Curiosity Series
A series of thought leaders on provocative topics on everyone’s mind. Brought to you by inquisitiveand funny — Yao Huang and Jacqueline Bennett who are always curious, pushing boundaries and testing waters.
This is a series done live on ZOOM and recorded for podcast and viewing pleasure afterwards. Some will be done live with experiences and samplings for all to enjoy. Learn by DOING.
Series sponsors: Highland Venture Partners and Commons
Our Hosts
Dr. Yao Huang is the Founder of The Hatchery, an organization instrumental in developing the New York technology ecosystem. She heads up the enterprise incubator in innovating products with corporate partners — from ideation, development, sales, funding to exit. Born out of the imbalance of capital access for women, she leads a group of investors in bringing more accessible fair capital to women and minorities. She has advised over 300 companies; funded 15 early stage companies and 5 corporate innovation partnerships in collaboratively building companies. Yao was named by Forbes as one of 11 women at the center of New York’s digital scene, by Beta Beat as one of 25 Women Driving New York’s Tech Scene, and TechWeek’s 100 most influential people in tech. And she does standup comedy!
Jacqueline Bennett is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Highlands Venture Partners and Chief Growth Officer at Commons. She invests in and advises teams building companies in emerging categories including cannabis and psychedelics with a focus on supporting women and minorities. She is a crusader for unlocking possibilities through community building, product innovation and provocative conversation. Jacqueline is a Committee Member at Council for Federal Cannabis Regulation (CFCR), Council Member at NationSwell, and Advisory Board Member at Last Prisoner Project, NOVRA Capital and VITAL Card. She was previously an investment banker at JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and Babcock & Brown and led M&A and strategy at Viator. She runs, dances, writes and is not afraid of breaking rules!
Speakers & Dates: Register to Participate
Psychedelics with Leonard Pickard
March 2, 2022 @ 8pm EST
Take a trip down memory lane with one of the most prolific names in psychedelic research, manufacturing and persecution. Leonard will share some blockbuster stories of the evolution of psychedelics in medicine and society and the recent explosion of interest in the legal domain. Alleged to have produced “90% of the world’s LSD,” William Leonard Pickard is a former drug policy fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, research associate in neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, and Deputy Director of the Drug Policy Analysis Program at UCLA. He recently was released from federal prison and two life sentences without possibility of parole, after 20 years in a maximum security environment. He is the author of “The Rose of Paracelsus,” Italian translation published in 2022 by Mondadori (Milan).
CBD with Tahira Rehmatullah & Dr. June Chin
April 4, 2022 @ 8pm EST
Imagine living your days feeling energized, focused and empowered? Women in particular have normalized living with chronic and cyclical pain. Dr. Junella Chin and Tahira Rehmatullah, co-founder & CEO of Commons are here to bust myths around CBD and cannabinoids and discuss why peer-to-peer distribution of CBD products is imperative to accelerate innovation and access to a world of feeling better!
Time traveling sex magic to save the world with Jamie Wheal
April 21, 2022 @ 8pm EST
Jamie Wheal is the author of Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death In a World That’s Lost Its Mind and the global bestseller Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work and the founder of the Flow Genome Project, an international organization dedicated to the research and training of human performance. His work and ideas have been covered in The New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc., and TED. He has spoken at Stanford University, MIT, the Harvard Club, Imperial College, Singularity University, the U.S. Naval War College and Special Operations Command, Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, the Bohemian Club, and the United Nations.
Cannabis with Jacqueline Bennett
May 24, 2022 @ 8pm EST
Cannabis has recently evolved from negative connatations like “reefer madness” to being recognized as the healing plant humans have been missing. Bold legacy cannabis operators have been taking risks to provide access to cannabis and now, regulators are catching up. What the hell is going on? Who are the winners and losers of the recent revolution? How do we decipher fact from fiction? Where is this industry headed?
Psilocybin Addiction Therapy
June 30, 2022 @ 8pm EST
Technology v Civilization with Nick Ayton
July 27, 2022 @ 8pm EST
Nick is a recognized Blockchain and Crypto thought leader and influencer since 2016 and was London Correspondent for CoinTelegraph writing over 300 articles and pieces. He is a technologist having strides computer science in 1970’s. His take on new technologies is both astounding and profound. He is a veteran of more than 10 tech startups and held general management roles at CSC Computer Sciences, CapGemini and Siemens AG and pioneered business processes re-engineering and process led transformation. In 2014/2015 he was part of a team that build a Bitcoin derivatives platform and has designed and built several decentralized business models. Nick is a thought leader in Quantum Computing, AI, Blockchain, Nano Materials, Brainships – Neuromorphic Processing, Transhumanism and is designing Artificial Neural Networks for his BioTech clients. He is working at the leading edge of synthetic biology which posses many ethical issues and challenges as science now has the ability in increase longevity and reverse ageing.
Law of Attraction. Physics of the Universe.
August 25, 2022 @ 8pm EST
The Power and Rituals of Ayahuasca
September 29, 2022 @ 8pm EST
Social Psychology with Jonathan Haidt October 28, 2022 @ 5pm EST
Ketamine Clinics
November 14, 2022 @ 8pm EST
Power of Music - Healing. Enhancement
December 15, 2022 @ 8pm EST
The right music can treat parkinsons and alzheimers. We are bringing you the experts who are at the cutting edge of these treatments.
