Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie London Wollberg.
Jamie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a 30-year-old queer disabled transgender man. I was born in Manhattan and raised in a conservative and predominantly Jewish suburb by my mother and father. I was a “tomboy” from day one and always felt “other”. I have younger siblings, fraternal boy-girl twins and they are about five years younger than me. Our relationship has been challenging, but fulfilling and they are often guiding lights for me. I have grown to understand the amount of privilege I had in my childhood, but it was masked by the immense amount of trauma stemming from different causes, with the first being medical. I was bullied a lot, for many reasons and struggled with a misunderstood condition, Executive Functioning Disorder. I often felt out of place, alone, and unwanted. I truly thought there was something wrong with me.
The challenges kept coming my way, simply for being different. By the time I was 14, I came out as bisexual, and I was one of only of very few in my school to identify as LGBTQAI+, although back then the acronym was three letters shorter. I was high-energy and driven from a young age, so I was always kept busy with extracurricular activities such sports and the Gay and Straight Alliance, which I was overjoyed to be President of before I graduated. Outside of that, I somehow found time for cooking, which was introduced to me at age 10 by a family friend and it became my obsession. I began working in my first professional kitchen at age 14.
Shortly after graduating from high school, I attended The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, but left before the year was up due to both physical and emotional health issues, as well as realizing the demands in school were removing my passion of the culinary arts. I wanted to be even closer to home, but my parents said I had to have a plan. Up until then, I had only visited culinary schools because I thought I was going to be the worlds next best chef. I remembered a friend from a past high school leadership program was attending SUNY Purchase, which I knew was a liberal art school. I graduated with a BA in Journalism and a minor in what was called lesbian and gay studies. While there, I was heavily involved in LGBTQU, the club for the LGBTQAI+ community on campus, as well as one of the school’s news sources, as a food beat writer. I wove in and out of journalism internships, but ultimately, it was the volunteer work I was doing in the LGBTQAI+ community since high school, that I loved.
When I was 21, I was diagnosed with a severe case of Lymes Disease. I also began identifying as queer, and THEN Kate Bornstein came to Purchase and gave a talk about gender and sexuality. It was the first time I consciously questioned my gender.
After graduating from SUNY Purchase in May 2012, I really didn’t know where I fit in. I moved back home with my parents and my dad, who works as an executive in real estate, helped me to get my real estate license, and I began to work for a few of his brokers. Simultaneously, it was suggested to me after getting some paid freelance work in social media; I was great at teaching older people how to use it for their business. That’s when I started a solo-social media consulting firm. Once I had ten clients, I left real estate and began to pursue social media marketing, and by then, event planning because I felt there was an overlap between the industries, which was just beginning. A lot was going on for me personally at the time, and the family had moved to Queens, NY. I had to make extra money, so I picked up a job at Starbucks in Grand Central Station. I worked the early morning shift, which was brutal, and it was eating me alive.
Suddenly, I got a really bad sinus infection, and I had no idea that this was going to be the final medical issue to really push my body over the edge. I health began to decline. I felt alone, isolated, and dissociated because no one, professionally or personally believed what I was experiencing was real. I became bed ridden and lost what I felt like was everything, but it was only the beginning. I moved home with my parents. No one could figure out what was wrong with me, but my symptoms were very similar to MS. Eventually, I was diagnosed with vestibular neuritis and told I was going to get better within a matter of months. That was the first moment of optimism. I couldn’t function, and emotionally, I was a mess. I was losing a lot of friends left and right, who I think just couldn’t bear to watch me fall apart. I had lost a relationship and much more. I needed that win. When I was bedridden, I naturally had a lot of time to think and obsess over everything. I really felt like I was dying, and I wanted to die. I didn’t have a life most would want to live at 24. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Now I was raised in a non-religious Jewish household, and although I’m very spiritual now, it was a very big deal for me then, to literally pray and swear that if I got out of that bed and could walk again, that I would live my truth. About 10 – 10 1/2 months of being bedridden, I got out of bed and immediately began to seriously work on transitioning.
