Kriti Mehrotra
With Hulu’s Jimmy-Kimmel-produced ‘High Hopes’ delving deep into the world of legalized marijuana through a company named MMD, we get a workplace reality series unlike any other. After all, it follows Belarus-born brothers Slava and Mishka Ashbel, along with their often stoned employees, as they navigate the pitfalls, pleasures, and pressures of trying to go corporate. They are primarily Uriel Valenzuela, Jared Brady, Morgan Lee, Frederick “Freddie” Miller, as well as Dani Martin, and here’s where they all stand today, considering filming ended a year ago.
Slava and Mishka Ashbel Are Still Thriving
Although MMD’s (Medical Marijuana Dispensary’s) flagship store is still their Hollywood location, co-founders/owners Slava and Mishka have since managed to expand operations to another level. In fact, they’re now open in North Hollywood, Long Beach, Redwood City, plus Marina Del Ray, all the while having concrete plans to soon open in San Francisco and Jersey City, New Jersey, too.
As for their personal whereabouts, it appears as if the brothers are based in Los Angeles County these days, where they’re trying their best to juggle both their growing firm as well as families. While Slava is a happily married father — he reportedly recently welcomed adorable twins with his wife Tatiana — Mishka is in a long-term blissful involvement with Sumaiya “Sumi” Islam, who is also their assistant.
Uriel Valenzuela is a MMD Veteran
Whether it be security guard, budtender, manager, or assistant, Uriel (aka Uri) has seemingly done every single job imaginable for MMD in his 16 years of employment with them. However, today, he primarily serves as their delivery driver and idea king, who has some extraordinary privileges considering his loyalty to the company, the brothers, and weed in general. Even if he does go too far sometimes, he technically can’t be fired because if the brothers fire him, their father will hire him right back – he’s now a part of their family and deservedly so.
Jared Brady is an Artist Through and Through
While there’s no denying Jared was unhappy in his position as a budtender at the time of filming since he knew he had the potential to do much more, it looks like he’s still involved with MMD. However, his current position appears to be in the realm of social media, something he has already been successfully doing alongside his wife Shan Boodram (whom you might recognize from ‘Too Hot to Handle’) for a while. Moreover, and more importantly, he’s a proud father of two as well as a musician — his latest single is titled “Magic,” and it’s available to stream on all the usual platforms right now.
Freddie Miller is a True Los Angeles Resident Today
When we first came across Freddie, the full-time professional stoner had only relocated from his home state in Michigan to California to expand his horizons in the industry. Yet now, as a proud MMD budtender, he has managed to stand on his own two feet in Los Angeles while also finding a group of people he can call his own. In other words, he has found a new, different kind of family in this once-new place, too, especially in Uriel – they’re admittedly more than friends; they have a full-fledged bromance going on.
Dani Martin Has Launched a Cannabis Culture Brand
Although it was said early on in the show that Dani is the one to watch out for because she has created drama in the workplace before, she was actually simply ambitious. She’s the kind of person who doesn’t have time for people’s negativity, plus she is consistently looking to push her career forward, but she made it clear she won’t do it at others’ or MMD’s expense. The truth is Dani did want to go ahead with her plan of launching her cannabis brand the same day MMD was, but she did step back a little when it became clear there could be a conflict of interest. We specify “a little” because she has since launched Dani’s Dank as a cannabis culture brand; it appears as if this budtender made the leap to do so in September 2023. She currently only sells apparel while also ensuring her brand serves as a platform of empowerment and a testament to all things cannabis.
Morgan Chanel Lee is a Model
Morgan might have come across as a serious individual in ‘High Hopes’ as MMD Hollywood’s Assistant Manager, but she is actually so much more. In fact, she’s a fun-loving youngster, a fashion model, as well as a full-fledged influencer with both relatively famous TikTok and YouTube accounts. As if that’s not enough, she’s also a travel enthusiast, an Underrated brand ambassador, plus a runway model — in other words, she’s a woman of many hats, doing her best to earn a good life for herself.
Sumaiya “Sumi” Islam is Still With Mishka
From what we can tell, Sumi prefers to keep her past experiences largely away from the limelight at the moment, but we do know her family proudly hails from Bangladesh. It’s thus safe to assume she and Mishka probably initially connected over being children of hard-working immigrants, enabling them to build a solding foundation. Therefore, even though this fitness plus travel enthusiast doesn’t drink, smoke, or prefer to lead a partying lifestyle in any manner, she and Mishka work in more ways than one. In fact, apart from being romantically involved, it seems like she’s also still his and Slava’s assistant.
Ronnie Correa is Quite an Experienced Manager
As a 1994 Los Angeles Pierce College graduate with an Associate’s degree in business management, Ronnie actually kickstarted his career in the restaurant industry. He served as a General Manager at Charlie G’s Steakhouse, Morton’s Steakhouse, The Huntley Hotel, Spear Steak & Seafood, Red White & Bluezz, and Jimmy’s Famous American Tavern, before he even joined MMD in 2018. However, once he did, this family man was quickly able to establish himself and has thence been able to maintain his position of Operations Manager at the flagship Hollywood shop to this day.
Read More: Slava and Mishka Ashbel: Where Are the MMD Shops Co-Owners Now?
