Director of Marketing and Sales, Harvest Integrated • Cultivator • Operator • Problem Solver • Lifelong Student of the Plant
The Hotbox with Dustin Hoxworth isn’t your polished PR interview. It’s me getting stoned and asking people the questions they probably aren’t ready for. These aren’t cold reads or copy-paste Q&As; I sit with my guests, usually multiple times, and I’ve likely met them in person, which gives me a window to learn who they really are before I ever send the questions. By the time the words hit the page, it’s smoke-thick honesty, not surface-level bullshit. These are cannabis conversations that showcase the voices, stories, and truths that won’t show up in the boardroom.
Millions of people find cannabis at some point in their lives, and then there are people like Jesse Porter whose entire life keeps orbiting back to the plant, no matter what path he takes. I’ve met a lot of professionals in this space, but not many have a backstory shaped by cancer, cross-country trails, sorority kitchens, gelato labs, bow tie startups, and cannabis gardens carved into the forests of Northern California. Jesse’s journey reads like a novel, and every chapter taught him something that he now brings into solving real problems for cultivators around the world.
Jesse got his start in 2004 when his mom was diagnosed with cancer, and suddenly, cannabis became more than curiosity; it became purpose. That moment led him deeper into the culture, the science, and the people who taught him how the plant works, how markets breathe, and why the right environment can make or break an entire operation. His early years took him through UC Berkeley, a semester in Barbados where he learned how to price on the fly, and even a stint as a sorority house boy where he learned how to move weight before most of the industry even understood what that meant.
Then came Oakland, the wild west years. SR-71, Bulldog, BlueSky, Oaksterdam, and real mentorship, work, and culture. In 2009, he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, learned how heavy fear really is, and proposed with a ring he carved on the trail. That journey grounded him. So did buying ten acres in the Klamath National Forest to cultivate cannabis. So did the detours into gelato manufacturing and helping launch a bow tie company in New Orleans.
In 2013, Jesse opened a 14,000 square foot garden supply store behind Harborside. That shop became a hub for growers, clone hunters, consultants, seed collectors, and the entire 215 ecosystem. Secret seshes. Hand-to-hand clone deals in the Harborside parking lot. A community that was raw, brilliant, and foundational to the legal industry that followed.
When he sold the shop, he jumped headfirst into HVACD with InSpire because he hated HVACD and wanted to understand why it constantly failed cultivators. That desire to fix what he struggled with himself became his calling card. From there, he moved his family to Texas to work in racking and airflow with GrowGlide, and when that chapter closed, he rebuilt distressed assets for High Revival Holdings, even spending two weeks as a budtender because he wanted to feel the industry at ground level again.
Today, at Harvest Integrated, Jesse is part of a team he has respected for years. Climate as a Service lets him merge all the pieces of his life into one role: cultivation experience, environmental science, operational support, and service. Real service, not sales. Being in the field with cultivators, improving quality, quantity, consistency, and efficiency, and learning something new every day.
This is a long chapter and a long journey, and that makes this conversation even better. This is The Hotbox with Jesse Porter.
The Hotbox Q&A: 5 Questions with Jesse Porter
Your journey has taken you through cultivation, retail, consulting, HVACD, equipment, budtending, and some unbelievable life chapters in between. What experience most shapes the way you approach your work at Harvest Integrated today?
Honestly, the experience that shaped me the most was failure. I’ve had crops go sideways, I’ve been broke, I’ve run businesses into the ground, and I’ve rebuilt successfully; I’ve changed direction a dozen times. That taught me to stay humble, stay hungry, and build things that last.
Running cultivation at scale taught me that cannabis is unforgiving but incredibly honest. The plant will tell you the truth long before a P&L does. That shaped everything I do at Harvest Integrated. Measure everything, understand cause and effect, own your mistakes, and never hide behind assumptions. When you’ve lived the pain of losing a room or watching quality slip because your environment wasn’t correctable, you build systems differently. My job today is to make sure cultivators don’t have to learn those lessons the hard way…and for those in the trenches, specifically cultivation and curing, I continually challenge myself to be an ally to success.
I pull from all my experiences in the cannabis industry regularly, and while selling Climate as a Service puts food on my family’s table, the success of this industry is actually important to me. I will always look anyone in the eye and give them the best advice I can for them to achieve their goals because it’s not about sales as much as it is success.
The Oakland Garden Supply era behind Harborside became a legendary pocket of cannabis culture. What did that environment teach you about growers and community that still influences you now?
