Girl Gang the Podcast
Girl Gang the Podcast highlights women building brands and creating their own career paths. Hosted by Amy Will — author of Launching and Building a Brand For Dummies and a serial entrepreneur — the show features founders behind brands like OSEA and the Savannah Bananas, executives and directors at companies like Burberry, British Vogue, NET-A-PORTER, and BuzzFeed, and creators like Sivan Ayla. Each episode breaks down the work behind what they’ve built — from early ideas to the decisions and turning points along the way.
Girl Gang the Podcast
Bringing Luxury Branding Into Cannabis — with Elisabeth Baron of Canndescent
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On this week’s episode of Girl Gang the Podcast, I interview Elisabeth Baron, Vice President of Marketing at Canndescent (@canndescent).
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Thanks for tuning in to grow gang, the podcast. My name is amy [inaudible] and I'm a creator and collaborator based in Los Angeles and the founder of [inaudible] dot com. We encourage the aspiring highlight, the doers and most importantly get real about the highs and lows of female entrepreneurship. Get ready world. The future is here and she's a boss.
Speaker 2I'm Elizabeth Barone, vice president of marketing for candace and you're listening to girl gang, the podcast. So I started my career in advertising and promotion agencies for CPG companies like Frito lay and pepsi, and really sort of gained an understanding of traditional marketing and then I transitioned after several years in and the agency side onto working directly in marketing for Diageo, so I worked client side, as they would say for Diageo and a regional marketing was moved into national marketing for such brands as Johnny Walker and the classic malts of Scotland to crown royal to Iraq, pre diddy CIROC and a tanker, a just some of the best brands in the world. Worked in innovation and in both headquarters brand marketing and regionally. Then I transitioned into more luxury marketing with a transition to lvmh and might, Hennessy worked on the Hennessy brand primarily I was part of relaunching that brand, which was a huge success. Um, and then I ran the gram on a business for two years for the US and then I landed in cannabis.
Speaker 1You guys are really at the forefront of this branded feel and this new age. Can you talk a little bit about your motto, the art of the flower and what candescent represents?
Speaker 2So I think there's many things that make it unique. One of which is that we control the process and the development from the beginning to the end. So you know, there's a lot of other brands out there that source flour from multiple cultivation facilities and we have the benefit of being able to control all the way from seed to sale essentially, which is a true benefit for us to control the quality. So the art of flower is really the whole route, right? The whole journey that it takes from the time we start with the initial seed and go all the way through to the plant. To the drying process, to the trimming process and ultimately, you know, get a big beautiful butt into a jar, you know, it's, it's really the, all the care that's taken along the way and the attributes that go along with it. So the fact that we're pesticide free, you know, the fact that we control, we're an indoor grow so we control the temperature and the moisture and we just control all aspects of it which really kind of make it the most pristine flour and all the way through to the point that when we call virgin cannabis, what we mean by that is that we don't touch the flower and the consumer is the first to touch the flower. So when we trim, we trimmed by the stem and we don't ever interfere with that, you know, flower so that the Tricom stay together and the consumer can really not only visually see it, but it's really just in its most pristine state.
Speaker 1It really is the best cannabis I've ever consumed. Instead of having traditional name that definitely targets a different type of consumer. I love that. These aren't calm cruise. Create, connect and charge. Can you talk a little bit about the concept behind these names?
Speaker 2So we want to ask the consumer how do you want to feel and make it really easy for them to make a decision. So that's why we've abandoned the traditional strain names and we have created five effects, uh, a little known fact maybe is that it started out as for effects and you know, and our logo, you see, we have four c's interconnected and that's because we started out as four. And then one day, uh, our founder, Adrian came up with the idea that they're just felt like there was one missing because, you know, we have calm cruise, create, connect and charge. We didn't have crews initially and it went right from comm. It's quite sedating, right? Like you can really knock yourself out for the night or really relaxed and have a really easy time. But then it went all the way to appear hybrid that was create. Um, and so we wanted to create effects for everyday activities and cruise answered that, um, in that you can truly run errands and you know, do your day to day, go for a bike, ride on the beach or do something really sort of low key and have that opportunity with Cruz, you know, you don't need to be so in your head. So that was, I think an interesting fun fact, but overall, you know, we have an effect for every occasion from sunup to sundown really. And it just depends on how you feel. It's fun to have something for every consumer and then hear the feedback of how they truly react to it and how it really now they understand, oh, I didn't really understand, you know, what did you mean by create? But Gosh, I had the best jam session with my band afterwards, you know, and we really truly hear that back from consumers, which is quite rewarding.
