Nia Bowers
Space Poppers (source: Space Poppers)
A lighting designer from Buffalo and a Brazilian baker and former web designer from São Paulo meeting on a high-pressure baking competition might sound like a plot of a feel-good series, yet it became the real-life beginning of an innovative cannabis snack company: SpacePoppers. Long before its gourmet popcorn landed on shelves in the US, its founders, Sara Schonour and Rodolfo Goncalves, were perfecting two entirely different crafts, crafts that would one day collide in the most unexpected way.
Rodolfo Goncalves and Sara Schonour (source: Space Poppers)
Sara’s path started in engineering. For nearly 16 years, she built a career in lighting design, leading a studio and solving problems that blended architecture, technology, and artistry. “Problem solving has always been in my blood,” she says. That instinct led her to an opportunity to join the show on one of the well-known streaming platforms, a creative competition pairing engineers with bakers to build edible machines and structures. It was the catalyst neither she nor Rodolfo saw coming.
Rodolfo arrived in the US in 2004 through a moment of serendipity, which led him to enter the culinary world, cooking and cleaning for restaurants. Surrounded by New York chefs, he discovered baking and a hidden talent. Competitions soon followed. He won Brides Magazine’s Most Beautiful Cakes, opened his bakery, and became a regular on baking shows across many platforms. “I started winning some competitions, and then it just kept going,” he recalls.
When the two were paired for the baking show, their chemistry, as the duo notes, was instant. They connected under pressure, found joy during moments of chaos, and carved an arc that resonated with viewers. They stumbled in the first episodes, found their rhythm, and ultimately won the entire season. “Someone said to us recently, ‘Have you two ever entered anything you didn’t win?’ And we actually haven’t yet,” Sara said. Their latest wins include three edible competitions, each of their flavors now decorated with first, second, or third place honors.
But the real spark for SpacePoppers struck during downtime on set, when edibles were a conversation topic behind the scenes. “We wondered why the category felt limited,” she says. “Gummies, chocolates, drinks, everything looked the same. So we thought we should introduce another option.”
Between Sara’s love of popcorn, their shared creativity, and the episode where they built a full life-sized edible car out of kettle corn, the idea became inevitable: popcorn, but reimagined as a gourmet cannabis experience. What they created next became their signature, three flavors engineered with the precision of an architectural engineer and the flair of a champion baker. Sea Salt Caramel with buttery richness, Chicago Style blending sharp cheddar and caramel into a nostalgic explosion, and Sweet Chili delivering caramel sweetness with a bold spicy kick.
Space Poppers (source: Space Poppers)
Each flavor is crafted to taste just like an uninfused snack. “We have been told our popcorn tastes better than uninfused popcorn with the same flavor profiles, but you get high,” Sara notes. SpacePoppers are discreet, craveable, and designed for both seasoned consumers and newcomers seeking microdosed balance.
Sara notes that their rise has been as grassroots as it gets. “It’s a lot of door knocking,” she reflects. The duo spends days visiting dispensaries with acrylic displays, samples, and a hopeful charm that could win over owners on the spot. “That hustle has paid off,” she says. “We are now placed across many dispensaries in Massachusetts and New York, with more coming every week.”
SpacePoppers is women & immigrant-owned, and prides itself on its inclusivity, with Sara’s wife serving as chief logistics officer and dispensary success lead. “She’s the third leg of our stool,” Sara says. “Our identity is woven into the company’s spirit, fearless, colorful, and joyfully unconventional.”
Innovation remains constant, with new flavors and collaborative products in development. A churros flavored popcorn is set to debut soon, and a series of savory snacks and baker-driven creations are also on the horizon. Their roadmap includes exploring new states, building new partnerships, and continuing to engineer creative, award winning, flavor-forward edibles.
At its heart, SpacePoppers is exactly what Sara and Rodolfo promised each other from the start: a venture rooted in fun. “We said we’d only do something we’d have fun with and nothing is impossible,” Rodolfo shares. And fun is exactly what they’ve unleashed, with popcorn flavors curated to be flavorful, exciting, and uplifting.