- Support for this program was provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

- Hello, this is John Harmon, founder, president, and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Thank you for joining us today for Pathway to Success, our special guest, it's Christopher Aponte.

He is the founder, president, and CEO of AC Leaf.

And we have a lot to talk about today with this amazing individual welcome to Pathway to Success.

- Thank you for the invite.

- I've, I'm very impressed with you've, what you've been able to accomplish over the years.

And so let's just start with a little bit about your background.

Where from?

- Well, I'm from Brooklyn, New York, born and I migrated down to Atlantic City area around 88, 89.

Spent about a year or two in Atlantic City and ended up, ultimately ended up in Ocean City, New Jersey where I went to school.

My father and my mother worked in Atlantic City and my father actually retired from the Golden Nugget, you know, last year.

It's a, a fortunate thing 'cause he had asked me, son, can I retire?

And I said, yeah dad, you can retire now.

And that was a blessing for him to be able to retire knowing that I'm Okay.

- Good.

So he retired and now you write him checks every month?

- Yeah.

- Little, little more about your family.

- Well, you know, Puerto Rican, my father born in Puerto Rico, my mother born in Brooklyn.

I got two brothers.

I got my son, my three boys, and then I have three grand babies.

- What was it like growing up in, in, in those various communities?

- So we were really sheltered in a way growing up in Ocean City and then being able to see, you know, the quite opposite in Atlantic City where you're not sheltered.

There's a lot going on, a lot of violence.

I would say the downside of Ocean City was of course, you know, being owning Puerto Ricans and Ocean City was, was the racism, but it actually taught me on how to communicate with those type of people and how to communicate in different rooms.

- Well also you had a, a kind of a, a a, a brush with the law back years ago.

- I found myself incarcerated at the age of 20 years old.

I was only there for five months, you know, I never went back again.

And I had a a, a reality check because at that very moment I was the only person incarcerated in my entire family.

And that did not sit well with me, especially with my last name, Abonte.

And I knew that I had to make a, a dramatic change, especially for my father who really, you know, spilled out his blood, sweat and tears to gimme a better life.

You know, he could have went back to Brooklyn, he could have, you know, made those decisions, but instead he stood in Ocean City because he knew that the education that we were getting there was worth it.

But as I got older, you know, I still ran the streets a little bit.

And one, one day I asked one of the guys that I was running the streets with, it was his birthday, his 50th birthday.

And I asked him, are you gonna do this forever?

And he said, yeah.

And I went to my car, I asked myself, do I want to be a 50-year-old street guy?

And I told myself no.

So I end up going to talk to one of my friends at the time I was doing video production and I asked him, can I film his, like life in construction?

And he looked at me and he says, what are you doing with your life?

And looking at him, I said, I don't know.

I'm doing this video thing.

He says, why don't you try real estate?

You from the streets?

And usually people are, are from the streets, are really successful in real estate.

And at the time I thought real estate, you had to be a college educated, you know, high school diploma and all that stuff, no criminal record.

And he told me, no, not at all.

You just need a high school diploma and take the class 10 day class.

He paid for it.

And you're selling real estate.

- What was some of the, the qualities or traits or skills that transferred from one industry to the other?

- I would say the biggest trait that transferred was fear.

When I was running the streets, I was pretty much sacrificing my life for nothing.

And I didn't think twice of the things that I was doing.

And so when I became into the legal world, it wasn't hard for me to take these chances when it came to dealing with investors or talking to different cultural people.

Not being afraid because I figured my lowest failure in the corporate world didn't amount to what my lowest failure would be in the streets, which was death or incarceration.

- Talk a little bit more about your, your journey and how you stayed positive, not withstanding, you know, being formally incarcerated and now have to recalibrate your whole strategy to go forward in life, - You know, well, when I went to real estate school and then from there I joined Keller Williams.

And in Keller Williams I started learning about self-confidence.

At one point, I have to say, one of the, one of my inspirations was a gentleman by the name of Dan Torres, which at the time was the CEO of Keller Williams.

And he'll see me come into the office with my suit on, but I would always wear my fitted cap.

I had a, I had a complex about being young and going bald.

And so I sat in his office and he was Puerto Rican.

He wore his suit and he was also bald.

And I looked at him, I was like, wow, you know, he gave me the confidence just seeing his, where he was at in his career.

And then he, you know, we started speaking about confidence and he told me he wanted me to join a class called Bold Business Objective Lifestyle and Design.

