Lulu Tsui, Co-Founder & Chief Experience Officer, On The Revel – Interview Series

As the New York cannabis industry matures beyond its initial years of operation, there is a continuous, vital need for informative events and conferences tailored to local business owners and professionals. Whether focused on strategic networking or advocacy, industry-centered events remain a necessity in the Empire State, especially as the market approaches the second half of its first decade.

One recurring series that consistently engages all sectors of the New York market is Revelry, organized by parent company On The Revel. To gain insight into the operation and curation of these thought-provoking conferences—including an upcoming event on September 18 in Manhattan—mycannabis.com spoke with Lulu Tsui, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at On The Revel.

How did you get your start in UI/UX design? What initially interested you about working in those roles?

I actually fell into tech completely by accident.

This was back in 1993, before UI/UX even had a name. My cousin asked if I wanted to intern at a brand-new “internet company” that was building what became the first automotive website on the internet. At the time, Yahoo had something like 40 links.

My first job as an intern was pretty glamorous: I would go to car dealerships, flirt with the salespeople to get brochures, bring them back to the office, scan them in, learn Photoshop, and code HTML in Emacs.

What interested me most wasn’t necessarily design itself. It was the excitement of learning something entirely new and being at the beginning of a brand-new industry. There was no playbook. We were making it up as we went along, and that spirit of curiosity and experimentation has stayed with me throughout my career.

Throughout your years in UI/UX design, how did your regular job duties change as computing technology itself evolved?

One of the coolest parts of my career has been watching the field evolve into an actual discipline.

At first, we were just building websites with HTML. Then it became graphical user interfaces. Then user interface and information design. Eventually, it matured into a methodology called User Experience Design, and now Experience Design.

The tools changed. The terminology changed. The sophistication increased.

But at its core, the work remained remarkably similar: understanding people, solving problems, and designing experiences that help them accomplish what they need to do. Technology evolves, but humans remain human.

Furthermore, how did your duties and role expectations change depending on the client you were designing systems for, such as Mastercard and McGraw-Hill? How did the differences between the companies impact your role and necessary objectives?

The industries changed, but my approach really didn’t. Whether I was designing for financial services, healthcare, publishing, education, or enterprise technology, I relied on the same design thinking methodology.

The process always started with discovery: learning from subject matter experts, understanding how people actually perform their jobs, mapping their mental models, creating user stories and journey flows, and identifying pain points. From there, we designed interfaces intended to make those tasks easier and more intuitive. Then came testing, feedback, refinement, and iteration.

In my opinion, the entire process is about helping people do their jobs based on how they work—not based on our assumptions about how they should work. They are the experts. We’re there to support them.

It’s the exact same methodology I apply to Revelry today.

When did you see the necessity to co-found On The Revel? What gaps in the cannabis industry and professional organizations did you hope to fill with OTR?

When I first entered the adult-use market in 2015, there simply weren’t events that spoke to me. The industry felt very male-led. There weren’t many people who looked like me, and there weren’t many conversations happening around the things I cared about. There was a lot of gatekeeping around resources, funding, institutional knowledge, and access.

So Revelry was born to do the opposite.

We focused on community. On people. On creating an ecosystem where everyone has an opportunity to learn, contribute, and try. We chose people first. We are here to serve the people building this industry and grow alongside them.

What are your favorite parts of serving as Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at On The Revel? What all goes into the role that you feel is most rewarding for both yourself and New York cannabis industry operators?

Growing alongside our operators and this industry has been the most rewarding part.

Our first Revelry Buyers’ Club was in February 2023, just two months after New York’s adult-use market officially opened. It took place in the basement gymnasium of a college on a basketball court. We put out an open call to the industry and made attendance free.

Sixty-five exhibitors showed up, along with 44 of the state’s 60 CAURD (Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary) operators.

Some of those early exhibitors who started with four-foot folding tables are now among our largest sponsors. Some of those original CAURD operators now own multiple locations.

My heart feels full knowing that our events help people connect, do business, have fun, and build lasting relationships that strengthen the industry.

What have been some of the most thought-provoking cannabis industry panel discussions or presentations that happened at Revelry events? Why were those discussions in particular so powerful?

We’ve hosted around 18 events, so that’s a difficult question. What has always mattered to me is honoring the people who came before legalization and highlighting the culture that has always existed around cannabis in New York.

We’ve hosted Legacy to Legal boot camps. We’ve had speakers like Styles P, Black Thought, Angela Yee, and Vic Mensa share their stories and truths. We’ve welcomed industry leaders like Mario Guzman, John Kagia, and Chris Alexander, alongside community leaders such as Bertha Lewis, Mar Fitzgerald, and Vikiana Reyes.

Those conversations were powerful because they reminded us that an industry cannot exist without community. Business matters, but people matter more. It’s not just an industry—it’s a complete ecosystem made up of operators, advocates, policymakers, educators, consumers, and the culture that has always surrounded cannabis. That’s what we have in mind when we build.

How have the Revelry events changed and evolved over the years since they first started being hosted? Why were those changes necessary in the long run?

We’ve evolved as the industry has evolved. As regulations changed, we pivoted. As operators’ needs shifted, we adapted. As the market matured, we matured alongside it.

One of our greatest strengths as a team is our ability to problem-solve. We’re hospitality-driven and human-centered. We listen, learn, and adjust. The willingness to evolve is what has allowed us to remain relevant and continue serving the community in meaningful ways.

Based on conversations with Revelry attendees, what do you envision the next few years holding for the greater New York cannabis industry? Do they think that either New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani or Governor Kathy Hochul will enact further cannabis industry reforms?

I don’t consider myself politically connected enough to predict exactly what elected officials will do.

What I can say is that my dream is much bigger.

I would love to see New York develop a Cannabis Week and Psychedelics Week in the same way we celebrate Fashion Week, Design Week, and Restaurant Week. My hope is that cannabis becomes integrated into our institutions and our culture—not as an exception, but as a normalized part of life in New York. I believe we can do that thoughtfully, quietly, and respectfully in a way that allows everyone to benefit and rise together.

With federal reforms possibly on the horizon, how does On the Revel plan to include topics on the ripple effects of federal rescheduling in the Revelry events?

The first thing we’ll do is what we’ve always done: discovery.

We’ll conduct research. We’ll listen to operators. We’ll identify pain points and opportunities. We’ll bring together experts with different perspectives and facilitate conversations that help people understand what’s changing and how to prepare.

From there, we’ll brainstorm solutions and put those ideas into the world. Our role isn’t to have all the answers. Our role is to create the space where the right questions get asked and the community can collectively move forward.

Thank you for joining us, Lulu! For more information on Revelry’s events, please visit its website.