On The Revel's Lulu Tsui on Growing Up in a First-Gen Immigrant Family Supportive of Cannabis

Observing before speaking or acting is key

Lulu is co-founder and chief experience officer at On The Revel, the parent company for a collection of curated educational and networking experiences democratizing information for those interested in the regulated cannabis industry.

Lulu is seasoned in experience design, software as a service and other technologies. Clients include Bloomberg, Mastercard, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, John Hopkins University, Roche, Thermo Fisher, Pearson and McGraw-Hill. Lulu designed a software platform with Root Sciences aimed at supporting and standardizing operations and data for cannabis/hemp extraction, distillation and post-processing. She also served as the principal experience designer for Chill, a cannabis e-commerce order and delivery platform. 

We spent two minutes with Lulu to learn more about her background, her creative inspirations and recent work she’s admired. 

Lulu, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I was born in Qingdao, China, raised in Eugene, Ore., and have called Brooklyn home for the past 20 years.

How you first got interested in cannabis.

Cannabis has been part of my life since we arrived in Oregon. My family came from Northern China with no exposure to Western culture—let alone cannabis. But the people who helped us acclimate were legacy growers who welcomed us in, taught my parents English and cared for me like family. I was raised by aunties and uncles who held deep love and respect for the plant, which shaped how I move in the industry. In 2015, when adult use launched in Washington, I joined Root Sciences and spent three years learning the manufacturing, extraction and processing side of the supply chain. But it all goes back to how I was raised—in a community that honored cannabis as a healing, sustainable and creative resource.

One of your favorite projects you’ve ever worked on.

My favorite project, without question, is Revelry. Jacobi Holland and I started hosting meetups in 2016 in New York because none of the existing cannabis events reflected us or the energy of NYC. If you want to meet the New York cannabis industry and community, you’ll find them at Revelry. We built Revelry with and for New Yorkers. Nine years later, it’s become the most respected and impactful cannabis event series in the state. What sets us apart is our hospitality, and design-forward approach. Every detail is intentional. We design for experience, not just attendance, always leading with community alongside industry.

A recent project you’re proud of.

This past May, we hosted our fifth Revelry Buyers’ Club in Hudson, N.Y.—nearly 2,000 attendees, 150+ brands and 340 retail buyers. Buyers’ Club is our B2B trade show, built to connect licensed New York retailers with brands and grow the market. We launched the first one in 2023, in a gymnasium with 60 brands and 44 buyers. Our next show will take place Sept. 12–13 at Pier 36 in Manhattan, where we’re expecting over 200 brands and 450+ retail groups. I’m incredibly proud of what our small but mighty team of six has built in just two years. Watching the growth, progress, creativity and resilience of New York brands in what often feels like a cannabis Hunger Games continues to inspire us every step of the way.

The biggest challenge cannabis marketers face today, and how to approach it.           

Breaking through decades of stigma while navigating strict compliance. How do we shift public perception, grow the addressable consumer market and still play by the rules? At Revelry, even securing a venue can take up to a year. But we’ve learned that real progress happens through human connection and respect. We lead with transparency, over-communicate and build trust—always leaving spaces better than we found them.

One thing about how the cannabis industry is evolving that you’re excited about. 

I have a dream that one day, cannabis—and all plant medicines—will be fully integrated into the pillars that New York, as a global cultural epicenter, already leads in: music, fashion, food, art, design and culture. My hope is that we can shape the industry to reflect how New Yorkers already use cannabis—not as a novelty, but as an accessory to creativity and everyday life.

Someone else’s work, in cannabis or beyond, that you admired lately.   

It’s been incredible to watch Chris Barrett aka Pizza Pusha bring his vision to life with pure determination. He’s been a friend, mentor and constant inspiration. I’ll never forget the day of our first Buyers’ Club in Hudson when he called and said, “Lulu, I’m moving into psychedelics. We’re going to check out that retreat spot in Mexico—you in?” Of course I said, “Hell yes!” Now, he’s built Ora Tulum—a boutique holistic retreat center that fully reflects his spirit. People thought he was crazy and had all kinds of opinions about how it should be done. But Chris has never been conventional. He trusted his gut, stayed focused and built it his way.

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring.                                       

The Cave of the Ancients by T. Lobsang Rampa. My aunt gave it to me when I was 13. Everyone in my family is an engineer, but I always had big questions about spirituality—which felt like the opposite of the world I was raised in. This book helped me see how science and spirituality are deeply interconnected. It was the first learning that bridged those two worlds for me.

A visual artist or band/musician you admire.                                                                                 

I admire turn-of-the-century visual artist, mystic and renowned member of the Anthroposophical Society, Hilma af Klint. She was one of the first abstract artists in the West, a woman doing it long before it was accepted. What speaks to me most is how she combined her background in math and botany with her own spiritual investigations to create visual representations of things most people couldn’t even describe. That balance of science, nature and the unseen mirrors so much of my own path working with science, cannabis and psychedelics.

Your favorite fictional character.

I just watched Landman and was completely fascinated by Billy Bob Thornton’s character, Tommy Norris. He’s a non-conventional hero—loud-mouthed, broken, reactive, but deeply loyal to his family, his workers and his industry. He’s full of contradictions, which is what makes him so real. He shows what being human looks like—not all good, not all bad, just a messy mix of both. He’s an unfiltered, full-spectrum version of humanity that challenges everything we’ve been taught to believe people should be.

Someone worth following on social media.

I am obsessed with @officialdogpack on IG. If you need a laugh, this hits!

Your main strength as a marketer/creative.

I’m a chameleon—I can adapt to any situation. As an immigrant, you learn early on to observe and listen before speaking or acting. I naturally found my way into tech. And my background as a user-experience designer and researcher taught me to always prioritize the audience, to design with intention and align outcomes with real needs. That mindset has carried into cannabis, where the ability to listen, observe, pivot and problem-solve as a team are great strengths.

Your biggest weakness.

Anything black sesame, especially black sesame ice cream.

Something people would find surprising about you.

I come from a first-generation immigrant Chinese family that’s pretty open-minded about cannabis and psychedelics, which isn’t the norm. A lot of Asian families are super against it. And for good reason. There’s deep generational trauma from the opium epidemic that devastated China in the 1800s. But my experience was very different. When I became curious about cannabis at 13, my aunt got some and sat with me. And when I wanted to try psychedelics, my uncle was the one who got mushrooms and sat with me for my first trip. I grew up with a very different perspective, because the community that raised me approached plant medicine with care, safety and respect. I’ve seen firsthand how hearts and minds can shift when a community leads by example.

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in the cannabis industry.

I’d be a geneticist—that’s what I originally went to school for. Or maybe a chocolatier, which I also studied. I’ve always been drawn to where creativity, science and tech meet.