I moved out from under my parents’ roof as soon as possible, and although I was legally disabled, I was proving able to live on my own. I had already turned 25 in bed, and I was determined to have more from life. I wanted to do more in life. I’m very mission and purpose-driven, and I felt useless. I desperately wanted to get privacy so I could begin to transition. I had no idea how they would react, despite the support I had when I came out as bisexual and later, as queer. Something about this felt much different, and I was very worried. Overall, my family was pretty liberal and stocked with Democrats, but there was still something that told me this was going to be challenging, and I think it was based on how truly terrified I was. It was a gut feeling. Unfortunately, I was right, and when I came out as transgender, people freaked out, and all reacted in their own different ways. Some have come around, but a few haven’t, and I’ve accepted never will. I was so far ahead in my thought process and emotionally at that time, and it was really hard for everyone to wrap their minds around. I suddenly had realized my earliest memories of clearly trying to be a boy at age five, and it became clear to me that I was going to literally die if I didn’t transition. In fact, I was convinced if I didn’t transition, my health was never going to improve. Through the ups and downs of my health, I worked in various jobs and started to medically transition.
At this point, I had begun hormone replacement therapy on 3/3/16 and had the first of three chest surgeries on 7/26/16. My health was starting to get manageable enough to work part-time and volunteer the other part of the time. I managed to both work and volunteer and a few LGBTQAI+ non-profits. After a while, I was hired for an incredible opportunity at The Trevor Project in crisis services. Then it hit – three full days of being bedridden and in total darkness. I was worse than I had been in a really long time. After trying over 50 different medications and treatments and seeing the top doctors in New York, it was advised that I move to the west coast where the weather would be better, and I would have access to further alternative medicine. I went on a search for where I was going to move. I needed to move somewhere the weather was more stable and near excellent medical care. I wanted to live somewhere there was a large LGBTQAI+ community. In a way which I don’t believe is a coincidence, I learned LA was my best option and simultaneously, Trevor Project opened their doors to me being in the same role in their LA office.
I had maybe ten days to start preparing for my move, as well as training. I flew out for the month of January 2017 to see how my body would react to the weather and go through training. It was that historic January where it rained so much, it almost ended the draught. I got a horrible sinus infection, which turned into if I recall, walking pneumonia. Somehow I survived going through training like that. I think it was sheer will and feeling like I was fulfilling my purpose. I loved it. The month went by in a blur and then it was back to NY to finish up packing. I moved mid-February and drove across the country with a new friend and my two cats. Let’s just say, never again.
My initial move to LA was as chaotic as it is for many because housing is a huge challenge, especially when you’re trans and disabled with two service animals. It didn’t exactly scream – rent to me! I did a lot of couch and apartment surfing, as well as hotel and Airbnb surfing. It broke the bank. I just kept telling myself I was exactly where I needed to be and reminded myself of why I had to leave NY. I wasn’t actually homesick until several months into living in LA. Working overnights at Trevor Project were some of the best and most important hours of my entire life. That said, my schedule made it rather challenging to make friends and live a typical life. My sleep patterns were always changing. When I was awake and not at work, I was spending a huge amount of time on the hunt for cannabis, which would help me become more functional. I wanted to take my life back.
The first time I ever went to a real dispensary in LA, it was a place by the airport, and although it was sketchy on the outside, it had a great variety of products on the inside. I had never seen anything like it before, being from New York, and more importantly, they had budtenders. It was the first time I learned what a budtender even was. The woman asked me to tell her all about what brought me to the shop and what my needs were. When I told her I moved to LA for my health, she asked me to tell her my medical history, and when I warned her about the time that would take and how it wasn’t exactly simple, she didn’t care and wanted me to tell her anyway. I immediately started crying, and I apparently wasn’t the first person to have that reaction. It was probably in that moment when I confirmed my desires to work within the cannabis industry. I became determined to work at both the Trevor Project and in the industry. For a while, I actually succeeded in doing so, but after working through a few jobs and spending much-needed sleeping hours, networking at events, my health began to fall apart again. The pattern of stopping, healing, and managing enough to start all over became a pattern I was all too familiar with. My health forced me to leave the Trevor Project, which thoroughly broke my heart and eventually got me fired from another business in cannabis, which didn’t see my value and wasn’t willing to support my journey.