Speaker 1I was consuming create when I came up with the initial concept of girl gang, the podcast and the label and used cruise when I designed the website. So it's really fun to be able to have these call to actions that are so easy to understand rather than getting overwhelmed at a dispensary and maybe getting anxious or bringing on emotions that you didn't sign up for. I love that. These are just such high quality and easy to digest. So when I want to create, I just go to create instead of getting overwhelmed and figuring out, okay, what's the ratio I want? How open do I want it? It's one of the first strands I've ever taken a photo of and not been scared to put on my instagram story even though I'm okay with letting people know I consume cannabis. It's just something that it doesn't. I feel like proud to be like, oh yeah, this is a part of my routine. Like how beautiful it is. So yeah, I love that part. I'd love to touch on the grow facility that you guys have and some of the people on the ground floor and what it takes to be managing and growing a brand like candice in at rapid speed.
Speaker 2Well, that's a great question because, you know, for me I was most impressed by the grow and when I first joined it was a, one of the first things we do when we bring people on board is, you know, part of the orientation is taking a visit to the desert hot springs and visiting the grow and that's very inline with what my experience was with Hennessy or grandma on Yay or any of these, you know, brands rich in history, Johnnie Walker, you know, because it's all about the provenance and where it comes from, right? Where a brand comes from and that's where the real story starts to brew and get exciting. So when I first went to the grow and I started to meet these amazing people, I mean everyone from one of the cultivation leads had, went to prison, you know, um, as a result of growing while it was still not legal. And His journey was quite, you know, a rocky one and a tough one. And then there's, you know, a girl who moved from Florida 22 years old, moved from Florida to California so that she could be part of the cannabis industry and illegal way because she couldn't be do that in Florida, so she was juggling going to school, she's in college and she started out as a trimmer just because she wanted to learn the business and then she now is leading our packaging department and the trim room and you know, she's found a career here that you know, in a category that didn't provide careers previously. So there are so many stories with the people at the grow and so inspiring that we started to include a whole platform in our communication that is called we call behind the grow and really profiling the individuals that make up candace. No,
Speaker 1now that it is legal in California, can you talk a little bit about any challenges that you're facing or anything that's really exciting that comes along with legalization?
Speaker 2Most of it's exciting, but it's not without its challenges because we're still operating with temporary regulations right now, which means that we're really trying to be smart about abiding with the letter of the law. Um, but there's just not enough specifics around it for us to navigate certain areas, if that makes any sense, because, you know, we want to be able to engage consumers. Um, previously, you know, last year before Jan one, we were able to engage with consumers and have events and give away cannabis. There's all these regulations that sort of trip us up because we want to do it all the right way, you know, we've done it. We were the first, you know, real packaged flower, you know, out there. And we want to continue to be ahead of the game, you know. So I think those are, that's, you know, an opportunity or a challenge for us just to navigate those new regulations and be on board with everything. But the exciting stuff is the growth, you know, we just are, I'm about to harvest our first harvest from the greenhouse. So we just expanded into a 24,000 square foot greenhouse beyond our indoor grow. So now we are going to expand into, you know, um, greenhouse flour, which is going to enable us to create a whole nother brand under our portfolio and to reach consumers and even a more approachable price point, but equally as good quality. So it's, you know, that's exciting and that, you know, there's a whole nother brand that we need to develop their, um, we're developing a vape blind and because Adrian, you know, wants to be not only a disruptor, he wants everything to be the best quality that's on the market. We are really trying our best to do vape pen options that are completely never been done before. Um, which, you know, it's tough because you're dealing with a fixed number of vendors that know what they're doing in this area and you know, you want to sort of merge this high and sort of um, you know, Montblanc sort of like, you know, idea of jewelry meets function. Um, you know, uh, that they did so well back in the day. Um, we're trying to do that now with vapes. I'm so excited for those. I'm excited too. And you know, it's just an interesting journey because we have to, you know, get into the extraction game now and we have not done that before and to end for the pen to be the best performing pen, you know, the, the vape pen. And so that's sort of our mantra with everything, like how do we create the best flour, the best vape and, and really it all starts with the flour because that's our foundation. So if another brand is solely focused on vapes as, as their lane, um, and they're sourcing oil from different places. I'm very few are actually cultivating the flower, extracting the oil and, and creating the vate. And that's where I think when you can control the process like that we're going to be able to be superior with quality. Having it all in your control, which a lot of people are not doing. So viceland is a really cool network and they dedicated this week to week, you know, it's, it's the first for 20 in California since the market became open and for recreational use. So it's really sort of a monumental week this week and they honored it by, you know, sort of dialing up their programming. And so last night the most expensive assist, which is a show that features two chains on his quest to find the highest, most luxury experiences out there, um, across the range of experiences. He has done a couple episodes around cannabis because he's an enthusiast himself. And uh, so we brought him out to the grow a few months ago and we did a shoot with him and then we took them through the grow facility. He hung out afterwards and was around when he smoked and experienced the flour with Adrian and uh, one of our lead brand educators. Uh, so it was really fun.
