I was first introduced to Liesl through Benzinga, the business of doing canna-biz event held in Miami Beach. Our paths kept missing, not your fault Liesl- I know you made a massive effort on my behalf. The world is a much smaller place now that I’ve become acquainted with Liesl and her intriguing staffing agency. She possesses humility. She is forthright and richly ambitious. When you speak to her, her words flow in a cadence that shows me that she smiles when she speaks. Does anyone else do this? I doubt it. As quickly as our hour or so on the phone wooshed by, I left our call thirsty for more information to the success of her company, her future.
Doreen Sullivan on Purple Background Photographer Emma Pratte
Ultrapreneur Doreen Sullivan has been setting creativity in motion for over three decades and is currently setting the cannabis industry on fire like a well-waxed hemp wick. The South-Carolina based marketing strategist and branding expert is already well-known and respected for her originality and detailed creativity, earning her a historic clientele that boasts such familiar names as Disney, ESPN, and the United States Olympic committee, to name a few. While Sullivan’s unique and multifaceted marketing agency, Post No Bills, continues to successfully thrive after 33 years, her entrepreneurial spirit too continues to grow, pivoting into the budding industry of cannabis. She planted the seed less than five years ago when she began transforming vases from her personal collection into water pipes (a.k.a. “bongs’). “Many of the vases were souvenirs and antiques, and they had a story to tell,” says Sullivan. So it was there, in her home in the prohibition state of South Carolina where she let her creativity soar high, cultivating her pipe-dream until it blossomed into My Bud Vase™, a sophisticated line of vases-turned-bongs marketed primarily to a feminine clientele. Her goals are clear. How clear? As clear as one of the crystal bongs in her posh collection: to normalize cannabis consumption and to make smoking more beautiful—one vahz at a time. Her strategy: “I learned very early when I started my agency in New York City that it’s all about creating a buzz. You can’t just sit in your living room and expect things to happen. You’ve got to hustle, get out there, and create a buzz,” says Sullivan; and as the cannabis industry continues to establish itself as a viable market, creating a buzz is exactly what Sullivan, the most creative woman in cannabiz, is doing.
My Bud Vase Bong Song cast and Doreen Sullivan Photographer Emma Pratte
Jessi Rae, COO of CannaConnections, producers of CannaGrow, DispensaryNext and Science of Cannabis PHOTO CREDIT: JENNA NORMANDIN CANNACONNECTIONS
There are way more than five reasons why someone should attend CannaConnections’ CannaGrow Expo, a two day expo dedicated to the art and science of cannabis production. First of all, the depth of the experience makes the excursion worthwhile. CannaGrow is meant to celebrate our plant, the reason for healing! CannaGrow is more than just a good excuse to dig a bit deeper into cannabis, it’s a group experience. I’ve found that when groups of people get together and talk about formerly forbidden subjects, that’s when real change takes place. And why not? We all have something to learn, and to share. Cannabis is like that! Due to the importance of such an event, I took some time out of my busy travel schedule to ask CannaConnections COO Jessi Rae five bold questions about her journey and why you should attend the 10th national U.S. edition taking place April 17th and 18th, 2020, in Chicago, Illinois, at the Marriott Marquis Chicago. You’ll be convinced by the end of this interview. I wish I had more time!
WB: Please tell me about yourself? Where are you from? Why wine? Why cannabis? Outdoor or indoor?
Josh Lizotte=JL: I’m a born and raised California guy. I grew up in Santa Barbara County and moved to Northern California in 1999. I have bounced up and down the California coast my entire life and decided to sit still for a while in LA when we launched the cannabis beverage Rebel Coast in 2018.
Author’s note: “Coco Meers and Marcy Capron Vermillion are the co-founders of Equilibria.”
Warren Bobrow=WB: Why cannabis? What brought you to the plant?
Coco: I was extremely under-educated about cannabis when Marcy (co-founder) and I reconnected to ideate in summer of 2018 after selling our respective tech companies. A francophile from Alabama, white burgundy and bourbon pretty much had me covered on the recreational side of things. Marcy was the first data-driven, engineering mind to emphatically share her personal CBD success story with me, opening up my mind to the idea of cannabis as medicine, versus recreation. Upon hearing Marcy’s authentic stories of nerve pain management and mental health relief, as well as the countless (anonymized) stories of the women she had counseled on dosage and delivery techniques, I began taking a high quality, full-spectrum CBD daily. After a few days, I felt more rested and generally more balanced. After a few weeks, I described my overall temperament as decidedly more “even.” I had a longer fuse with my young children and was less fixated on elements beyond my control at work. After a month or so, I realized I could take my biologic injectable drug for an autoimmune disease less and less, eventually leveling off at ⅓ the frequency. CBD has brought me balance, and I knew women everywhere deserved similar access.
Warren Bobrow: Where are you from? Why cannabis? Did you go to business school? Who is your mentor?
Peter Miller: I am from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I spend my time now between our corporate headquarters there and visiting everywhere that the SLANG network operates, meeting with the team, our partners, and the greater group of stakeholders in our supply chain and business. Cannabis grabbed my attention seven years ago, when Colorado had a ballot initiative to legalize adult use cannabis. It piqued my interest because of the potential that the new market represented and how the cannabis space could have such a great impact. Soon after, I discovered that Canada was exploring a commercial medical cannabis market to handle what had become a pretty large gray market that the government wanted to disintermediate.
Canndescent’s Chief Marketing Officer – Sam Arellano PHOTO COURTESY: CANNDESCENT
Warren Bobrow=WB: How do you set up a successful brand in the cannabis space?
Sam Arellan0=SA: How you approach building your brand should not be qualified by the space you operate within. As in any industry, start by understanding the audience you wish to engage with. You should know them as well, if not better than they know themselves. The most successful brands regardless of industry are predictive – they know what we want before we do. They revolutionize and modernize the way we think, act and shop. Successful brands become prisms by which paradigms shift and new ones get created. In cannabis, Canndescent operates like this. How does this differ from mainstream brands? It doesn’t. Good brands regardless of industry are like good conversations. That is to say they are reciprocal, meaningful and mutually beneficial.
