Carol Tyson, Director of Marketing for Jaunty – Interview Series

As a vital component of any successful cannabis business, field marketing strategies and logistics vary greatly depending on several key factors—from a state’s geographic layout and a company’s total dispensary footprint to local product preferences across specific retail locations. In an industry evolving as rapidly as cannabis, unforeseen variables and shifting dynamics can either hinder a field marketing campaign or propel it to success.

Ultimately, campaign performance relies on more variables and market trends than even the most brilliant team can anticipate. To explore the realities of field marketing and how to succeed in a state as expansive and geographically diverse as New York, mycannabis.com spoke with Carol Tyson, Director of Marketing for Jaunty.

What were the most worthwhile and useful courses that you took while obtaining your MBA at SUNY New Paltz? Even though you graduated a few years before New York recreationally legalized cannabis, how did your MBA studies become beneficial in the cannabis industry?

The most valuable courses I took during my MBA at SUNY New Paltz focused on marketing, consumer behavior, business strategy, and operations. They taught me how to understand consumer decision-making while also looking at the full business—pricing, distribution, inventory, sales, and execution.

The programs taught me how to build a business strategy rather than simply execute individual marketing tactics. That foundation has been especially valuable in cannabis, where success requires balancing brand-building with operational realities, retailer relationships, regulations, and sustainable growth.

Throughout your roles with Today Media, what strategies and skills became the most successful when it came to effective marketing and media relations for your clients?

There were several takeaways from my time at Today Media, where I was specifically working for a farm-to-table magazine in Hudson Valley, NY. That role fulfilled my passion for storytelling and connecting with area farmers, which helped build my passion for my current work in the cannabis industry and Jaunty. There’s a similar appreciation and storytelling element for craft quality and local agriculture. To get in the weeds a bit more (no pun intended), in my role as Multimedia Account and Marketing Manager, I customized marketing programs for B2B and B2C audiences, executed sponsorships, coordinated events and created content and copy for our promotional materials. These skills all carry over to my current role at Jaunty.

When did you first join the Massachusetts cannabis industry and what most excited you about joining such a young and new industry?

I’ve been a cannabis consumer since I was a teenager and knew I wanted to be involved in the industry since I was about 17, so it was really exciting to join the Massachusetts industry – the state was a true pioneer for adult-use sales in the Northeast. One of my favorite retailers happened to be hiring for a marketing role in 2021, and I jumped at the opportunity. They were vertically integrated, and I helped them launch their wholesale program.

How did your roles with Temescal Wellness and The Pass provide you with a better understanding of the intricacies of working in the cannabis industry and the many stark differences between this industry and other industries, especially in marketing?

My roles at The Pass, Temescal Wellness, and now Jaunty gave me experience across the full cannabis marketing ecosystem. At The Pass, I learned the industry from the retail level—how to build strong retailer-vendor relationships, market directly to consumers, create bundles based on both sales data and customer demand, and develop tactics that bring people into the store.

At Temescal Wellness, I helped build an entirely new wholesale brand from the ground up, including packaging, website development, launch planning, and field strategy. That experience showed me how much coordination is required to bring a cannabis brand to market successfully.

At Jaunty, I have been able to combine both perspectives. I now focus heavily on go-to-market strategy and building a high-performing field team centered on retailer relationships and brand-building within the market. Cannabis marketing is especially complex because success depends on much more than advertising—it requires navigating regulations, retailer education and turnover, inventory realities, and strong execution at the point of sale.

What interested you about joining the team at Jaunty? As someone with prior industry experience, what did you feel that Jaunty was doing differently than other companies in their state market?

I started at Jaunty as Director of Marketing in February 2024 and it has been an awesome experience to play a role in the company’s growth. We’ve launched dozens more new products, rebranded, executed collaborations, increased staffing and are in more retail stores than ever before–these successes coincided with the expansion of the New York market and the opening of more licensed stores. I have a huge appreciation for home-grown brands, and how much it takes to make one successful, and knew I wanted to be part of Jaunty’s growth. Jaunty is the producer of the best-selling vape brand in New York, and for good reason. What appealed to me when I joined, and what I still love about our brand, is that we’re focused on closing the gap between flower and oil, and creating the best expressions of the plant that we possibly can. And we really want to showcase our extraction capabilities, and the differences and nuances of various oil types we offer: Isolate, Live Resin, Live Rosin and Liquid Diamonds. And beyond Jaunty vapes, this also includes edible and concentrates. We also oversee the making of our products every step of the way, as Jaunty holds licenses across the entire adult-use supply chain (outside of retail)—cultivation, processing, manufacturing, and distribution. Everything is produced out of our Hoosick Falls, NY facility and in addition to our own farm, we have strong working relationships with other small farms in the area to harvest the oil we need. We’re a 100 percent independent, New York company, and have been part of the licensed NY market since its inception.

What are some exciting product launches and expansions that you’ve overseen as Director of Marketing for Jaunty? What all went into ensuring that those brands and product lines were popular with New York cannabis consumers?

One of the initiatives I’m most proud of has been leading our company’s rebrand from Naturae, the original name dating back to 2017, to Jaunty, which had been our best-selling house brand and now encompasses all that we do. It was a huge undertaking involving everything from packaging to voice to consumer education. So now seeing Jaunty become one of the most recognized brands in New York is incredibly rewarding. 

