CWC: PR for the Plants

Tell me how you got into comms?

The way I got started in comms and PR is a bit circuitous. I went to school for biology, but I quickly realized I was definitely not smart enough to become a doctor or anything like that, and I just kind of naturally gravitated towards business marketing. I didn't really even know about PR until I actually went to a boutique firm when I was living in New York at the time, and asked “Hey, I know that on paper, I don't necessarily have any credentials to even be here, but do you mind if I just pull up a chair and, like, absorb everything that you guys are doing here? Because I find this to be really, really cool.” And the owner just let me pull up a chair essentially.

From there ended up turning into me working part time, and then from there, I just ended up going out on my own. I still maintain great relationships with that founder and owner of the PR company. To this day, we still talk. We still do a lot of great collaborative work together. So that's a beautiful thing.

How’d you make your way into the cannabis industry?

I jumped into the cannabis industry doing PR by walking into a hemp wellness store in New York. About five minutes into my visit there, after just talking to the owner, trying to get a good grip on what it is that this place does, how it helps people. I had seen a lot of videos on YouTube, documentaries, and read a bunch of reports, but to see and to hear firsthand exactly how this stuff impacts people's lives a different thing.

So about five minutes into my visit, an older gentleman came in. His wife ended up having to open the door for him and do all of the talking, because he was suffering from really debilitating tremors that wouldn't even allow him to formulate sentences. Long story short, they were like, “hey, is there anything here that could help us out? Because anything else has a laundry list of side effects and it's not getting us anywhere. Do you have anything we could try that may give us some hope?”?

The owner didn’t make promises but recommended they try a tincture. After he tried it about 120 seconds later, I looked over and the gentleman's tremor started to subside substantially, to the point where now he's able to regain control of his body. He was able to speak again. And I always get chills every time I share this part, but the first words that came out of his mouth after that were, “I think, the biggest bottle of whatever shit it was you just gave me.” And at that point, I saw instantly, it was almost like a flip of a switch, how this man's life changed drastically now, not just for him, but for his wife, for his kids, maybe even for his grandkids, because of the improvement in his quality of life.

I share that because, after that moment, I quickly decided, I love doing publicity and PR in the book publishing world, which is where I originally got my start, but I think doing it in cannabis could be really interesting, really fun, really exciting, and it could also make an impact in a lot of people's lives.

What kind of clients do you work with?

There's a full spectrum of different clients. A lot of times when I speak with folks outside of the industry, they think that I'm just supporting folks on the plant touching side.

But there's actually a whole myriad of other aspects to the industry, including the financial aspect of it, right? So, folks that are in investment banking, folks that are in packaging, folks that are in industrial automation, packaging automation. There are a bunch of different facets of the industry, and I'm not limited. I'm currently working with one multi-state operating retailer, and then the rest of the client roster tends to fall on the ancillary side of things. Great people too - they've all got stories, never a dull moment to say the least,

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How do you think the mainstream perception of the cannabis industry has changed over time?

That's a great question. I think it's changed drastically. When I first got started, it was relatively easy to land coverage for folks because cannabis was this new, sexy, controversial thing, and to a certain extent, it still is. But now I think people are getting more and more accustomed to it. It's becoming more normalized and I'm working with one client who is starting the conversation around mommy wine clubs and if they're actually coming to an end because of the rising trend of cannabis-infused beverages.

We're starting to see conversations and narratives like that develop. Whereas if you were to ask me that question five or six years ago, if I think that that's something that that's something that people would be talking about.

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What would you say is the most fun part about your job to you?

The number one fun part about it is probably just meeting so many different people with so many different backgrounds.

I don't know what you want to call it, if you want to call it the powers of the plant, but it attracts so many different people from different walks of life. Truly it can vary from former NASA engineers to investment bankers, people that have done unbelievable innovation on the science and technology side, or even on the automation front of things. I mean, there are people that are developing the first technologies and innovations of their kind. The pre-roll infusion robot, the first of its kind, for example. Something like that has never been done before, but it took a former NASA engineer to come over into the cannabis industry to do that. Now they've set out to build out the world's first automated keif coding robot. It takes pre-rolled joints and blunts and automates the process of coding them with keif and so there's so many different people with different backgrounds and areas of expertise and skill sets coming together. It's just such a treat to be able to not only work with them, but I think more importantly, just be able to have those side conversations sometimes, and to be able to learn from them and see their perspectives and see how they approach business, like, what's their outlook on this??

What does the media landscape look like for you and this industry?

I would say that while there's usually always a place in cannabis industry trade publications for these folks, just because it's a natural fit. But as with any media outreach it's very situation specific.

If we're talking about automation, AI robotics for cannabis for example, then we’re focusing on mainstream tech publications, or we even got them coverage in Forbes last year. And so just figuring out which reporters are covering what beats, and then just trying to break it down and finding the other mainstream facets to a company and its leadership where we can extract some of those and find a home for them in other outlets or connect them with somebody that we know.

