Respecting the plant at scale: inside Redemption Botanicals

For Marshall Lionti, cannabis is more than an obsession, it's a lifestyle. "I have been a cannabis consumer for over thirty years," he says. "I grew up partly in Texas, where cannabis was something you did not talk about. Even back then I was already questioning why the plant was demonized. That was long before it was cool to say that out loud."

By training, Marshall is an accountant. By inclination, he was always a cultivator. During college, while studying finance and preparing for what looked like a conventional professional career, his attention kept drifting elsewhere. "I had a closet full of plants in 2001," he recalls. "I was sitting in class thinking about what was happening back home in that closet."

That split never really resolved over a decade later. By day, he was managing a million-dollar real estate portfolio. By night, cannabis was taking up more and more mental space. "I reached a crossroads," he says. "I could stay in a career I was good at, or I could walk away and do something I actually cared about."

The decision became real when a friend named Kyle announced he was leaving Texas for Colorado to work as a medical caregiver. Marshall followed. A brief attempt to stay tethered to corporate life ended quickly when a drug test made the choice for him. "That was the final break," he says. "After that, there was no pretending anymore."

© Redemption BotanicalsBest In Grass Awards L to R: Mark Kaz, presenter. Dread, RB Director of Cultivation. Marshall Lionti, RB CEO.

First moves
The early years were improvised, as they often are. A rented house, a landlord who found out, a forced exit. Eventually Marshall and his wife bought a home outside Denver. That basement marked a turning point. "That was when I first tried to treat cultivation like a system," he says. "Scientific, repeatable, professional."

It was also when Marshall first started working with Agrowtek. At a time when cannabis specific environmental controls were still rare, he outfitted the basement flower rooms with Agrowtek's early generation control systems. "They were one of the first companies actually building technology for cannabis, not repurposing something from another industry," he says.

Those systems were far from polished by today's standards, but the approach stuck. "I have been using Agrowtek since those basement days," Marshall says. "It has honestly been a pleasure watching their equipment and software develop over the years. They have improved a lot, and they did it by staying close to operators."

The project eventually ran into power limitations, forcing another move, this time to the western slope of Colorado. There was one season of outdoor hemp, followed by a small indoor medical facility that Marshall again designed himself. Once more, Agrowtek controls formed the backbone of the environmental strategy. For three to four years, the operation ran without missing a single harvest, building a strong reputation with extractors for consistency and quality. "That was when I realized we had maxed out what that site could do," he says. "The next step had to be commercial scale."

© Redemption Botanicals

"I want to operate them"
What followed was a long stretch familiar to many operators. Facility designs for projects in Las Vegas, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio and Maryland. Budgets drawn up, licenses pursued, and none of them quite coming together. "After a while, I took my hands off the wheel," Marshall says. "I stopped pushing. I figured the next step would show itself."

It eventually did, in Illinois. When introduced to license holder Bill Taki, Marshall was initially asked to help sell licenses in a limited market. He declined. "I told him I did not want to sell them," he says. "I wanted to operate them."

With Illinois offering some insulation from the extreme price compression seen elsewhere, the idea gained traction. An investor stepped in and together they raised the capital to build what became Redemption Botanicals.

The first plants entered the building in May 2024 and the first products went to market in October. Fast forward twelve months and the facility is running a full portfolio of brands. Redemption remains the flagship, but the roster includes partnerships with Preferred Gardens, Dr GreenThumb, DNA Genetics, Cheech and Chong, Beezle, Mile High Melts and Bubble Man. "We look for partners who have proven successful in other markets and who bring their own genetics to the table," Marshall explains. "We differentiate ourselves by having a menu that you cannot find anywhere else."

© Redemption Botanicals

The facility itself reflects lessons accumulated over decades. Indoor cultivation under LED lighting, rockwool media, drip fertigation, clean rooms, hydrocarbon and solventless extraction all under one roof. Up to 14,000 square feet of canopy supported by dedicated mother and vegetative rooms. Environmental control is treated as infrastructure, with Agrowtek systems again forming the backbone of the operation.

"I like working with companies where you can actually talk to the people building the tools," Marshall says. "With Agrowtek, it has never been a call center situation. You give feedback, and you actually see changes made. That flexibility has mattered at every stage, from a basement grow to a facility like this."

"It's been our pleasure to work with Marshall over the last decade and see what he has accomplished. Being able to get real time feedback over the years from him at every scale has been very valuable for us and helps us to develop solutions that modern cultivators need," says Mike from Agrowtek. "Many people start small in this industry but have a big vision. Marshall is proof that with the right focus and execution it is possible to exceed your goals. We are very excited to see what they will be doing in the next 5-10 years."

Bringing cannabinoid complexity to market
That emphasis on responsiveness mirrors how Redemption approaches the plant itself. The operation is not chasing headline THC numbers. "We are not afraid of low THC cultivars," Marshall says. "We lean into terpene content. 2.5-3.5% is where we like to be. There is more to this plant than a single cannabinoid."

That is because market trends can hardly dictate how Marshall and the Redemption Botanicals team feel about cannabis. "This is culture driven," Marshall says. "We care about how it looks, how it smells, how it feels. Our job is to respect the plant, give it the best environment possible and let the genetics do what they are meant to do."

© Redemption BotanicalsL to R: Dread, Director of Cultivation. Alex F., Director of Processing. Marshall Lionti, CEO

Today, Redemption Botanicals operates entirely within the regulated Illinois market, supplying both adult use and medical dispensaries. The operation is vertically integrated, focused on craft quality at a price point Marshall believes the market has been missing. "When I first looked seriously at Illinois, I saw high prices and a low-quality average," he says. "As a consumer, that stood out. If you bring real quality to market at a fair price, people notice."

After decades of detours, spreadsheets and basements, that idea finally has room to scale. "We are lucky to do this," he says. "This is a passion project first. If that enthusiasm comes through in the product, then we are doing our job."

For more information:
Redemption Botanicals
P.O. Box 202, Danville, IL 61832
[email protected]
redemptionbotanicals.com