Bri Delgado, Co-Founder of Florette – Interview Series

Bri Delgado is the co-founder and creative force behind Florette, a New York-based cannabis brand known for its artisanal approach and bold visual identity. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Delgado blends her background in fashion and branding with a deep-rooted passion for cannabis, a bond she shares with her father and co-founder, Luis Delgado. Their shared vision emerged during a casual smoke session, evolving into a business that reflects their family values and commitment to quality.

Florette is a family-owned cannabis company rooted in New York, founded by Bri and Luis Delgado. The brand is celebrated for its premium, whole-flower products.

Beyond cannabis, Florette extends its aesthetic through a line of fashion-forward merchandise, reflecting the brand’s fusion of design and plant culture. With a presence in over 45 retail locations across New York, Florette continues to grow, driven by a commitment to quality, creativity, and community.

What inspired you and your father to officially turn your shared passion for cannabis into a brand? Was there a particular moment that sparked the idea for Florette?

Our bond over cannabis was something that has always connected us, and the spark of Florette first came when recreational cannabis was legalized in New York. We saw a rare opportunity not just to be a part of the market, but also to help shape it. We really wanted to build a brand that reflected us, and reflected our shared values of quality, integrity and creativity. So at first, it wasn’t just a business, there was really something that was calling us to create something meaningful and to do it together.

How did your experience at Parsons School of Design influence the early vision and branding of Florette?

My time at Parsons really taught me to see design through storytelling. Not just seeing how things look, but also taking into account how they make people feel. So that perspective really shaped Florette’s visual identity and packaging design, which I was responsible for. I wanted the brand to feel elevated, clean, expressive and really stand out on the shelves. The design really helped me to translate our values into something more tangible. It comes through in the small details – like our pre-roll boxes having that shape that you can just slip it into your pocket with a magnetic clasp for easy access. We also have innovative concepts, like our flight bags, that combine four different strains into a single package.

Launching a cannabis brand is notoriously difficult, especially in New York’s emerging market. What were some of the biggest challenges you and your dad faced in Florette’s early days?

The cannabis industry is really unlike any other industry, as you probably know. There’s a lot of challenges that come with it, but at the end of the day, you really need to love the plant and the culture to stay in this industry. It was really hard to get going since it’s very highly regulated. Everything from the supply chain to compliance was a real challenge at first. And we faced all of these challenges while the industry was still taking shape in this state. Navigating the regulations, building our facility, growing our team, it definitely wasn’t easy at first, but we were really determined to do it right and determined to trust our vision throughout the process.

Many cannabis brands lean heavily on either legacy culture or sleek marketing. How did you find the balance between authenticity and innovation when building Florette?

Authenticity meant honoring the plant and the people who have grown it with care long before it was legalized. And innovation meant using our design and storytelling to elevate the experience of Florette. And we feel that Florette lives in that middle space, rooted between tradition of the plant, but also reaching forward. Our goal was really to create something that felt familiar, but also new.

Florette puts a big emphasis on genetics and cultivation artistry. How do you decide which strains to grow and bring to market?

We have a really incredible team behind all these selections. It starts with what excites us from a cultivation standpoint. We try to be very intentional with genetics that not only our team is excited about, but genetics that we know New Yorkers will get excited about.

For some strains in specific, our Albany Sour Diesel is the original New York Albany Sour Diesel. And our Chemdog is the original seed from the 1991 Grateful Dead Tour. Brandon Burnette, who’s our VP of product, got that seed back in 2001. And that’s the original seed that we use for our Chemdog. Something that really sets us apart is that all of the genetics and strains in our library all have stories behind them.

New York cannabis consumers are a unique crowd. How do you approach strain selection and branding to really resonate with New Yorkers?

New Yorkers know what they want. And New Yorkers always want the best of the best. So we really try to focus on quality, transparency, and think a lot about versatility.

Whether someone’s looking for something more uplifting or more relaxing, we want to offer a strain that fits into their lifestyle. On the branding side, we’re designing for people who appreciate the intention and care that went into the brand, whether they’re cannabis connoisseurs or just the average consumer.

You’ve spoken about elevating cannabis as part of lifestyle and culture. How do you weave that vision into Florette’s product design, packaging, and retail partnerships?

To us, cannabis is more than just a product. It’s a part of people’s daily lives, how people unwind, connect and create. That philosophy touched every detail of Florette, from the creation of our pre-roll boxes to the genetic library that we offer. We also have curated retail experiences, so we can be intentional throughout the entire process. We collaborate with our retail partners who share our values and treat cannabis as the premium lifestyle category.

What role does storytelling play in how you present Florette at dispensaries and to the broader community?

Storytelling is really everything. People don’t just want to buy weed. They want to know where it came from, who grew it, why it matters – the whole story behind it. We bring a lot of our customers into that process by highlighting our cultivation with online content. We’re bringing budtenders over to our facility so they can see it firsthand. We want people to feel a part of the Florette world and connect with us.

And we think that through storytelling, we’re able to build trust and emotional connection with our consumers, our budtenders, and our retail partners.

What’s one lesson you’ve learned about leadership through your experience building Florette from scratch?

There’s a lot of lessons I’ve learned about leadership throughout my experience of Florette. But one major lesson would be that no one has all the answers, and that’s okay. Leadership isn’t about perfection. It’s about learning, adopting, and staying grounded in my values. I’ve really learned to trust my instincts, but also to surround myself with people who challenge me to grow.

Building Florette has really taught me that the best leaders stay curious, open, and always listen.

As Florette continues to grow, what can consumers expect next — new strains, new products, collaborations?

You can expect all of the above. We’re expanding our genetic library. We just launched our Pure Flower Rosin vapes. We’re working on some more exciting product launches like our Exotics.

And we’re also planning on launching a new brand, Cheevo, in June.

Thank you for the great interview. Readers who wish to learn more should visit Florette.