During early recovery, a simple gummy eased anxiety and sparked my first homemade infused chocolate bar. That moment of relief turned into creativity, then into Cosmo D’s Outrageous Edibles — the first expression of a mission that began years earlier during my father’s battle with cancer and my work supporting Prop 215. Those early recipes became the foundation for products that customers still request today.

As the brand grew, I began making infused hot sauce, BBQ sauce, pesto, and mustard as small thank-you gifts for budtenders who supported my chocolates. Those gifts unexpectedly took off, creating overwhelming demand and landing the products in more than 100 dispensaries across California. But with rapid growth came real challenges: corporate pressure in the cannabis industry, personal battles with addiction, a collapsing home life, and ultimately the loss of the cannabis kitchen that housed my license.

Everything came to a halt — not because the products failed, but because life did. That pause became the turning point that later led to rebuilding, sobriety, and the eventual rise of Gourmet Ganja.