And in that class they asked us, you know, after the millions of dollars, after the plane rides, after the Rolexes and cars, everything you could possibly buy with money, what's the one thing you could survive or live with or be satisfied for the rest of your life if that's all you had?

And that is what really made me think about my life and my journey and what I have to start doing to be able to answer that question.

Because I didn't know what that question was or the answer to that question at that very moment.

I had to look more deeper into myself.

And that's what gave me the drive to figure out what I wanted to do in my life.

And as time went on, I figured out I love to travel.

And when I made that my one thing, my life started changing.

'cause therefore I had a goal.

'cause of course our goals are always set to better your family, feed your kids, take care of your mom, your dad.

Those are the almost natural goals, just like oxygen, it is to life.

But something that was personal for myself, I i it was, it was traveling.

- Well, let's talk about the process of expungement and why was that important for you as you matriculated with the, on a path of a more positive outlook?

- Well, the expungement program was a huge thing in my life.

As I journeyed through real estate, I found myself breaking records.

I did 110 listings my first 10 months with Keller Williams.

Actually broke Keller Williams record out of, - That's a lot.

- All, all of Keller Williams.

Internationally, I was the highest listing agent for the 10 months.

At one point, Zillow, that's all you saw, was my name.

From there I learned commercial real estate, how to develop land and things of that nature.

Because I had relationships with New York, still, I end up having a one-time listing to the World Trade Center.

That was a big accomplishment for me to actually have the honor to be able to list something so, so iconic.

Of course, COVID hit things went south, but what ended up coming out of that was an opportunity to own Caesar's Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which was connected to Caesar's Casino.

At the time, these same casinos told me I wasn't even qualified to clean their bathrooms because I had a criminal record.

And then in 2022, I found myself sitting in the rooms with the CEOs of Caesar's and El Dorado negotiating a real estate property and actually cementing myself into Atlantic City as the first minority to own an asset on Atlantic City boardwalk.

'cause prior to 1964, if you was a minority black Spanish, you couldn't even walk on the boardwalk.

Caesar's Pier Chicken Bone Beach was actually right next to Caesar's Pier, which is the beach that we have a lease to, which at the time was the only beach that our ancestors was allowed of visit.

So in many ways that was a huge accomplishment, but also a, a huge fear because of the Department of Gaming.

I had to file for my Department of Gaming license and you can't have a criminal record filed for a gaming license.

And that's when the cannabis industry ended up turning around.

It held me back for 20 years from the average blue collar work and opportunities.

But now today it became the catalyst to actually allow me to become an owner of a park casino, which was Caesar's Pier.

Because of the cannabis reform, it allowed me to have an expungement at that same time.

So the timing was just impeccable because the expungement went through at the same time my license went through for the DGE.

- But talk about other things you did professionally before you formed AC Leaf.

- Well, prior to AC leaf and prior to real estate, I filmed, I did video production.

I traveled with guys like Michael Blackson actually helped him, you know, do a couple things within my American Queen being the fact that my father had a computer in my house since I was six.

And my brother Jose was a computer genius.

One of the biggest things that he did to try to get me off the streets was push me into computer world.

He figured this was a good way to keep me safe.

- When did you form AC leaf?

- So, as I was in my real estate career, a friend of mine by the name of Miguel Lugo called me and said, Hey, why don't you get into the cannabis industry?

And at the time I was like, no, I'm happy doing real estate.

But then when the C'S P came about and I was laying in bed, I said to myself, you know what the state owes me because they blocked me out for something that now they are doing for the same reasons that I was doing it.

I needed money, they need money, they need tax money.

I can't get those years back, but I could make the best of the what I have left.

And so I decided to open up AC leaf, I went to ww dot the AC leaf, LEAF, and it was taken.

So I said, you know what, what's the next day?

I made it an e ac leaf, LEEF.

But then I did the origin of the word leaf and LEEF and it became the last name of George Lee outta Chicago, who fought for equal rights for minority businesses, for social equity, and a woman out of Israel, her last name Leaf as well, who fought for equal rights in Israel for businesses, for women.

So then it became more than just the name, because I myself was followed for social equity.

- Now the social equity, that was one of the categories is you could file and if so, define it.

- So social equity was a category that you can file if you had a felony on your jacket.

