Cory Rothschild left Gatorade in November 2018 to join the much smaller Cresco Labs as head of brand marketing. He is now the cannabis company’s senior VP of marketing, overseeing all marketing including for its retail arm, Sunnyside.

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On paper, “my job was ‘the’ job,” Rothschild, 36, says of his role as Gatorade's brand director, which followed work revamping sister line Propel. Still, after graduating from Harvard Business School and spending years working to improve results for mainstream consumer packaged goods brands, Rothschild was eager to take on a new challenge.

“I’m very motivated by the feeling like you can impact a lot of people’s lives by the work that you do and the products that you sell,” he says. And he calls it “an honor” to work on the company’s projects tied to eliminating the systemic racism tied to cannabis.

Rothschild envisions Cresco, which has eight brands in its portfolio, growing to be seen as the Bud Light or Tylenol of cannabis. Working on making Cresco’s brands stand out in the burgeoning space is “a marketer’s dream challenge,” he says.

If you could have dinner with one person, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

I actually had this chance as a high school junior when an organization asked me to name five living people I’d want to meet, and then selected one and made it happen. I was a semi-professional violinist, and I got to meet Itzhak Perlman. I had the chance to actually spend time with him before and after rehearsals and at a concert. It’s a pretty meaningful moment in my life because it’s almost like people said, “I want you to dream as big as you can and we’ll make it happen.” Someone created that opportunity for me and there’s a level of, if you know what you want, it can happen.

What are the top two social media sites you use on a regular basis?

Tiktok and Instagram. Twitter is a close third.

What’s currently on your bedside reading list?

Books about how to parent a toddler, including a lot by Emily Oster. [Rothschild’s son was born in 2020.]

What was the last show you binge-watched?

I watch a remarkably little amount of television. Does the Thomas Keller MasterClass count?

At what age do you hope to retire?

75—I just can’t imagine not wanting to work on something. I can’t imagine a time when I wouldn’t want to be engaged, even if it means less as a full-time officer of a company. What I’m working on will certainly evolve and change but it’s hard to imagine stopping work.

See Ad Age's 40 Under 40 list here.