Cornell Grads Co-Found Research-Based Marijuana Company, Plan To Open First NY Boutique Cannabis Hotel

Cameron Wesley Scott and Jeremiah Swain, graduates of Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, co-founded 8th Wonder Cannabis Company in the hope of pioneering a new approach to hospitality and effect social change at the same time. 

Black Cannabis Operators Few And Far Between

“The majority of the industry is white-male dominated, while most of those imprisoned are people who look like me,” said Swain, CEO of 8^th Wonder, who holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Morehouse College and an associate’s from the Culinary Institute of America.

“There haven’t been overt efforts to destigmatize the cannabis industry,” he told the Cornell Chronicle, “but I think our success will help move us in that direction. The scale of the problem is substantial, but I do see that we can play an important role in addressing racial inequity.”

According to a 2021 Business Insider analysis, top executives at the 14 largest cannabis companies are overwhelmingly white men – that is 7%.  

Scott and Swain, who met in the Cornell Nolan School’s Master of Management in Hospitality program, are hoping to change that imbalance with the launch of their boutique cannabis “lifestyle” hotel in upstate New York. They’re currently cultivating high-quality cannabis for the state's soon-to-be up-and-running recreational adult-use program.  

“Hospitality is our secret sauce,” Swain told Kaitlyn Ruhf of the Chronicle. “We believe that merging hospitality experiences with cannabis will be a differentiator when it comes down to who can stay in the industry and build a brand.”

Scott, who has a BA in hospitality management from Virginia State University, added that they’ve got a pioneering approach for both industries.

High-Quality Cannabis And Hemp Stems From High-Quality Research

Scott and Swain intend to leverage their Cornell research to cultivate high-quality cannabis.

In September 2021, Cornell became the nation’s only industrial hemp germplasm repository, or seed bank, at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, New York. 

The seed bank enables researchers to identify pest-resistant and disease-resistant genes, giving them the tools to breed new varieties.

In 2019, Pyxus International PYYX signed a long-term agreement with Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to support a research project on CBD-oriented hemp production whose goal is to obtain the necessary knowledge to develop high-quality CBD with good farming practices. 

Meanwhile, the enterprising 8th Wonder co-founders, Scott and Swain, hope their many Cornell connections will help keep their company on the leading edge of innovation.

“Cornell is a leader in hospitality, agriculture and hemp research,” Scott said. “We know that staying in Ithaca will keep us connected to a world-class talent pipeline that can inevitably help us enhance the science-based research that drives our pragmatic innovation.”

Photo by Jesse Winter/Cornell SC Johnson College of Business