Kriti Mehrotra
As a workplace reality series living up to its genre as well as its title in practically every way conceivable, Hulu’s Jimmy Kimmel-executive produced ‘High Hopes’ is genuinely one of a kind. That’s because it delves deep into the complex yet carefree world of legalized marijuana drugstores through MMD, an organization whose name literally stands for Medical Marijuana Dispensary. Therefore, of course, co-owners-founders Slava and Mishka Ashbel play a significant role throughout this original by being the ones to actually seriously underscore what this industry means.
Slava and Mishka Ashbel Are Entrepreneurs Through and Through
Although born into a relatively stable household in Belarus to Ella and Joseph Ashbel, brothers Slava and Mishka primarily grew up in the US after their family relocated around the late 1980s. The truth is this was a very difficult decision for them, yet they also had little choice in the matter considering their homeland was antisemitic – so, they had to think of their lives plus their future. “We’re Jewish,” the latter elucidated in the aforementioned show. “We ca me here to probably avoid getting murdered. My dad had to give everythi ng up in order for us to come here and be safe.”
Slava then added, “It was a huge culture shock. But when we got here, LA really seemed like paradise. ‘This is America. You know, we’re here.’ I don’t think my parents make us feel the obligation of becoming successful in the US because they sacrificed, but we have to use the chance we got.” It thus comes as no surprise he and Mishka worked hard throughout high school while also carefully dabbling in their extracurricular interests before eventually tapping into the latter for their professional careers.
According to reports, Mishka actually evolved into a licensed realtor in 2002 and served in at least three Califonia brokerages within a decade, while his brother Slava led a rather private life. However, everything turned upside down for this duo in 2006 as they chose to step into their lucrative stoner community by establishing MMD prior to co-founding The Green Easy in 2009 too. The latter unfortunately had to close its doors in January 2022 following a rather incredible 12 years, yet the former has been thriving since its first day owing to its incredible concept as well as aim.
Yes, MMD has faced its fair share of issues over the years, including different state legalities, employee drama, plus store robberies, but it has been successful with the help of Joseph’s many inputs. As per Slava and Mishka, their father’s experience has enabled him to develop a magic touch when it comes to any business ventures, so they obviously go to him whenever they have any concerns. Coming to the store robberies, well, the brothers were admittedly a little foolish in their early days since they didn’t even have a safe despite their dealings mostly being in cash, making it imminent.
Slava and Mishka Are Still Thriving
While it’s true that MMD Hollywood remains the organization’s flagship store, Slava and Mishka have managed to expand a lot in the last few years thanks to their unwavering determination (plus more stoners). They actually now have stores in North Hollywood, Redwood City, Long Beach, and Marina Del Rey (all in California), with two more coming soon in Jersey City, New Jersey, as well as San Francisco. Moreover, it appears as if they’re continuing on the path to hold more events to be better integrated with their community, launch more brands, and raise funding to push everything to an even better level.
Coming to their personal standing, while MMD Shops’ owner-operator Mishka still seems to be blissfully involved with Sumaiya “Sumi” Islam at the moment, co-founder-owner Slava (or Steve) looks to be a happily married father; he’s a dog dad and he recently had twins with his loving wife Tatiana. We should also mention that there is a third Ashbel brother, but he prefers to keep himself well away from the limelight these days – in fact, even his social media platforms give us no clue regarding who he is, what he does, or where precisely he stands in the world of weed.
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