Becky Rotramel, CEO and co-founder of Your Highness LA, a cannabis and lifestyle brand that now … [+] spans the continental U.S.
Becky Rotramel is the CEO and co-founder of Your Highness, alongside her partner and co-founder Sean Rotramel. The legacy brand is a true mom-and-pop craft cannabis grow. Your Highness first took root in the Los Angeles market back in 2013, during the medical market days of Prop. 215. Over a decade later, Your Highness has expanded its following to a national lifestyle brand found on shelves at Spencer’s Gifts, Zumiez, and now Cookies stores across the country.
Your Highness has perfected its quirky and dark, stoner-centric take on streetwear. Its designs blend psychedelic artwork with nostalgia: think cartoons, skull-and-crossbones, and eclectic punk iconography.
The weed brand continues its movement coast-to-coast with the opening of its latest storefront partner, a new Cookies retailer in Worcester, Massachusetts. Your Highness will launch in Las Vegas just in time for 4/20. Your Highness cannabis is as prevalent as its clothing. Consumers will find its award-winning weed line in California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oklahoma, Michigan, and New York.
Becky Rotramel in a Puff Portrait taken by photographer JoJo Valente aka JoJo Snaps.
The aforementioned mom of this legacy grow duo, Becky Rotramel, is a second-generation cannabis cultivator. Her father used to grow out of their garage long before the days of adult-use cannabis in California. I caught up with Becky recently to mine some actionable advice from the CEO for other women in weed, and to look back on how far cannabis has come in her career. This includes the strides women in the C-suite and moms in cannabis have made.
“That’s one of the most exciting things about being in Las Vegas,” says Becky. “People from Japan and Egypt can come and smoke our weed. From all over the world, there’s an opportunity for international brand loyalty. They’re going to come and see what looks cool, what maybe speaks to them.”
What do Mom-and-pop shops in cannabis need to survive this regulatory moment? “You have to stand out you have to really understand your customer,” says Becky. “We are a craft brand. We have pivoted from one of those $80 eighth brands to something that is affordable and smokable for all tax brackets. It truly is for everybody. That has worked out amazingly for our brand. Instead of exclusivity, now everybody is welcome.”
Your Highness was able to reduce costs by expanding its grow through a well-timed partnership with a distributor Illa Canna. “Since they have a larger facility, they’re able to get the cost down per unit. We really modeled that after what was going on in our clothing company. Because we are a small brand, we have to be strategic. It’s not like we are Supreme.”
Shady Meringue is a cross between Shady Apples x Lemon Meringue Cake from Your Highness.
After partnering with TRP Co, Your Highness made its debut on shelves in Cookies locations nationwide. “It is amazing, it is incredible,” says Becky. “Obviously the Cookies locations, Catalyst, Stiiizy, it’s just a dream come true. They’re some of the biggest brands out there. To have us on their shelves, to be in the same vicinity as them, it’s so cool.”
The founder says their partnership with SoCal retail giant Catalyst has been really organic. It’s about meeting the consumer where they’re at: the store’s ethos “weed for the people” resonates with Your Highness. “Why make them pay such a high price when we could keep coming back,” says the CEO. “If they don’t feel like it’s a value or worth it for an $80 eighth. A really nice $40 eighth is a better consumer experience.”
As far future marketplaces, the CEO has her sights set on up-and-coming states without regulated markets. “I love Texas,” says Becky. “I know that Texas will be the very last state to legalize, but Texas, I have so many awesome people I know there. We did just open up Nevada and are waiting on approval in New York. So we have an agreement in Massachusetts. On the East Coast, hopefully before 4/20. Everything is up and running and growing.”
The lifestyle clothing brand Your Highness has built is just as impressive as its weed offerings. Becky says, in her eyes, what the weed industry learned from fashion: “Get out of your comfort zone, do what you think is cool, do what you want to wear and see in the world,” she says. “What I noticed about brands—I don’t know if it’s because of the lack of communicating or hiring designers—but a lot of brands have their logo on their shirts. They shouldn’t be scared to do some out-there designs that they love to represent their brands. It doesn’t have to be a logo on the shirt.”
Becky Rotramel, CEO and co-founder of Your Highness.
Your Highness is powerful in storytelling through its packaging. With camo and offbeat color schemes, the brand never plays it safe. “It’s not like the weed leaf must be front and center in the design, it can be subtle. It doesn’t have to be at the forefront.”
This same quality is reflected in its unique cannabis cultivars. Its co-founder Sean Rotramel looks back on his time growing in the legacy market: “I fell in love deeply with weed, right from the jump,” says Sean on the coveted cannabis industry podcast First Smoke of the Day. “Being right up against it, seeing that it was possible, all of us were like, ‘Wow, it would be sick if we could grow weed for a living.’ I didn’t follow through on that for a while, but I did end up growing weed for a living. When I got into growing, it was very secretive. I had a medical card and everything, yet it was very hush, hush.”
Shady Apples and Shady Meringue are two decadent best-selling genetics from Your Highness. The team is excited to release Shady Apples cultivar crosses this year following an extensive pheno hunt. For each pheno hunt, Your Highness pops close to 30-40 seeds.
“We also do our own breeding we have created a lot of different crosses,” says Becky. “We did a collab with Compound Genetics, but there is no release date yet. I’m super excited for it. The special strains making waves for them, we hit them with the Shady Apple’s pollen. It’s so fun, seeing the expression from each parent. You never know what you’re going to get.”
Becky Rotramel, CEO and co-founder of Your Highness.
The CEO offers up some actionable advice for other female founders and all folks who look up to her work in the space. “Honestly, you have to ignore the bullshit and just keep doing what you want to do,” says Becky. “Keep doing your work, and focus on your vision. There is so much bullshit you have to navigate through. Keep your integrity, keep your vision in mind, and keep going toward your mission.”
“A lot of the time, I’ve ignored some situations, people would rather speak to Sean or whatever. I think, ‘okay, that’s cool, it’s still going to get done.’ Keep it moving. Do your work, and do it the best you can,” she says.
The CEO predicts big changes on the horizon for cannabis legality in the U.S. “Cannabis as a whole is going to be federally legal,” she says. “Your Highness is going to be one of the biggest national cannabis brands throughout the entire United States. I dream big. If you don’t think you’re going to be a millionaire, how are you ever going to make it happen? We want to be one of the biggest national cannabis brands, that is the goal and that’s what we’re working towards.”
The Rotramels love to personally pop up at retailers, representing the brand and connecting with consumers the way only the mom-and-pop founders can. The personable nature of Your Highness makes its consumers feel like they’re part of a family, too. Expect Your Highness to be popping up at Catalyst stores. For 4/20, Your Highness will be launching in Las Vegas, Nevada, where consumers may find the owners on scene, says Becky. The Your Highness team hints to a giant forthcoming collaboration with Planet 13, as well as a Cookies clothing collab. Bow down. Your Highness has only just begun.