My health became the sole focus in my life again, and I struggled to feel much hope, but there was one beaming light in my life – Blunt Broz. Blunt Broz was a persona/brand I created in July 2017 with a friend at the time. We were two trans guys, both cannabis patients, wanting to make a difference within the LGBTQA+ community, via education and activism. It was during that time I came up with the initial #Trannabis by merging trans and cannabis, and although I understood in my heart what this word meant, I didn’t immediately know how to define it. We were having a good run, and then we split ways with my continuing on the Blunt Broz mission. After some time, my health began to get even worse, and I found myself bedridden with new symptoms I had never had before. I would take nine months before I would be able to stop being bedridden full time because I got a proper diagnosis. I have been sick for over six years now, so it took six years for me to get properly diagnosed at UCLA. It wasn’t that the rest of my diagnoses weren’t accurate, but I finally got the answer I was looking for, what was the overlying issue. I always said I had an autoimmune disease. I always knew there was something much larger causing all of these other issues because if there was one thing I was certain of, it was that no one my age should have all these health issues. It wasn’t even until this round of being bedridden when I finally met with a rheumatologist at Cedars-Sinai and received the autoimmune disease tests. Of course, nothing looked wrong enough to be totally certain. At UCLA, after being denied by the Mayo Clinic because they didn’t think they could help me, a doctor who works with Mayo Clinic closely diagnosed me with Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness. This disease is a multi-genetic disease, which once activated, can be life long management. It’s different for everyone, but it is often on the mother’s side. Essentially, the mutation of genes which they are looking for, causes my body to be unbalanced and become susceptible (like autoimmune diseases) to other illnesses. I was told being in bed was the worst thing I could be doing, and so I started to get moving with the help of a physical therapist, a healer, and medicating with cannabis. I started to improve almost immediately. I went from not being able to walk to hiking with 18-pound weights strapped to my body. I once again was reminded that I am a miracle.
I finally became just well enough to get clearance for a laparoscopic hysterectomy, which I had on April 11th, 2019, at Cedars-Sinai. It was during that two-month recovery that a lot of things became very clear to me, both personally and professionally. For one, I finally knew how to define Trannabis – a noun – Trannabis is a lifestyle led by a trans cannabis patient or consumer who exhibits empathy, passion, and compassion throughout every aspect of their life to benefit the LGBTQAI+ and cannabis communities. I decided to completely rebrand and leave Blunt Broz behind with Trannabis in its place.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about your work – what should we know?
For Trannabis, my efforts are rooted in activism and education and geared towards healing. I create regular content for my Patreon, which can be anything from information on current cannabis events and laws to products and overall lifestyle. On there, some perks include discounts, private cannabis consultations for patients and consumers, as well as AMA’s. The Patreon funds will not only enable me to continue making content, but also raise money for my first future event, Trannabis: Healing For All Bodies, which will hopefully take place sometime this Fall LA.
Through Trannabis, I also host workshops for patients, and I recently ran a cannabis 101 geared towards those who are new to cannabis and in AA. When I’m not creating my own content or running workshops, I often work as a sales representative for Pride Wellness. When possible, I love to show support for businesses I believe in by assisting with events and doing reviews.
Trans Trusted Consulting is another recent entrepreneurial endeavor. At Trans Trusted Consulting, I guide those of trans masculine experience, their families, and the businesses looking to support them. When one person transitions, everyone around them has to make a transition. With the world growing more accepting and more trans people out in the open, businesses need to start making transitions, as well, to ensure they are properly caring for their employees and reaching consumers in an effective way. I myself was guided to start Trans Trusted Consulting. In May, a friend and mentor of mine who happens to be a coach for high-level executives brought it to my attention that I had been doing not just cannabis work for primarily free since moving to LA but also consulting on transitioning. Being trans and disabled is expensive, and I had to start truly making my own money. I had also starting to form and put into practice a new theory of how to unlock true happiness and I had a plan for how to share it with the world and Trans Trusted Consulting was the perfect vehicle. If I had this support open to me, as well as accessible information at a younger age, I have no doubt I would have suffered less, as would those who transition beside me.
Through www.transtrusted.com, you can book services such as; trans masculine experience guidance, parental guidance, and business guidance, as well as Trans 101 Workshops. Additionally, you can learn more about the Touch 10 Plan, and there will soon be expansions made to the website for a market place and resource page.
My most recent endeavor is Trannabis Chi, a company helping people of all abilities and bodies heal by using the combination of T’ai Chi, Qi Gong, and cannabis. I hold a certification through SCW Fitness and I’m currently building the website and looking for locations to host classes. Private sessions will also be an option, as well as digital access. When I began using T’ai Chi in physical therapy to help with my Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness, it became clear to me this was something I was meant to teach, especially to the LGBTQAI+, cannabis, and differently-abled communities. My mission is to be as accessible as possible.