Speaker 1Is there anything else that you want to cover?
Speaker 2You know, I think the one thing that I've been really impressed with is how many women are in this industry. You know, I came from a very male dominated industry with um, you know, uh, alcohol beverage for many years and I was always one of two women in a board room and you know, now because it's a new industry with, without the kind of preconceived notions or hampering have, you know, good old boy network, to be honest, there are a lot more people of color, a lot more women being entrepreneurs and you know, starting their own thing that it's really inspiring. You know, I'm doing this podcast is, is inspiring for me. I was just invited, um, ms dot grass there, you know, they have their own blog and there are going to start an event series and she just did a women's dinner the other night. It was really great because there were all female entrepreneurs in this space. Um, and you know, I had never done that before in all my years in this other industry. I never experienced events focused around inspiring women that were doing big things. And it was just, feels really good because it's like a new world order, you know, and it's. And it gives, um, you know, women, the chance without all the kind of baggage we had to deal with before
Speaker 1promoting this inclusivity. And creativity is really exciting. I love everything about this industry. What is your favorite part about your position and working with a company like can dustin,
Speaker 2you know, these are smart people I'm working with. So that's always the best, right when you're working with very smart people who care about the details. I think that the attention to quality and the pursuit of excellence is something that I haven't, I've had the benefit of encountering along along the way in my career. But um, I mean we've had people working, you know, around the clock so that we could, um, be ready for this for one week and the demands set by the stills that were achieving. And these are people in the grow that are really working long hours. And um, so it's, it makes us all want to work harder, you know, because it's like, you know, the one team, one dream thing. And um, I think that's what's most inspiring is we all have that common goal to uh, to do the best we can in this industry and we look at it as a responsibility to elevate the industry, to elevate, elevate cannabis, to take away all the that stigma that existed before. So it's a little bit of a movement, you know, not to get too heady in it, but it feels like more of a movement then, you know, just a product.
Speaker 1I completely agree with that. Um, did you expect how hectic everything would be leading up to 4:20 and just, you know, it's the first year, it's legal in California. There's a lot of buzz around your product and the industry in general. Everything leading up to it. It, has it been what you expected?
Speaker 2It's just funny. I smile because my birthday is 4:20 and I thought it was just like some sort of destiny hearing, you know, that I, all of a sudden now for 20 has a whole new meaning and it has nothing to do with me. So I didn't even know what for 20 was until I moved to California to be honest, and that was several years ago, but I think I, I really didn't know my sales colleague used to run the Guinness, you know, used to be a senior sales leader and the Guinness brand and it's, he, he likens it to be in Guinness on St Patrick's Day, you know, it's like the, it's like the biggest holiday of the year. Right. And so that's what it's been for 4:20 I think for 20 falling during Coachella, which is huge for California and we've been activating against a coachella as well. It sort of is like the perfect storm of opportunities. We're trying to keep up, you know, I don't know that we anticipated as much demand but we're trying to keep up.
Speaker 1Yeah, it seems like it's been wild. And yet the first weekend of Coachella for 20 the second weekend and then it's summertime in California. So it's an exciting time.