So social equity, when I filed for social equity, I filed because it allowed me a pathway to be able to get my expungement and then the opportunity to hold a, a EA equitable license.

It was a little hard though, - So, so Chris, could you just just go a little deeper on social equity.

Give some examples of who would qualify as a social equity cannabis owner.

- So, so social equity cannabis owner basically lies if you grew up in a poverty area, like, you know, some bad parts of Atlantic City, Newark, Trenton, different areas they have zoned.

And the government has identified what was called impoverished zones.

And then if you caught any cannabis related felonies or crimes, whether it was possession, intent to distribute anything has to do with in the cannabis, you'll grow in it.

Any, anything.

And so because of that, you would now your license put in the front before someone who actually does not have a background, actually has good credit, good money, good everything.

But - You get, as a social equity vendor, you get priority - As a social equity vendor, you get priority over everything, you know, get priority over vendors and licenses.

- So give us an overview of AC Leaf.

How's it going?

- So AC Leaf is doing pretty well.

- Okay.

- It is turning a corner over a quarter million dollars only.

I'm being a hundred days open, but it is a big thing because there's 13 other dispensaries in Atlantic City.

- So, Chris, listen, we're gonna, we're gonna take a break here on Pathway to Success.

- For more information, please visit our website.

- Welcome back to Pathway to Success, Christopher Aponte.

I'm excited to talk to you today.

Your journey has been just amazing.

It's about the journey, it's about your perseverance, about your commitment to success.

I wanna talk a little bit about your first customer experience when you opened up AC Leaf.

What was that like?

- You know, my first customer experience was a very surreal feeling.

I had a, a really good friend that were, they were twins named Jo Giovanni and Sergio and his brother Giovanni.

When I first told him about my journey was right there.

He was like really supportive and he was like, what do you need?

You know, I gave you money, gave whatever you need.

He actually gave me the first 500 bucks to, to pay for the domain and the LLC and stuff.

And then about a year and a half, two years ago, he died through violence, of course, you know, unfortunately.

But then when the day I opened up my door, my first customer was his brother Sergio.

And so it, it came full circle for me because, you know, I knew I was going in the right direction, you know, seeing Sergio's face and, you know, such a familiar face that was there with me when I had nothing.

And he's there with me as my first customer was I, I, in my opinion, part of my, my, the peak of everything that I have done for AC Leaf.

- But it's great that you had these individuals to step up at that particular time.

So let's talk a little bit about product.

- We sell cannabis, real cannabis, THC, made from marijuana plant cannabis plants.

The difference between a marijuana plant and a hemp plant is hemp only produces up to about 3% THC, which is just not enough to really create the euphoria of what people look for because the THC really just determines the euphoria experience that you're gonna experience.

Where the TURPs is what you experience, you know, your, the medical traits basically to it, pain and you know, anxiety, all those things actually come from the TURPs of the plant.

The THC, this really gives you on high, how high basically are you gonna feel.

- Let's take that and go back a little bit in your journey.

Talk about lessons learned in the early stages of AC Leaf.

- Some of the biggest lessons that I learned going through AC Leaf was relationships.

Relationships I realize are the most important feature to your journey and your success.

You have to have the right people around you who believe in you.

You know, having those relationships, these people really were big supporters and really believed in me and really took their step forward into opening up doors for me, or at least knocking on the doors for me, you know, and allowing myself to walk through those doors to see how I'm gonna, you know, respond on what's gonna be the results.

And being able to have the doors open with AC Leaf was just a testament to my thank you to the people who supported me.

- You had the work ethic, you had the commitment to being successful.

You put the time in, you weren't looking for folks to do all the work, you were just looking for some guidance, some suggestions, some connectivity to, to the appropriate people and you did the rest.

So you should be commended for that.

And a lot of people don't do that.

In terms of what you do in the community, speak to that - Well as, as well as hiring my employees, which are all based out of Atlantic City, since I'm social equity, I made it a point to hire people within our own community and pay them really well.

Our budtenders are the highest paid budtenders in Atlantic City.

I also run a nonprofit with two of my friends, Dan Sinclair and William Cooper.

The nonprofit is Out of Bounds and Out of Bounds, focuses on at risk youth, sports, youth and also seniors.

- You, you talked earlier about you've, you've hired a number of employees from the Atlantic City community.

Are any of them formerly incarcerated?

- One of them was formerly incarcerated.