What I am proud of is what happens to set me apart from most others, which is my mission of Trannabis. I make sure to never lose sight of my mission, and despite my having what sometimes feels like the world against me, as a queer disabled trans guy, I do my absolute best to be the best version of myself every day for others. I just make sure to keep fighting. I have been bedridden countless times, and I continue to lose almost everything over and over again. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you have absolutely nothing without your health. I know as long as I continue to focus on using my empathy, passion, and compassion to help benefit the LGBTQAI+ and cannabis communities, I’ll be fulfilling my purpose. I could have gone about things very differently, and I likely would be financially stable, but everything else would be gone. I can’t sleep well at night, knowing how much suffering is happening, I just can’t.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
You’re going to end up playing the Academy music they use to cut you off at award shows. I wouldn’t be alive without my parents, Marina London-Wollberg and John Wollberg, who are always trying their best. Though I haven’t always received the love and support in the way I wanted and needed, their ability to help me financially is why I have been able to get the medical care I need. In a way, anyone I help owes them the thank you, not me because I wouldn’t be alive without them.
My siblings have been absolutely paramount in my becoming my authentic self. They both love me to their absolute best ability. They continue to inspire me and teach me. Being a big brother is the ultimate privilege.
Overall, most of my extended family is supportive, with a few true allies.
A family friend who I grew up with from a super young age who has since passed away, but I called him Uncle Herb or Herbie. Herb had a massive impact on me, as he took the time to see and love me, long before I saw and loved myself. I valued the life lessons he started to teach me from a young age. If I’m struggling to get something done or make a decision, I often ask myself what he would tell me. Even before Herb came Lorna. Lorna was my nanny from day one, or as I later referred to her, NaNa. Lorna was the nanny for myself, as well as other family members. My actually earliest memories are with her there supporting me. She was from Jamaica, and she would make me plantains and give me raw sugarcane to suck on. I loved her, and her daughter Nikki who lived with us. They are the only two people I care about who I haven’t come out to as transgender, and it’s purely because I don’t know how Lorna in particular, will react.
I’m from NY, so most of my friend support comes from there. I have incredible friends over there, and I’ve known most of them for most of my life. I refer to some of them as my family. They fill my spirit and are with me in that way every single day. I can’t just name a few of them. Some are from childhood, and many are from the college era.
I’m still pretty new to LA, and since I have spent much of it handling my health, I haven’t had a chance to make too many close bonds. My friend Chris who accompanied me across the country with me has spent more time alone with me and my cats than anyone else in my adult life. I’m so appreciative of the lack of judgement based on all that he saw and helped me through. Jedi Dihenia was my first mentor in Los Angeles, when I was doing crisis work and I continue to be grateful to have them in my life, especially at the beginning of my LA journey. Julian Michael AKA Token, is a professional writer and comedian who advised you to interview me. We met in a professional space, and once we had a meeting, it became super clear we would find ways to collaborate. Make sure to follow my social media to stay tuned for all of the cool things coming up with us. Julian is brilliant, loyal, and hilarious. Brianne Key is a CMT and Founder of Sacred Transitions Massage & Healing Therapies, has been a warm beaming light in my inner circle. Both Julian and Brianne are also working with me on the Trannabis: Healing For All Bodies event. Katie Partlow, Founder of Little Face Events, has been a generous mentor to me within the event and experiential cannabis space. Katie has been advising me through the best and worst of starting to plan Trannabis: Healing For All Bodies.
My most influential mentor is my #Tranpa Buck Angel. From the moment we met, we were bonded by our similar missions and values. Buck has helped me both personally and professionally in ways which are very profound for me. I love working both with and for Buck, but even more so, I am so grateful for how he has paved the way for my existence as a queer, trans man.
Pricing:
- Trans Masculine Experience Guidance – 2-Hour Session – $60
- Parental Guidance – 2-Hour Session – $100
- Business Guidance – 2-Hour Session -$100
- 15% off – SummerSupport – Good for all services – Until Sept. 15, 2019
- 10% off First Session – Masculinity – Good for Trans Masculine Experience Guidance – Unlimited
- 10% off First Session – TransAlly – Good for Parental Guidance – Unlimited
- 10% off First Session – BusinessAlly – Good for Business Guidance – Unlimited
Contact Info:
- Website: www.transtrusted.com – www.patreon.com/trannabis – lnk.bio/transtrustedconsulting – lnk.bio/trannabis
- Phone: 914-220-2322
- Email: [email protected] – [email protected]
Image Credit:
Jamie London Wollberg
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition, please let us know here.