It taught me to translate between worlds. The shop was a crossroads; legacy growers, first-timers, engineers, hustlers, patients. Each one spoke a different dialect of cannabis but wanted the same thing: great flower.
Today, when I sit down with MEPs, CEOs, or a head grower, I’m pulling from those years behind the counter when I learned how to listen before I prescribe. The shop also taught me about ownership, not just of business but of advice. I had to stand behind every item I sold; there was nowhere to hide. I had to accept responsibility for what I stocked and stand behind the advice I gave. This kept me learning, challenging myself, and refining my ability to sense “Snake Oil”…something I actively do to this day 😊.
After revitalizing distressed assets, stepping back into budtending, and working across multiple markets, what do you see as the most overlooked operational blind spot in commercial cannabis today?
The most overlooked operational blind spot in commercial cannabis is how little structure we give the people we rely on the most. We ask cultivators and cultivation managers to carry an impossible load. Without clear job descriptions or support systems, they end up becoming makeshift MEPs; troubleshooting HVACD, plumbing, electrical, controls, irrigation, everything. Often without formal training in any of it. And then we’re surprised when burnout shows up.
What I’ve learned working across markets is that talent thrives when expectations are defined, and growth is intentional. Cultivators should be empowered to focus on plant science, team leadership, and quality outcomes, not forced to shoulder the mechanical and operational gaps created upstream. When you give people a realistic scope of responsibility, pair it with real education, and surround them with mentors who’ve walked the path, everything improves: crop consistency, staff retention, problem-solving, and overall culture.
Training isn’t a luxury in this industry. It’s the backbone of operational excellence. The facilities that invest in structured learning; visiting other grows, understanding environmental control, measuring real metrics, and engaging with educational content, are the ones that develop resilient teams who can sustain success. This industry moves fast, and people need a place where they can ask questions, build new skills, and see a clear future.
At the end of the day, cannabis is still a people business. When you stop relying on heroics and start building systems that develop and support your team, you stop burning out your best cultivators and you start unlocking the consistency and performance everyone is chasing.
If you could sit down with 20-year-old Jesse for five minutes, what’s the one piece of truth you’d hand him that would change the way he moved through the next two decades?
I’d tell 20-year-old me that the real currency in this industry isn’t hustle or hype: it’s patience, relationships, and craft. When you’re young, you want to sprint. You want every project to be the one that defines you. But the truth is, cannabis rewards the people who slow down long enough to learn the fundamentals, EARN trust, and develop a skill set that compounds over time.
I’d tell him to stay curious, to ask better questions, and to stop thinking he has to figure everything out alone. Find mentors early, and be a mentor even earlier. The people who invest in you and the people you invest in will shape your path more than any single opportunity.
And I’d remind him that every chapter, even the hard ones, is preparing him for something he can’t see yet. The distressed assets, the budtending shifts, the long nights in cultivation rooms all of it becomes perspective, empathy, and experience that can’t be faked.
If I could give 20-year-old Jesse one piece of truth, it would be this: play the long game. Follow your curiosity, take care of your health, and build a body of knowledge so deep that no one can take it from you. The industry will evolve a hundred times, but if you stay grounded in learning, community, and integrity, you’ll be ready for all of it.
If you had the power to change one part of the cannabis industry overnight, what would you rewrite first and why?
Depends. If I’m on stage?… I’d probably say fix the capital environment. This industry is full of great farmers and nearly profitable businesses saddled with terrible financing structures. If we had access to fair capital and banking, the game would look different on the balance sheet right now. Also, Hemp showed us all the way with online ordering, Interstate commerce, purchase via credit card , and delivery to your mailbox… can’t we just do that for everybody?
My hot take over a joint….Legalize homegrown nationwide, a few plants per person. Power to the people and encouragement to get to know your neighbor.
The best BBQ you eat in Texas won’t be in a place open to the public.
You will never pay for the best bowl of Pho.
You will enjoy these with those who prepared them for YOU with care. Just like great flower, you can taste love… or lack thereof.
Jesse Porter is one of those rare people who has lived every angle of this industry and still approaches it with the curiosity of someone stepping into the room for the first time. His story is proof that cannabis rewards the ones who stay teachable, stay hungry, and stay committed to serving growers at the ground level. Conversations like this remind me why the culture matters, why the plant matters, and why people like Jesse continue to shape the future of this space in ways most never see.