I’m also really proud of building out Jaunty’s Field Marketing program from the ground up. We went from lacking structure to an organized statewide team driving visibility and sales in every region. We did this by implementing measures of accountability, a clear system to track what works, and a lot of hard work along the way. 

With regards to specific product launches, 2026 has been really exciting, and with even more to come. Earlier this year we partnered with True Terpenes to launch the state’s first Liquid Diamonds vape line powered by Headstash™, which is a high terpene extraction designed to preserve full-spectrum cannabis aroma and authentic flavor at scale. Jaunty became the first cannabis brand to bring True Terpenes’ proprietary Headstash™ system to the US market. 

Another highlight this year has been something a bit different for us: introducing Jaunty Hash Holes to the New York market. These pre-rolls pair premium indoor flower with carefully selected live rosins, rounded out by a variety of flavors that are fruity, and dessert-like. And coming up we have our Hash Gummies launching this summer, which are full-spectrum, fruit-forward, and formulated with 100% solventless hash and natural flavors for a richer, truer-to-plant experience.My role sits at the intersection of strategy and execution. With regards to our new product rollouts, I lead the charge on building data and reporting platforms for our Field Marketing team to help them execute more effectively. Success for our product lines starts with our internal team. It’s important to collaborate cross-departmentally and ensure marketing is meaningfully supporting sales, operations, and our retail partners. Then, it’s all about getting into stores and developing strong relationships with budtenders. Because at the end of the day, we’re selling to budtenders as much as we’re selling to consumers. And budtenders will not only help to ensure our products get into the hands of consumers, they can also offer helpful information on what works and what may need adjusting.

As Director of Marketing, what are the biggest differences between field marketing at dispensaries in New York City and Long Island versus Upstate New York? How do you and the Jaunty field marketing teams adapt to those changes?

New York feels like three states in one! Field Marketing in New York cannot be approached with a one-size-fits-all strategy. In the city, the market is incredibly dense and fast-moving. Dispensaries are surrounded by competition, menus change quickly, and brands need consistent visibility, education, and follow-through to remain top of mind. Long Island is also competitive, but stores often serve more distinct local communities, so understanding each retailer’s customer base and building trusted relationships is very important.

Upstate New York is much more geographically dispersed. Our field reps may travel significant distances between accounts, so every visit needs to be highly intentional and often accomplish several objectives at once—strengthening the relationship, educating staff, reviewing menu and shelf presence, supporting a launch, and identifying opportunities or issues.

We adapt by building state-wide plans with regional nuances. Across every region, our primary focus is the same: building genuine retailer relationships and ensuring the brand is being represented consistently both in-store and online. Every touchpoint we make is meaningful and intentional.

From your experiences, what are some great advantages that the New York cannabis industry has over other neighboring state markets, including Massachusetts?

While New York may have gotten off to a slower start than some had hoped, the market has really come into its own and now it’s huge, which was expected given the state’s population. Sales exceeded $1.7 billion last year and we may break that number this year. The industry is supporting thousands of jobs and contributing hundreds of millions in state and local tax revenue. There are more than 700 stores and over 2100 licensed businesses total. I believe as of 2025, the Massachusetts market was still ranked slightly larger, but I think New York is on pace to overtake it and be the Northeast cannabis capital.

At the same time, what are some great disadvantages that the Empire State’s industry still suffers from? How detrimental a problem is the unlicensed market and products in New York?

While civil enforcement actions in 2024 and 2025 cleared many unlicensed storefronts, we have also seen the influx of bad actors operating more covertly and infiltrating the licensed supply chain through inversion, which involves bringing unlicensed cannabis from other states into the market through licensed businesses. Jaunty’s co-founder and CEO, Nicolas Guarino, also co-founded the Empire Cannabis Manufacturers Alliance (ECMA), so I’ll reiterate their position on the issue: they urge the creation of an  interagency task force — including the Attorney General, New York State Police, Department of Labor, and municipal leaders — to address these bad actors in the market.

Beyond the unlicensed market, New York’s legal industry is also facing significant saturation, limited shelf space, price compression, and growing pressure on margins. Competition is healthy, but licensed operators are investing heavily in testing, compliance, labor, taxes, and in-state production while competing against products that may not carry those same costs. As more brands and products enter the market, it may also become more challenging to earn consistent retail placement and build sustainable, long-term brand value rather than competing primarily through discounting.

What do you predict the next few years bringing for the New York cannabis industry? How do you think federal cannabis reform will have ripple effects in that state market in particular?

I think our industry here in New York will continue to grow and propel cannabis into the mainstream. It’ll be as ubiquitous as purchasing a pint of beer or glass of wine one day, and the next frontier in making that happen are consumption lounges. Recent reports say we may see the first regulated consumption lounges opening by 2027, which will be a huge step forward.

With regards to federal cannabis reform, we certainly want rescheduling to go into effect, since that’s a critical step toward fully integrating cannabis into the mainstream economy. Section 280E of the IRS tax code has been one of the greatest burdens on operators across the supply chain, but rescheduling would allow cannabis businesses to be taxed like any other legal industry, freeing up billions of dollars that can be reinvested into operations, innovation, and long-term growth. It would also help level the playing field, finally giving responsible operators who have played by the rules a fair shot to compete and succeed. Beyond that, we need SAFE Banking and ultimately, federal legalization, for the industry to reach its full potential. 

Thank you for joining us, Carol! For more information on Jaunty, please visit its website.