connected with a local Colombian woman who was super sweet and helped me get my phone back because my Spanish isn't good so that's another thing I think another lesson is just go off your vibes intuition so you're meeting people you're interacting with them be smart you know don't advertise that you're traveling alone and solo. Right. Pay attention to people's energy, pay attention to their mannerisms, be okay with being like, you know what, I'm gonna like go home, I'm gonna call an Uber or Lyft, whatever. Don't get too loose. Exactly. Step out of your comfort zone, but still, but still take precautions. And I think that's something as I've gotten older, I'm more cognizant of. Definitely was a little bit more reckless when I was in my early 20s. Absolutely. So I mean, I think we all are right? In some aspect. Yeah, I definitely agree. So I want to take this time to challenge anyone here that's listening or watching this video. If you haven't done so already, I challenge you to do a trip by yourself. Yeah, you can start small, whatever the next city is from where you're watching or listening to is fine. It'll get you started. But I know it's scary for me when I started doing, I started going to like local networking events by myself and that's one of the ways to kind of build my confidence like, oh, it's really not that bad. You know what I'm saying? I know people, you know, talk about dining out by yourself. Baby, I will have a whole feast alone. What are you talking about? It's critical. It's really important to do things by yourself. Yeah. There was something that someone was, someone posted a friend of mine and I really like resonated with it because it was like, how much time do you actually spend alone? Unplugged, not being stimulated by something externally. And how often do you do things alone? Because if we're being honest, to not be grim, you enter this world alone, you leave this world alone, unless you're a twin, triplet, quadruplet, whatever. Oh, and even then they're all gonna die alone. That sounds really like grim to say, but it's real. So as much as community and companionship is super important. Sometimes it's really nice to be able to be like, Oh my gosh, like, I got on the plane by myself I landed and we figured it out from there you know so I 1000% agree like everybody should at least try it once. Just give it a shot. Yeah. Okay now I know we got a wrap up the show 30 minutes goes fast huh? My bad and I was talking a lot. No that's what you do on podcast, talk. As long as you're something worthwhile saying now we can't be over here just lollygagging and shenanigans and whatnot but do you have any lasting comments or social media plugs from when you post your travel stuff yeah I know I'm gonna try to do that okay so I guess I'll start with the plugs and give me time to think about my Instagram is RONKIFICATION. And you can follow me on Instagram that way Twitter which I'm not active on. Don't even bother with that. Go ahead. Twitter is stressful. I think the last thing the last thing thing that I will say is a couple things. One, do it scared, whatever it is. And two, like, sometimes just don't overthink it. Just go with your gut. Like I'm an overthinker. I'm an overanalyzer because of my supposedly because I am formerly an engineer, but like sometimes just do things like and I think travel is a great example of that. Like sometimes I'll just pick up I'm really bad at planning that aspect of things and in some ways it's because it allows me to just be. So just be. Alright just be I like that. Alright well I want to thank you again for coming on and thank you to my sponsors the Business Entertainment West for the sponsorship. If anyone would like a mention or sponsorship you can reach me at ngt.onair at gmail.com. Thank you Wesley in the sound room. No, we need all that. If you would like to run this episode back or you miss any previous episodes, you can search Sativa Talk Podcast on Spotify, Google Play, Amazon Music, Audible, Podcast Addict, and of course, you and LV's website. Just search for the podcast. My Instagram is AngieT underscore on air or Facebook Angie Thompson. I want to send my love and appreciation out to you guys for tuning in and I'll see you I want to send my love and appreciation out to you guys for tuning in and I'll see you

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next week.

Transcribed with Cockatoo