#57 - S6:E13 - Aubrey Amatelli | From JPMorgan to Building PayRio: Solving Cannabis' Payments Problem

⁠ Recorded on-site at Hall of Flowers Ventura 2026, this episode of Women in CannaBusiness features Aubrey Amatelli, Founder and CEO of PayRio, a payments company built for the cannabis industry. Aubrey’s career has taken her from the fast-paced Silicon Valley startup world to JPMorgan and ultimately back to entrepreneurship, where she combined her experience in payments with her passion for cannabis and alternative medicine to build PayRio. In this conversation, Aubrey shares what it was like experiencing a $70 million startup acquisition, transitioning into corporate life while raising three kids and serving as the breadwinner for her family, and eventually realizing she missed the speed, ownership, and impact that came with building something smaller. We also talk about the experiences that pushed Aubrey to build a company of her own, including working within male-dominated startup environments and recognizing an opportunity to solve one of the cannabis industry's most persistent challenges: payments. But this conversation goes beyond entrepreneurship. Aubrey opens up about waiting months before publicly sharing her involvement in cannabis on LinkedIn and what happened when she finally did. Former colleagues began privately reaching out to tell her that they consumed too, used the plant medicinally, or wanted her advice, but couldn't talk about it openly in their own professional lives. It's a reminder that the cannabis consumer isn't always who we picture. Many are parents, executives, professionals, and people working within traditional corporate environments who still don't feel comfortable being open about their consumption. We talk about why normalization matters, the realities of building an ancillary business in an industry that remains federally illegal, and why solving one of the hardest problems in cannabis has also given Aubrey what she calls the best job she's ever had. About Aubrey Amatelli Aubrey Amatelli is the co-founder and CEO of PayRio, a payments company focused on creating compliant payment solutions for the cannabis industry. Her background spans Silicon Valley startups, financial services, payments, and entrepreneurship, including experience at JPMorgan that helped build the foundation for the work she does today at PayRio. Connect with Aubrey + PayRio LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/aubreyamatelli/⁠ PayRio: ⁠https://payrio.co/⁠ Instagram: ⁠@payrio_hq⁠