I think ultimately its often the timing. If it’s right and you happen to see it at the right time at the right place, you make the introduction, conversation goes well, it may manifest itself into some pretty cool coverage.

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What kind of awareness do you have to have around policy and legality?

One of the interesting things about being involved in the cannabis industry, and I think nine times out of 10, if you ask anybody in the space this question, that would be the same answer, is you have to be an expert in what you're doing, and you also have to understand the law.?

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Federal, statewide, local, regional, and so that's something that sort of just becomes a part of the everyday. And every day, things are changing. There are updates to different bills. Different people are approving this to be included in this bill, and safer banking may go through. We're just waiting on one more vote, or there's always something that's in motion, and you always have to stay on your toes to anticipate what may or may not happen, especially when it comes to preparing, let's say, canned commentary. And you know that reporters or journalists are going to want to get that expert insight on how those developments are going to impact the industry as a whole, and so just sort of trying to see around corners and anticipate what may be coming down the pike. That's super important, because you have to prep clients, and you have to make sure that they're prepared, and they have different responses for different potential outcomes.

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Tell me a bit about what kind of leader you are.

I would say number one, what I try to focus on is managing processes and not managing people.

I'd rather lead a team rather than try to manage them or micromanage and so one of the things that after countless discussions with other agencies and firm owners, they all express that things get chaotic, things get out of control, all of a sudden, they hit a little bit of a growth spurt, and now things are all over the place. Things are slipping through the cracks. Business falls apart, and you kind of have to start from scratch. And so that was one thing that I was always super hesitant and nervous about. And so, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to fall into the trap of having to micromanage because there weren't systems in place. That's sort of been one of the best things that I think I've done for not just for myself and for my mental sanity, but for the team, because they're able to refer back to the processes, and if they have a question about something, they're super comfortable asking me. I'm always super comfortable asking other people, and there's never this kind of like organizational hierarchy where you can only speak to this person, or this person can only report to this person. It's a very horizontal type of leadership where everybody is contributing to the to the greater goal of really just bringing mainstream attention to cannabis.

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What gets you out of bed every day?

I genuinely will get a rush whenever there is a new piece of coverage secured for a client that we're working with. I think just chasing that has been, and it continues to be something that just gets me super, super fired up. So, for example, I may wake up first thing in the morning. I may go to the gym, and on my way back home, I may be checking my phone just to see, okay, any emails come through or anything like that that's super urgent, whatever. And if I happen to see “Hey, just wanted to let you know this article went live. Thanks so much for connecting.” my day is my day is made.

People talk about the dopamine rush that you get from social media, from scrolling and seeing a red dot notification. If you had a dinner table full of comms people, they'd be like, okay, step aside, have you ever secured coverage and gotten the email and gotten that rush??

What’s your best advice for other comms folks interested in the cannabis industry?

I've actually gotten quite a few messages on LinkedIn from people that are in comms or are just looking to get their career started in comms and PR, and they've been contemplating whether or not they want to get into the cannabis industry. My advice is, the best thing to do, especially in this industry, is to network much as possible. Just network and really, really get to know the industry. Get to know the community, because that's what really powers the industry, and so people want to know who they're doing business with. And while I believe that that holds true for other industries and a lot of mainstream industries as well, the cannabis industry is very, very tight knit. It may be a global industry, but it's incredibly small, and everybody seems to know everybody. And if you do great work, that's awesome, but if you backstab somebody, or if you happen to rub somebody the wrong way, or if you just flat out don't pay people, which is, unfortunately, a fairly common thing in this industry, word gets around very fast, which is good, because people are always looking out for one another, but building trust and networking and really just being able to show people your true colors and who you are, what you do, how you do it, why you do it. It's going to be one of the most monumental building blocks to having a successful career in this industry, whether it be comms or really anything.

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QUICKFIRE

Q: Coffee, cocktail, or mocktail?

I'll go with cappuccino.

Q: Favorite publication?

Inc.

Q: One word your friends and family would use to describe you.

Empathetic.

Q: Favorite season?

Summer

Q: Who inspires you?

My dad because he's been able to take a lot of nothing and turn it into something just through pure hard work and grit and determination. And I feel like that's really admirable.?

Q: What you're passionate about outside of comms,

Health and wellness

Q: What's your comms ick?

I'm gonna say the word ‘delve.’ It's a dead giveaway of using ChatGPT.

Oh, and for the cannabis industry specifically it’s when people call it the ‘ever-evolving cannabis industry.’

Q: What's an underrated skill in communications?

Active listening?

Q: Guilty pleasure?

Skittles

Q: What’s your favorite cannabis product?

I would say the infused beverages.

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