So with that being said, he currently is working is, I wanna say probably the top employee at AC Leaf next to my guy Rick, who is just a superstar when it comes to AC Leaf.

- Talk about what went into giving you the appearance or that you wanted the, the experience for customers when they walk in AC you leave.

- I wanted to give the customers a fun time because so many dispensaries make buying cannabis be so like serious.

You got the security guard with the gun, you know, it's just like, what am I doing?

Am I buying weed or am I, you know, I don't know.

You're going into Fort Knox, you don't know what you're doing.

- So - I created a fun door system, created fun colors.

That was kind of, you know, my vision.

- I like that.

Sources of inspiration - Growing up with Jay-Z, his inspiration from being a street guy and then working this way through the corporate world.

But then when it came to more local, more local people, you know, I wanted to say at the time was guys like Dan Torres, a friend, Mike Martin, some of these people, Ned aka my, you know, my family, of course my father Ned aka was a big inspiration in my life because he really gave me the opportunity and believed in me before anybody else did.

And the only thing he asked to return was that one day when I'm in the position of success, to be able to just pay it forward.

And that's all he asks back from me.

- Inspiration.

What has gotten you driven you to overcome those obstacles and, and be the business person that you are today?

- My past is my inspiration and where I could be in my future is my determination.

My inspiration comes of just knowing that I'm there for my boys and seeing their eyes when I'm doing things that are successful.

When that feeling that I get inside, I wouldn't just keep on compounding.

So I, although I look for inspiration with inside myself, I find mostly all my inspiration from my boys - Business ventures outside of AC Leaf.

Do you have any other things going on?

- I'm currently closing on the Deal as Seasons Pier.

It's a $10 million project bringing in hybrid one as partners into the iconic one, Atlantic Ocean as seasons p And then my next project on after that is redeveloping the Knights in Columbus, building in the Orange Loop in Atlantic City.

And then I've wanna say my final project in Atlantic City would be developing 50 homes to promote more home ownership in Atlantic City.

- So I like that, I like that a lot.

So this is the time where you put on the advice hat, you become the mid in the audiences, the mid tee.

Talk to some prospective business owners.

Give them some words of advice about business or life or both.

- I wanna say my biggest advice to anyone is persistence outweighs resistance.

If you persistent and you believe in it, don't let nothing stop you.

You need a team, you need those helps.

You need those politicians, you need those members, you need the chambers.

'cause there's only so far you're gonna make it by yourself.

So look out for who are the ones that cheer for you the most.

Persistence outweighs resistance.

And those are words that resonate with me to this day today.

- AC Leaf, five years from now, what can we expect?

- We can expect AC Leaf to be franchised all across the 27 current states that cannabis is legalized in.

And eventually when it becomes federal and open up north 50 states, - You know, - Be able to have made a, a big impact in the cannabis community.

My main focus is educating my kids on wealth and being able to allow them to inherit the things that I have developed, but not inherit it in a way where it's just being given to them.

But because they grew up with me in these industries, my kids grew up with me in the real estate, they're growing up with me in the cannabis industry and they're close to what I do.

They wanna be a part of what I do, which makes it a lot easier when your kids want to be a part of what you do.

They're very intelligent young men.

And so I look forward to watching them grow when I retire.

- Chris, I was just, thank you for allowing us to have this conversation today with you and, and to the audience.

I want to just thank you for tuning in until the next time on your Pathway to success.

Today's message is civic engagement with reciprocity.

We all have an opportunity to cast our vote for the candidate of our choice.

And what I've found over the years, a lot of the selection of those who vote is largely emotional.

If you poll people, they, many of them could probably tell you, well, I voted for this person 'cause I like that person.

But if you do a deeper dive and say, well, what was their platform?

What, what is your expectation?

What are you gonna get in return?

We have a governor's race coming up in New Jersey.

We recently had a a forum where we had a great exchange with all the gubernatorial candidates, but elections are largely local.

I look around, I'm from the city of Trenton, all the legislators are up for reelection.

But I noticed in my community there's no lawn signs, there's no marketing or campaign materials being distributed about local candidates.

So is it because the elected officials are comfortable and they're taking your vote for granted?

That's why I'm asking you all to get more engaged because there's ultimately consequences at the end of every election.

You are either going to get what you expected or you're gonna get a heavy dose of what you did not expect.

Be focused, be engaged.

So do your part.

And if we all do our part, we should come out in a pretty good place.

- Support for this program was provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.