Speaker 2So I come from alcohol. Right. And you know, I come from this most prestigious luxury company in the world and as I've made this transition into this career, I think it's really interesting how so many people are sort of interested in it, but are afraid to make the leap because it's still, you know, if you talked to somebody on the east coast, you know, it's in New York, it's not Iraq market, so there's a lot of interest in it as a career, but it's still feels a little stigmatized. So it's, I think it's just, it takes somebody who's willing to take a little bit of a risk to jump into this category because it's still not free of that stigma. There's also a lot of attention being paid by the alcohol beverage industry right now because they see us, I think as a, a little bit of a threat I used in the CPG business, we used to say sheriff stomach for snacks, Frito lay wanted to have that full share of your stomach and only choose a Frito lay snack. Right. And so it's similar to something that's, you know, recreational social product like alcohol. And the alternative though, as cannabis doesn't have the addiction properties that alcohol or you know, God forbid opiates, which are also now becoming a social, you know, consumption thing. So we have really the ability to shine here as a category if we can just take away, you know, sort of the stigmas and the regulation and, and I just wonder a little bit if alcohol wishes we would stay with the stigma because, you know, it's definitely, you know, people will will app to smoke oftentimes because it's calorie free, right? I mean it's just the munchies that have the effect. But, but it's really, I think in a change the way social consumption happens, you know, and as we see places where you can consume in public cannabis, open up more, you know, there'll be a cannabis friendly venues and bars and things like that. Lounges, you know, that's gonna make people make the choice that say, do you want to do both together? Do you want to only smoke and not consume alcohol? So it's just really a change in kind of how consumers will behave now. Um, and uh, that kind of threatens a lot of areas. I think it's a positive for consumers, but
Speaker 1I think that's super fascinating because that's actually how I describe it to other women that I want to introduce to cannabis, a way to just expand your mind or I mean really solve a lot of problems and some of them touch on what people traditionally might have with red wine or go out and have a whiskey sour these different things of like, okay, I kind of want to um, plug I had a really stressful week or I want to have a really good time tonight. I want to like kind of get out of myself and expand or I just need to loosen up. I'm feeling too in my head and for me, cannabis solves those, all of those problems. But in a way where you don't risk a hangover, you don't reduce the calories, you don't risk not remembering certain details of the night. There's all these things around alcohol and a social atmosphere that I find cannabis provides without this huge amount of negatives. Right? So I think it is going to be really interesting as the stigma keeps on going away and there's products introduced in conversations being had that are more inclusive and open to involving cannabis and locations, like you said, and it's going to be really interesting to see where consumers fall on the ratio of what they're doing for these different call to actions. And a lot of this stuff, cannabis has alcohol, can't provide that for you. Right? You know, you can't go to a coffee shop in the morning and put together a branding guide and get super wasted. Right? Maybe some people can't. I could never, but it's just an abyss. Provides that for me where you're just trying to enhance different levels and different head spaces and mindsets that you're at. It is a crazy time to see what consumers will choose.
Speaker 2Yes, yes. And the more they feel safe and trusted, you know, I really want my, my mission in marketing is to communicate our quality as much as we can and to educate the consumer because most consumers are not educated on what's good flower, what's bad, flour, you know? Um, what's the purist experience I can have and what I feel as a responsibility for this brand is that we educate, um, you know, as much as we promote the brand because it's our responsibility to sort of bridge that gap and bring new consumers in that main normally have not ever wanted to experience cannabis.
Speaker 1Cool. Thank you so much for sitting down and talking with me. Can you let our listeners know where they can find out more about candace in and purchase the product? Sure.
Speaker 2Check us out@candescent.com, where all of our retail locations are also listed, the dispensary's and at candescent. I'm on instagram and others
Speaker 1social channels. Thank you girl gang for listening to our podcast. If you enjoyed it, please take a minute to leave a review. It helps us out so much to learn more about this week's guest and see behind the scenes footage of our podcast. Go to girl gang, the label.com. Enjoy 10 percent off of all support your local girl gang merchandise with code girl gang. If you have any feedback, guests, recommendations, questions or just want to say, hey, email me at amy at girl gang, the label.com.
